Pilot AND Mechanic

One of the big advantages of being a pilot AND a mechanic is the ability to fix some of the things I find wrong with the airplane.

Yesterday during my customary preflight inspection, I found a couple of things that would have prevented flight until they were addressed. One was a hairline crack in a piece of the nose gear and the other was a control cable that was chafing. After checking in with the full time mechanics, it was decided to replace the offending piece of nose gear and install a piece of rubber to protect the cable. I was able to help with doing those and was able to get in the air before 10:00 am!

Thanks James, for helping with the nose gear!

New Toy and Roaming Pictures

I have a very cool new toy!

Our other camera is a very nice one, but it is too big and bulky for me to easily take with me in the airplane and snap shots. So I bought a new one with a very cool feature: it records the GPS coordinates where the picture is taken, and I can easily upload to Google Earth in the exact location of the picture!

So, yesterday, I took it with me on my flight and snapped a few pictures of the strip where I landed. I did the same today and will be uploading all the pictures into Google Earth. It also works with Google Maps, as well as in Panoramio. I just have to figure out how to share links to all these sites.

For now, enjoy the pictures while I figure out how to link to the maps. Explore the jungle of Ecuador in Google Earth and maybe you´ll see my pictures!