ORD Results

I heard back on Monday about the results of the interview. It came down to me an one other guy. Both of us equally qualified. Both of us Pilots and A&P's. One of us from the Chicago area and the other from New South Montucky. One family they would have to pay to move to the Chicago area the other could commute from their present location. Long story short, I'm staying put.

Although I wasn't selected, it's almost a relief. I don't have to worry about packing up all of our toys and moving. I don't have to worry about selling a house in an unsettled housing market or trying to find one on the other end.

It is nice to know that my resume, times and skills are competitive out there in the 'real world' job market. It has actually been a little bit of a confidence builder to know that all of my hard work put into this industry is beginning to pay off. It is good to know that all those hours slugging around in a 172 with a student pilot, all theses hours of hauling boxes single-pilot IFR at night in the mountains, shooting approaches to mins while picking up ice has created a good foundation to build the rest of my career on.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

-Teddy Roosevelt

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed that I wont get to fly a shiny jet around the country or be able to work with my buddy, but, I have a job to focus on here. I'll keep my finger on the pulse of the industry and see what comes along next.

Broken Wings

In a previous post I told you about a couple of trips that I took during my LOA from Royal Air. The trip to Chicagoland was obviously personal, (still waiting to hear) and the second trip was on behalf of Royal Air.

Royal Air has a fleet of SUVs and SDSUVs that we use to shuttle boxes around for the Big Box Haulers. The fleet has come under some scrutiny the last couple of years in the form of an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that deals with fatigue cracks in the wing spar.

The FAA and the manufacturer of the SUV have issued AD 2005-12-12 and AD 2005-12-13 to deal with these cracks. Click HERE to read more about them. These new ADs eliminate repetitive inspections as required by AD 79-10-15 and AD 99-11-13 with the installation of a costly (read $70K+ USD) wing spar strap.

Since I‘ve been gone from the ‘office’ and the other pilots have picked up the slack in my absence, they asked me to deliver one of our SUVs to ICT to have the AD complied with. The flight was great and uneventful. It was so good and enjoyable I realized I didn’t take any pictures until after I had shot the ILS and parked in front of the FBO. I guess I was so happy to be back in the air again AND out of the routine of flying my regular route that I just plain forgot.


I got to spend the night and had time to kill the next morning before my flight. I spent my time snooping around the various aircraft manufacturing facilities in the area and visited a pilot shop that I used to frequent when I lived just southeast of ICT in the late-90’s.

On my way back to New South Montucky I got to sit in DEN for a few hours. As I sat in the food court gnawing on a leathery fast food burger I got to watch a Lufthansa 747 taxi into the gate. What an impressive machine! It might be fun to fly for about a month or so. I wonder what a guy has to do to get a job flying one of those?

ORD

A few weeks a go a college buddy of mine called me on the phone. It was not highly unusual to hear from him. It was one of those deals where I had lived with him in the fraternity house, and we became friends. We have talked only a couple times a year since our college days just to touch base and keep tabs on each other. As we are both pilots and are focused pretty much on our careers and families, and live a thousand miles away from each other, I have only seen him a few times in almost ten years .

Two springs ago he happened to fly in to New South Montucky. I drove 150 miles to meet hm as he spent the day waiting on his passengers at the airport. He encouraged me to bring a resume along to give to his boss who was also on the trip. More of a networking deal than anything. At any rate I got to show face, press some palms and network a little while catching up with my buddy.

Our phone call was the usual how are ya, where are ya, what is your total time, hows life been treating you type of deal. Then he threw me a bone. That snowy spring day networking at the airport was about to pay off.

He told me that his company was going to lose a pilot and that they were looking for a replacement in their small corporate department. As they weighed their options my name popped up. Experienced pilot, A&P certificate, personal recommendation from an internal employee, seemed like a good fit.

As you can well imagine I had my resume and cover letter in a purple envelope winging its way to the greater Chicago area for review.

The next week my wife and I found ourselves winging our way to Chicagoland for an interview.

They paid our airfare, rental car, and put us up in the company hotel for the weekend as I/we interviewed. They encouraged me to bring Mrs. Scudrunner along as this was a family owned company and families should make decisions together. Aside from the 1-on-1 interview with the chief pilot, Mrs. S. was encourage to come along on the company tour and see what her husband would be doing and flying to bring home the bacon. We also spent time looking at some of the 'burbs near where the a/c is based to find ourselves a suitable community in which to live if we were offered the job.

Here are a few pictures of the trip...

Quite possibly my new ride

Citation Excel

Me and the Chief pilot checking out the 'office'.

The courtyard at the hotel.

Downtown Chicago

I should know next week whether or not we need to pack our toys in the wagon and go to Chicago.

Getting back to normal

Well, it has been just a little over two months since my father passed away. Funny how my post from July has the last picture I took of him as we flew together.

Aside from adapting to this new chapter in life, I have been helping my mother out in her home and in the family business as we transition to this new era in our lives.

I took a small leave of absence from Royal Air, understandable of course, in this difficult time. It was probably a wise decision to stay out of a cockpit for a few weeks to give myself time to sort things out. Yet, like many pilots, I find peace and solace in the left seat doing what I know how to do. If it wasn't for my faith in God and knowing that he has a plan for all of us I'd be in really bad shape.

I've been back to work for about 3 weeks now and in that time, I've made a couple of interesting trips I'll blog about later.

I love flying this time of year, harvest is almost over, the leaves are turning color, and hunting season is almost here. From my lofty perch I get to see the farmers harvest their crops and tend to the fall work in their fields. I get to see where the wild game I will soon hunt, congregate and move, so that I may plan a successful hunt. Best of all, I get to see all the autumn colors of God's divine palette.

The weather here in New South Montucky, is usually pretty good this time of year as well. The Indian summer days make flying a breeze, except for the cold front that came through last week. It gave me a chance to knock the rust off of my instrument skills and it made the fall scenery that much more beautiful buy capping the mountains to the north in a beautiful white blanket. It won't be long until I get to inhale that two-stroke cold smoke.

Before I go I want to leave you with this...
I ran across a link to this guy's You Tube page. His name is Ramasurinen. He has made about 10 or so 5-10 minute flying videos that will blow your mind. They are all done in MSFS X. His latest film Vectors is great and very humorous. A word of caution: Don't go here if you don't have an hour or so to kill. This rabbit trail goes pretty deep if you let it. ;o)