Since I have to wear foggles in flight at the moment, my instructor took some pictures for me during a short flight over to Vero Beach to practise some approaches. The batteries ran out pretty quickly, but he took these:



The Flight Instruments are all I get to see these days... This is taken while Taxiing.



Lined up for take-off on Runway 27.



Passing Runway 14-32 at about 50ft on take-off. The airport housing is visible at the top right.



The 'Comms Stack'. The GPS is showing us over Fort Pierce on our way to Vero Beach. This is taken in flight.



Fort Pierce from the air.

We have a new pet! His name is Snappy and he's about 2 feet long. He lives in a pond about 50 yards from my front door. He really likes baloney and comes swimming over for food when called or when you touch the water... Just make sure you have some food!



The picture links to a short video of feeding time!

It's a $155 (£85) Walmart special. Yes, I know it has a kickstand.

Since I don't have a car over here, and the nearest store is 4 miles away, I considered this a necessary evil. But it's actually kind of fun.

I have tried to ride in the true 'British' style, deliberately obstructing traffic, but it's hard to do when most roads have at least two lanes and a 4ft wide strip of tarmac to the side. When it's a small road with only one lane, several minutes go by between cars, so they easily overtake me.

I thought, briefly, about running red lights and relying on car drivers to break and swerve to avoid me, but the thought of a stereotypical soccer-mom piloting a 3 ton SUV was enough to discourage any attempts, and you are allowed to turn right on a red here anyway.

Riding down pedestrians was another non-starter. There are no pavements (or sidewalks), and no pedestrians, they are all cruising past in air conditioned comfort.

My sole consolation is that I have been too cheap to pay the $8 for a set of lights. But then, it doesn't get dark until after 9, so I haven't had a chance to ride at night.

I guess I'm just crap at being a British cyclist...

My Stage Check has been moved to tomorrow, so I've been using the extra time for more study. I've also found out that Bank of America managed to screw up my bank account, so I spent two hours at the local branch trying to get my money back. You know a bank is bad when the manager hands you a phone number and says: 'It goes to voicemail at the moment, but you should call her to sort it out'.

Apparently one woman in the fraud department had blocked my account and noone else had a clue why. Two hours of complaining and I left with my entire balance in cash, walked accross the road to another bank, who were more than happy to take it from me. Hopefully they are more willing to give it back. I then had to explain to the flight school why my cheque had bounced....

I'm staying in a student appartment right at the airport. You can see the Control Tower and airport beacon from my porch!

I've arrived safely in Fort Pierce. I've spent the weekend getting moved in, buying food and such, and this morning I'm moving again to a bigger apartment. This afternoon I'll be hitching a ride with a couple of other students down to Key West, which is about a two hour flight. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few things, especially about the RT procedures.

My interview at the US Embassy was much quicker this time, possibly because I had an expired visa from my last trip and I came home then! I now have a very nice shiny (and expensive!) J1 Visa. I am a little disappointed about how the picture came out!

One of the conditions of the Visa is to have a certain amount of medical insurance. Normal travel insurance, even for a long trip, doesn't cover you for employment. I found that expatriate medical insurance from a UK company was very expensive, around £1000. Then I found 'Visit USA-Healthcare' at http://www.nriol.net which worked out at only £300 even with hazardous activity coverage for my flying.

I've also been approved by the Transportation Security Administration to do the course and I've booked a flight with Continental Airlines for the 31st of March.

Now if I can just sell my car in that time, I'll be ready to go!

I have enrolled at Ari-Ben Aviator in Ft Pierce, Florida, for their Professional Pilot Program. The course includes Multi-Engine, Instrument, Commercial and Flight Instructor Training. The total flight time included with the course is 222 hours, of which 200 hours will be in the BE-76 Duchess. I've added this aircraft to the flight time block on the right.

Next step it to get my Visa organised. I have an appointment at the embassy next week!

New readers should begin by reading about my flight training at Crystal Aero Group. I came away with a Private Pilots certificate and a desire to pursue a career in aviation. The full account can be found in this forum post.

This Weblog will follow my commercial training as and when it happens!