Inception
A comforting haze mask time passed as dream, or perhaps reality.
Was it a look that triggered a memory from the past?
A simple glance that stops the heart and makes the mind race in search of the what, the why, the when.
Something so familiar and within grasp, but fear lay in wait if truth is sensed.
Inquisition
“Have we met before?”
Slide of hand
“I don’t think so…”
Boundaries are drawn like clouds around mountain peaks.
Tread lightly but pursue as you wish.
Crumbs perused into neat piles but not brushed off.
Transition
A day passed, or was it a week, month, or year?
Trust lay forth to bridge the hearts of wandering souls that sought no refuge or respite from oppression.
Rules of the game are known and yet written as played.
Shadow footfalls with no echo.
Revelation
A simple, innocent touch that meant nothing but appreciation raised question in both hearts.
A room of noise and ignorance silenced instantly by pulses of joining spirits beating as one.
The gentleness of contact....breaths........confirmation.
A casual glance gave reassurance.
Eyes warming - glazing as each peer into the other’s soul.
No word is dare uttered.
Not for fear of shame.
Not for retribution.
Not for exhilaration.
Look away...
Reverence
Nubile innocence aged to nobility.
The example is known and respected. Obeyed, if not with pure hatred.
Boundaries traversed by ignorance reap two fold.
Run away.
If light will not lens a path, then darkness swallow this dawn now!
Providence
Harmony of expectation.
Determination of wills.
Swirling maelstrom steering truth to the unguided.
Empyrean
Gentle steps on clouds.
Caress of a breeze that tingles every hair.
Intangibles satiated like tidal rise and ebbing.
Slowly.................ever so slowly.
Unspoken yet known.
Flush with passion ablaze from every pore.
Boundaries of self are consumed in obsession.
Touch.
Taste.
And yet time will not bear the cross to falter.
Infinity
Passing comets at gravity’s mercy and will.
Brilliant displays in sight to the gifted and yet hidden by the luminous sun each circle.
Further away each minute.
Pre-determined paths set by unyielding forces that pull them apart.
No good-byes.
Only a gentle touch to say we shared time.........
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
decisions....decisions....
I've taken to writing short stories the last year or so for fun and have found it to be very therapeutic. Perhaps a better term is enjoyable. After several years of having to write research papers for grades, I got burned out on writing altogether. Now I'm spending more time jotting things down in random fashion only to go back later and assimilate the chaos into a logical pattern that means more than what is obvious in the words. Some are about daily life, but some are simply about dreams that were so vivid and compelling I had to put them to words.
I've submitted one or two to a colleague that has reviewed my ideas and writings the last few years, and I think I'll take the advice given to me. I'm not too sure that is such a great idea; however, because some folks may read into them too much and others not enough. Cryptic, but that's being honest.
I think I'll test the waters in the coming weeks and see how it goes.
I've submitted one or two to a colleague that has reviewed my ideas and writings the last few years, and I think I'll take the advice given to me. I'm not too sure that is such a great idea; however, because some folks may read into them too much and others not enough. Cryptic, but that's being honest.
I think I'll test the waters in the coming weeks and see how it goes.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Fire extinguishers 101
Thought I’d share my day’s experience with you to make you feel better about yours:
My class is at the end of the fuel metering course and we’re on the run-up pad with a J-35 Bonanza that has enough power to roll over the chocks even when you hold the brakes. The checklist is pretty straight forward for start-up procedures for an injected engine, but it is easy to flood if you don’t do the checklist correctly and get the engine started. Sometimes, you may even have a little fire come out the engine exhaust if it sputters on start-up and then quits. Piston aircraft do this from time to time. You’ll have fuel burning in the exhaust, but there is nothing to worry about if you follow the checklist. Oh, and use some common f-ing sense. Hence, the rest of my story was a learning experience for my students and will be entertaining to you I’m sure.
Scenario: Aircraft on the run-up pad; checklist complete; prop area cleared; fire bottle manned (too well); boost pump on low; hit the starter button. Putt, putt, putt, crack, pop, plunk.........sputter, sputter, sputter. Try again. Putt, putt, putt, crack, pop, POP!!!! Sputter, sputter, sputter……..
The engine has stopped. Due to the engine driven pump turning and adding more fuel into the cylinders as it turn a few times, in addition to what the boost pump has done for start-up, we now have a little – and I do mean little - fire in the exhaust system and on the ground where excess fuel has drained from the intake manifold. No worries, right? The proper procedure ladies and gentlemen is to quickly pull the mixture to idle cut-off, push the throttle to full (wide open) to clear the engine and continue cranking to try and start the engine and hopefully blow out the little fire.
Enter the MGTC Aviation Maintenance Student Fire Brigade.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!,” two of them shout.
I stick my head out and investigate. No danger that we can’t handle from the cockpit. I yell to them to “Clear Prop!!” This means stay the F@#* out of the way because I am attempting to start the engine.
But, in the split second it takes me to react, pull the mixture, shove the throttle forward, and hit the start button, the student sitting on my left is beginning to climb over me with eyes wider than any owl on this planet, and fire marshals Dumb and Dumber have unleashed a very large, pull-cart type, Class-D fire extinguisher – from over 20 freakin’ feet away. And they aren’t hitting shit with it.
Picture this: clear blue sky, slight breeze in the air, classic 1958 Beechcraft Bonanza (the cool V-tail type) on the pad, and several students from other programs watching from a distance (because let’s admit it, roaring aircraft engines are the shizzle), my students are at their correct positions for learning and safety. The engine is turning in a start attempt…… and then………someone hits the stupid button.
White powder is flying around like a group of runaway weight watchers gone-off-the-wagon hitting the powdered donut section at Dunkin Donuts. Class-D extinguishers will do that when you spray them upward at 45 degree angles from 20 goddamn feet away instead of sweeping the ground close in to the tiny flames. POOF!!!
I’m stuck in the airplane working to get the controls set right to prevent a worse situation from happening, but I’m fighting the escape attempts of a 28 year old man turned ‘scared little gonna-piss-my-pants-and-yours if you don’t get out of my way’ girl trying to crawl over me and away from the now fast approaching white-out the fire brigade is creating.
It is over in less than five seconds.
The entire aircraft is covered with extinguishing agent. You can not see a single fleck of paint on the outside. Oh, did I mention the inside got covered too? Oh yeah, baby! Instruments and all. And it happened before I could get out while sissy boy nearly beat me to death trying to save his worthless powder coated ass too!
I can hear you laughing from here. Stop it.
I think half the school was around back when I finally got the powder out of my eyes, ears, and lungs enough to stop the fire brigade from putting the rest of our campus out. And you know what the real killer is to all this? I got the flames out doing what was common sense and instinctive to a mechanic/pilot. Something these students know and discussed with me prior to this engine run and every other we’ve ever done. The fire brigade couldn’t see the fire was out because they had already unleashed 50 pounds and $350 worth of Dragon Equalizer in rainbow fashion. They were all smiles until they finally saw through the dust envelope their instructor was emerging from. If they get that aircraft cleaned out and cleaned up, on top of passing upcoming exams from me, they might just pass this class. Hmmmm………..
Some days it just isn’t worth getting out of bed. I think I’ll move to a quiet place along the Arctic Circle where the only work I need to do to survive is beating baby seals to death with a long pole…….
My class is at the end of the fuel metering course and we’re on the run-up pad with a J-35 Bonanza that has enough power to roll over the chocks even when you hold the brakes. The checklist is pretty straight forward for start-up procedures for an injected engine, but it is easy to flood if you don’t do the checklist correctly and get the engine started. Sometimes, you may even have a little fire come out the engine exhaust if it sputters on start-up and then quits. Piston aircraft do this from time to time. You’ll have fuel burning in the exhaust, but there is nothing to worry about if you follow the checklist. Oh, and use some common f-ing sense. Hence, the rest of my story was a learning experience for my students and will be entertaining to you I’m sure.
Scenario: Aircraft on the run-up pad; checklist complete; prop area cleared; fire bottle manned (too well); boost pump on low; hit the starter button. Putt, putt, putt, crack, pop, plunk.........sputter, sputter, sputter. Try again. Putt, putt, putt, crack, pop, POP!!!! Sputter, sputter, sputter……..
The engine has stopped. Due to the engine driven pump turning and adding more fuel into the cylinders as it turn a few times, in addition to what the boost pump has done for start-up, we now have a little – and I do mean little - fire in the exhaust system and on the ground where excess fuel has drained from the intake manifold. No worries, right? The proper procedure ladies and gentlemen is to quickly pull the mixture to idle cut-off, push the throttle to full (wide open) to clear the engine and continue cranking to try and start the engine and hopefully blow out the little fire.
Enter the MGTC Aviation Maintenance Student Fire Brigade.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!,” two of them shout.
I stick my head out and investigate. No danger that we can’t handle from the cockpit. I yell to them to “Clear Prop!!” This means stay the F@#* out of the way because I am attempting to start the engine.
But, in the split second it takes me to react, pull the mixture, shove the throttle forward, and hit the start button, the student sitting on my left is beginning to climb over me with eyes wider than any owl on this planet, and fire marshals Dumb and Dumber have unleashed a very large, pull-cart type, Class-D fire extinguisher – from over 20 freakin’ feet away. And they aren’t hitting shit with it.
Picture this: clear blue sky, slight breeze in the air, classic 1958 Beechcraft Bonanza (the cool V-tail type) on the pad, and several students from other programs watching from a distance (because let’s admit it, roaring aircraft engines are the shizzle), my students are at their correct positions for learning and safety. The engine is turning in a start attempt…… and then………someone hits the stupid button.
White powder is flying around like a group of runaway weight watchers gone-off-the-wagon hitting the powdered donut section at Dunkin Donuts. Class-D extinguishers will do that when you spray them upward at 45 degree angles from 20 goddamn feet away instead of sweeping the ground close in to the tiny flames. POOF!!!
I’m stuck in the airplane working to get the controls set right to prevent a worse situation from happening, but I’m fighting the escape attempts of a 28 year old man turned ‘scared little gonna-piss-my-pants-and-yours if you don’t get out of my way’ girl trying to crawl over me and away from the now fast approaching white-out the fire brigade is creating.
It is over in less than five seconds.
The entire aircraft is covered with extinguishing agent. You can not see a single fleck of paint on the outside. Oh, did I mention the inside got covered too? Oh yeah, baby! Instruments and all. And it happened before I could get out while sissy boy nearly beat me to death trying to save his worthless powder coated ass too!
I can hear you laughing from here. Stop it.
I think half the school was around back when I finally got the powder out of my eyes, ears, and lungs enough to stop the fire brigade from putting the rest of our campus out. And you know what the real killer is to all this? I got the flames out doing what was common sense and instinctive to a mechanic/pilot. Something these students know and discussed with me prior to this engine run and every other we’ve ever done. The fire brigade couldn’t see the fire was out because they had already unleashed 50 pounds and $350 worth of Dragon Equalizer in rainbow fashion. They were all smiles until they finally saw through the dust envelope their instructor was emerging from. If they get that aircraft cleaned out and cleaned up, on top of passing upcoming exams from me, they might just pass this class. Hmmmm………..
Some days it just isn’t worth getting out of bed. I think I’ll move to a quiet place along the Arctic Circle where the only work I need to do to survive is beating baby seals to death with a long pole…….
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