Too sick to fly

The weather is frustrating enough. Having a fever for four days straight while the outside exhibits great flying weather is driving me insane. I will not have a chance to fly the next two weeks. This is close to a full month of no flying. Crap!

I try to be ambitious when I am at home sick. I try to read a good book, write some letters, whatever. This week, I made an effort to learn about weather, watching some training videos. I am not talking about the exciting stuff like reading METARs, TAFs, PIREPS, AIRMETs, etc. I am talking about the basic weather: fronts, adiabatic processes, lapse rate, fog, isobars, etc. With a fever, I think I got through 1/4 of the instructional video on every attempt before falling asleep. I just cannot get into it. I know that I need to understand weather to be a safe pilot. But, gosh, the subject can be soooo booorrring. It is more fun reading pilots arguments towards LOP/ROP. This is a fun heated debate. I personally have looked all the information, in there is a strong case for LOP in a small carburated engine. However, if you are renting, then just follow the POH recommendation unless the owner says otherwise!

Some good news came today. I have my medical certificate. Yahoo! It only took three months. I am sure CAMI is glad that it is done as well, because I called one a week for the last three months for a status check. The answer was usually the same, "it is being looked at now". Boy, the MD who looked at my medical information most have found it intoxicating to have spent three months looking at it "now".

Other good news, Obama's organization is halting the progress of last minute regulations. Perhaps this ADIZ will eventually go away. While they are at it, perhaps they should look at some restrictions on when TFRs are to be used. There seems to be an over zealous use of TFRs as of late. I am not saying we have reached a critical point yet, but the direction of TFR use is approaching ridiculous (weddings and such). I would even go so far as to say that some basic freedoms are being compromised.

Here are some thoughts running through my head tonight.
* Not keeping the tanks full in the winter can lead to a serious side effect. Consider condensation forming and then the water freezes in the line. It may be undetected if the fuel selector is on BOTH and one wing's line is frozen. Without proper consideration, the pilot could be running into a low fuel situation as one tank empties and an imbalance in the weight of each wing as the full wing tank just sits there, untapped.

* Low temperatures can result in an increase power output of the engine. Extended use of this new found power is not necessarily good for the engine.

* If the belt in the front of the plane breaks, will the engine still run? Heh, this is not a serpentine belt like on my GMC truck. If that breaks, the truck does not run. The belt on a plane breaks and the engine continues to run (magnetos!). So other than a hopefully detectable noise of a belt break, how does the pilot know the belt broke while in flight? The ammeter will show a loss of power. This can also occur if one of the two leads to the alternator break or come loose (like the ground). During flight, the belts primary function is to power the alternator. The pilot shutsdown the alternator switch and fly on batteries. Shutting down unnecessary lights and radios is good thing to do at this time. Also, consider not using flaps until landing is assurred, as flaps need those batteries as well.

* The engine of a single engine plane is not centered perfectly. It, and the prop, are at angle. This is difficult to see unless the cowling is pulled off. The reason is to deal with the P-factor (the downward rotation of the blade is at a higher angle of attack, this providing more thrust than the upward side).