May Vibe Check

May 31, 2024

Intro

Second vibe check, this one is a little light, we'll see if I can take better notes and improve June.

Aviation & Travel

May was a big month for aviation, after taking a break for nearly three months due to maintenance/weather, May started with my first BFR. Fortunately, one of the Cardinal co-owners is a CFI which made the entire review less stressful. The highlight of the flight was landing at a new airport (West Desert Airpark, UT9) which has a 14 foot berm, 85 feet from the the beginning of runway 35. The runway is only 24 feet wide and 2600 feet long which makes it the shortest and most narrow field I've landed on. To be honest, I hadn't practiced my short field landing with an obstacle since my checkride prep, so I was prepared to do a go-around if anything felt off but everything went well and I made a nice touchdown right on the numbers.

We taxied back and cruised over to Provo for 2 laps in the pattern and some coms work. Thankful I started learning to fly at a towered field so I'm very comfortable working with a tower (I actual prefer it) so I always look forward to squeezing a few laps in at Provo (the controllers are great).

Armed with a successful BFR and flight worthy Cardinal, Jamie and I set off on an epic flying trip a week later. We had a few days free from work so we planned out a route that would take us to Boise ID, Bend OR, Chester CA, Nevada City CA, Battle Mountain NV, and then finally back home. This was my first time flying into multiple new airports in areas that I've never been to so it required a lot of flight and weather planning.

Boise and Bend were quick one night stops but we still took the opportunity to check out the respective beer scene and eat some delicious food. Definitely need to go back to both cities and spend more time.

While we were in Nevada City, KGOO had an "Armed Forces Day" fly-in. The airport was packed and it was a great aviation vibe.

Jamie and I met Juan Browne "Blancolirio" and donated to a local charity for the opportunity to ride along in his open cockpit Waco.

Media

I need to do a better job at tracking what media I consume over the course of the month...

Games

• StarCraft: I finished my play-through, time for Brood Wars!