The road to my wings
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| Date | 25-08-2008 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Sunday 2355) Now I know why they call California the car capital of the world. People are crazy about their cars here - it's a whole culture. Driving on the motorway is crazy. Most of them have 6 lanes - in every direction! Some even have 8 lanes and no matter what day and what time of day you drive, the roads are packed with cars. You just don't want to drive in the rush hours. Today my mate and I looked at some more cars for him and afterwards we went to Santa Monica, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and the rest of Hollywood of course, mostly through Sunset Boulevard. It's amazing how the neighbourhoods change on Sunset Bvd. One minute you're driving through a nice neighbourhood and drive on to find a parking space and then when you do and get out of the car and start walking you almost wish that you never got out of the car. We were there quite late in the evening so perhaps that was the reason why it was like that, but anyway it was a new experience... Now I'm off to bed. The other four guys arrived this afternoon but we haven't met them yet as we were out driving up North. By the time we got back they were already asleep - I think the jet-lag got them. /GEA |
| Date | 24-08-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 0745) Papa got himself a car yesterday. It's a V8 Ford Mustang from 2007, black with twin silver racing stripes. It has a 4.6 liter engine and leather interior with bucket seats. I took it for a spin and was hooked. It drives really great and the roar from that V8 is just awesome. I bought it with manual transmission of course. You don't want a sports car with automatic transmission. It's got 17,400 miles and still has just as many miles and 2 years of factory warranty. It really is in mint condition and looks absolutely new. We had some great experiences yesterday and met some nice poeple too. At one point we were at a Corvette dealer and the owner just talked with us for about 4 hours, about everything and nothing really. Then he found out that we were in the military he just had to show us his pistol. So he took us to his truck and pulled out his 50 caliber revolver, yes that's 50 cal! It looked more like a bloody hand-cannon than a pistol. "And if they make a 60 cal tomorrow, I'll be the first one to buy it" he said. We just laughed of course. "And if the other guy hides behind the truck where the motor is, I just shoot through the motor with this fellow." Anyway he even showed us all his personal cars which are all Corvettes and told us about the Ferrari 360 he just sold and all. Then in the evening we went out to Long Beach downtown - no big deal really but it was ok. Acoording to the Corvette guy we were all "naked" cos we didn't have any guns with us... /GEA |
| Date | 23-08-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Saturday 0900) The adventure has started and here I am in LA! We got here yesterday at about 1630, rented a care and went straight to the Angels Stadium to watch a baseball game and get some hot dogs. It was great fun, just as I had imgined it. There's a nine hour difference to home but I don't feel any jet lag at all (just yet!). I had no problem sleeping last night, but considering that I had been up for over 30 hours straight, I suppose it's obvious. Also the "Queen size" bed, which by the way is the smallest available, is great to sleep in. However I got up at about 0530 this morning and couldn't fall asleep again as I was so excited about the whole thing. Everything is massive here - really American where bigger is better and biggest is best I suppose. Now it's time to get some breakfast and then it's off to som car showrooms to get a car each. The people have been really friendly and helpful so far with a few exceptions. It was hard to say bye to my little boy yesterday and apparently he's been sad since I left. He had been used to me being at home every day due to my long summer holidays. I really miss him already but I guess it's a part of the price for fulfilling the dream. I'm off - stay tuned! /GEA |
| Date | 19-08-2008 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Wednesday 0030) 2 days, and counting! As the big day approaches I seem to get busier and busier. I can't wait to go there, buy a sports car, have the great road trip and start flying again. On the other hand however, I'll miss my home and especially my little boy. To be honest I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Mixed feelings is defined as "when your mother-in-law drives off the cliff in your new car." It's strange to think that Friday evening I'll be in Los Angeles, probably watching a baseball game at the Angels Stadium starting the next chapter of my life and that I'm never going to live in my apartment again. I'm going to miss Denmark more than I missed Malta when I moved away from there, even though I was born and spent the first 18 years of my life there as to just over 10 years here. Now it's time to plan the last part of the road trip on Google Earth and then head to bed, as I have another long day ahead of me tomorrow. G'night all! /GEA |
| Date | 09-08-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Saturday 2355) 13 days, and counting! Yesterday I got an email from the school, NFTC in Canada. The mail started with "Congratulations on being selected for the NFTC programme..." In the mail there were all kinds of information, about 250 pages in all, so there's alot to read. Alot of it is actually quite useful while other information is just nice to know. I must admit that I have never looked so much forward to something as I am doing with this. The trip to Los Angeles, buying a sports car and the road trip up to Moose Jaw alone is mind blowing. Then there's the fighter pilot training on top of all that. I cannot believe it's actually happening. On the course there can be students from Canada, Denmark, UK, Hungary, Italy and Singapore. I don't quite know what the connection to Singapore is, as NFTC stands for NATO Flying Training in Canada and Singapore aren't even in a geaographic proximity of the other NATO members. In the email there's also the names of some of the other course participants. The names sound British, but I'm not sure as they might as well be Canadian. One of the other students is a girl which is something new to the guys from my class as we were all guys back in the good old days at Flying School. To be honest I can't wait to meet the other nationals. I really hope that there will be some from all of the above mentioned countries. It's going to be great! /GEA |
| Date | 07-08-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 2355) The departure date is approaching fast and I still have alot of things to get done before I leave and to be honest I doubt if I'll make them all in time - however, fortuntaley, all the important things are in place by now so it's just a matter of getting myself together and making a last effort to get the last items in place. Yesterday I ordered a pocket camera (to have with me up there in the cockpit), a laptop and some other equipment. The good thing about moving abroad is that you get the VAT (Value added tax) refunded on any of the stuff you buy within three months of the departure date. So I'm really going for it! I also took a loan in order to purchase a sports car when I get there and the money were transferred to my account today, so that's set too. I still think I'll buy a Ford Mustang, probably the 2007 model. It's going to be great cruising across the states going North towards Canada for (hopefully) the best period of my life in my own sports car and the other five guys in theirs. I was at the zoo with my little boy today and had a great time. I'm really going to miss him in the months up to December when he'll be coming to Canada. Oh well, everything has a price, I suppose. Stay tuned! /GEA |
| Date | 29-07-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Tuesday 2045) Enjoying my summer holidays even though I'm quite busy with preparations for the "big trip." I have put a bunch of stuff for sale on the net and today my good old bike got sold. It's starting to feel more real now. I also been packing my stuff in the container that we've hired to transport our stuff to Canada. I still have quite alot of things to pack, but we're getting there! I've looked at some more Mustangs at delaers in Los Angeles and there's quite a few to choose from. The weather is extremely hot at the moment so today I took some time and got some sun in the balcony. 3½ weeks and the "usual" Danish flag in this diary gets replaced by the US flag initially and eventually by the Canadian one. Now I'm off to watch some TV. Stay tuned - the grass IS greener on the other side! /GEA |
| Date | 17-07-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1320) Back home at Copenhagen. We finished the flying course yesterday. For me it was the perfect ending to finish off with a formation flight. It was such great fun! The first two nimutes you think: "I'll never learn this" but then you get the hang of it and time just flies. It is quite a challenge to stick to the leader's wing especially during turns if the weather is a bit bumpy...and the T17 isn't exactly the easiest aircraft to fly formation in - mostly due to the lack of power necessary for formation flying, but also because everytime you make a power change you have to work quite hard with the rudder to keep the nose pointing in the same direction. I can't wait to fly formation in the Harvard II when we ge to Canada, which has a MUCH better thrust to weight ratio and is a much cleaner aicraft. Afterwards we delivered back the equipment, had a beer with the instructors, got the certificates and said goodbye. It was really hard to say bye to some of the guys. Some of us had been together in all this for 3½ yeas. In good and in bad, in sickness and in health - just what you're thinking about, like a marriage! We'd been through alot of stuff together. Alot of great moments and also a few terrible ones. We got emotional when we had to go our seperate ways. Some of them I won't see for at least 2 years. Fortunately I didn't have to say bye to all. The next time I'll see the "Canada boys" will be in LA in about 5 weeks time. I can't wait! Stay tuned. /GEA |
| Date | 13-07-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 1720) Back at Karup AB for the last time for a very long time. This week is the last week of our transition course before we move to Canada. All I have left is one formation flight, probably taking place on Tuesday where I'll be practising take-off as both lead and wingman, fliying, formation change and joining up. It's going to be great fun. Other thatn that we'll be looking a bit more thoroughly into the Flight Manual of the Harvard II in order to be as prepared as possible to starting flying in Canada. I also have an appointment at the dentist here at Karup which I don't look forward to at all - not because it's Karup but because I hate going to the dentist in general. That's it for now. I'll probably write a couple of words about my first formation flight. /GEA |
| Date | 10-07-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 2110) Another day over. The flight to Billund and Stauning got replaced by a flight to Aalborg where I practised a full localiser approach procedure and an ILS approach with vectors. I also practised holding pattern (unvoluntarily due to traffic). It was a good flight and I feel that I'm on track with regards instrument flying, yet I have to be more aggressive with corrections when I get off course. Tonight we had the weekely Thursday GFU meeting. I only got a major fine which is ok, considering that I had done a few screw-ups during the week...but apparently no-one had noticed them. Tomorrow, the six Canada boys, me included, will be briefing eachother in an aircraft system of the Harvard II, under the supervision of an instructor who had just returned to Denmark after 3 years of instructing on the type in Canada. I'll be briefing the others in the flight control system of the aircraft. We'll also start looking at the Emergency procedures of the aircraft, and by that I mean that we'll learn them by heart since we have a test in them next week. There are many of them but learning alot of stuff preciesly, by heart, is nothing new to us. I actually look forward to start learning about the aircraft. It's gonna be a great time in Canada. The instructor also told us about what to expect - among other things is a "cross country" consisting of 15 hours of flying. I plan to fly across the Rockies to the Boeing factory and museum in Seattle when the time comes... /GEA |
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