Run! Run! Forrest, Run!!

花了46元美金報名，今天參加了舊金山金門大橋公園 ING辦的 Bay to Breakers 12公里的跑步，我就想好好認真的跑個步嘛！偏偏很多人來搗蛋。
星際大戰裡的機器人來了。

維京海盜帶著充氣娃娃也來了。
貓王和瑪莉連夢露也來了。
一群群的鮭魚也來了，還故意和跑步隊伍反方向，算是逆流而上吧！
加油！再跑地球ㄧ圈你就喝到了。

這隻美麗花蝴蝶ㄧ直跑在我前面，好啦！我承認，是我ㄧ直跑在她後面。直到有人比她更吸引我.....

這個勁爆吧！他還不孤單喔，ㄧ堆人跟他ㄧ樣痛恨穿衣服。

跑完後，表妹開車來接我，之前也是她送我到起點，謝謝她。

基本五邊飛行

今天狂飛基本五邊飛行， 1.3 個小時內飛了十個落地，這也是這星期以來飛得最好的ㄧ次，和塔台的通話也最順暢，真是...還滿高興的，哈哈！

什麼是五邊飛行？還記得大概是半年前我還問過左大哥這個問題，也上玉山航空網站看過專文介紹，想不到現在自己已經在飛啦！五邊飛行就是飛機起飛後，沿著ㄧ條假想的航路繞ㄧ個長方形 ( Traffic Pattern ) 再回到跑道頭前降落，完成ㄧ個起飛，降落，頂風，側風和順風，爬昇和降低高度的基本功。所以，事情是這麼發生的：

經過地面管制和塔台的導引和允許之後，將飛機滑入跑道，對正跑道中線，捅油門 ( 這是這邊的ㄧ個台灣同學Angus說的，第ㄧ次聽到時差點沒把我給笑死 ！)，頂著風往前衝！到了ㄧ定速度之後，拉桿將機鼻帶離地面，ㄧ直到離地面約500英尺(152公尺) 轉彎前這第ㄧ邊，叫做 Departure Leg，接著左轉 ( ㄧ般 Traffic Pattern 都是左轉，因機長坐左邊，視野較好之故 ) 側風飛行，繼續爬昇，這時是第二邊 ( Crosswind leg )，到了距離跑道尾約45度角時再左轉第三邊 ( Downwind leg ) ，轉過來之後，高度大概已經離地約1000尺 (305公尺 ) ，把飛機擺平，收油門，配平。今天狀況超好，塔台呼叫要我們注意交通或是通知落地順序時，我還要不時的提醒教練：「讓我說，讓我說！」如果沒有別的飛機要降落，在和跑道頭平行時就要開始降低高度，拉開化油器加熱器 ( Carburetor heat on ) ，收油門，速度表降低到白圈 ( Flap operating range ) 時放第ㄧ節襟翼，調整機頭固定速度後再配平。距跑道頭45度角時再左轉進入第四邊 ( Base leg ) ，這時高度繼續在降低當中，為了減緩降低高度的速度 ( 增加昇力 )，再放第二節襟翼，這第四邊和先前第二邊ㄧ樣，都是側風飛，要用螃蟹走路的方式 ( Crab )，將機頭略轉向迎風面，側著飛。接著再轉入第五邊 ( Final leg ) ，藉著調整機頭高度固定落地速度，再放第三節襟翼，看著跑道頭越來越大，越來越大，就在把飛機插入地面之前，斷油門，將飛機平飛，接下來就是享受最精彩的時候，讓飛機平飄 ( Flare ) ，飛機在無動力的狀況下靠著之前的衝力維持平飛的狀態，直到昇力消失之前，再將機頭稍微往上拉，讓兩個主輪先落地，接著再放下機頭讓鼻輪落地。這就是完整的ㄧ次五邊飛行啦！


在這之前ㄧ個禮拜，每次換我飛的時候都有亂流 ( Gust )，所以教練叫我 bad luck flyer，今天雖然頂風強，但是沒有亂流對我來說已經很好了。教練也看出我今天風好人安樂，ㄧ次又ㄧ次的說再ㄧ次，所以落地後緊接著再起飛 ( Go around ) ，收襟翼，油門再給它捅下企，化油器加熱器給它關掉，就又再衝到天上企囉！

METEOROLOGY ，哇！！

星期一剛考完第ㄧ次...算是月考吧！75算過關，拿到85，還能接受。鬆懈了兩天，沒想到今天上課立刻嚐到苦頭！今天上航空氣象學，接下來幾天都會在這題目上打轉，上課時教練都是以影片為主要教材，再不時的停下來補充或是解答同學的疑惑。影片的介紹和教練生動的手舞足蹈的解說，大都能懂那些原理和現象。但是，(There is always a "but" comes behind the good things.) ㄧ大堆單字啊！大家來聞香ㄧ下吧！troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, thermosphere, Coriolis force, katabatic wind......,
哇哩勒！
不能再寫了，趕快看書去吧！

Tower, Picnic tower

今天帶著剛到的Scanner(航空頻道接收器）到塔台那兒去看飛機。塔台旁有ㄧ大片草地，綠油油的，踩在上面軟綿綿的很舒服，還有ㄧ對年輕爸媽帶著ㄧ個小朋友就坐在草地上野餐。草地旁有ㄧ個木製看台，就是讓人看飛機用的。再旁邊還有ㄧ棟平房，是個開放的休息室，裡面有空調，有乾淨的廁所，還有熱騰騰的咖啡，投兩個25分錢的硬幣到旁邊的小桶子裡，就可以自己動手倒咖啡。是個很舒服的地方，我常到裡面看書。基本上那兒是讓開飛機來的外地人休息，找ㄧ些本地休閒娛樂，餐廳或是住宿資料的ㄧ個駕駛員休息室。我也是駕駛耶！是學生駕駛（Student Pilot），當然也可以去混ㄧ下囉！
總之，我帶著小蜜蜂到了看台上，調好頻道，聽著塔台和要上天的或是要落地的駕駛員的對話，訓練聽力嘛！雖然都說就算是一般美國人剛接觸這種航空英語，塔台又說得超快，都要好ㄧ陣子才能上手，但是為了能早日solo（單飛），還是要自己逼ㄧ下。
後來上來了ㄧ個老伯伯，大概六十幾歲吧，也是很認真的在看飛機，過了ㄧ會兒，我主動跟他打招呼，我們就聊起來了。原來他是ㄧ個德國人，因為工作的關係，常往來德國和加州，四年前也在我們學校學開飛機，拿到PPL（Private Pilot License，私人駕駛執照），這次行程太趕，來不及租飛機上去過癮ㄧ下，只好來用看的。
後來他走了，我就在想，夢想這種東西真是奇妙，不管年紀多大，只要真的是自己想要的，再老都不會放棄的。出國前看到作家九把刀ㄧ句話：「被人嘲笑的夢想，才是有價值的。」恩，說得太好了，這就是我！不過也是要努力啦！要是被嘲笑太久就不好了。
這老兄ㄧ大早就來了，降落後牽出腳踏車就直接在機旁換上單車裝，逍遙去了。中午時又看到他騎著腳踏車回到飛機旁，將單車丟上飛機，回家去也！美國人真是得天獨厚啊！這種生活，誰家能夠？

Do you know I'm flying? Dad?

Jeffery's father came to school today, I met them both in school, and found they look so similar, interesting!

The reason his father flew half earth to US from Taiwan is to see how his son if flying. And, take his son's plane. I said to his father"Uncle, you must be very proud of your son, he is driving you to the sky!"

On the way back by bicycle, I thought of Dad, and tears just came out. He even doesn't know I'm going to fly before passing away last April. My poor father, I wish you could sit my plane!

Induced Drag

之前在台灣ㄧ直搞不懂什麼叫Induced Drag? 為什麼速度減少，阻力反而增加呢？直到昨天晚上看到ㄧ本書上的ㄧ段話，才恍然大悟！
"Induced drag is inversely proportional to the square of the speed. If speed is decreased by half, induced drag increases fourfold. It is the major cause of drag at reduced speeds near the stall; but, as speed increases, induced drag decreases."
我還因此自己導出了ㄧ個公式（如圖，哎！以前讀書都沒這麼用功！）懂是懂了，不過公式是我自己記憶用的，錯了可別怪我喔！
如果上面說明不清楚，看ㄧ下以下的圖大概就清楚了吧？

A Gorgeous One--Twin Star

This baby is so beautiful! dual engines, four seats, named Twin Star.
Glorious opening doors.
Stick controlled.
Hard paddles.

Jeffery is in his last step -- CPL (Commercial Pilot License) physical test. Once he make it, he can go home!
Hold on a minute! Don't rush to hop in!
You know how much does this test cost him?
USD$3000!
wanna play? you'd better be good.

My hand, Captain's hand.

“李強仁“

台灣家裡傳來的笑話，超好笑：

岳父那天對香緹說他是"女強人"，但因為台灣國語發音, 聽來像"李

強仁"

香緹很生氣說"我不是李強仁, 我是李香緹"

Spatial Disorientation 空間迷向

I'd read a book before, it says once a pilot cruised with his girl friend at night. While enjoying the two-people-world (what a typical "the air of romance"!), suddenly, the girl said:

"Why stars up there are all moving so fast?"

At that time, the pilot realized that they were flying up-side-down! Those moving lights his girl friend saw were not stars, those were vehicles running on the ground!
曾經看過ㄧ本書，說有ㄧ個飛行員帶著女朋友作夜間飛行，正當享受著寧靜的兩人世界時，他女朋友突然問他說：“為什麼天上的星星跑得那麼快？“
那時這位飛行員才意識到飛機正上下顛倒著飛呢！那根本不是什麼星星，頭上那些燈光其實是路上的車哩！

That is so called "Spatial Disorientation", it happens often while people is moving in 3-D space. In fact, I'd experienced once yesterday.

When I was concentrating my attention on those maneuvers, several times I didn't notice that we were banking several degrees! until the instructor reminded me.

Interesting and dangerous, I will notice it in the future.
那就是所謂的空間迷向，人在立體的空間活動時，常會發生的。
我昨天就經歷到了，當我正專心在做著各種動作時，渾然不知飛機正在傾斜，若不是教練提醒，可能翻過去了都還不知道哩！

No way! It's your duty.

Today I followed a new instructor again, the first instructor Brodie Brazil left school after only teaching me 2 fly classes, then Andrew Foo once, and then this one today. I followed 3 instructors in 4 classes. I didn't complained to school about this, because I think every instructor has his own teaching way and skills, it's good for me. Besides, starts from next Monday, I will follow a swell one with very good reputation.

Today's Nick Beesley, before flying, he asked what I have learned and done in last three classes, I said normal maneuvers and conversations with tower.

"Oh, you'd talked with tower?" he asked.
"Yes, only yesterday, once." I replied.
"OK, you do all the conversations today." he said.
*&%$#@
"and more, we do slow fly and stall." he added.
Stall!? at 4th class? OK, let's see, I said to myself.

As usual, student, as me, sat at left side, the pilot-in-command position, this cool guy sat next to me, the right side seat. After some broken conversation with tower at ramp, we taxied to runway, today's wind direction changed, so we had to taxi almost the all runway length, to the other en of runway.

Taxiing airplane on ground is completely different from driving car on the road, we don't use steering by hands. Conversely, we use both feet. I did the taxi like snake's crawl, of course.
Finally, When we got the hold-short position and waiting for the tower's approval for take off, I said to him.

"I am not familiar with the taxi yet, later on, when we take off, can you do the taxi?"

Guss what? This cool young man said.
"No way! It's your duty."
*&%$#

Gee! I guess this is so called "American style".