Summer 09 is lookin' fine

Time for another update! It's been a busy spring so far between work and flying. Thankfully, now I can say that the load has been lightened as I have completed the requirements for my Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane rating. My checkride came up a lot quicker than I expected. I figured that I had at least a couple weeks of flying left to do, but my instructor felt I was ready. I felt a little under prepared, but I knew that just mean I had a lot of studying to do. Fortunately I had Wednesday and Thursday off from work and my checkride was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. I took Wednesday to study the book knowledge that was required of me and Thursday morning I went up with an instructor to just get comfortable in the airplane again. I'm glad I did because the last time I flew was the 11th of May. I even got some actual instrument time (flying in the clouds) on Thursday. Before that, I hadn't flown in actual since December 16, 2006!
After the refresher flight, my instructor helped me get all my paper work in order. I went home for lunch and to grab a couple things before going back out for my checkride. My checkride was conducted by a check instructor from Davenport. He made the trip up to Dubuque because he was testing another student from Dubuque also. It was nice not having to pay to fly down to Davenport. We started with a few questions to test my knowledge. We talked about some instrument procedures and regulations. When he was satisfied with the oral portion we hopped in the plane for the practical portion. The flight consisted of slow flight, stalls, unusual attitudes, a GPS hold, followed by a GPS approach and a ILS approach. Now if you're thinking to yourself, gosh, I wish I knew what he was talking about, shoot me an email or send me a comment. I figured I'd spare the rest of you ALL of the details. And that does it! Afterward, he signed my paperwork and gave me a temporary license. My real one comes in the mail in a couple weeks. For those of you who haven't experienced this before, it doesn't feel official until you have it in plastic. So for now, I try to pay off all that I've spent since my loan money dried up. I also plan to start sending out my resume despite the dismal short term outlook.
This summer I'm looking forward to traveling a little more than I have been recently. Not flying should free up my schedule enough to visit some of the places on my list. Last week, I had the opportunity to go back to Pella for Amanda's graduation. This trip was long awaited because I had not been back since December for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. I left on Friday from work giving myself just enough time to grab a sandwich at the house before the commencement ceremony. I went to a family friend's grad party on Friday night and saw quite a few people that I hadn't talked to in a while. After Amanda's graduation party on Saturday morning, I went golfing with Dad and Grandpa and Grandma Erickson who flew up from Florida. Not my best outing, but I can't expect much when I haven't played in over a year. Saturday night, I got to hang out with Jacob, who I hadn't seen for a while either. We went out to eat at George's. It was a tough decision between that and Pizza Ranch because I had been craving both. I went to early church with Mom before heading out on Sunday morning. So it was a short, but sweet 40 hours in Pella. I left from work and got back just in time to work again on Sunday.

Sun Country Slip-Up

It's been a while since anything exciting has happened in Dubuque. Unfortunately, the latest excitement was due to an incident at the airport this week. Sun Country Airlines was operating a return charter flight from Las Vegas to Dubuque for all the local gamblers who just can't get their fix from the new Diamond Jo Casino and the Mystique (formerly the Dubuque Greyhound Park and Casino). The plane arrived as scheduled around 9:30pm on Thursday night. American Eagle ground handles the flight because they have a larger staff, and more appropriate equipment to load and unload the Boeing 737-800. They also are trained to use the jet bridge, whereas our Mesaba employees do not use the jet bridge in Dubuque because it is not compatible with our aircraft.
After landing, Sun Country turned off of the runway to taxi to the gate, but the pilot misjudged the turn and the main landing gear went off the pavement into an area of mud. With a full load of passengers and bags, the aircraft sunk into the mud. It did not cause a big emergency, but all the bags and passengers had to be unloaded where the plane stopped. Fortunately, there is a bus charter company located across they road from the airport. Several buses were brought down to bring the passengers to the terminal. The bags were loaded onto the bag carts and delivered to the waiting passengers.
Meanwhile, our plane called into range. I advised them of the situation and told them to plan accordingly. They were able to land safely on the other runway and taxi to the gate. Shortly after our plane arrived, American Eagle's flight from Chicago arrived. So their agents had to divide their efforts and work their scheduled flight while attending to the Sun Country passengers and plane.
The good news is that no one was injured in the Sun Country ordeal and the aircraft was not damaged. The plane was scheduled to return to Minneapolis with a load of passengers yet that night but they ended up having to take a bus. Crews worked all night to dig the B737 out of the mud. I was told the next day that they had pulled the plane out by 5am. They parked the aircraft between Mesaba's gate and the University of Dubuque's ramp. That afternoon I learned that they were flying a new crew from Minneapolis on our flight to reposition the Sun Country aircraft back to Minneapolis. My guess is that the pilots from the night before may have been on temporary suspension until everything got sorted out. I doubt that they would have been in serious trouble and I don't think there would be any chance of termination.
Everything else is fine with me. I'm still working on my CFII. The spring weather has limited my flight time, but I should be done shortly. The school year at UD is coming to a close. Students have finals this week. My new roommate, Joel, has begun moving his stuff in for the summer. The next exciting news will hopefully be Amanda's graduation at the end of May. I plan to be home for at least some of Memorial Day weekend. I may or may not get another post in before then. Depends what else happens here.

A few more pictures. (Located on page 2.)