1. Today was the first day of autumn. Still feels like summer here, except in the evenings. I really should buy a jacket before it gets too<\/i> cold.<\/p>\n
2. Did anyone catch the news coverage of the plane with the landing gear problem at LAX last night? That pilot did us proud. I doubt I could manage a landing that beautiful in the 172 with fully functional undercarriage. The runway will probably be out of commission for a while, though, while they repair the trench left by the nose gear stub. The news coverage was the typical sensationalism, and a lot of it seemed almost let down that the act of landing itself was so uneventful. Another case study on the American media, I suppose.<\/p>\n
3. Had a little bit of excitement yesterday vis-a-vis the flight program here at PBC, and not the good kind. It turns out that after much deliberation the board of trustees of the college recently voted to end the missionary aviation program. The board cited a number of reasons including rising fuel and liability costs and in their view the troubled future of missionary aviation in general. It won’t affect current students, including myself–they’re phasing out the program over a number of years–but we don’t yet know what to tell prospective students about the status of things for next year. All the administration, instructors and students at MAI (Missionary Aviation Institute–the airport and everything associated with the flight program) share a completely different view of things than PBC’s board of trustees, but…the board has come to the conclusion that missionary aviation isn’t the college’s thing any more, so that’s that. There are many reasons for this, and I can provide them if you’re curious. MAI actually used to be an independent entity, and could very well become one again if the college exercises wisdom in what they do with the airport and to the brand new hangar, both of which they hold the deeds to. We’ll see. There’s a college-wide picnic down at the airport tomorrow evening and all the aviation people are going to gather together to discuss the situation. I’ll know more then.<\/p>\n
4. This new “TimesSelect” feature started by the New York Times online site<\/a> is pissing me off. Firstly it’s a ripoff, and secondly I don’t have unencumbered access any more to the inane ramblings of lovely columnists like Maureen Dowd or Bob Herbert. Oh well.<\/p>\n