Alan’s photo’s from his December vacation in Iceland

New York, always a unique and fun place, is especially so at Christmas. Spirits are lightened (and flowing!), hearts are warm(er), the pace slows – just a little. There’s the sence that things are closing – ‘the books’, the year, the season. The feeling is one of relief plus the inevitable question – where did that year go?

The city celebrates through its buildings, with skyscraper tops painted in red and green lighting, snowflakes are projected across the Rockefeller Center and, at every opportunity, lights of all kinds bring the seasons shapes and symbols to life.

I was in the city the night ‘the tree’ was switched-on. Just three blocks from my hotel the Rockefeller Christmas Tree switch was thrown by the mayor, Lionel Ritchie and Alec Baldwin (don’t ask!), and the tree’s 30,00 lights were illuminated. I didn’t see the ceremony, the crowds were enormous and streaming by the hotel entrance, enough to make me keep my distance. Kids were in abundance, enjoying a night-in-the-city. NYPD were everywhere, but it was nice evening and the festive season prevailed.

Wall Street and the NY Stock Exchange joins the party with its own tree, though not as prestigious nor the quality of the Rock Center.

I like NY, it knows how to enjoy!

Just ’skyped’ with Alan, he’s getting ready for the next leg of the tour – Japan

For a 13 year-old English Lab Spencer is doing very well. He’s active, always eager to go on walks or to play and he gets on so well with Jackson, the pup (at 15 months), his close buddy. Thirteen makes him in his mid-eighties, when compared to us.

Recently he has gone totally deaf and for some time he’s developed small bumps and lumps in many areas of his torso, all of which are thankfully benign. He needs to be helped upstairs and sleeps extra soundly and deeply. He’s as pleasant as ever and continues to be one-in-a-million canine companion for us all. The medication he’s on have helped perk him up and increased his activity level and he can be seen breaking into a run on occasions. He still collects the newspaper from the end of our driveway, though the Sunday editions – with the added weight of all the adverts, inserts etc – are just too much.

Mention the ‘T’ word (treat) and you’ll have his full attention. Mention ‘Paper’ or ‘Letters’ and he’ll make a dash for the end of the driveway, or the mailbox. We think he’s lip-reading.

Jackson is, well – he’s a pup. He’s really well behaved, very obedient (for a pup) and very cute. His expressions are hilarious, he’s interested in anything and everything. He loves to run and is very, very fast. He has a liking for sticks, twigs and brances and wont return from a jaunt up the garden without one or many. He’s built up quite a collection of twigs and branches.
He found the pool this summer and spent many a happy hour cruising around, jumping in for footballs and anything that floats. Both he and Spencer loved to cool off with a quick circuit of the pool or, in Spencers case, soaking his undercarraige by dozing on the pools steps in about foot of water.

The keep us entertained and are fabulous friends and companions.

Part 2 – flying the plane! Had a tough but enjoyable and rewarding day’s training, flying the aircraft over Long Island and New York state. I’m really pleased with the Cirrus, it’s fast and loaded with top-line equiment and functions that would be seen on any jet. Putting all this together, in the right sequence and to complete the task at hand is the goal!

Some good photos of J and my flight up to and over NY, and back to N57:

We have the Cherokee Six up for sale. Details here.

Briefly; Piper PA32-300 N3011X. Serial No: 32-7940093. Manufactured 1979. Engine: Lycoming IO540-K1G5, serial: RL-15755-48A, 300hp. Prop: 3-blade Hartzell HC-C2Y (2004). Range: 85 gallons. IFR Aircraft; Garmin 530, S-Tec 55X autopilot, HSI, Nexrad weather radar (2002). Tanis Heater System (2003). Green and white, gold trim, paintwork in very good condition (2001). Six seats, club-style, headset connections at all seats. Leather Interior, carpeting, beige, excellent condition (2001). Comm system facilitates cabin music and music cut-out. Air Conditioning and integrated fan. Doors Seals, inflatable. Large baggage capacity, rear and front. Cockpit and cabin cover (Bruce’s). Electric mains tug. Hangared.

Just back from the 24th Annual Col. Bengt Ljundquist Memorial Championship Finals hosted by the Virginia Dressage Association at the Virginia Horse Center. It is an impressive place, lots of stabling, indoor riding arenas, covered arenas and outside rings, plus the Coliseum which has a huge arena at ground level, grandstand seating and a 2nd level shopping and dining area.

Valentino did very well with all the distractions and especially fun was a practice ride I had in the Coliseum on the first day, he was very comfortable in there and I had a lovely canter all the way around. I was very happy with my rides, we made some improvements on our last showing and we came home with two 6th place ribbons out of classes of about 15.
Beautiful fall weather, lovely scenery, fall foliage and excellent company made for a memorable weekend. Can’t wait to do it all over again!

Low and slow (and quiet), viewing fall foligae from 1500ft is spectacular. The Citabria is perfect for this, great visibility, slow-flight-capable.

My photo’s.

Started my required training for the Cirrus SR-22, using Glass Cockpit Aviation New York (Republic Airport, Long Island). J (my aircraft partner and co-owner) flew us there and had some training himself. Good flight over New Jersey, south of Manhattan, over JFK airport and into Republic.

GCA has a Cirrus simulator, one of two in the country. With winds gusting during the afternoon to 38mph we used the sim! J and I flew home that evening, after winds had subsided.

Delaware Air National Guard had its Open House and Air Show this weekend, a really nice event. Neil and I enjoyed a beautiful if breezy day (~17knots), strong local turnout that made the food lines long but the flightline manageable.

Lots to see, with the static display including C-130’s, the always-impressive Galaxy C-5 (2nd largest aircraft in the world?), jets, vehicles…the usual stuff.

The Air Show was very good and rivalled a lot of other shows of late. Highlights included the B-2 bomber (meanacingly quiet), and the F-22 Raptor (incredible maneuverability). Great show. Now I know wher my hefty tax dollars go!

My photo’s.

In late September I traveled back to Asia, returning to Singapore and then on to Mumbai (Bombay) and Bangalore, India. This was a business trip, meeting with colleagues in the three locations and touring our new facilities in the Indian cities.

I reached Singapore courtesy of Singapore Airlines 18 hours non-stop flight over the north pole, down through Russia, China, Mongolia and Thailand. The flight passed surprisingly well, though the combination of eating, working and sleeping had to be carefully managed. A choice of 60 films to watch helped and I was able to catch-up on some I’d missed.

Singapore always impresses. Clean, orderly, secure, managed. Beautiful skyline, modern and aged buiding inter-mixed. Wonderful food, fascinating people.

India – quite an experience. It’s wrong to overlay western standards and then to comment on the differences. It’s wrong but difficult not to do so. Impressions – traffic, people, poverty and wealth, heat, energy, drive, enthusiasm, people and even more traffic.

My photo’s: Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore

Away for 10 days, Lynne and I connected most evenings over Skype video-conferencing from my hotel rooms. It made a big difference and helped a lot. Seeing Jackson & Spencer, the house etc made it easier somehow.

I traveled back through Heathrow, 10 hours from Bangalore, lay-over of 4 hours in Heathrow (I called mum!), 8 hours to Philly and home!

Hope to be flying a Cirrus SR22 GTS by month-end