Wednesday, March 30, 2011

He has arrived

Aaron Benjamin Schmidt has arrived.  He came at 6pm on Monday night weighing in at a hefty 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long.  Renae is doing just fine and has returned home when Aaron was only a day old.  There were no complications and we are very thankful that so many of you prayed for us and Aaron.

What chubby cheeks he has
Getting warm under the heat lamp
Sleeping after a hard day of labor
The proud parents
Caleb meeting his brother for the first time

Till next time,
The Schmidts





Friday, March 4, 2011

Stearman Flight

Today I got to do my first stearman flight and aerobatic flight. I had a BLAST, doing a couple of aileron rolls, loops and a hammer head. The weather was so beautiful after being rainy/snowy that there was no excuse not to go flying when I was asked.


With an open cockpit and a rumbling 450hp radial engine in front it didn't take long to leap into the air and start clawing up into the sky. I don't think I could wipe the grin off my face if I wanted to.  This was definitely an experience that I don't want to forget.



Thanks Jay for the ride!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Teaching in Sub Zero

Just like the mail man motto, "in rain or shine, snow or blizzard..." snow and wind didn't stop class time.  I dragged out those poor students, from the warmer hemispheres, for PT6 engine runs.  

They were good sports about it even though it was around -7 degrees with wind chill. They even said they learned something about the engine while they were losing feeling to their toes. Now before you label me a "mad professor" or something worse I want to point out that I was out there freezing with them.  Due to having only a limited amount of time with our students that fly in from all over the world. Weather can hinder some of the  learning opportunities, but I think we just made some memories for Dave and Jon to take back with them.
 Here is a short clip of a startup of the PT6 engine



 Not all of my teaching had to be done outside in the snow.  I picked up a section in Kodiak Systems and taught about autopilot operations.  It was my first time and it seemed to go pretty well, although I was a little nervous teaching guys that have already 1000's of flight hours of experience. Later there is a possibility to take more sections of the systems course later to help relieve some of Ken Smoll's work load.  It is amazing how much more you learn about a subject when you have to teach it rather than just sitting in a class and learning. At the moment my responsibilities have returned to developing some more curriculum while the students finish up different courses and return home.



Till next time,

The Schmidt's