phik

I’ve been working on my instrument rating in the simulator for a couple of weeks, making progress at a pace that is startling to both of us. I was prepared for another lesson in the sim, but with a bit of real instrument conditions hanging around, John gave me an hour’s notice to plan a short cross-country up to Sanford.

Bedford, MA (KBED) to Sanford, ME (KSFM) — 67nm
(alas, that link will stop working in 5 or 6 days)

Although it was my first IFR experience in an actual airplane, it went really well. I started getting approach vectors before I even got to Pease — not unexpected — but what was unexpected was how misleading and almost unreliable the Pease VOR is. It would swing back and forth from centered to full deflection every 20 or 30 seconds, making me start to wonder about whether one instrument or another was failing, but John said that it’s behaved that way for years. Pretty startling for what is supposed to be a trusted navigational beacon.

Anyway, we went to Sanford, got vectored to the runway 7 ILS, did a touch-and-go to make it a legal cross-country, then flew the missed approach anyway and went back to Bedford partial-panel. We don’t have a GPS in the simulator, so we took the opportunity to practice the GPS 23 approach into Bedford, and circled to land on 11.

The runway lights fading into view right in front of you as you start to emerge from the clouds at night is a pretty special sight.

I’m talking about Geddy. Geddy Lee. You know, from Rush? Of salesmen? OF SALESMEN!

Rush formed a preponderence of my teenage musical tapestry, so when Jacob took the initiative to secure tickets to tonight’s middle-aged rock-out, it was not a difficult decision.

I should have known that they’d be promoting a new album, though. With relatively few exceptions, I am not really a fan of anything they’ve produced since 1991 (though some of Counterparts was ok). I think I enjoyed one of their new songs.

Even their selections from the vast Rush back-catalog were mildly perplexing. One Little Victory? Mission? Honestly.

But somewhere in those three hours, there was enough meat that I didn’t feel cheated. One Rush concert per decade is just about right.

The new Air Canada section of Logan’s terminal B is terrible (jacob tells me it’s the former Delta space –ed). Though seemingly recently renovated, it’s way, way too small to hold waiting passengers for five flights — and it’s no longer adjacent to the United lounge in terminal C.

I hate it. But it’s just one more thing for me not to like about flying Air Canada, really. The camel’s back was broken long ago.