Catchup Post

Well, its been quite a while since my last post. Quite a lot has happened - but I’ll break it down in a nutshell.

1) I finally got my Commercial Pilots License. The down side is that I had to do it through another training organisation. My flight school (National Aerospace Training) closed their doors and didn’t provide me with the training they should have. This means I had to pay out of pocket (again) for 10 hours in a C172RG and then pay for my CPL test/flight. This also means that I’ll never get my multi-engine endorsement or my instrument rating - which had already been paid for. End result, I’m down ~$35,000AUD in total - and will have to pay out of pocket again for any further training. Urgh.

2) I’ve still been working on my Xen packages for EL6. I’m currently building a new Xen version to fix a few security issues that have just been made public 11 hours ago.

3) I’ve stepped back down to Vice President of Pegasus Endurance now. We are still running an FEI event in a few weeks time, and trying to convince the state body (VERA) to endorse a national level competition as well. Endurance Riding really does seem to be a dying sport - but its not for lack of trying or enthusiasm - just a lack of events. I’ve also been busy helping out with 3 x fundraising BBQs to help finance some of the events planned throughout the year.

4) Out of a pure chance encounter, I’ve started doing some work on a 737-800 based flight sim in Niddre. Jet Flight Simulator Melbourne has opened their doors as of January. This sim is great fun - and good for practising instrument flying. I think its probably as close as you can get without jumping in a real aircraft. Pic for goodness:

A quick photo of the cockpit of the 737-800 based simulator

So all in all, a lot has been going on - and sadly, its meant I haven’t posted here that often. Lets see if I can try to update my blog more often, eh? :)