On the Edge of 17

Jan 21, 2017

We went to Perry’s Steakhouse (for steak of course)

One more year to go!!!!!

 

 

 

 

March 3, 2017:   Grant passed his checkride for

Private Pilot!

 

I guess the FAA Flight Examiner was worried about signing off on a 17 year old boy.

He grilled Grant for 3.5 hours on his aeronautical knowledge!

Then he tested him for 1.5 hours in the air!

Finally, the examiner had no choice but to admit that Grant was worthy and he signed the ticket.

We went to Ruth’s Chris to celebrate with steak and a glowing cheesecake!

 

Milestone:  Grant’s first IRS refund check.  $79!

 

 

 

 

March 15, 2017:  Grant’s first cross country as a private pilot.  I was his passenger.  We flew to Mustang Island (KRAS).  Here is his approach to runway 12.  I think Grant was using the water skiing type of approach.  If you land short, you sink in the big ditch.  If you over shoot, you sink in the bigger Gulf of Mexico!  Did you see the flock of white birds flying below us?

 

 

March 18, 2017:  Heart of Texas Air Show

 

 

April 16, 2017: Easter at the Capitol Grille

 

 

 

Grant’s flight to Addison: We loved being tormented by the rude ATC jerks in DFW airspace!

But the Brazilian steak at the end made it all worth it!  Kinda.

 

If the sun goes down on you, just follow the yellow brick road (I-35) back to Georgetown!

 

 

May 6, 2017:  Grant flies Paw Paw to Lockhart for some BBQ.  But……….

The crew car had a dead battery and the FBO was closed, so they had to hitchhike to the BBQ place.

 

It tastes better if you have to work for it!

 

May 29, 2017:  Straight As for 6 semesters in a row!!

 

 

Family Trip to Universal Studios: July 2017

 

Just keep flying…

August 14, 2017:  Cross Country flight to Galveston.  Grant got about 10 seconds of ACTUAL instrument time by accidentally flying into the clouds! Oops.  We were cleared to land on 18, but somehow found ourselves on final for 14.  double oops.  Galveston ATC is much nicer than Dallas ATC.  We made it to the Moody Gardens Aquarium.  Grant got yelled at by some aquarium girl for grabbing a stingray in the tank.  He might have killed a jellyfish too.  I don’t think it was dead though.  Just sleeping. 

 

 

October 9, 2017:  Flew cross country to Laredo for Machine Gun Monday (sponsored by the Sinaloa Cartel).

Grant got on the AK-47 and mowed down some zombies on full auto.

 

Texas A&M  Class of 2022!

Admitted!!!!!

 

 

November 19, 2017:  Cross Country flight to Llano

So we fly to Llano and land on the grass strip (which I am not sure we were allowed to do but it was fun so we did it).  Grant drove the Crew Car to Coopers BBQ to bring some brisket and turkey back for Teresa, but he smashed the front end of the car into a pole in the parking lot.  One of the pitmasters heard the noise and came out.  The damage was actually minor so we decided to do the right thing and blame it on the previous driver.  We flew back home and noticed this giant castle in the middle nowhere in Burnet.  It was Falkenstein Castle.  I flew down low to see if any weddings were going on. while Grant videoed the castle.  It reminded me of when I was young and I used to bulls-eye womp rats back home in my T-16  When we got back to Georgetown we were flying over the neighborhood, so Grant entered a low orbit over our house and called Teresa to come out (“Hey mom, look at me!”).  Georgetown ATC got mad and called us and told us to leave but Teresa got a good video just as we left.

 

 

Trip to NYC: December 2017

 

Jan. 5, 2017:  Traded in the pick-up truck!