Monday, May 10, 2010

Medical Certificate Update

All I can say is ... GOT IT!!

Thank you Dr. Dr. Wirtz in Westlake. All of you pilots in the Cleveland area, I can vouch for this physician. Non-threatening, professional and down to earth. The staff was friendly and jovial also.

Best of all, I saved a LOT of money that translates to almost 2 hours of flying.

WOW ... as a Cleveland Clinic fan, I will have to stop bad mouthing University Hospitals.

‘It’s just a mess’

Difficult recovery ahead for Nashville airport
By Alyssa J. Miller

As Nashville residents return to their homes and offices to clean up from the recent flooding, tenants at Cornelia Fort Airpark headed to the airport May 6--not to assess the damage, but to figure out how to pick up and start over.

“It’s a loss that’s going to be hard to recover from, but we’re gonna try,” said Bill Colbert Jr., who joined the family business of running the privately owned, public-use airport 19 years ago after he retired from the military. His father has been involved with the airpark since it was founded in 1944 and has owned it since the 1950s.

The waters rose so quickly that only one of the 30 based aircraft escaped the damaging flood, but even it still had water in its tail and interior. The aircraft owner was able to move it to the highest point on the airport so that the engine at least remained out of the water.

“We did not expect it to crest at 13 feet above flood stage” at the airport, Colbert said, explaining that the airport, which is located next to the Cumberland River, has flooded before but never to this extent. “Today was the first day we were able to get back in the warehouse,” he said of the building housing the other family business, Colemill Enterprises, Inc., which offers charter services, airframe and avionics maintenance, conversions, and flight instruction.

As of May 6, other hangars on the field still had water in them, including one that housed two King Airs (at crest the water was up to the windshield on both), and the taxiway was completely submerged, but parts of the runway were starting to appear. A hill behind the Colemill building slid, causing further damage, and the airpark’s fuel tanks came loose, floating about 10 feet before coming to rest against a hangar.

The water, which rose to six to eight feet in some hangars, isn’t expected to fully recede from the airport until Saturday. Power likely won’t be restored for more than a week.

“Right now we’re just trying to get some professional companies in here to clean up,” Colbert said, “and then we’ll have to start rebuilding.”

John Mrzena, who works in the parts department at Colemill Enterprises, said the water was four to five feet deep in the parts room where he was starting the cleanup process, sanitizing tables and chairs in the office. “It’s just a mess,” he said.

Insurance brokers have started coming to the airpark to assess the aircraft where the water has receded enough. So far, all that have been inspected have been totaled.

Colbert has notified the FAA to issue a notam closing the airport. “It’s a pretty sad story,” he said. “It’s just going to take time” to clean up and reopen.


May 6, 2010
(This is where I took my first flying lesson when I was 14. This airport is on my list of places to fly to after I get my license.)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

GROUNDED!! And it's NOT my $*&@($ Fault!

Look, I am still upset over this so I didn't post, but a few have been asking me what is going on with my flying.

Here is the latest. On April 30th, my medical expired, thanks to some person at the Cleveland Clinic. After I got my okay from the FAA to take my medical exam, I immediately called the Clinic for my exam with the (AME) Aero Medical Examiner, the same AME I took the exam with initially.

When I showed up for my exam, I was advised that I had no appointment. Upon further review, it was found that someone in the Clinic cancelled my appointment instead of cancelling my eye exam appointment. It was an admitted error of the system, a 'common occurance' when using MyChart, which is the Clinic's program that allows patients to manage their appointments and other matters on line instead of calling in.

Well, I am human and so are staff members at the Clinic. Mostly all of them are professional. An error was made, no problem. I can come next week, no harm. Well, the scheduling system was showing that he was not available until June. Now, while I have not flown in MONTHS and I am anxious to be back in the air in the next 72 hours. But the 'Scheduling Gate Keeper' had other plans.

The 'Scheduling Gate Keeper' in a professional way told me "Tough $#!*" when I told her I can not wait until June. So, even though CCF screwed this up by their own admission, I still have to wait??

I will see another AME in the next week.