davedlg

Here is the FAA airport diagram. After looking at it, I understand how that mistake could be made. What a tragic mistake. edit: here is the link.

Adding it up is relatively simple: A cessna 172 will run from $75 to $100 per hour, instruction will run from $30 to $50 per hour, books materials will run from $400 to $800 depending on what you buy. Club enrolment fees and dues also need to be added in, that might run you anywhere from $0 to $1000 depending on where you go. You will end up with about 40 to 70 hours of flight time by the time it is all said and done with about 10-15 of those hours will be solo. So adding that all up, on the low end you are looking at $4500 on the low end and well over $10k on the high end.

I am in the middle of getting my license right now. $10k really isn't all that outrageous once you add everything up. I think I am going to end up spending somewhere around $8k. When you solo depends a lot on your instructor and your flight school's policies. For example, at my school we had to be performing within PTS for all the PPL maneuvers and you have to do a check ride with a senior pilot before you can solo. I soloed at 23 and that is considered early for where I am learning. Getting your license in 40 hours is very optimistic in most cases. 60 is more on par with what is average. I'm not saying it can't be done, it is just rare. Flying out of a smaller, noncontrolled airport as well as staying very current (several flights a week) are also things you can do to reduce the amount of time it will take. As Phreezone said, showing up with the FAA written test under you belt will also help a lot too.

I got very lucky with a very scary potential mal yesterday and I am still here today

Are you running XP Pro or XP Home? (or other?) We run both Pro and Home in our office. Pro works much, much better from a file sharing perspective. The computers that run Home are always having problems. I think Microsift did this on purpose to get more people pay the $100 upgrade to pro.

If the person is not breathing, then you would probably need to *very carefully* remove the helmet. Breathing takes priority over preventing a neck injury. If you happen to have a CPR mask that can get through the open face, then you could try doing that first. Remember, if you are doing CPR on someone, they are already dead and you have only a small chance of "bringing them back" as it is. The prevention of a neck injury, while important is not paramount in this situation.

There is also a LazyDog in Denver at Colorado and I-25, if you don't want to make the trek up to Boulder.

Woody's is a chain with locations all over the metro area. I find their wings to be mediocre. Maybe I should try them again sometime....

I've lived here my whole life and still haven't found a place worth raving about. Edited to add: typing "Best wings in Denver" into Google gives multiple links to... Luciano's Pizza and Wings 1043 Broadway Denver, CO 80203 (303) 446-2424 Never been there myself...

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=189d522a-0abe-421a-00f3-dded5288de58&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf Wow...As a former Boulder resident, I never thought they'd solve the case.

Glad to hear the job search is going well for you!! Good luck on the next interview!

Only one suggestion... 1. Jump 2. Pack 3. Repeat

Thanks for the congrats everyone! It really didn't seem like such a big deal at the time, but looking back on it, it's definatly something I'll remember forever...just like my first solo jump. It sounds like there are a number of us working on PPL right now. Keep us updated on your progress!

How much did that cost to install? (and how much can us mere-electrical engineering mortals install it for?)

www.lucidity.com

True. I did live in Summit Cove for a year though. Sometimes I miss it, other times I am happy here in the Denver Area.

I call BS. I know where that is and there are no houses there Besides, that would make for a slippery commute on a quite a few winter days. Not to mention that road gets closed frequently during winter storms. Of course you probably meant figurative backyard...

Very True. My skydiving has definatly suffered because of flying.

Nope, I didn't get my shirttail cutoff. I never got pied for 100 jumps either. (I did wear an old shirt just in case.) Here are the pics since you asked for em'

I was really surprised how fast the plane climbed without the instructor in it. The plane I flew is known for being terrible at climbing because it has a cruise prop. With the instructor I would just barely get to pattern altitude in time to pull the throttle back and start the decent. Without the instructor, I reached pattern altitude before turning downwind every time. My first landing was probably the best one I have made to date. It was my second one that could have used some work.

It's been a longtime goal of mine to get a Private Pilot's license. This morning I accomplished one of the major objectives on that path - the first solo. I flew a cessna 172 born in the same month of the same year in the same town I was. I had only a brief moment's hesiatation upon hearing from the tower, "Two Four Seven Four Echo, you are cleared for takeoff runway One Seven Left." I kept expecting something out of the ordinary to happen so I would have a good first solo story. Alas, it was not to be. Just 3 times around the pattern and back to the ramp. Any pilots out there have a good first solo story?

It looks like a crown fire. Crown fires are GOOD things for the forest. They renew the life in the forest by recycling the trees while leaving the nutrients in the soil. This is part of the natural cycle of the forest. Within a few years the landscape will be dominated by saplings, 15 years down the line, the trees will be maturing and looking like a smaller versioin of what was there before. In 25 years, you won't be able to tell there was a fire there. It can get really bad when these crown fires don't happen. This is usually due to the fact that we humans stop the fires before they run their natural course. Of course we stop them, we can't have them burning down our mountain homes now can we? As the forest goes longer and longer without a fire, the underbrush thickens. More and more fuel is generated that should have burned on a regular cycle. Until one year there is a drought. Now the whole forest is bone dry. And there is lots of fuel to burn. When a fire starts, there is almost nothing we can do to stop it. There is too much fuel. It burns much hotter then a normal crown fire. It consumes everything. Nothing is left...not even the nutrients in the soil. We have had several of these fires in Colorado in recent years. Walking in the burn areas is like walking on the moon. The forest floor has been baked into a crust. Nothing will grow here. Then it rains...everything gets washed away...entire towns included. This forest won't be back to normal for many decades. It may not recover in any of our life times. This is what is sad.

YO! I believe you owe me a beer.... I can collect it in Denver....

It's weakening, barely a tropical storm now. It'll be a lowly depression by the end of the day. It isn't expected to cause any big problems.

You can now get the ski passes pretty much all summer. They've added a bunch of incentives to try to get you to buy your pass at the end of the previous season. The prices have slowly been creeping up since the very low prices several years ago, but they are still a good deal if you ski a lot. Gart Brothers is now "sports athority" but as far as I can tell they haven't changed much. I hope they don't take SNIAGRAB away...I got a lot of good deals there in years past.