A Professional Pilot?

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I’m not impressed.

Yesterday, my friend Ray flew me down to Mesa, AZ, in his airplane so I could pick up my helicopter, which was down there for its big annual inspection. While we were taxiing from Ray’s hangar to Runway 23 in Wickenburg, we heard the following exchange between two pilots on Wickenburg’s frequency:

Premier 1-2-3 (not the exact call sign; Premier is a small “corporate” jet): Wickenburg, this is Premier 1-2-3. Is there anyone there?

PanAm 5 (not the exact call sign; PanAm is a flight school based at Deer Valley Airport (DVT) that does a lot of practice landings at Wickenburg): This is PanAm 5 at Wickenburg.

Premier 1-2-3: Can you tell me the winds down there?

PanAm 5: The winds are shifting around a little, but they’re mostly out of the southwest at about 5 or 6 knots.

Premier 1-2-3: Oh, great. Thanks….So that means you’re using Runway 26 down there? Is that the runway number?

PanAm 5: It’s actually Runway 23.

Premier 1-2-3: Oh, thanks. We don’t have any approach charts or anything for Wickenburg so we’re kind of flying by the seat of our pants.

Yes, he really said that.

The radio went quiet for a few moments, then another pilot called to say he was 5 miles north, inbound for landing.

Premier 1-2-3: Premier 1-2-3 is about 3 miles south. We’ll be making left traffic for Runway 23.

Pan Am 5: Actually, it’s right traffic for Runway 23 at Wickenburg.

Premier 1-2-3: Okay. Thanks. Right traffic for Runway 23.

At this point, the FBO attendant came on the radio to provide wind and unofficial altimeter setting information. (It’s a good thing the altimeter setting is unofficial, since it’s off by nearly 100 feet.) She asked if the jet wanted fuel on landing and he told her he didn’t, that he was just dropping off some passengers.

We were holding short behind a PanAm plane when the jet came in, zipping past us. He was nearing the other end of the runway where the terminal was when the FBO woman came on again to ask if he knew where to park to discharge his passengers. He told her he’d been there before, then advised everyone that he was off the runway.

Ray and I had been discussing this jet pilot’s lack of professionalism while we were waiting. Both of us knew that one of a pilot’s responsibilities for a flight, as stated in Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR’s). From Section 91.103, Preflight Action: “Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight.” Surely that must include runway numbers (which are determined by magnetic course headings) and traffic pattern information. This information is available on the Sectional Chart and in the Airport/Facilities Directory, both of which are required to be on board for commercial flights. They’re also available on the Web on various airport information Web sites and on the FAA’s Web site. Heck, I’m a helicopter pilot and I’m supposed to avoid fixed wing traffic when I land at airports, yet I usually know the runway numbers and traffic pattern information just so I can get an idea of where planes might be.

This guy simply hadn’t done his homework.

The PanAm plane in front of us took off. Ray rolled onto the runway. As the PanAm plane drifted to the north of the centerline (likely because of the wind), we took off and headed south.

I’ve since given the exchange a bit more thought. What if the Jet was arriving after 4 PM, when the FBO was closed, and the traffic pattern was empty. Where would he have gotten his information. He was only 5 miles out on his first call; would he have had time to look at his chart or A/FD? Or would he have assumed Runway 26 from memory, made a left traffic pattern low over the homes on the southeast and east sides of the airport, and adjusted his approach only when he realized he was on the wrong heading — 30° off? Approaching at a heading of 260 would have put him right over the homes on Broken Arrow Road — the homes of people already complaining about noise now that the runway is 1500 feet closer to their homes. Would his action have had a long-term impact on the airport?

The point here is, all pilots are responsible for gathering information about the flight — including the airport they intend to land at. This guy acted irresponsibly and was fortunate enough to have people on the ground that could provide him with the information he needed.

But as any pilot knows, you’re not always lucky. You need to do your homework before you get on board and start the engines.

Gift Giving

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Buying the right gift.

I stumbled upon an article in Slate Magazine titled “The Sovereign vs. the Idiot: What kind of gift-giver are you?” by Joel Waldfogel. Its lead paragraph includes the following factoid:

Most of the time, people choose purchases for themselves and only buy things that they expect to value at or above the price they pay. With gifts, by contrast, recipients end up with items that givers guess that the recipients might appreciate.

The result of all this, according to the article, is that we often pay more than we should for items that may or may not be appreciated by the recipients. In other words, we don’t get as much satisfaction for our money. The article, which is about the economics of gift giving goes into more details.

The article brings me back to the days when Christmas shopping was a chore that required multiple trips to department stores and malls for gifts that would allow me to check off names on a list. In those days, the main concern was the people on the list, my budget, and what each recipient might like. Not would like, mind you. Might like. In those days, it seemed more important to check off the names than to get a truly appropriate and appreciated gift. I bought a lot of crap from those department store displays — you know, the rotating tie racks, the scarf and glove sets, the gift-packaged cologne. Easy gifts chosen by the store’s marketing department rather than the giver, generic gifts of the one-size-fits-all variety.

I was younger then. Not busier, but younger and less wise. Since then, I’ve realized that gift giving is more than just checking off names on a list. It’s finding the right gift for each person.

In my family, we cheat. In late November, we e-mail each other a list of items we’d like to get. Sometimes we include links to the items online. This is even easier if we maintain an Amazon.com wish list (as I do) or some other gift registry. Then we discuss it with each other to make sure there are no duplicates and shop online.

For example, suppose my sister in law had a wish list at the Gap that included 5 different items. I’d go check out her wish list and see that my budget allowed me to buy her two of them. (I always pick the ones that I like, too.) I’d then e-mail my sister and mother and tell them which items I was buying so neither of them would buy the same thing. They might each buy something else on the Gap list or perhaps something from another list. As a result, my sister in law would get exactly what she wanted with no duplicates.

It goes the same way with big gifts. Suppose my brother wanted some heavy-duty power tool. The price tag might be beyond what I’d normally spend, but if my sister chipped in, we could get it together. He’d get exactly what he wanted and my sister and I would both be done shopping for him within minutes.

In my case, Christmas shopping has become very easy. Not only do I buy just about all my gifts online these days, but I have them shipped right to the recipient. In the case of family members this year, they’re shipped right to the place the recipients will be — at my mother’s house. (She has already confirmed receipt of two of the three packages that will arrive.) If I was there, I’d take them from their shipping boxes and wrap them. But since I’m not, the shipping boxes become the wrapping. True, it’s not as attractive, but no one seems to mind. The only thing I miss is seeing the recipient’s faces as they pull out the gifts they really wanted.

I actually give gifts year-round. Not every day or week, mind you. Just occasionally. You know how it is. You go on vacation and see a shirt that’s perfect for a friend. There’s no reason for a gift, but the match is so good you can’t resist. So you buy it and bring it to your friend. I did this after my Thanksgiving trip. We’d been to a place called “Stan’s” and they sold t-shirts that said, in big letters, “If found, return to Stan’s” on the back of the shirt. I have a friend named Stan and I thought he’d get a kick out of it. So we bought it and gave it to him. I have another friend that we tease with SpongeBob SquarePants items. Every time I see something cool (but small; he lives in a fifth wheel), we pick it up for him. Gifts like these are seldom expensive, but they’re usually a good (or at least fun) match for the recipient. I get more pleasure out of giving these random gifts than Christmas or birthday gifts. I think it’s because it’s unexpected by the recipient and it makes them feel just a tiny bit special to be thought of for no apparent reason.

And isn’t that what gift giving is about? Making the recipient feel as if you’ve been thinking about him/her and what he/she might like?

The Firm

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Better than I thought it would be.

The FirmThe other day, The Firm with Tom Cruise, arrived in my mailbox from Netflix. This 1993 “thriller” is based on a book of the same name by John Grisham.

The movie was a lot better than I expected. (I have very low expectations these days.) It was about a newly graduated lawyer (Cruise) who accepts a too-good-to-be-true offer with a Memphis-based law firm. Unknown to Cruise’s character, the firm’s clients are the Chicago-based mafia. It appears that there’s no way out of the firm.

There’s lots of suspense that, in all honesty, is softened by the soundtrack. In other words, the music is all wrong. With the right music, certain scenes would have been a lot scarier than they were. Oddly enough, I’ve never picked up on this kind of problem before — it was just so darn obvious in this movie that even I couldn’t miss it.

It was interesting to see Tom Cruise so young again. It reminded me a little of his Risky Business days. The movie also features Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, and Gary Busey (in a short-lived — pun intended — role).

An Evening Out

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We visit a friend above town.

Last night, my husband and I spent the evening with a friend who lives part-time in Wickenburg. His house sits on a ridge overlooking the town.

As I drove up the road that led to his home, I felt I was rising above the scum that floats just below the surface of Wickenburg, the scum of small-town politics, corruption, and business owners being threatened for signing petitions that support their personal beliefs.

Our friend, Tom, can’t live full-time in Wickenburg. He simply can’t get the things he needs to live comfortably. So he has a condo in the Deer Valley area of Phoenix, near where his business is based. He comes to Wickenburg to work on his house, which he’s systematically torn apart and put back together over the past three years, working with one contractor after another to get each job done. By the looks of things, he’s about 80% finished. He shops in Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Phoenix before he comes to Wickenburg, bringing up organic groceries to stock his kitchen and incredible wines to stock his in-wall wine “cellar.”

I used to try to get Tom to move his business up to Wickenburg, to build a building in the town’s industrial park and operate out of there. But he would tell me that he has a great staff in Deer Valley and he knows they wouldn’t commute up here. He doesn’t want to lose them. Now, after thinking about it for a long time and seeing the hurdles a small business needs to jump to get set up in Wickenburg — I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to get an office at the airport for my helicopter charter business for more than eight months — I don’t nag him about it anymore. I wouldn’t want to push him to a decision that would make him unhappy.

Tom’s ridgetop home offers stunning views in every direction, marred only by the power lines APS recently strung along another ridge nearby. The poles and wires are a heartbreak to Tom, who bought the house because of the incredible views. He’s angry because APS had an alternative route, one that would have taken the power lines through unoccupied areas of town where they wouldn’t be such an eyesore to residents. But APS took the easy route, following the edge of state land. Although I agree that they hurt his view, the situation is even worse for the homes they pass near. Literally dozens of homes were affected by the power line installation. But although he’s complained to APS and the Town of Wickenburg, no one seems to care.

We spent the evening listening to classical music and jazz, drinking wine, making dinner, and looking out at the lights of Wickenburg far below us. Tom’s view of the town at night is just like mine from the helicopter as I come into Wickenburg at the end of one of my moonlight dinner tours. He remarked at how many more lights there are now than there were just three years ago when he bought his home. “Imagine how the difference is to us,” I told him. “We’ve been here ten years.”

At Tom’s house, I felt so far removed from town, like I was in another place. A place where culture, fine wine, and quality food were an important part of everyday life, not something to be treated to once in a while. The air seemed somehow cleaner up there, the political situation not so dirty, the conversation more educated and interesting. It was as if we’d left Wickenburg and stepped into a city home. Not necessarily a Phoenix home, mind you. Perhaps one in New York, high above Second Avenue and 60th Street.

The feeling stuck with me all evening as I sipped wine chosen by my host, minced fresh garlic for the garlic bread, and ground sea salt over my soba noodles. Less than two miles as the crow flies from my home, I was in another world.

Zorro: A Novel

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by Isabel Allende

Zorro: A NovelI just finished Zorro: A Novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende. It’s the story of Zorro before all the other stories: the story of his parents, his birth, and his upbringing. It covers the first 20 years of his life, from California to Spain, and back to California by way of New Orleans and Cuba.

It was an interest read — and not just because of the author’s skill. Originally written in Spanish, the author writes in very long paragraphs — sometimes more than a page each — which can cover a huge span of time and many events. This is very different from the way American authors write in short paragraphs, punctuated with lots of dialog. The pages look dense and forbidding, but the story jumps out of those paragraphs and proves very entertaining, with lots of historical facts to add realism.

I recommend this book to others who like a good adventure with a familiar character.