Category Archives: Personal

The Smell of Sunshine

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Joe Clark

To me, traveling from one point precisely to another is fascinating. Navigation is easy to understand when traveling on the surface of the earth. It is a simple matter of following directions. In other words, you can travel down Highway … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, History, Life in General, Personal | Tagged a little too cocky, becoming lost, checkpoints, determine direction, draw a line on a chart, following directions, Fort Meade, going from point A to point B, holding airspeed, Lake Wales, measure distance, navigation, navigation at sea, new student pilots dependent on GPS, Piper Cub, setting a heading, technology failure, the compass rose, The Smell of Sunshine | 4 Comments

Learning to Read

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Joe Clark

I always knew I was going to be a pilot and I also knew I would be a writer. When it came to reading and writing, there are a couple of people to whom I am very indebted. My mother … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal, Reading, Writing | Tagged baby-books, bookmobiles, books appropriate to age-level, boyhood crushes, Florida, friends, Hillsborough County, Learning to Read, Marianne, mom, new worlds, pictures in books, Pierce Junior High School, pilot, reading and writing, Saturday morning, Tampa, The world of words!, writer, writers | 3 Comments

Canceled Flights on the Horizon

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Joe Clark

Today’s technology is amazing. I can sit in my living room here in Florida and read papers from all around the world. You have to like that. There is nothing more satisfying than acquiring more knowledge, regardless of where the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Life in General, Personal | Tagged a shortage of pilots, actual combat, airline careers, airplanes, Canceled Flights on the Horizon, Cessnas, culture, disturbed sleep, flight training, flights canceled, flying, Ft. Rucker, helicopter training, inexperienced pilots, jobs, learning to fly, letters to the editor, military service, nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight operations, noise complaints, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, the Army, the economy, the War Between the States, the Wiregrass area of Alabama, Times were hard, Today’s technology, training aircraft, “Fight like you train—train like you fight” | 1 Comment

Dave, You’re Working Too Hard!

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Joe Clark

I read with interest the insights learned by an Australian friend, Dave, a middle-aged (as he refers to himself) young person as he is learning how to fly. For his insight #13, he wrote, “Watch the airspeed on late finals! I … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Australia, Cessnas, correct airspeed, Dave, discipline, falling out of the sky, fear of stalls, first solo, flight training, flying, flying close to the ground, flying the airplane, friends, glideslope, inexperienced pilots, insights, judgment, landing, learning how to fly, learning to fly, on late final, pilots, professional pilots, relax, runway threshold, slow flight, stall speed, student pilots, Trim the airplane, working too hard, You’re Working Too Hard! | 5 Comments

Where is My Jetcar?

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Joe Clark

When the clocks ticked over from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000, everyone in the entire world collectively held their breath to see if all of the computers would crash. There had been a great deal written and published … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged 2001 A Space Odyssey, airplanes, Apollo, baby-boomers, Bones, Captain Kirk, code writers, computers, December 31 1999, flying, flying cars, Gemini, Gene Roddenberry, George Jetson, Global Positioning Satellites, hardware, internal clocks, January 1 2000, Jetcar, John Young, Michael Collins, New Year’s Eve, old-fashioned, recognizing the year 2000, Saturday morning cartoons, Scottie, software, Spock, Stanley Kubrick, Star Trek, the end of the world, the last Gemini mission, the moon, the New Millennium, the Starship USS enterprise, this perspective, turn of the century, Where is My Jetcar? | Comments Off

300,000 Miles!

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Joe Clark

Well, I meant to stop and photograph this amazing milestone. I wanted to get a photo of the odometer reading exactly 300,000 miles, but I was not driving. I had Mrs. Blogger driving while I was sitting in the right … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged 000 miles, 300, a side road, amazing milestone, county deputy, deadlines, Florida, grandchildren, insurance card, motorists, odometer, red and blue lights, registration, situationally unaware, verbal warning, writing assignments, “Ma’am” | 1 Comment

Intro to Instrument Flying

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Joe Clark

When I was a very young and most inexperienced private pilot with all of about 100 hours, I had the opportunity to participate in an instrument flight flown by a fellow student from college. It was a most interesting and … Continue reading →

Posted in Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged a fresh instrument rating, a most inexperienced private pilot, airplanes, blissful ignorance, breaking out, Cessnas, crawl before you walking, cumulonimbus, dark inside the cloud, discipline, flight training, Florida, flying, flying the airplane, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, Intro to Instrument Flying, judgment, keeping it under control, learning to fly, other career fields, pilots, probable thunderstorms, professional pilots, radar vectors, spring day in Florida, student pilots, the darkest moment, training aircraft, weak cold front | 1 Comment

Driving Costs Down

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Joe Clark

A couple of people have asked if I were having car trouble since I blogged about it on Wednesday. Actually, my Camry is running very well thanks to my neighbor, Dan, (Thanks, Dan!) and a set of new tires from … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged 100000 miles, 2001 Camry, avoiding overly costly repair bills, better gas mileage, buying a new car, car mechanic, Car Troubles – A Modern Day Nightmare, car’s gas tank, contemporary cars, control heat due to friction, costly repairs, creature comforts and technology, Driving Costs Down, electronic ignition, engine, enhanced crashworthiness, flatbed tow truck, global positioning satellite (GPS) systems, happy ending to this day, lubricating metal parts, luxury autos, maintenance, metal alloys and composites, oil, oil change every 3000 to 4000 miles, oil level, passing 300000 miles, premium gas, proper tire inflation, recommended preventative maintenance, regular gas, regular maintenance, reliability, Renting a car, routine and regular maintenance, serious service difficulties, sports cars, the question of maintenance, your car in the shop | Comments Off

On Being a Writer

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Joe Clark

One thing about being a writer is that you have to write well, especially when it comes to “selling yourself.” In other words, when you put together a proposal or write a query letter to an editor, the writing has … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal, Publishing, Writing | Tagged a rejection letter, an example of the author’s commitment to the craft, correspondence, dedication, discipline, editors, email, grammatical errors, homophonic errors, media mail, On being a writer, patience, proposal, publishers, query letter, the Internet, typos, working with undisciplined writers, writing soundly, you have to write well, “clean” manuscripts, “selling yourself” | Comments Off

The Amazing Kindle (and other e-readers)

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Joe Clark

Okay, so I finally broke down and bought Ardis a Kindle. With both of us being complete and unabashed bibliophiles, we were not so sure about reading anything off an electronic device. Even though we use computers all the time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal, Publishing, Reading | Tagged Amazon.com, and sentence and a e-books, authors, bibliophiles, books, convenient pay by credit card, distribution problems, easier shopping, electronic devices, military members, printing, publishers, reading and buying public, reading on the Kindle, room for old-fashioned books and e-books, royalty schedules, sailors, soldiers, Steve Jobs, storage, the IPad, The Kindle | 3 Comments

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Category Archives: Personal

The Smell of Sunshine

Learning to Read

Canceled Flights on the Horizon

Dave, You’re Working Too Hard!

Where is My Jetcar?

300,000 Miles!

Intro to Instrument Flying

Driving Costs Down

On Being a Writer

The Amazing Kindle (and other e-readers)

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