Page 28 - Volume 16 Number 12

26 • TWIN & TURBINE DECEMBER 2012From the Flight Deck by Kevin R. DingmanA Knight’s Talecouch near the crackling fireplace, and cover yourself with a favorite blanket. Ye shall be regaled a simple tale of awareness.Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a knight. With his faithful squire at his side and aboard their trusty steed Super Eighty, they traveled for many thousands of hours and to many mystical and far-away lands. Together, they faced foes of the kingdom: mechanical demons, ghostly weather, and encroaching monsters from other kingdoms. While some found the responsibilities of a knight to be monotonous and unappreciated, our knight worked hard to maintain the skills and courage needed to defend the realm. Many scars were deposited upon the knight, yet no one treasured being a knight more than he. The knight truly enjoyed making his deliveriesHaving flown through another year, we aviation aficionados find ourselves leveling off in the smooth air of December. The Peanuts theme song is playing, complete with fellow pilot Snoopy dancing with his nose in the air, Linus at the keyboard. Similar to the luck of Charlie Brown, however, the past year has been a bit turbulent for some; let’s call it occasional moderate chop. Recently, a mean lady named Sandy pummeled the Northeast and airports were not spared. Depending on who you listen to, our industry – GA – corporate, and the airlines, as well as the entire economy is getting better... or not.As a knowledgeable pilot and business person yourself, you takemedia reports with a grain of salt, sorting the wheat from the chaff just as you do in the cockpit. Another couple of meetings with the Flight Doc and a joust with the simulator have come and gone. Some in-flight anomalies also poked out of the clouds to challenge us, some of mine described in this column. A recent one was a dual map failure at night, in the weather, into Monterrey, Mexico. Remind me to tell you the tale sometime.What’s that you say? It is already “sometime” and you want to hear the tale of Monterrey? It wasn’t really that big of a deal and there’s not much to tell. Alright then, I’ll simply embellish it a bit. Make a cup of hot cocoa, sink into the