Last night I had the pleasure of attending The Claraty Arts Project Gallery Opening in Santa Cruz. The Claraty Arts Project is a visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art. And last night the gallery was packed by with patrons purchasing these nine artists’ works.

From the beginning, The Claraty Art Project set out to focus more about the person then about the art. The amazing staff there give these artists a vehicle to have an identity and express their humanity in forms other then words. Five days week, staff such as Art Instructor Adam LaVoy, inspires and works with these artists to create unique pieces of art. Interacting, motivating and teaching them new techniques, The Claraty Art Project becomes less of a job and more of a home for the artists. And these images are their words.

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“Space… the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.”  I must have heard this line a thousand times as I was growing up. And it was always right before the start of an exciting adventure to some distant world where my imagination could run free. And starting this week, over a hundred of thousand Trekkies will have a chance to see first hand over 200 authentic Star Trek memorabilia at Star Trek: The Exhibit at The Tech Museum in San Jose.

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Flying to me is like being a kid and wanting to go out and play. At first you are allowed to open the door and stare outside, BUT you can’t actually go outside. This was the first few days of my training. I read the books, sat and starred at the airplane, but it was just there…tempting me. Eventually, you are allowed to venture into the yard, but are kept under close supervision by Mom, or in my case Josh Smith, my instructor at the West Valley Flying Club. I went up with Josh and we stayed in the “yard” and learned the basics. And eventually the time came that I was allowed to play in the “yard” all alone. This was once I solo’d! I could be out there alone, but still, I could only go up the the fence of the front yard.

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As the sun set, I did a final check of my supplies. Flight plan,
sectional, watch, headlamp with a red bulb, bottle of water and a
granola bar. And tonight I was going to have dinner at 3500 feet with
the twinkling lights of California below me. FAR 61.109 requires
private pilot applicants to have 3 hours of night flight training (in
the appropriate category and class of aircraft)  that includes 1 cross
country flight of over 100nm total distance and 10 takeoffs and 10
landings to a full stop at an airport. And tonight was my first taste
of flying at night. Read the rest of this entry »

After 22 hours of flying around the skies of Palo Alto and it’s various neighboring airports, I was nearing the end of the first major phase of my flight training. Looming off in the distance was the oh so imposing “Solo” flight. Webster’s dictionary defines the noun Solo (So•lo) as “something undertaken or done alone.” Whereas I define it  as “What do you mean I’ll be the only one in the airplane flying this squirrel killing death machine?!?!” But it was an inevitable  progression of my training.For the past couple of months, my instructor, the oh so funny (at least in his head) and king of the one liners (“Oh I’m sorry, were you trying to land in the duck pond? If so, the please don’t let me interrupt you.”), Josh Smith was unknowingly helping me hone my flying skills for this very moment in time.

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Every year the Hiller Aviation Museum holds the largest all helicopter airshow on the west coast to much fanfare and celebration. In it’s 9th year, the event was as strong as ever, with helicopter performances from the California Highway Patrol ASTAR, the California Department of Forestry UH-1 Huey, and a California Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook, amongst others. And as in past years, the headliner was the Red Bull BO-105 CBS Helicopter; capable of loops and rolls!!! Read more on my flight aboard that at: http://horizontalrain.com/blog/2008/07/02/behind-the-camera-vertical-challenge/.

Here are a small selection of images from the show; for the full set, please visit:  http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/VC09/index.shtml

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“Hurry up and wait.”  A phrase in that I have become intimately familiar with this past 9 days. Today was the day where we repositioned the entire Operation Southern Partner Team to it’s next set of islands. Our C-130J from the California Air National Guard was all fixed up and was ready to take us and all of our gear to either Jamaica or Belize. I opted to go to the first stop, Jamaica, since I was a bit tired of traveling aboard the C-130 and I would be able to catch the Pararescuemen jumping in Jamaica later on in the week.

So all of the teams in Trinidad gathered in the hotel lobby at 0700 and loaded up our bus with the gear and headed to the Trinidad & Tobago Air Guard (TTAG) hangar. A light rain was falling and it seemed like there was an air of sadness for leaving a place where we had developed such great relationships and a hint of trepidation of whether the C-130 would fly and being on it for another 8 hours.

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After three days of working closely with the Trinidad & Tobago Defense Forces building relationships and sharing information, it was time for a bit of a break. Our last day full day on the island ended with an invitation to the Military Sports and Family Day. This would give everyone a chance to chat with our counterparts in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. Each of the Forces compted in various events, including track and a dance skit. Here are a few images from the festivities.

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A few days ago, when our CA ANG C-130J from Channel Islands broke down in Guyana with engine and brake problems, I thought our trip was in jeapordy. But the mission commanders of Operation Southern Partner made a few calls and got the “Fighting 5-0″ to step in and help us continue the mission. The 50th Airlift Squadron from Little Rock AFB is currently stationed in Puerto Rico flew in to Grenada and has been our transport ship, moving Airmen and cargo from country to country so they can continue the ongoing exchanges between the US and partner countries. Yesterday the “Fighting 5-0″ (also known as “Red Devils”) flew a different kind of mission, one that gave them a chance to show off their true flying skills.

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Hello from beautiful Trinidad! Well, after a LONG 14 hour day of traveling yesterday that included a broken 146th CA ANG C-130J, a last minute C-130E subsitution from Puerto Rico, the usual ‘hurry up and wait’, a 1.5 hour flight that turned into 3 because of paperwork snafus in Guyana, being parked in the wrong space at the Trinidad airport and having to restart and reposition, hotel reservations being lost, and a $4 bottle of coke in the hotel, I’m finally here with approximately 35 Operation Southern Partner Airmen.

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