ADVENTURES OF CAP’N AUX: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

2012 Recap—Top Cap'n Aux Posts!

Well the Stats are in, and they are telling. Looking back on the most popular Cap'n Aux posts of 2012, I have to say, it truly is "the best of the best!"

So, for you cheechackos* who may have missed them, or you sourdoughs who wanna relive 'em, without further ado, here's the Top 8**

(Note: apologies for the occasional difficult fonts to read; some older posts were written in my original web design, which may conflict with the current one.)

NUMBER 8

Gone with the Hurricane! (Part 1)

The notoriously ill- (or prophetically-) timed Gone with the Hurricane posted the very same week of last year's Hurricane Sandy debacle. While the story was about my experience evacuating seaplanes during Hurricane Hugo in the U.S. Virgin Islands, late '80s, it turned out to be a very poignant story conveying life in the midst of a natural disaster—at a time when the world was focused on the trials and tribulations of the Eastern U.S. Seaboard.

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/11/there-i-wuz-gone-with-hurricane.html

And here's Part 2:
http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/11/hurricane-hugo-part-2.html

NUMBER 7

Go Ahead, Make Capn's Day!

When it comes to safely flying the ship, Cap'n Aux has a Nepoleon Complex. His motto is: "Welcome aboard! Make my day."

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/09/go-ahead-make-capns-day.html

NUMBER 6

A Future Pilot Interviews Cap'n Aux

What started as a high school English project turned into a great blog. I'm pretty sure my interviewer Cameron got an "A+!"

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-future-pilot-interviews-capn-aux.html

NUMBER 5

Answers to the Sandy Hook Tragedy Found in the Christmas Season

After this horrible tragedy, we were all searching for answers. I believe I found at least some in the spirit of the Christmas season.

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/12/answers-to-sandy-hook-tragedy-found-in.html

NUMBER 4

Busted Aviation Myths: Otto is My Copilot

A pet peeve is when someone asks me, "Hey, them autopilots can practically fly themselves, right?" My answer: "Does your Cruise Control drive your car?!"

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/05/busted-aviation-myths-2-otto-is-my.html

NUMBER 3

Zen and the Art of Pilot Maintenance

Pilots are a notoriously picky lot. More than just button-pushing, there's an art to the two-man crew.

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/02/zen-trois-zen-and-art-of-pilot.html

NUMBER 2

Flying a Fallen Hero

Another somber post, but with a touching, uplifting ending. I dare you to try to read this dry-eyed!

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/07/interlude-flying-fallen-hero.html

NUMBER 1

Zen and the Art of Aircraft Maintenance

By a factor of two, this one consistently comes in at Number One. A bit of a head-scratcher, it may be due to the similarity to the famous book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Nevertheless, it's filled with hilarious "squawks," or pilot mechanical write-ups, followed by Maintenance Control's smart-aleck replies!

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/01/zen-and-art-of-aircraft-maintenance.html

To make it an even Top 10, here are 2 more of my personal faves:

There I Wuz! Episode One: The Sky Fell

Dedicated to the memory of my good friend Steve Wilson, a career Alaska bush pilot, this is the true story of a watershed moment in my career—and my life. A fiction version of this episode appears in my novel, The Last Bush Pilots.

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/06/there-i-wuz-episode-1-sky-fell.html

The Girl, the Sold Watch, and Everything:
A Thai Adventure

The hilarious, true story of travel in a 3rd world country. The simple search for a cheap watch that turned into an excruciating quest.***

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/05/there-i-was-episode-1-girl-cheap-watch.html

Bonus Post! A Pilot Looks at 50****

After turning the Big 5-0 last year, I look back on a career that has seen over two solid years spent in the sky.

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html

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Double Bonus! Last Year's Valentine's Post!

The Loon is a Harsh Mistress:
the Pilot's Dysfunctional Love Affair

Ask any pilot how he or she got into flying, and you will hear a love story.
One just like mine...

Link:

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/02/loon-is-harsh-mistress-pilots.html

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Over at YouTube, my Cap'n Aux page gets lotsa hits too.

First off, if you haven't seen it, here's a quick one-minute guide to all things Cap'n Aux:

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here:
http://goo.gl/WSoih

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Cap'n Aux FREE Mobile App!

A central clearing house for All things #AvGeek
#Aviation #Airline, and #Adventure #travel!

LINK:
(Should work on computers, iPads and Androids)

http://market.monk.ee/app/view/id/19814

On that site, there is 1.) a scan code, 2.) a link to click, or 3.) an option to send an email so you can download it later on your mobile!

iPhone users
(and those for whom the above link shows "incompatible OS")
Click this link in your browser:

http://h.fanapp.mobi/capnaux

Now: click the arrow at the bottom of your screen, and select "Save to Home Screen."
This will be a link that saves to your home screen and works like a real app. Later, I will release an actual iPhone version. ;)

You can also use the direct link above as a webpage on your computer as well!

Live Feeds to:
—Aviation blogs
(Miss TWA, Flight to Success, Daddy Come Back, Ryan's Travels & Photos. Note: Each blog features several posts and are not listed chronologically; you may have to dig quite deep to get your fav' feed!)
—Breaking Aviation News
(Airnation.net, Flightstory.net, worldairlinenews.com)
—Awesome Aviation sites
(Flightaware, Live ATC Live, Airliners.net, Thirty Thousand Feet, NOAA, etc.)
—Latest Cap'n Aux Vids, pics, books etc!

Consider this a "1.0 Beta version." (I designed this a little over a month ago, so it's already a tad out dated, LOL!) Please use it and tell me what you think...and SEND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT!

This is a FREE version (which has occasional ads.) But if y'all REALLY LIKE IT, I'll spring for the Pro version, which will be a true stand-alone app (and STILL FREE to you!), with no ads, and all the links/content YOU want it to provide!*

FEEDBACK FEEDBACK FEEDBACK!!!

*I'll esp. be looking for cool sites not already included, so tell me your faves!

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Posting Jan. 30 at 12:00 PHX:

The Top Cap'n Aux Posts of 2012!
A Recap of the most popular posts of 2012--voted on by your clicks!

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Posting Feb 13:

A Special Valentine's Vlog

A Love Story in (and of) the Sky!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Interlude: Kick A$$ Pilot-Writers

Cap'n Aux chills with (one of) his favorite aviation books!

As mentioned last week, I’m not the only airline pilot/author type out there, blogging his way across the friendly skies!

Let me chat a little more about a few talented aerial cohorts . . . .

Author CloudDancer is a professional airline captain...REALLY!!!

A personal friend of mine, a very experienced airline captain who goes by the pen name of CloudDancer, is the author of four nonfiction aviation books. A quote from this revered aviator-author graces the cover of my own latest novel.

Throngs of followers have fallen in love with CloudDancer’s very colorful and unique voice, which sounds something like Mark Twain meets Gomer Pyle (and I mean that in a good way!)

CloudDancer flew the Alaskan Arctic bush for twenty years before becoming an airline pilot

An arctic bush pilot for twenty years before trading his galoshes for epaulets, CloudDancer writes about the wild, whacky and nearly always hysterical trials and tribulations he experienced while flying the Alaskan bush. Each chapter reads as its own short story, told like a tall tale. Read excerpts from his books HERE.

CloudDancer has written four full length nonfiction books about his experiences flying the Alaskan bush.

Volume 3, however, is a brutally honest and serious book about, and dedicated to, those contemporary aviators of his whose lives were lost in the mercilous Alaska bush. This tender volume delivers heartrenching true stories of often fatal accidents, and offers serious life and flying lessons to readers and aviators of all walks and experience.

CloudDancer offers signed copies and other paraphernalia at his online store at clouddancer.org. While he does not have a blog per se, CloudDancer is always waxing eloquent with fans in his one-of-a-kind voice on his Facebook page, CloudDancer’s Alaskan Chronicles.

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Karlene Petitt —International Airline Pilot, Author, mentor, motivator, speaker, wife, mother of three and grandmother of six.

Ultra-prolific blogger and author/airline pilot Karlene Petitt scribbles away over at Flight To Success
(http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com/.) Ms. Petitt is author of the award-winning and highly-acclaimed novel Flight For Control.

Just when you thought it was safe to board an airplane, along comes Flight For Control...

Planes are crashing, and no one knows why. Former NTSB accident investigator Katherine Jacobs, pilot wife and mother, thinks she knows the answer—if only someone would listen. But as her desperate, unofficial and illegal investigation unfolds—and unravels—the answer appears to lie frighteningly close to home.

Set in the volatile modern airline industry, Flight For Control reads like an aerobatic mystery thriller, with more twists, turns, loops and spins than a flying circus. But the story goes much deeper than that, raising very serious and very real safety issues about today’s airline industry, run by greedy CEO’s and flown by exhausted, stressed out pilots.

As a fellow airline pilot and novelist, I can attest to the authenticity of Ms. Petitt’s novel, and the serious realities of the industry to which she speaks. The characters are well-rounded, complex and believable, the plot solid, fast paced and sound, with an explosive ending. A modern thriller bound to satisfy the harshest of critics!

With one click, readers can purchase an autographed copy of her novel in paperback or hardcover at Flight To Success.

Now working on the much-anticipated sequel, Flight For Safety, Ms. Petitt keeps her blog and book fans entertained with frequent posts at Flight To Success. Recently, in fact, I was honored to be the subject of her “Friday's Fabulous Flyer" feature, which weekly profiles pilots around the globe, from grizzled airline Cap’n types to pre-solo fledgelings.

With hundreds of followers, Flight To Success is a blog of top-notch success.

Oh, ya, and amidst all that writing, Ms. Petitt somehow still finds the time to raise three kids and a husband, and fly an Airbus for a major airline. She is also type rated in such venerable airliners as the Boeing 747, 757, 767 and 737, as well as the Airbus A330.

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And finally, a quick shout-out for my own two novels, available HERE.

100% of proceeds from Code Name: Dodger and 50% from The Last Bush Pilots go to charity!

The trailer to The Last Bush Pilots:

A portion of all proceeds from The Last Bush Pilots go to the American Bald Eagle Foundation and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Visit lastbushpilots.com for more info and excerpts.

The trailer to my first novel, Code Name: Dodger, a Young Adult espionage novel:

100% of all proceeds go to the orphanage charities, warmblankets.org and flyingkites.org

I am now writing sequels to both books. Cartel Kidnapping, the sequel to Code Name: Dodger, is slated for release in late 2013. Water & Air, the sequel to The Last Bush Pilots, is scheduled for release—well, some time!

HAPPY ADVENTURE READING!

This post is dedicated to Ryan the Pilot's blog.

After 6 wonderful years, Ryan is pulling the plug and getting back to time with his family. Ryan, we wish you well!

You can still see his "best of" pics on his FB page: http://www.facebook.com/RyansTravels

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Posting Jan. 23 at 1200 PHX:

Cap'n Aux Mobile App!

A central clearing house for All things AvGeek

Airline, Aviation, and Adventure travel!

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Posting Jan. 30 at 12:00 PHX:
The Top Cap'n Aux Posts of 2012!

A Recap of the most popular posts of 2012--voted on by your clicks!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

That's How I Blogroll!

Last year (i.e., 2 weeks ago), I was invited by pilot-author Karlene Petitt (karlenepetitt.com) to participate in a "Blogroll." Basically, you answer a few Q's about your next book, and then pass it on to the next author-blogger. Since I just released The Last Bush Pilots, I answered the Q's about it.

But first, a bit about Karlene . . .

Karlene Petitt —International Airline Pilot, Author, mentor, motivator, speaker, wife, mother of three and grandmother of six.

Ultra-prolific blogger and author/airline pilot Karlene Petitt scribbles away over at Flight To Success (http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com/.)
Ms. Petitt is author of the award-winning and highly-acclaimed novel Flight For Control.

Check out her "Next Big Thing" interview HERE.

Recently, I was honored to be the subject of Ms. Petitt's “Friday's Fabulous Flyer" blog feature, which weekly profiles pilots around the globe, from grizzled airline Cap’n types to pre-solo fledgelings. Read that interview HERE.

And now, for my Blogroll interview . . .

Give us a synopsis of your book in one or two sentences.

"Two young pilots, one bold dream. But if Alaska doesn't beat them, their friendship may."

How long did it take to write the First Draft of your manuscript?

It took about a year to finish the first draft of The Last Bush Pilots.

For me, writing the first draft is the easy part. It's where all the magic happens. While staring at a blank page might be a bit intimidating at first, once you create a few compelling characters and throw them into a situation, you get to see what happens. Like giving birth to your own child, it's magical to watch them grow and develop and take over to write their own story!

Then comes the hard part. I spent the next five years "workshopping" the story with other writers, whacking, honing, pruning, and editing-editing-editing. That's what whips your manuscript into a readable book.

What genre is your book?

Mainstream fiction, action & adventure.

To what other books would you compare this story within your genre?

I always wanted to be the next "Tom Clancy of aviation," so I was ecstatic when noted author Tawni Waters said exactly that about my novel!

I like the "technothriller" genre that Mr. Clancy basically created, where, in the course of telling of your story, you also regale the reader with some of the esoteric, technical details of complex machines and systems, whether it be airplanes, tanks or battleships.

I also was inspired by his use of multiple short stories told within even one chapter, sometimes only a paragraph long. It makes the action and pacing jump quite nicely, like a roller coaster always changing course. That dovetailed well with my concept of the "short stories woven into a whole." (see next Q.)

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I was astounded by all the tall tales, wild characters and gorgeous scenery I encountered while flying the Alaskan bush in the Summer of '87, so I whipped up several short stories inspired by them, and wove them into a cohesive novel.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For the lead of DC, me of course! Well...25 years earlier! Now I'm closer to the role of grizzled Chief Pilot Dusty Tucker!

Check out my rig at http://blog.kenmoreair.com/?p=77

Speaking of which, Harrison Ford is perfect for Dusty. He's even got his own de Havilland Beaver airplane!

You want me to strap on a friggin' Alaska bush plane? Dude, I fly Starships for a living!

Seriously, though, I'd have to say Chris Pine (the new Captain Kirk) would be awesome for DC. He's got that clean cut, all-American boyish look to him, but with surprising depth and intelligence.

"That's right, baby. Dark is my middle name."

Allen, a bit of a darker character, would work well for Colin Farrell (perhaps a few years his junior.)

"I'll take the part, already. Just get me off this damn Ice Wall!"

If Colin is too busy shooting Total Recall 2, Kit Harrison (Jon Snow from Game of Thrones) should do nicely.

"You mean I get to date Chris Pine AND Colin Farrell and then dump them? SIGN ME UP!!"

Mischievous Native Alaskan Tonya Hunter, the boys' love interest, might work well for Slumdog Millionaire actress Frieda Pinto. But, really, it would be a great breakout role for an alluring, upcoming actress with mischievous, daring eyes!

"Can I be in your movie, Eric? I got the cool aviator shades!"

Brad Pitt would be perfect for ladies' man Jake "Crash" Whitakker. He also has the depth to play more than just a pretty boy pilot.

"Sure, I'll fly your plane. But let me slay a few more Kings first."

If we can't afford Brad's top dollar paycheck, a worthy alternate would be Game of Thrones heartthrob Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who plays Jaimie Lannister). Again, looks and depth.

"Hey, Bud. Let's go light up a volcano!"

Which makes me think of Johnny Depp for that rascally jokester-pilot Ralph Olafsen. While women seem to swoon over Johnny in real life, he can immerse himself in the most bizarre of characters. And Ralph is pretty dang bizarre!

"You f$%^ up, I cut your cajones off. Capiche?"

No-nonsense Check Airman Holly Innes, an "aviatrix" fighting for respect in the notoriously macho bush pilot world, would be great for someone like Charlize Theron. Like Johnny Depp, she can mask her stunning looks behind a much deeper character. Ultimately a pivotal figure in the novel, Holly is very strong and complex.

"Zed, we have a bug. Oh, wait, I mean an FAA violation!"

And finally, for Draconian FAA Inspector Frederick Bruner, Tommy Lee Jones is perfect! Like Holly, he too is straight-laced and by-the-book, but in the end turns out to be a pivotal and deep figure. Just like Tommy!

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

People are always asking me how much of the book is "fact" and how much "fiction." As I wrote in my Preface, there are a lot of actual situations which inspired characters and story lines, but the "facts" end there. For example, I really did fly a plane load of bear cubs, orphaned when a poacher killed their momma sow for her claws. So, I wanted to write a fun story exacting poetic justice on said poacher. Hence, the Doyle Brothers in the book!

What I love about fiction is that you can write about "truth" rather than "facts." What is the meaning behind what is happening? The most compelling fictional characters grow and learn as they live their story, and we as readers grow and learn with them. The best books are those that, years later, you may not remember the characters or situations, but you still live some of the simple "truths" gleaned from their story.

The Next Big Thing

And so we pass the baton off to the next author-pilot-blogger . . .

CloudDancer flew the Alaskan Arctic bush for twenty years before becoming an airline pilot

A personal friend of mine is a very experienced airline captain who goes by the pen name of CloudDancer. An arctic bush pilot for twenty years, he is the author of four nonfiction books about Alaska bush flying. In fact, a quote from this revered aviator-author graces the cover of The Last Bush Pilots.

CloudDancer writes about the wild, whacky and nearly always hysterical trials and tribulations he experienced while flying the Alaskan bush. Volume 3, however, is a brutally honest and serious book about, and dedicated to, those contemporary aviators of his whose lives were lost in the merciless Alaska bush.

Visit his site at clouddancer.org!

We'll have more in next week's post about these intrepid author-aviators.

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Here's more links to aviator-authors participating in this blogroll:
—Harrison Jones, author of Equal Time Point and Shadow Flight
—Rob Akers
—Syd Blue

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Posting Jan. 16 @ 1200 PHX:

Kick A$$ Aviation Pilot-Writers