When I totalled up the hours in my log book after the OSH trip Friday,
they came to over 1,000. As I did when I turned 500 a little over three
years ago, I stopped to reflect on what has changed about flying for me
in the last 500 hours:

* I used to do a lot of just flying around the local area, doing t &
g's, etc. Now, 95% of my flying is IFR cross country for business,
pleasure and Angel Flights.

* Angel Flight has become an important part of my flying and my life,
even though it makes up only about 20% of my hours these days.

* At the end of 2001, I had no weather gear of any kind in the airplane.
Thunderstorms were my masters; they kept me from flying a few times
every year. Now, I've got XM weather and I haven't canceled a trip for
t'storms since I first started the system up in September of '03.

* Complacency is more difficult than ever to resist. Flying ~140
hrs./yr has rendered many things routine and there's a real tendency to
let my attention wander. This is dangerous, I know, and I'm struggling
to find ways to maintain an alert attitude.

What hasn't changed:

* I'm still flying my "starter" airplane. It isn't big enough, it isn't
fast enough, and it damned sure ain't sexy, but I've never quite gotten
around to trading up to that Bonanza I thought I'd have by now. "Delta"
has taken me a lot of places safely and has never missed a mission since
some early engine problems were fixed a few years ago. She'll carry 600
lbs. of payload at 155 mph for a looonnngg time. Every time I start to
put the ad in Trade-A-Plane, something makes me back off. Some day I'll
do it - no, really, I will.

* I'm still nuts about flying; doing more of it now than ever. I may
not read as many magazines or buy as many gadgets as I used to, but I'd
still rather be in my airplane than anywhere else, and I feel very
fortunate to be able to be there.

--

Dan
C172RG at BFM