Empower Yourself

"I can only do -

what I empower
myself to do."

~ by Eleesha,
Author of - The Soul Whisperer

 

You have the power...

But you must believe, take action, and be willing to go the distance no matter how hard it gets. And trust me... it will get hard. Last week was a challenge for so many reasons, but there were messages everywhere.

A dear friend emailed me with his concern that he feared after all his hard work he wouldn't make it into the University and his life would be a failures. Ron Rapp wrote about the Power of Endurance. Tom Hill wrote Be the Person I want to be. And I sat bedside with my husband for the week in the hospital. 

I had done this before for many weeks, but somehow this time it was harder. Maybe it was because I'm older. Maybe I started out behind the power curve. But it reminded me, that no matter how hard things get, we can do anything. We can create records of endurance and become the people we want to be.

"The body is powered by 

the strength of the human spirit"

The key to survival and success... 

 Get rid of the stinking thinking!

Remove doubt. 

Focus on the positive. 

Only think thoughts of the success. 

While you are in process of pushing yourself beyond your limits there is no room to think anything other than positive. Kill those voices in your head that tell you otherwise. They take away from brain cells and energy that are necessary to push you beyond your limits. Focus on preparing, studying, speaking your mantra's and sometimes just making it through another day or another mile.

 

What if you have done all you can do to prepare, did the best you can, never allowed doubt to creep in, and you don't achieve the results you desired?  Then you figure out why and you make a new plan and go after it again. 

Failure Is An Event, Not A Person

(I heard this on the radio last week. I think a 9-year-old said it) 

All challenges in life are preparing you for something you will need in the future. If you don't achieve a dream and did all you could, there is a reason. You still have something to learn.

The only thing that will stop your success is YOU! 

All obstacles are life coaches making you stronger. 

 Happy Veteran's Day!

 

To all those who serve and protect 

with honor and respect

Thank You!

Enjoy the Journey!
XO Karlene   

Thank God it's Friday!

Fabulous Friday Update...

We are still in the hospital, but the surgery was a success and Dick is doing great! We were moved out of the IMCU unit yesterday and hope to go home tomorrow. They pulled the tubes out of his nose, he is off oxygen, and walking. Today they'll pull the epidural and if he can tolerate oral pain medication, and food...we're on our way. He'll need a great deal of help for a couple months, but I will put on my nurses hat. We've been here before and we can do it again.

Flight For Safety: 

Late one night while machines beeped and nurses gossiped in the hall, I finished the FINAL EDIT of Flight For Safety. Yesterday afternoon I slipped home and printed 547 pages, and will do a final proofread this weekend. I also sent it to two additional proofreaders. Three sets of eyes are better than one! And in no time we should see it live. To read the current synopsis click on Flight For Safety.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

I officially applied for graduate school to continue with the next phase of the plan! Yes... late one night, after I finished my book, I filled out the application for my PH.D in Aviation Safety/ Human Factors. There is a great deal of studying to be done before I take my GRE. But I will do it.

Recurrent ground school Complete!

I finished my recurrent training disk Wednesday night. I'm good for another quarter. This is a huge relief to get have it out of the way. Something I put off for a month due to a crazy schedule. 

Panic Attack...

Yes, I officially had my first panic attack yesterday. Having lived in a hospital before, I know all the precautions of excessive fatigue. One of which is parking in the same spot to find your car. Groundhog day effect is in play and it helps to do the same thing, each day.

I packed my computer in my backpack and threw my purse over my shoulder. I went down the elevator to the lobby and set it down to pay for parking. I carried it out to my car and set it down to unlock the door to my car. I drove 30 minutes south to my house and parked my car. I reached for my computer and it was gone! 

Oh God...where did I leave it???

I suspect the excessive fatigue, the complete loss of memory and the stress of the situation helped to create the panic. But my body literally shook. Yes, I panicked. Reality was, I never took it out of the room. Fatigue plays with your brain and the memory of taking it was from the day prior. 

We should not fly drunk with fatigue... maybe we should not drive, or be responsible for our computers with fatigue either. But one thing I know.... that when you are hanging out in the hospital and have a computer... you can get a lot of work done. 

Enjoy the journey! And may all your days be special wherever you are. 

XO Karlene

Be The Person I Want to Be

T.H.ursday with Tom Hill

As I write this article, I'm sitting in a motorcycle service shop waiting for my bike to get a routine service. It's my first time using this shop since I moved to California a couple months ago. Surprises get me going, and sometimes it's hard to control the emotions that well up if the surprises aren't of the good variety. Before exploding in such situations, I learned to say a little mantra: "Now is the time for me to be the person I want to be."

I'm always angst filled when I go to a new service place because I never know what the people will be like, whether they'll do right by me, and so on. Everything looked great here until the service advisor came by very politely and said, "I misspoke. To change your spark plugs the mechanic said that'll be another 3.5 hours of labor." Essentially, the service I had done for $200 dollars at my previous mechanic will now be almost $600. Dang! 

I'm watching them work on my bike through the window thinking about my gigantic bill. They're struggling with the engine protection plate I put on, which only has five nuts to deal with. As they mess with the bike, I can't see what they're doing all that clearly. There are hammer pounding sounds. With each strike I'm getting more and more agitated. It's everything I can do not to rush into the service bay to see what’s going on. I'm thinking, if they can't do a simple thing like get the plate off, how can they do anything else?

I repeat my mantra, "Be the person I want to be," and calmly ask the service advisor, "Can you ask them what's going on? Because the plate is really easy to take off." She's very sweet and goes out to talk to the mechanics and returns. Seems a nut was stripped because the previous service over tightened it. I settle down a lot but I'm still very aware of the impending large bill.

Eventually, I talk to the service manager who helped with the nut removal. He's a nice guy. He spoke very clearly about how tight "someone" had torqued down the nut, and how much of a pain it was to remove. I thanked him for his answers.

Calm is returning to the scene.

I learned the "mantra" about 15 years ago. I can't remember why I adopted it but having it, saying it to myself, has helped me maintain my cool when things get particularly stressful in critical situations (I'm not just talking about flying, by the way).

When I was new to flying, if I didn't perform as I thought I should, I was extremely hard on myself. I remember one sim evaluation that wasn't going as well as I wanted. My internal pressure built so much, it was everything I could do to stay focused and still finish the simulator. All that self-applied pressure was not helping - it was actually hurting me.

Somewhere along the way I adopted the mantra. I learned that becoming overly agitated, adding emotion on top of already tense situations, doesn't do much good at all. And, it wouldn’t allow me to be the person I wanted to be. I wanted to be that calm person in the sea of chaos when "stuff" was happening. Getting overly animated, agitated, whatever you want to call it, was not who I wanted to be. I did not want to portray myself that way. The most important thing I learned in all this was I had a choice. I could decide not to be "that guy."

I don't think most people realize they have this type of control. For me, saying that mantra when I have those feelings build inside does me wonders. Even if being calm didn't fix the situation as it was, at least I wasn't acting like an idiot while things weren't going right.

As aviators we are constantly exposed to stressful situations. Most of the time we handle the stress easily. But, sometimes circumstances make us act other than we desire. Some of us are more prone to that than others. Me, I have my share of being that way. What some of you might not know is yes, it's totally controllable - that at any given moment we can be precisely who we want to be, 100% of the time. We have that choice. And those that don't believe it - well, that's a choice in itself.

Cheers
Tom

The photos are from Tom's vacation to the east which included Acadia National Park in Maine. 

Ridge Landing Airpark

Mission: To Promote Aviation

One of the many spectacular opportunities for pilots...

"Ridge Landing Airpark's mission is to promote aviation, located in Central Florida (CTFA: 122.9, Airport ID: 4FL5) 1 hour away from Tampa and Orlando International Airports. We invite all pilots looking to fly general aviation aircraft in the United States. The Ridge Landing Airpark paved runway is 3000′ x 60 (914m x 18m). We offer a variety of aircraft for rent, either fly with one of our safety pilots or get a check ride and fly on your own, to over 30 Florida destinations!

Enjoy the aviation lifestyle, Ridge Landing Airpark offers accommodations for florida aviation vacations with fly-in rental options, a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom family pilot home, and a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom lakeside cottage perfect for amphibian aircrafts are available. For those who want to experience the ultimate aviation lifestyle, please take a look at our accommodations and aircraft available.

Please contact us with any questions, you can follow us on facebook. or watch a 2 minute video about the Ridge Landing Airpark experience"

John Fazzini
(800) 701-0781 x 8000

john@ridgelandingairpark.com
4511 Lindbergh Drive, Frostproof, FL 33843

UPDATE on our Patient: 

Surgery was long and went well. They fixed everything, and hopefully for the last time. We spent the night in the IMCU unit to monitor him through the night. And they gave him an epidural for pain management...a great idea! He sat up and hopefully we'll move to a quiet room tonight. So far. So good. Thank you all for your prayers!

Aviation History

Today is the day you can create history!

Blogging In Formation is at it again and today is my day to write a post in honor of Aviation History Month. While there is a wealth of history I could choose from, today is a challenging day. At 0600 I will check my husband of 32-years into the hospital for a three and a half hour surgery that begins at 0730. We are headed out the door at 0530.

They will attempt to fix his abdominal wall from the previous 5 botched surgeries, remove his gallbladder while managing his heart that has decided to host an arrhythmia since the first surgery five years ago. It runs at crazy speeds. He will spend the week in the hospital with me by his side.

So today my aviation history post is to share the history of a man who changed aviation history with his unwavering support. When I was 24-years old, with three small children, I was offered a job at Evergreen International Airlines. Despite flying having been my dream, I was scared. Scared to begin my career before my kids were in school. Afraid to leave them for the first week of training. Afraid to climb into that jet. This was the turning point of my airline career.

My husband, Dick Petitt, said...

"These opportunities only come alone once in a lifetime. If you want to be a pilot, we'll make it work."

And there you have it... his contribution to Aviation History through his support.

Dick was the son of a Vetran that loved planes. He married a women who was determined to be a pilot. Yet he has never enjoyed flying. I found that out many years after we were married. But he never failed with his encouragement, support, and his impact on aviation history was how he impacted my life. He is truly the wind beneath my wings.

Please enjoy November's blogging in formation with my fellow bloggers. Have a wonderful Aviation History Month...

And remember...

Every person you touch, event you support, pilot you encourage and hand you hold... will impact aviation tomorrow. You are creating history.

"History is what you do today

 that will create a tomorrow"

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene  

Blogging In Formation November Schedule:

Saturday November 2nd iFLYblog - Brent Owens 

Sunday November 3rd Airplanista - Dan Pimentel 

Monday November 4th Smart Flight Training - Andrew Hartley 

Tuesday November 5th Flight to Success - Karlene Petitt 

Wednesday November 6th House of Rapp - Ron Rapp

UPDATE on our Patient.

November 6

Surgery was long and went well. They fixed everything, and hopefully for the last time. We spent the night in the IMCU unit to monitor him through the night. And they gave him an epidural for pain management...a great idea! He sat up and hopefully we'll move to a quiet room tonight. So far. So good. Thank you all for your prayers!

Motivated Toward Aviation Safety

"Aviation Safety—A flight path that divides the wind of confidence with clouds of arrogance."

 

When people believe they are better than those they work with, they are unwilling to listen. When they are unwilling to listen, they minimizes the list of potential options to any situation. When a person is arrogant, he creates an aura of being unapproachable. He is closed minded. Unbending. And creates an atmosphere of isolation. Is this safe?

Is it possible to manage a safe operation when the leader of the team is arrogant and thinks he is better than everyone else? Maybe we all need to realize we pull our pants on the same way, and can learn something from everyone we meet. We are all in this life together for a reason.

Fly on with confidence... 

leave arrogance parked at the gate!

Enjoy the Journey!
XO Karlene

National Aviation History Month

Blogging In Formation is at it again. Our theme this month is in honor of Aviation History Month. And what a great month this will be.

 

Friday's Fabulous Flyer.... 

At age 27, this OV-10 Bronco pilot was the most decorated female pilot in the Philippine Air Force, and one of only six combat-qualified. On a rainy day in March 26, 2001, she did something so remarkable, that she became the only female to ever receive her nation’s highest military honor: The Medal of Valor. The local town dedicated a street to her, and her home town erected a statue. 

She is revered by Filipinos as a national hero! 

Who is she and what did she do?

Take a guess at who she is and what she did, and then head on over to the Adventures of Adventures of Cap’n Aux to find the answer. 

Cap'n Aux the author of The Last Bush Pilots

Return with the answer, or any trivia, about this amazing woman and you will be entered into a Flight For Control hardback give away. If you have already read it and win, I can autograph the copy for a friend.  

Cap'n Aux

Then keep your eyes open for more Aviation History to come your way.

Saturday November 2nd iFLYblog - Brent Owens
Sunday November 3rd Airplanista - Dan Pimentel
Monday November 4th Smart Flight Training - Andrew Hartley
Tuesday November 5th Flight to Success - Karlene Petitt
Wednesday November 6th  House of Rapp - Ron Rapp

Enjoy the Journey!
XO Karlene