Hi everyone. I hope that everything is well with all of you. I am doing well and just starting the last week of classes before spring break begins. I am looking forward to it and I think that it is a much needed (and deserved) break before we kick it into high gear for the end of the semester. Then, it’s summer! It is hard to believe that a whole academic year has gone by and that I will only have two years left. Time really flies here so make the most of it while you can!
I have had the opportunity to interact with many of you on the Facebook page for the incoming class of 2015. If you haven’t already, I would highly suggest joining the group as it is a great way to meet your future classmates and ask questions. I remember when I first came to Embry-Riddle, I already had “met” a good number of my classmates on Facebook so it made the transition and getting settled at college a lot easier.
By the same token, if you have been accepted to the university, I would also consider attending the Accepted Students day that is taking place here in April. The details of this event are on the Embry-Riddle website. If you have previously visited the campus and you live far from Daytona Beach, it is ok to miss this event, however, if you have never been here you should absolutely try to come. There will be presentations, professors, current students, 
tours, and more. If you are still trying to make your final college decision, this event is a good idea. I hope to see you there.
Since I last wrote, not very much at all has happened with me. I have continued working at the airport so that takes up a good portion of my time. Additionally, my classes have received a lot of my attention so during the week I have not done too much exciting stuff.
This past week in Daytona Beach was Bike Week. Hundreds of thousands of motorcycles converge upon the area for essentially a giant convention and party. For people who like motorcycles, it is apparently one of the best things there is to go to. Living here, it is a bit of a hassle as traffic becomes unbearable on main roads, and the noise levels rise significantly. It is fun to venture down to Main Street near the beach as that is biker bar central and there is a lot of activity there. Even if you don’t like motorcycles, I would suggest checking it out at least for a night if you end up going to school here.
As I may have mentioned in a previous entry, my parents recently purchased a house in Boynton Beach, which is down in South Florida near West Palm Beach. I have been averaging going there about every other weekend. The drive is about 3 hours and can be very boring, however one of my friend’s family lives there as well, so we carpool, making the drive much less boring. The house is just being completed and the furniture will be coming in within a few days. My spring break plans involve heading down there for the beginning, then going to Universal Orlando with my family, and then going back down to the house for the last few days prior to returning to Daytona. It should be a lot of fun as I haven’t been to Universal’s parks (except or Halloween Horror Nights) in several years.
My roommate and I sign the lease for our apartment in the middle of April, so I decided I would slowly begin to move my things over there instead of the craziness that ensued at the end of the semester last year trying to move all my things to storage and box up my clothes to send home. Even though it is annoying, it is a bit fun as school is done for the summer. I enjoyed having Apollo for a dorm (especially our airport view!) but it will be nice to have a bedroom and bathroom to myself next year.
Other than that, not too much else has been going on with me. This coming week will be pretty slow as well as I prepare for spring break, however I am sure I will have some interesting stories for you after that.
Again, please do not hesitate to ask me any questions at all!
Talk to you soon.
Pete
Hi everyone. I hope all is well with you. Things are good here in Daytona Beach. The weather has been in the 80’s and the town has been bustling with the race events and seasonal tourism. This is really my favorite time of year. As I have mentioned before, it is a nice change from the usual slow-pace that Daytona Beach is most of the year. If you plan to attend the Accepted Students day or visit the campus this spring, you will be able to see what I am talking about.
have been involved at Daytona Beach International Airport working in the Operations department as a shadow, basically. However, a few weeks ago, I was offered a part-time position as a “special worker” in the Operations department and, of course, accepted. I was then airport ID-badged and put to work. I started the week of the Daytona 500 race, the busiest time of year at the airport, so it was exciting to say the least.
I do want to say first, though, that I was off from work on Saturday and was able to attend the Nationwide Series NASCAR race with my friend Justin. It was great and we had a lot of fun watching. I remember last year watching the Daytona 500 and being freezing. This year it was the complete opposite—it was about 80 degrees and sunny!
These airplanes are absolutely huge and, because only some taxiways at the airport can handle the immense weight of the aircraft, it actually had to use its reverse thrusters to back itself up off the runway and onto the taxiway it parked on. What an incredible sight.Once it landed, it was a huge process to unload all of the suitcases, trucks, and carts. Then, it took about 4 hours to pump in the almost 100,000 gallons worth of fuel that the aircraft needed, actually depleting the stock of jet fuel the FBO had in their fuel farm. Unbelievable. The same process occurred when the aircraft came back after the race to load back up, plus an additional Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft that the Air Force flew in for the team.
The Thunderbirds are neat not only to watch in the sky but also on the ground because of the elegance of everything they do. Everything must be perfect and smooth, so even tasks like removing the chocks from the gear or lowering the canopy are done in sync and at a running-type pace.
The two air carriers here, Delta and US Airways, both increased their aircraft capacity for the race week, meaning Boeing 757-200’s flying in for Delta and a mix of Airbus A319, A320 and Boeing 737-400 aircraft for US Airways. One night, the terminal saw 3 757’s and 2 737’s parked there overnight, a rarity here.
This time of year at school is also the time of year that housing decisions must be made for the following academic year. Freshman, as you likely know, are required to live on campus. For upper classmen though, the decision must be made as to whether you will live on campus or off campus, and it really is a tough decision. I decided last year that I would live on campus for two of the four years, simply because I think that when you are new to the college thing it is better to be more directly involved on campus. Next year, however, my roommate and I were lucky to find a really nice, new apartment in a town just south of Daytona called Port Orange. While I do not love the fact that I will have to drive to campus for classes every day, it is a great apartment and I think we will enjoy it a lot.
I may also have mentioned before that my parents recently purchased a house down in Southern Florida. This is great for them and something they have wanted to do for a long time, and I will be able to see them a little more often now. This past weekend, I went down there as they were beginning to purchase furniture, etc. We had a great weekend and it was the first time my whole family had been together since I came back to school in January. My uncle also came down so we really had a good time. The weather was perfect, mid 80’s and sunny the whole time. I am looking forward to going down there again in a few weeks.Classes and everything are going well. This semester’s workload hasn’t picked up to the intensity of last semester yet, but I continue to work at managing my work so that I don’t get slammed with a huge amount all at once.
I know that this time of year is difficult if you are considering different schools and trying to weigh your options. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you might have at all in making these decisions. I am here to help and enjoy hearing from my readers. My e-mail address again is 
Perhaps the most significant thing that has happened since I wrote last is me receiving my instrument rating. After about 4 months of work and a good deal of studying, I passed my checkride and am now certificated to fly in the clouds, shooting approaches down to minimums. Would I do that right away? Absolutely not. Training does not always constitute experience and to push your privileges to their maximum with little to no actual experience is foolish. By working your way down (in terms of the weather) to minimums and building experience is truly the only way to do it.
For any pilots who are reading this, I will clarify a bit about the finals/written exams for your flight ratings. Essentially, at the end of any ground school class for a rating at Riddle, you take a “practice” written exam for the respective real written exam that you would take for the rating. You must pass this practice written with an 80% or higher to receive the endorsement from your professor to take the real written exam. Additionally, if you pass this practice exam with an 80% or higher, 10 points are added to your final grade for that class. This may make the whole situation sound stressful, but if you study (and memorize) the Gleim studybook, you are essentially certain to pass.
One misconception you might have about Florida is that it is hot ALL the time. This, unfortunately, is not the case as when a cold front moves through the temperatures can drop into the 30’s and even 20’s. As I write this now, it is only 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It can be helpful if you are trying to get into the Christmas Spirit though, as you can see in the picture above of Santa, Mrs. Claus, and even the reindeer driving down a road. One good thing, for me, that comes with cold weather is that usually it means that the airport switches to a runway 34 operation, resulting in airplanes landing right in front of my window as you can see. Crazy!
I hope that everything is going well. By now, you are probably in the middle of the application process and maybe have even heard back from some of the schools you applied to, including Embry-Riddle. I remember going through this process and the stress involved with it. Not to worry, though, you will make it through it and you are almost done.
I have kept busy since I last wrote, both with work and leisure. We are getting towards the end of the first semester, so the workload has naturally gotten a bit heavier with final papers/semester projects, tests, and preparation for final exams coming up in the not-too-distant future. It is key in these times to stay organized and keep a schedule of the work that must be done. Otherwise, it is easy to fall into traps of missing assignments and tests. Fortunately, I have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the associated breaks from school coming up as well—sort of the light at the end of the tunnel.
Since we returned to school after fall break, my friends and I have done several things that were very fun. The first of these activities was going to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. Universal does this every Halloween season, but this year, due to it being an anniversary year for the event, it was bigger and scarier than ever. The Universal Studios Park was transformed into a giant haunted event, with 12 individual haunted houses inside of it. In addition to that, several of the normal rides were open and the “city” streets were crawling with zombies wielding chain saws, smoke, and more. It was really fun, and we didn’t end up returning to Daytona Beach until 2:30 am.
This past weekend, I took the 3 hour drive down to southern Florida to visit my grandparents at their house there. This was a nice change of scenery and a break from school life. It was very similar to going home for the weekend, just a lot closer. It was also good to see my grandparents and study by the pool for a bit. It is amazing that there is about a 10 degree temperature difference between the two places this time of year, which really makes a difference.
Some of my friends and I also flew down to Titusville, Florida a few weekends ago. We grabbed lunch at the airport restaurant called the Outer Marker. It was a fun flight and the food was good. We were even able to take advantage of the Veteran’s Day free admission to the air museum on the field. They have a former Blue Angel there as well as several Vietnam-era fighter jets and even World War II era fighters. It was a neat place and was filled with history. My roommate James Dingell took some of these pictures from that day.
Toward the end of each semester, in addition to the workload increasing in your classes, you must being planning your schedule for the next semester. By consulting the list of classes required for your major and the course schedule for the next semester, you piece together a schedule that works for you, including flight block, if you are going to fly. Then, if you are a freshman and even a sophomore or junior, at 12:00am on the morning of the first day of registration for your particular class standing, you log onto the registration website and with essentially everyone else in the same class standing, you click submit to register. This way, you can ensure you get into the classes you want, however you can imagine the chaos that sometimes comes from this process! This will occur tonight in just a few hours, but I am ready!
Since I last wrote, I also observed my friend Alan Larsen’s commercial-rating long cross country to Key West International Airport in Key West, Florida. It was a long flight but it was a great time. We got down there in about two hours and ate lunch before heading back to St. Petersburg and then Daytona. The water in Key West is a great color and it was fun flying down the chain of Keys. I was also amazed at the amount of air service at the airport considering it has only a 4,500 foot runway.
I have also been working with the Airport Operations department at Daytona Beach International Airport recently, and that has given me something to do. It is a busy time at the airport as they have just begun resurfacing the main runway, 7L/25R. Due to this construction and corresponding runway closures and/or decrease in the useable runway, the crosswind runway, 16/34 has been in use recently. This is good for me as this runway runs just outside my window and I have been able to see several Delta DC-9’s takeoff and land on it. I don’t think I will need an alarm clock while this construction is going on!
