Desert Pilot Podcast

This last week I went flying for the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Unlike most days in Arizona where the skies are clear or maybe just some high stratus clouds in the flight levels we had a low level cloud layer. It was a cloud layer from about 6000 to 10000 feet of nice fluffy cumulus clouds. I had never flown above a cloud layer that I could not see the ground. It was a little disconcerting at first but it was nothing after awhile and fun. Here are a few pics from the flight.

Today is Arizona birthday. My wife put this flag together for me and a friend, she can really do wonders with Photoshop. I love her. Also I found this creed that I thought goes well and something I'd like to pledge too. The Defender's Creed John Farnam I accept and understand that human predators exist. Criminal or terrorist, they take advantage of our civilized society to prey upon the weak. They represent evil and must be confronted and defeated. I believe that self-defense is a moral imperative, and that illegitimate force and illegal violence must be met with righteous indignation and superior violence. I will not rely on others for the security of myself, my family and my community. I proudly proclaim that I run with a like-minded pack. I do not amble through life with the mind-numbed herd. I will train with my chosen weapons, maintain them and carry them in a condition of readiness at all times. I will be mentally prepared and physically equipped to effectivel...

So since my brother Brendon has been back from his mission he has not been flying with me. I got my private pilot certificate about a month after he left on his two year mission. I always wrote him on his mission about all the flying I was doing because at the time I was building my hours for my commercial. Since being back last September are schedules have never lined up until today. We flew up to Payson to visit my Grandparents and an old family friend, Lou, that was there to visit. As most of you know I've done lots of trips to Payson before but this was my brother's first. I like the flight to Payson because you get to see lots of the desert and the Phoenix valley as well as go in to the mountains and see a bit of the rockys. Me at the Controls   Downtown Phoenix  Brendon at Payson  There is the crew after Dinner-lunch (looks like an ad for Coke-Cola)  ah... the weather rock no airport should be without one.  Back on the ground in Chandler tryi...

My youngest brother and I in November of 2010 got to go see the only flying B-29 when it came to the valley for a few days it was very neat. There was also a B-25 and B-17 there. We got to go inside of all of them and took lots of pictures. Below are some and on a link to even more. Download the short podcast of the flight over here. B-29 on take off with the B-17 and B-25 in the foreground. My little bro and the B-17 B-29 coming in for landing Hanging out the window of the B-25 Manning the guns of the B-17 inside the cockpit of the B-29 FIFI  Check out more pictures of our flight here.

Yep I did it, On November 1st I swore in and joined the U.S. Navy. I know there might be a lot of questions so I'll just tel the whole story. Last year I got I changed my major to Air Traffic Management or Air Traffic Control (ATC) from the more general Aeronautical Management that I was doing. Really the only difference in the degree is that the last few classes in ATC are labs in ATC sims which seemed cooler then upper level management classes. Since taking these ATC classes I've found that I really do like them and would want to do ATC for a career. I do still want to be a pilot but I've since put that on hold. I need a job that I can support my family with. In order to be a pilot I would have to go at least another $10,000 in debt and after I get hired the average starting pay for a regional airline pilot is around $20,000 a year. With almost $100,000 (by that point) in student loans and a family to take care of, making only $20,000 a year won't cut it. So I sta...

Copperstate Fly-In 2010 Oct 23, 2010 by Ben Cowden View Album Play slideshow Here are some photos from this years EAA Copperstate 2010, I flew down on saturday in the CAP airplane and hung out. We got to tour and talk with the captain of a the B-17 that flew down there from the CAF at Falcon Field . I ask if you had to be a really high time pilot to fly the B-17. He said "No" and that he was an account for his day job. To fly it is just like a big flying club that you buy into and it they see that you have some common sence and your head screwed on tight then they'll start to train you. I had never been in a B-17 before and it was a lot smaller then I thought it would be but man was it cool. I'm definitively going to join the CAF when I'm settled down a little more.

I did it. I made the sacrifice and switched to AT&T and now have an iPhone 4. One of the features on the iPhone is that I can upload HD video that I took and edited on my phone to Youtube. I've done a few videos and wanted to post them on here. I flew a non-rev flight to Texas to see my cusins went to a Rangers game and rode along with my cusions who is a local cop there. tons of fun.