Bad couple weeks for me...

[Timbuff10]

And for the past few days my neighborhood has been on the verge of burning down. Started out with not finishing my PC at Xjet and then never got another chance to finish it for various reasons which left me with a part 121 training failure. After that I made it home for a few days just in time to repack my bags and get ready to run from the fires that have nearly encircled my neighborhood.

Pretty bumbed about how it all went down with the training but things happen for a reason and right now I am just hoping our house escapes the fires. For the moment it seems things are looking good on the fire front but the past two days have been fairly dicey as about the only thing that saved us were some air drops from the tankers. I did manage to get some photos of the fires from both sides of my neighborhood the past two days.

On Tuesday I got these photos http://timsamples.smugmug.com/gallery/3704090#212202525

And then yesterday the fire came from the other side and I got these photos
http://timsamples.smugmug.com/gallery/3709768#212632330

Anyway, just thought I would keep the community updated since I have had so much help from many different members on here.

[aloft]

Dude! That seriously sucks! WTF happened on your PC?

[amorris311]

tim i am so sorry to hear that. my aunt lost her house on tuesday. it is a horrible feeling and i can only imagine what you and your wife are going through.

i am also sorry to hear that training did not work out the way you wanted it to. everything happens for a reason and i am sure you will be back in the saddle before too long. best of luck and keep us posted.

[SkyCougar]

Tim, sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm happy to hear that you and yours are ok though. The fire, devastation, and loss put things in perspective. You can always go back for a second try on the flying. Hang in there!

Amazing photos BTW.

[Alchemy]

Tim: sorry to hear about your situation. I'm sure you'll rebound and come out the better for it. Hopefully the worst is over regarding the fires (nice photos, as usual btw). Let us know if there's anything we as a community can do to help you in the future.

[Doug Taylor]

Tim, gimme a call or send me a text message friday. I met some people last weekend that would love to talk to you about employment opportunities.

Be careful out there man. Remember you've got family just across the state border so let Kristie or I know if you need to camp out during the fires.

[Mrs.Alchemist]

The fires have been really crazy over here! That's for sure! I work for a fire dept in Orange County, and we have been BUSY!!! ...And not just with actual calls... We had a lady call in a possible palm tree fire saying, "I can't tell if it's on fire of if it's just the sun, and I smell smoke!" EVERYONE in SoCal can smell smoke!!! I asked her to go outside, but she didn't feel like it... So I had to send an engine over... Luckily, she did end up calling back to tell us to cancel, it was just the sun after all... Anyhow, all of us fire departments are doing our best to help put out the blaze!

These pics aren't quite as impressive as the other ones posted above, but I thought I'd share anyhow... I took them on the way to work. These pictures were taken facing towards the Santiago Canyon fire. Also, I couldn't resist taking a picture of a plane coming in for a landing through the smoke at SNA.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rise10-24D.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rise10-24C.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rise10-24A.jpg

[CaptainChris87]

Originally Posted by Mrs.Alchemist

The fires have been really crazy over here! That's for sure! I work for a fire dept in Orange County, and we have been BUSY!!! ...And not just with actual calls... We had a lady call in a possible palm tree fire saying, "I can't tell if it's on fire of if it's just the sun, and I just smell smoke!" EVERYONE in SoCal can smell smoke!!! I asked her to go outside, but she didn't feel like it... So I had to send an engine over... Luckily, she did end up calling back to tell us to cancel, it was just the sun after all... If I can figure out how, I'll post some pics that I took of the smokey sunrises we've been having. Anyhow, all of us fire departments are doing our best to help put out the blaze!

Mrs. ALchmist!!! long time no see how are you???

And sorry to hear from what I heared its 50 percent contained now, talked to a few news copters on the CTAF they sounded pritty bummed out they were sent on assignment down there quoting: "They just want another photo op". Also Low pressure system moving in showed clear out the air a bit.

[Aero_Engineer]

That sucks man, we all can smell smoke in the air here in SoCal. That's how bad it is.
I hope everyting goes well and as everyone said things happen for a reason. Better stuff will come out for you, that's for sure.

[cloudman]

Sorry for your troubles. We are finally getting some rain here on the East Coast.

Good Luck!

[MarkE]

Sorry to hear about all your troubles Tim. As everyone else says things happen for a reason. Hope that your house made it out ok and that you'll be flying again really soon!

[bike21]

Check your PMs when you get a chance holmes...hang in there!

[gna_in_lgb]

Sorry to hear about your bad couple of weeks. I'm in Long Beach so if you or Mrs. Tim need anything, please let me know.

Your photos are amazing; thanks for sharing.

[Frank_Rizzo]

Tim I looked over your smugmug pages and wow, lots of great work. Please be careful out there, looks severely intense. Good luck to you getting through it.

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Tim, gimme a call or send me a text message friday. I met some people last weekend that would love to talk to you about employment opportunities.

Listen to him Tim... Homey D knows people that know people...

Bob

[GaTechKid]

I'm sorry to hear that Tim. The captain I was flying with a few days ago also lives in Orange County and had to be taken off the trip so he could go home and prepare to evacuate. Best of luck!

[Kingairer]

Yo dude if youd like to give RAH a try let me know. We have the DEN base that might intrest you.

[CaptainChris87]

Yeah sorry to hear Tim. Hopefully it will all clear up. It is also difficuly flying around here with bad haze and all. If you need help in anyway I think you still have my cell? Best of luck.


P.S. Great pictures!

[Timbuff10]

Thanks for the comments all you guys. The fire situation is pretty much gone now, or at least will be in a few days. Either way, we have been safe for a few days now.

After taking a few days to think about what I want to do I keep finding myself looking up in the sky when I hear planes flying over so hopefully I can find something that will keep me flying. Eagle seems like a good option since they are flying out of LAX. Anyone know if they have ERJs based there and can one still choose your base out of training?

[Timbuff10]

Originally Posted by aloft

Dude! That seriously sucks! WTF happened on your PC?

I was taking my sweet time making sure that I didn't miss anything on the checklists and flows as I knew they would mess something up to see if we catch it, then on the maneuvers I was making sure I started with the thing perfectly trimmed out which all cost me precious time that I didn't realize was that precious. I also kept trying to use my left seat guy but couldn't since a bird apparently entered the cockpit and killed him. So much for that limitation of 2 for a flight crew.

In the end I messed up on a hold and didn't have enough time to redo another hold and fly a single engine ILS. They said my flying was fine, I just simply took too long and ran out of time.

[OCflyguy88]

Originally Posted by Timbuff10

Thanks for the comments all you guys. The fire situation is pretty much gone now, or at least will be in a few days. Either way, we have been safe for a few days now.

After taking a few days to think about what I want to do I keep finding myself looking up in the sky when I hear planes flying over so hopefully I can find something that will keep me flying. Eagle seems like a good option since they are flying out of LAX. Anyone know if they have ERJs based there and can one still choose your base out of training?

There is an ERJ driver that posts on another forum and he is based in LAX... although I remember him saying it was fairly senior domicile. With the recent news about the AA recalls and the senior folks getting AA numbers, I'd imagine things will drop when those folks leave and hiring ramps up.

Things will work out...

[Aero_Engineer]

you can't hold ERJ at LAX out of training, I have a fairly juniror friend at the base on ERJ that has been with eagle around two years now and just recently got awarded the ERJ out of LAX.
He was based out of ORD first on the ERJ. You'll get the SAAB almost 100 percent if you choose LAX as your bases out of training. You still can choose your base though.

[SkyCougar]

Originally Posted by Aero_Engineer

That sucks man, we all can smell smoke in the air here in SoCal. That's how bad it is.

Yeah, the man I've been dating on and off for the last couple of months went down to visit his daughter at the University of California Santa Barbara and said that even that far north, his car was covered with soot.

[tonyw]

Hey, Timmy, sorry to hear the bad news, man. My best to both you and Erin -- hope she's able to go on her bike rides again soon and that you're back in the saddle again real soon.

[FlyChicaga]

Tim,

Sorry to hear about how things went down with the PC. But I must say I'm elated to hear that everything is OK with your house in Southern Cali. It would have been an honor to fly with you bro... I hope that you won't get discouraged, and will continue to pursue your goals with this whole flying business. I know there are lots of people that will help you out!