olives & night flight

I spent the morning* bashing olive trees with a rake, as part of the Caltech olive festival.

In the evening, Stefan took me along on a night-flight while he received a lesson in flying by instrument (IFR) in the Caltech Aero Club's Cessna 172P with tail number N98326. The idea with instrument flying is that the pilot relies on instruments in the cockpit rather than on looking out the window to get where they are going. To practice, the student is "hooded" with a visor that blocks their view out the windows, allowing them to see only the instrument panel. Which means that the instructor and I got a great view of Los Angeles from the air while Stefan saw only needles and dials.

* starting at 7 AM !