Seven Days before Departure and Three Curve Balls – August 25, 2008

Just seven more days until I fly to Orlando to pick up my bird. It is pretty darn exciting! I checked, double checked and triple checked my to do list and I just have a few things left. It is great to be organized and have a plan come together. Forget that – it is time to deal with the unforeseen.

Curve Ball # One
One of the items left on my list is to finalize the insurance for my plane. I have spoken to the two main insurance carriers in Canada for recreational planes. I have analyzed the pros and cons of each of their policies and determined that I will go with the one that offers hull insurance. I called back the company and got a different representative on the phone. The information is completely different, including the price, the amount of coverage and real kicker - not being able to insure me because I have not yet received my student pilot’s permit. I am ready for a meltdown. What am I going to do with an uninsured plane in Florida? I called my husband who is experiencing a number of his own business related problems and it is only 11:00 a.m. on a Monday. He asked me if I want a tissue. I do think it is a funny line and remind myself to use it in the future but no time now to digress.

I decided to call the insurance company back and explain my dilemma and ask them if there is anything that they can do for me. The woman that I was dealing with earlier in the day answered the phone and as I explained my situation she said let me transfer you to … I said no, this is the guy that gave me all the wrong info, but it was too late. He picked up and said it was no problem to insure me without a student pilot’s license and to fax him the application. Something tells me my insurance dilemma is not over.


Curve ball # 2
I spoke to the manufacturer again today about the transponder. Two weeks ago he indicated that it was not working properly. He said the weather has not been good and the only way to test the transponder is in the air. He may not have time to do this until Wednesday. I explained to him that I would need to send the transponder back to the avionics company that I bought it from in Lakeland, FL if it didn’t work and by the time they ship a new unit back it would be cutting it close to our departure date.

In recanting the events of the day during the drive home from work with my husband, my husband said that I should expect about forty curveballs by the end of the week. Is he trying to make me feel better?

Curve Ball # 3
That evening, I am activating my SPOT personal locator beacon and one of the items that is needed is the serial number. It is on the device underneath the battery cover. I locate it after unscrewing the cover, hard to do with a pencil I might add. The serial number and authorization number is on a sticker but half of the last number is cut off. I called SPOT’s help line and they said they could get the last number to me within one day. I decide to try a few numbers because the last number looks like either a 5 or 9. I try my luck with the 5 and it works - success! Then I set up my Spot home page and the hour glass appears after I complete the required fields. It is up for fifteen minutes and so I decide to call the help line again. They inform me that their system is down. They said check back in ten minutes. I am not a whiz when it comes to GPS and internet technology but the layman’s question becomes “what if your system is down when I need help?”

Tomorrow is a new day.