Greetings from Dick and Cheryl Holt
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I've got the runway in sight. Hang on for the landing!
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| Typical Terminal Approach Plate for an ILS aircraft landing system |
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I have held a commercial airplane pilot license with instrument and multiengine ratings for 49 years. I love to fly. I am nearing the end of my journey on earth of almost 77 years. And during these years I have learned a lot about how to "fly in life", although some of those lessons have come the hard way. I didn't train easily!
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One thing I learned very early in my flight training was to rely on a few very basic instruments that were part of the airplane, and this one was perhaps the most important when you used all its capabilities, the Turn and Bank Indicator.
This device tells you when your airplane is flying straight and level or is in a turn and when turning how much of a turn it is going through.
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The Air Speed Indicator is an integral part of the instruments that allow you to fly safely without having to look outside the cockpit of the airplane. You have to know how fast you are going, for if you are climbing, the airspeed drops and that is important to warn you of an impending stall when the airplane does not continue to fly. If you are diving and the airspeed increases, then that also is a critical bit of information that you need to have inside your head to keep the aircraft under full control.
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This is one instrument that does more than one thing for you when you are flying on instruments. It is called the Horizontal Situation Indicator and it shows the pilot his direction related to a compass heading and the configuration of the airplane, the tilt of its wings, and the direction of the nose, either up or down. This situational indicator, (HSI) is a combination of two familiar cockpit instruments: the directional gyro with a heading bug and a VOR/ILS indicator. Combining the directional gyro and the NAV indicator into one instrument reduces pilot workload by providing heading, course reference, course deviation and glide slope information - all in one visual aid. In addition, an HSI makes it easier to visualize the aircraft's position with reference to the selected course or holding patterns. The "split needle" presentation made up of the course and reciprocal pointers and the VOR/LOC deviation indicators, clearly shows both selected course and course deviation.
It is an invaluable tool that is tied in to the other instruments making for safe flying.
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| Airbus A380 Cockpit with full color displays, radios and much more. |
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There are, of course a multitude of other fantastic instruments available to the pilot that you need to fly in zero visibility weather, but you have to become fully dependent on those all combined to fly safely. This cockpit photo of the Airbus A380 is a current example of the many aids available to the commercial pilot to be able to fly in any conditions. Only then, when you depend on all the instruments and believe that they are leading you on safely, can you keep on flying and arrive at your destination safely.
With God, it is the same way. God provides us with the instruments that we need to go through life safely, namely the Bible, His written instructions on how to fly your life, and the Holy Spirit, His designated substitute that is with us all the time, helping to direct us through our life here on earth. We have to fully trust on these directions if we want to reach our destination successfully.
One last thing that God has provided for us to use to get through this life on earth in an easier fashion is Prayer. He wants us to communicate with Him just the way I do when flying an aircraft. The guys in the Air Traffic Control Center are always there to guide us, listen to our problems with the aircraft or with navigation, or any other matter to help us through our flight. How wonderful that this so closely parallels that which God does for us. If we communicate with Him, He will direct our paths and lead us away from all iniquities or things that come along that keep us from "flying with Him" safely. Amen to all this!
During this time of exciting positions in the world of "work", I have noticed that an autopilot was working in my life even when I didn't turn it on. When I went against it, I screwed up big time, mostly in my personal life. My "life's airplane" did not fly safely and I crashed and burned many times, but God spared my life through all these trials, for some reason only He knows.
Now I am on full autopilot and the Master Controller has been given full control of my flight. My landing is secure and I can't wait until I get into the "terminal".
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I'm watching for those glide slope lights - I know God is waiting for me at the end of those landing aids. Isaiah 40:31 is part of my glide slope guidance pattern with these words: "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength, They will soar high on wings like eagles, They will run and not grow weary, They will walk and not faint." I have that strength and know that whatever is in my way, God will help me. Even though some days are tough physically now, He is there. He is my strength and my guidance counselor. Amen.
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| The final runway lights on the ILS approach |
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