I saw the light... ATP Bound

I recieved a call from the airport manager yesterday.  When I saw the caller ID I assumed it had something to do with our building project or the pilots group.  As usual, I was wrong.  It was about the airport beacon.  The beacon has been the subject of much derision over the years.  The airport sits among a sea of lights and is inherently hard to see.  The beacon which should wink white and green to catch your attention was never quite bright enough to do its job.  

Now it could have been it was bright but just pointing the wrong way but standing on the ground 100 yards aways it also looked dim so that probably wasn't it.  Brad told me they would be doing maintenance on the beacon and possibly had found some issues, so could I get some pilot reports on the post maintenance beacon.  

It was a bueatiful day witn great weather so I couldn't resist, I had to go look for myself.  This would be a late flight, sunset was 8:18 PM so we had to start at 8:48 or later.   I also had another goal in mind.  I don't have my ATP (Airline Transport Pilot Certificate).  It's true I don't need one.  I have my commercial but fly no commercial operations. That said, I have always toyed with the idea.  The basic requirements include being 23 years old, 1500 hours total time, 100 hours of night, 500 cross country, 75 intrument and 250 PIC.   

I have exceeded all these requirements for quite some time except night.  In fact I was at 99.7 hours as of yesterday.  So 18 minutes after starting up I tecnically became eligible to take the next steps along the ATP journey which includes studying, practicing, taking the ATP CTP program, a written test, an oral exam and a checkride.  There is one other criteria which is that one must be of "Good Moral Character".  Not sure how I will satisfy that one but maybe they will give me a pass.

Will I get the ATP, not really sure.  Part of me says, it would be good training.  Another part says I already am training to this standard and I will never ever actually use it.  My goal was to have all the basic requirements done this year so I can cogitate on it for a few months and decide if I want to go ahead with it next year.

Oh and the beacon.  That sucker is pretty bright now.  It was easy to see at 12 miles even with all the adjacent light clutter.  We also looked at some other local beacons and now ours is brighter than 2 others and looks about the same as a third.  Overall a great night flight.