FIRST FLIGHT

31 OCTOBER 2013

NAVAL BASE VENTURA COUNTY PT. MUGU CALIFORNIA

WIND: 7 KNOTS - NORMAL

TEMPERATURE: 22 CELSIUS - NORMAL

LOCAL TIME - 1400

OPERATOR: AIRCRAFT PREP FOR TOWING

LOCAL TIME - 1415

MAINTAINER: AIRCRAFT ARRIVED LAUNCH SPOT, BLADES SPREAD, APPLY GROUND POWER FOR STATUS CHECK

LOCAL TIME - 1420

OPERATOR: REPORT AIRCRAFT STATUS

MAINTAINER: BATTERY CHECK, ENGINE CHECK, FUEL SYSTEM CHECK, COMM NEGATIVE, FLIGHT CONTROLS CHECK,  CHECK CHECK CHECK... TROUBLESHOOTING COMM RADIOS

OPERATOR: COMM RESTART AND CHECK STATUS

MAINTAINER: NEGATIVE

OPERATOR: REPLACE RADIOS AND CHECK STATUS

LOCAL TIME - 1445

MAINTAINER: COMM CHECK NORMAL

OPERATOR: HOLD ENGINE POWER, CHECK ALL PARAMETERS

LOCAL TIME - 1455

OPERATOR: ALL PARAMETERS NORMAL, APPLY FLIGHT POWER

LOCATL TIME - 1505

OPERATOR: ALL PARAMETERS CHECK, PREPARE FOR FLIGHT

LOCAL TIME - 1507

LAUNCH COMMAND APPLIED AND IT TOOK OFF

This moment is here, after 18 months of research and development, design and integration, testing and production. We are finally here, in the observation room, where there are a lot of computer screens providing live video of the aircraft and live information from the control room.

Up until 1455, everyone and every team is just gossiping, wondering if the aircraft will actually defy gravity or not or will it do something crazy that we didn't expect. To make the environment more humorous, some jokingly said it must be this or that problem. I said, oh it must be a software issue (a mechanical engineer always think problems come from software, we didn't need electricity and software back in the days).

As soon as 1505 hits and the operator announced prepare for flight, the room went silent. I can seriously hear everyone's heart beat, or maybe it is just my own beating so fast and hard. I couldn't wait for the landing skids to leave the earth, defy gravity and prove what Newton taught us.

It took off, it sure did as expected and there went a round of applause in the room. I didn't, I had a huge smile on my face and felt really warm inside. Some left the room not too long afterwards, but I stayed to make sure it actually lands. You want to make sure having a first flight should also have a first landing, or else you might make head news tomorrow on CNN.

Congratulations team, couldn't have done it without you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WW1s9Nqyd8

Passion vs. Interest

I usually have a pretty good idea of what I like to do, what I want to do and what is rewarding to me. Although I realize I have a dream that can never come true, but I certainly don't mind dreaming about it and wake up with a smile. I have dreams that I want to pursue but contingent upon opportunities like take a gap year and travel around the world, volunteer and help the poor and be an independent investor and do that for a living. I also have dreams that I am currently pursuing like learning new things, leading complex technology projects at work and developing myself a leader.

I don't want to be very technically correct about the terminology - dream. But inevitably, it has to be well defined and the following passage will help achieving my dream(s).

Jessica McGregor Johnson certainly put things into perspectives for me. She elegantly distinguished the difference between passion and interest, and explained how to integrate passion and interest to make something practical, useful and realistic out of it while maximizing the performance and quality of life.

A passion is something you can't live without. When it is missing from your life, you feel a hole and it nags way at you. You constantly wish that you were doing, living, being, or having it.

An interest rouses your curiosity. An interest is a more intellectual thing, something that you want to discover more about. It 'piques your interest'.

She provided a few examples of people merging their passion and interest and make careers out of it. Until I read her website, I know not how important things are for what I thought was important. I still can't believe what I read. It is a miracle and the opportunity of coming across it; this is incredible. I had a discussion with Jiayun earlier today about what to do, dream, passion, figuring things out and all that good stuff. Just as I thought of to search for something online to help her figure things out, I typed in the keywords "interest vs. career" on Google and Jessica's website is what popped up. I don't know why it is the second Google recommendation, it ought to be first! So trying to help someone ended up enlightening myself.

It will take some time to sort things out, writing down what are my passions and interests and figure out how to integrate them. Right now, here is a rough draft:

Soccer, music, being a leader, helping people and create things are my passions.

Investment, business ideas, tennis, table tennis and other sports, cooking, living in Shanghai and California are my interests.

I am not sure where I can place enginering and aviation, I need some time to think it through. Here is something I don't need to think through:

Jiayun is my passion because she is someone I can't live without, I want to part of, living with, being with and having her. She is also my interest because she has so much personality traits that interests me like intellectual, kind, warmhearted, smart, funny, silly and more things I want to explore about.

I love you, Jiayun and thank you for understanding me!

Think Outside the Box

Tom spent fifteen years as a flight test engineer and branch supervisor managing a team of thirty some people before he jumped the ladder and became a deputy director, he was a deputy director for ten years. It was a huge deal for him, and shocking news for his peers. He climbed the ladder the fastest he could've imagined, he became a senior pay grade engineer before age of 40. This is also a big deal in Government defense industry.

It seemed so perfect to him, his entire career is flight test or test and evaluation. He followed his passion enthusiastically, worked hard and got rewarded accordingly. Your dream job is never as perfect as you want it to be, there is always some of but this and but that. He reached his mid-late career at age of 47 and one day he told himself, I am stuck. He didn't want to do that same job for the rest of his career. He had his goal, he reached most of it but he is just a little shy from the final destination. More importantly, he wasn't as motivated and passionate about his job as before. He spent so much time in flight test, he planned out his career so perfectly structured and got stuck.

He told me he lived in three years of confusion, not knowing what to do with his career, not to mention he was also dealing with divorce issues at the same time. What kept him energized, motivated and optimistic is networking with other peers. When I meant other peers, its not just people who are ranked higher than him, I meant everyone and anyone. It could be people working for him, people working with him, people who he works for, people in Government and private industries; and countless technology and leadership conferences he attended.

I may have said this before, it is not about who you know, it is about who knows you. But your choice of people who you network is a science of itself. This is the first thing I learned from him, never belittle people who are more junior than you, or your peers. Desperate boss and leader want to be's just aim for big name people, don't blame them, they are hungry. But Tom told me firmly, these people will get stuck some day just I like did. I wasn't sure if he spoke from experience or just simply his natural wisdom. But that doesn't matter.

New graduates come every year for the most advanced technology, industry peers join every year looking to stabilize their retirement pension, and people who do internal transfer for career advancement. There is no accurate number to statistically quantity the average number of years for switching jobs. But I learned this general rule of thumb for large organizations, one month to get people to recognize you, six months to learn acronyms, one year to get an idea of what your job is, two years to stabilize your performance, three to four years to make a difference, and five to six years to become an expert. Why do I mention about the time frame, it is because technology changes faster than you can imagine, people's mindset, thinking and perspectives change as new generation shuffles back older generation. So it is not a bad idea to look around and keep options open.

So about every four to six years accounting for mid to large size organizations, it is highly recommended to diversify one's career. Now the magic question is how and what path to take. Everyone starts with a vague idea of what they want to. A five-year-old boy's biggest dream was to become superman. A twelve-year-old girl wanted to become a professional pianist. I wanted to become a professional soccer player. Teenagers who watched Top Gun tried to join the Navy and thought that they could become pilots but end up mopping floors. The point is we all have a dream and it is based on some past experience; but it will change with respect to time.

Tom's career in the first fifteen years is a great example of drawing a box around a career, paving inch-stones so structurally that when it hits the endpoint, opportunities are slim. Okay, fast forwarding to how Tom is doing now. Tom took two steps back in job rank and joined a totally different department. He used to direct his employees and making technical decisions and now he is making power point presentations briefing technical information. Within three years, he made two steps again back to his equivalent job rank. He didn't waste three years of his time, he made a very smart move opening up more options, it is very tough to do during mid-late career. We occasionally disagree on some subject matters on the professional level, but on a personal level, he is one of my mentor and he gives me very valuable suggestions. He also listens to my input as well.

There is no perfect way to get to the endpoint. Opportunities arise faster than you can figure things out. Tom's best advise for me is write down your interests, research about them, network and talk to related people about them, narrow things down and make a decision. But once you made a decision, never ever stop exploring, interviewing and networking - always keep your options open. When you do things you like and things that motivate you, very likely you will give your best and do a very good job, and hence the most beneficial learning curve. Climbing up the ladder to gain rank, moving horizontally to diversify, moving back down to appreciate the work, moving back up again to be a good leader, and this and that. Just keep your options open and do what is best for you.

Tom is who I find a true leader, he listens, he cares and he is very influential. I am sure he is onto some bigger objective, and he will get there.   

Moral Excellence

For a few days, I hesitated about calling Jiayun. I was disappointed at her and mad at her. Three days went by very slowly, it felt like three months or even longer. I miss her, I miss the happy moments that we shared, all I could think of during the three days is her quality personalities.

It was Thursday, a rainy and gloomy day with sever overcast and pouring rain. I stepped outside my workplace and dialed Jiayun's number. I punched in the numbers so naturally and fast, I wanted to call her and tell her I am sorry and ask for forgiveness.

I think this is the first time I asked Jiayun for forgiveness, at least that is what my memory holds. On the other side of the phone line was her sweet, gentle and loving voice. I don't know how she does it, it always melts me down. I apologized for the harsh words I used, and apologized for hurting her. I said I didn't mean it, and I apologized for my temper. I was uneasy about it for the past couple days for what I did. I was hoping she could forgive me and let me make it up to her. She tenderly responded "you are forgiven."

I make mistakes, but thank you for having faith in me. Thank you for understanding, respecting and supporting me. It is your moral excellence that touches my heart. On that note, I should have no reason not to cherish what we have currently. Our paths may be more difficult than others, but others may not be as eventful, loving and caring as ours. Let's continue to write our chapters, are you with me?