Pilots ....

[oksmle]

Just got off the "Accurate Arms" site & read a posting asking how many pilots there were on the site. Several folks responded with interesting comments, & I thought I'd ask the same question here. Is there anyone among our crew besides me who defies gravity on a regular basis? I've been flying for about 44 years & have a '46 Champ which is currently undergoing a recover job & a '65 Cessna 150E that my daughter & son-in-law are taking lessons in.

oksmle

[Ranch Dog]

I'm one! I learned to fly while I was in high school in a Piper PA-11 and started flying professionally when I got out of the Army at age 20. I'm living the dream! I live on a ranch and fly my PA22-20 to work... a 737.

Here are a couple of photos... I got a kick out of flying this airplane a couple of weeks ago being I'm a 444 nut, check out the number. My ride to work...

[felix]

RD, what legs are typical (for you) with that 737? No business software is more complicated than a payroll system for commercial pilots. ... felix

[Denver]

I'm one, but not current. Sold my plane several years ago and haven't been off the ground since. My first plane was a 66 Cessna 150 that I got my ticket in. Sold it to buy a 172, but couldn't find what I wanted for the money I had to spend, so bought a '75 C150. Later sold it about the time Cessna decided to quit making all single engine models, and the prices for everything after that just kept climbing. :castmine:

[13Echo]

I have a PPL SEL with complex and tailwheel endorsement, but strictly VFR. Had part of a Cessna Cardinal RG for several years but sold out due to limited time to fly and a wife that is afraid of light planes. Built an Avid Flyer STOL and been flying her for about 7 years.

Jerry Liles

[NucEm]

Dont know if you could call me a real pilot, always a passenger when it comes to wings with engines on them[smilie=1:
But iam a paraglider so i like to defie gravity:-D http://nucem.se/images/paragliding.jpg

[oksmle]

I sorta' thought there would be a few of us lurking around.

Ranch Dog: Yep, a dream come true. I imagine your PA 22-20 has a pretty complete panel just to get you into & out of work. Pretty plane....

Denver: Are you any where near me?

13Echo: That's a neat lookin' "Anti-Gravity Machine." I'm fortunate that Mrs. oksmle likes to aviate & is ready to go about any time.

Nucem: Been there & done that compliments of the Marine Corps. Nowadays I make sure all doors are securely locked.

oksmle

[Denver]

I sorta' thought there would be a few of us lurking around.

Ranch Dog: Yep, a dream come true. I imagine your PA 22-20 has a pretty complete panel just to get you into & out of work. Pretty plane....

Denver: Are you any where near me?

13Echo: That's a neat lookin' "Anti-Gravity Machine." I'm fortunate that Mrs. oksmle likes to aviate & is ready to go about any time.

Nucem: Been there & done that compliments of the Marine Corps. Nowadays I make sure all doors are securely locked.

oksmle

Nope. Not unless you consider N. Michigan close.:-D :Fire:

[floodgate]

Well, I soloed in a hot-air balloon - once - back in the '70's. Does that count?

My wife had a ticket back then, too, and I rode around with her in 150's and 172's, until we moved to the city and it got too expensive and complicated.

Plus, several hundred hours weather studies in anything from a 170 tail-dragger through WC-121N's, WC-130's and P-3's. Lotsa fun; but I haven't been feet of the ground in the past 20+ years.

floodgate

[oksmle]

Denver .... Do you mean the U.P.? Later this summer or maybe in September I have to make a trip to Big Rapids, & might get as far north as Cadillac. There is a slim possibility I'll wind up in Gaylord, but probably not.

oksmle

[StarMetal]

Hey Doug,

I reckon you wouldn't call a person maning a hotair balloon a driver, have to be a pilot...so I think it counts.

Joe

[Denver]

Denver .... Do you mean the U.P.? Later this summer or maybe in September I have to make a trip to Big Rapids, & might get as far north as Cadillac. There is a slim possibility I'll wind up in Gaylord, but probably not.

oksmle

No, I'm a Troll, not a Yooper. Live about 60 miles E of Cadillac and 40 miles S of Gaylord.

[redneckdan]

Denver .... Do you mean the U.P.? Later this summer or maybe in September I have to make a trip to Big Rapids, & might get as far north as Cadillac. There is a slim possibility I'll wind up in Gaylord, but probably not.

oksmle


I live in houghton, mi. If you are ever in the neighorhood, drop by and I'll show you the finer parts of da keeweenaw.

[Ranch Dog]

RD, what legs are typical (for you) with that 737? No business software is more complicated than a payroll system for commercial pilots. ... felix

I fly for Southwest Airlines and the way our lines are written it is always a bit different each week.

OKSMLE... Yeap, pretty complete panel to help get me to work on time.

[NucEm]

I sorta' thought there would be a few of us lurking around.


Nucem: Been there & done that compliments of the Marine Corps. Nowadays I make sure all doors are securely locked.

oksmle
:) The doors closed?:) I understand you but iam not a jumper out of the sky:-D Never done that:) What we do is called paragliding and we have to start from the ground, no jumps here:) Look at this picture, he is not landing, he is starting. All one needs is a high elevated place and then the hunt begins after the upwinds that will make you stay in the air:mrgreen: http://www.nucem.se/Nova.jpg

[KYCaster]

oksmle: I'm not a pilot, but your mention of a '46 Champ brought back some fond memories. The last time I flew with my Dad was in a Champ of about the same vintage. This was in the early '60s when I was about 16-17YO.
The local airstrip was having their annual Fly-in and had booked a 19YO kid with a Stearman biplane for an air show. The old man had heard he was pretty good and wanted to see what he could do. When we showed up, Ben, who ran the flying service collared the old man and said the kid had called and said he would be a couple hours late and he didn't think the crowd would hang around that long so asked Pop to try to keep them occupied till the real entertainment showed up.
Now this Champ had the door removed for the skydivers earlier in the day and had the left rear window broken out because somebody had neglected to strap down a battery that started wandering around when Ben did a slow roll, so I had plenty of air in the back seat.
Well, that ride turned into the most intense thirty minutes I've ever experienced. Anything you can imagine that a Champ can do, Pop did it. Including a couple of VERY low level passes inverted. I was looking at the spectators eye-to-eye. I felt like I could reach up and touch the ground.
Shortly after we landed, the pro showed up and did his best stuff for about twenty minutes.....I wasn't impressed. Pop said he was pretty good, but needed a little more experience. Ben said the kid couldn't understand why he didn't get more response from the crowd.
That was one of those things that I didn't really appreciate till much later in life. Now I can look back and understand the kind of things he loved to do, the things he gave up to raise nine unruly kids. He was quite a guy......I miss him.

Jerry

[jballs918]

ok guys i hate flying, go figure im in the air force. but think about this, i do all hte air feild maintenance for all the equipment you all we ever use. i work on the TACAN(VOR), the ILS, all the weather equipment that is used, i also work on all air traffic control equipment that talks to the planes. i just dont work on the radar. well maybe next time you fly you will think of the poor maintenance guy who is out there busting his hump to make sure you all have a nice and relaxing flight. the reason why i say this is becuase it has to be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. dont even get me started on aor traffic controllers. but anyways i have always liked to look at the air planes and what they can do. so safe flying to everyone

[Jetwrench]

I fix them and fly IN them, but I am not one of the crew in the cockpit.
JETWRENCH

[7br]

I work at a major general aviation manufacturer. My one and only aviation joke:

What is the difference between a jet engine and a pilot?
The jet engine quites whining after the flight.

Actually, once the kids get to a place where they aren't chewing up time and money faster than Mom and I can generate it, I will start working on my pilot's license. My company will give me $500 for soloing and $1000 for each rating. We also have a flying club which runs $50 a month with $45/hr flying time. Just can't swing it now.

[felix]

They ought to make flying lessons mandatory (and free) for ALL engineers. If they flunk the instructions in a recorded time after initialization of the program, and don't come up with a fix in the area in which they flunked, they should be fired after a year of the incident. ... felix

AND most especially for car engineers, including fuel formulation! These contraptions suck big time. Don't get me started on trucks. ... felix

[Ranch Dog]

That is a nice incentive Mark for learning to fly!

I'm really worried about general aviation... since 9/11 it seems to be in it's final days. I believe it was heading downhill before the event but 9/11 escalated the slip. I know facilities and services are fewer and each time I buy any consumable there is a cost rise since the last time I bought the particular product that exceeds the rate of inflation.

The cost of my hangar just increased 100%, I'm paying $5/gallon for fuel, and my annual insurance fee seems to increase at least 15%. Prior to 9/11 my insurance was $900. Last year it was $1800 with about half the coverage I had before 9/11.

My wife and I thought about flying our airplane from Texas to the east coast to avoid the non-rev hassles on my airline but according to AIRNAV.COM it would cost at least $1050 in just fuel. Full fare-round trip airline tickets are $335 ea.

[felix]

And, just think, our world wide trips used to be free because my wife and I were employees of an airline (TWA) back in the 60's. We were on the PARS/SABRE development and implementation team. ... felix

[Ranch Dog]

I hear you. I would rather buy a ticket than wonder whether I'm going to get on a flight non-rev. Airline flying has changed quite a bit since the 60's, most of the flights I fly takeoff without a single seat empty. This weekend the 12 legs I flew had only one flight with 7 empty seats. Those were empty because of weight restrictions due to the 110F temperature at LAS. The last 7 passengers to get to the gate were SOL.

[felix]

Michael, jump seats are a thing of the past. My sister worked for years with Federal Express, and after 9/11, no more freebees. She took her 401K. She was a record keeper for engine maintenance, and made the schedules for overhaul and replacement. ... felix

[Swagerman]

Aronica Champion, heck, I learned to fly in one of those old tail draggers. It was around 1956 while in the Navy at NAS North Island, San Diego.

The airport was named Pikes, which for decades is now under a cloverleaf of freeway north end of S.D. leading to Mission Valley.

I use to putt putt over the beach area of the amusement park oogling the girly sun bathers.

I found that if you could fly a tail dragger well on landing you could probably land a 747 just as easy. Trycycle nose gear aircraft are better.

Also flew Piper PA-11, which had double the hp of the old Champ. Did my first 2-hour cross country flight in one to Santa Cruz, CA. Almost got run over by a gaggle of Navy jets as we passed near their flight zone at Moffett field.

Jim

[Jetwrench]

Felix,
Engineers should have to intern for at least 5 years same as doctors and such, then all products would improve.
JETWRENCH

[db2]

I also work for a major general aviation manufactor, while I do not fly them, I do make parts for them.

db2

[oksmle]

What Happens When You are A Pilot: Each Father's Day our Gun Club has a cook out at the range. It's combined with a "bring anything" shoot & a swap meet. But the big attraction is the feast the fathers put on for their families. So yesterday oksmle's extended family went, shot everything, ate everything & was lounging around with other overstuffed members when one of the Grandkids (the 8 year old) mentioned that "... why doesn't Grampy take us all for an airplane ride in "Old Bob?" "Us all" turned out to be Mrs oksmle, one brother-in-law, one son-in-law, one daughter & two Grandkids. Since the airport where "Old Bob" is hangared is only a couple miles from the range, & it was a beautiful day I had a hard time refusing. Now my plane, a Cessna 150E, only has two seats. And I've learned that for a successflu flight one of those should be occupied by a pilot. Which means taking only one passenger up at a time. Which means an awful lot of take-offs & landings. I was in the plane for three hours & the only way I was able to get the last Grandkid (the 4 year old) to agree to land was when I said, "Honey, Grampy really has to pee." Ya' just gotta' love 'em....

oksmle