Up, Up and away

[m3a1]

My Dad was a private pilot. He had many airplanes but his favorites were the Mooney Mk21 (and maybe someday I'll actually be able to remember the tail number)...

...and N34331, a 1942 Meyers OTW. Now I know some of you know how to look that tail number up (and see a pic of it). Dad and I did the restoration on it...down to the last nut, bolt and rivet. (Child labor laws were routinely being violated in the process, I assure you). It's still in the colors Dad selected to this day...the same red and white as the package of Marlboros he smoked.

Go to ebay and type in "Meyers Meyers OTW Biplane Airplane Wood Model Small Free Shipping" and you will see that a version of Dad's biplane exists, right down to the tail number (though they got the cowling all wrong). We left our cowling off as Dad preferred the open engine look. That's what you do when you can't afford a Stearman. You do the next best thing.

We had any, many fun aviations experiences, and a few scary ones as well.

Cheers,
TJ

[Horst]

.... Horst, are you a fixed wing pilot?

No, I fly rotorcraft. Learned to fly 29 years ago in California, in that little red thing shown in my avatar (has crashed many years ago, not me...). Decided 4 years ago to leave my well paid white collar job at Intel and became an employed full-time pilot. I fly mostly the AS350 aka A-Star, single engine turbine helo. I am also type rated in the twin engine turbine Airbus Helicopter EC135 and the Agusta A109. I am really glad that I did that move towards the end of my career, I love this job even given that some of the flights are really stressful.

The A109:

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The A-Star:

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The EC135:

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[csmith]

Very cool thread! I also took about 4 lessons when I was 20 but did not follow thru. I got to spend about 4 hours over several visits in the F-14 simulators at a local NAS as by buddy ran the traning department. We got guns, everything else off limits, they had dual domes, each had the front of an F-14, actual cockpit so you could fly against the other plane which was another non pilot friend. It was very cool, I could take off but always crashed on landing. A few more times and I could have gotten it. My buddy who was over the department and one of the Navy's best F14 pilots was outside the cockpit, canopy up and landed me on a carrier on one of my visits, I had the throttle and the had the stick. Then after the arrestment I rolled the thing off the deck...

Maybe next life

[Hambone]

I always had dreams of flying when I was growing up, took some lessons in my early 20's but never followed all the way through. Mark, you can still get that private pilot for $20K, it's never too late. I would love to cruise around in those nice helicopters Horst is flying around in, most of my experience in a chopper has been site seeing. Clell, maybe we can both finish our training in that next life, we can let TJ be our mechanic.

[rickf]

I took lessons through the Civil Air Patrol as a teen and even soloed. but then came the draft and that was the end of that. I was so screwed up when I got back from Vietnam I just wandered around from job to job and hiked the Appalachian trail, twice! That was what finally got my head cleared. By then I had to get serious about working so never really got back to getting the license. But my best friend from high school never quit, he did not get drafted and he worked just to fly. He got certified in just about in just about anything that flew short of commercial jets. He was also a certified instructor and offered many times to get me my license at cost. I never had time. We did a lot of flying though and most of it was with me at the controls. By the time I had the time to get the license he had burned out and basically walked away from flying. He told me between the fact that it was nothing more to him anymore than like a trip to the corner store in the car and the astronomical prices for insurance, rental and fuel he had had enough. So there it ended for me about 8 years ago.

[Horst]

USA is the place to be for someone wishing to become a pilot! Very (cost) efficient. Granted not all states are equal, most of my experience is in the West, the airport density there is just amazing.

So guys, don't bet on the next life, do it now!

[Mark]

Ya, I joined the Civil Air Patrol, never got to do the flying bit as the instructors were too busy working.So I quit at the end of the summer.

[Hambone]

They delivered the PC12 this morning from Pennsylvania, though my son flys for an engineering firm, they miscalculated on the size of the hanger, now the TBM850 won't fit, . Had to borrow some hanger space, time to upgrade to a bigger hanger . The remote control Tow Bot make moving things around a snap, can't wait to fly in this cadillac.

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[rickf]

An engineering firm that miscalculates basic floor space?!!! Might be time to look for another firm before things go bad there.

[raymond]

Perhaps you should have considered chopping off a couple feet from the end of the wings to make it fit

[Hambone]

An engineering firm that miscalculates basic floor space?!!! Might be time to look for another firm before things go bad there.

We're glad they miscalculated, it was tight with 2 planes in there anyway, one nick in one of composite prop blade=$10k.

Perhaps you should have considered chopping off a couple feet from the end of the wings to make it fit

We had some duct tape.

[Hambone]

Flying to Steamboat Springs, 100 degrees at home, 75 here.

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[rickf]

Yawl wearin' your shorts and flip flops for that trip?

[Hambone]

Yawl wearin' your shorts and flip flops for that trip?

I did bring some shorts, not sure I will need them, only here 2 days, headed into the Rocky Mountain National Park.

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[Horst]

as I said before, one of my former students has a PC12 too.

First we ferried an A-Star to Spain with a stopover in the Bordeaux area, sleeping at the Château and enjoying a good glass of red.

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He did send his PC12 to pick us up...

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at the right flight level with some nice tail wind the ground speed is good:

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Was my first ride in a PC12, impressive, but I will keep sticking to rotorcraft!

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