Took my first flying lesson today

Post #101,894 by bbronson 5/14/03 5:08:59 PM Reply	Took my first flying lesson today After 30 years of hanging around airports, I'm finally going to get my pilot license. Today was the basics, you know: push stick forward-houses get bigger; pull stick back-houses get smaller! I'm learning in a Citabria as real airplanes don't have nosewheels. That way, I'll be ready to fly my dream airplane-a Beechcraft Staggerwing. I figure I need about $750,000 to get a Staggerwing (purchase + operating costs + insurance), so please feel free to send donations! That would make a very nice Christmas present. Brian Bronson
Post #101,897 by jbrabeck 5/14/03 5:14:50 PM Reply	After I win the lottery and pay off all my bills... [link\|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com\|Joe]
Post #101,901 by bbronson 5/14/03 5:33:47 PM Reply	I decided to split the difference I've wanted to get my license for about 15 years. I kept delaying it because I couldn't justify the large expense at the time. Well, I figure I've put it off long enough, and the bills are under control. As for getting the Staggerwing...I'll need the lottery for that! But that's why it's my dream airplane. Realistically, I plan to get an old Aeronca Champ, Citabria, Piper Cub, something like that. I can find those for less than $30,000. Which is interesting because I have friends who say flying is only for rich people who then get into their $35,000 suv! Brian Bronson
Post #101,900 by deSitter 5/14/03 5:27:12 PM Reply	Nice There was a time when I wanted to do that, but not any more. WTC screwed me up RE flying. Anyway, be careful. File a flight plan. -drl
Post #101,914 by Andrew Grygus 5/14/03 6:46:57 PM Reply	I will not be taking flying lessons. My experience with driving and sailing makes it clear that I operate routinely with a vanishingly thin margin of safety. With flying, the consequences are even more likely to be severe. A client of mine, Stew, is an avid pilot and was trying to convince a friend who is an avid sailor to take flying lessons, assuring him that flying is safer than sailing. The response was, "Well, I'm sure you're right, but when something does go wrong, most people can swim, but very few can fly". Now Stew flies absolutely by the book, taking minimal risks - with his flying that is. His new airplane he is very proud of, and boasts that it is one of only a few of that model still in existance. He admits the reason for that is this model is so overpowered, most of them have crashed. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #102,030 by bbronson 5/15/03 8:44:57 AM Reply	I can't swim OR fly, so what the heck Might as well go with something I'll love. Besides, as my brother says, a boat is just a hole in the water in which to throw money. I'll wind up on the safer end of the spectrum-Scandihoovian lineage, engineering degrees, Air Force experience as a non-rated aircrew-everything is done by the book. Brian Bronson
Post #101,958 by Steve Lowe 5/14/03 10:43:45 PM Reply	Envy! Oh man. Good for you. I've wanted to fly since I can remember. My mom always told me my eyesight wouldn't allow it. I have very little depth perception as I don't see with stereoscopic vision because my eyes look in slightly different directions. Kills any chance of flying commercially or militarily, dunno for sure about GA, heard conflicting stories. My wife bought me an introductory lesson for my birthday a couple years back, got to experience the yoke for a short time anyway. Perhaps someday I'll look into it deeper. Enjoy your dream!! ----- Steve
Post #102,122 by CRConrad 5/15/03 2:33:28 PM Reply	Sorry, but didn't you just say... Steve Lowe writes: I have very little depth perception as I don't see with stereoscopic vision ... Followed by: Perhaps someday I'll look into it deeper. Uh, ehm... ;^> [link\|mailto:MyUserId@MyISP.CountryCode\|Christian R. Conrad] (I live in Finland, and my e-mail in-box is at the Saunalahti company.) Your lies are of Microsoftian Scale and boring to boot. Your 'depression' may be the closest you ever come to recognizing truth: you have no 'inferiority complex', you are inferior - and something inside you recognizes this. - [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=71575\|Ashton Brown]
Post #102,179 by Steve Lowe 5/16/03 12:18:36 AM Reply	heh :) pun wasn't intentional, this time ----- Steve
Post #102,129 by Ashton 5/15/03 3:09:59 PM Reply	Same here but I landed a Cessna! (Real pilot at my left, natch) ~ Amblyopia I think it is; when you crossed-eyes as a tad and.. adults didn't notice in time for an eye patch to work its magic. If that doesn't get fixed at a critical window.. almost certainly can't, later - or so I have always been told. But hey .. I/we learn "kinetic depth perception".. certainly worked for me on motorcycles. Not a problem for GA, last I heard - but surely for commercial. Airplanes is Fun, and certainly less buggy than these &%($% machines. Ashton Smilin Jack
Post #102,182 by Steve Lowe 5/16/03 12:43:04 AM Reply	Yup, born that way. I was born very cross-eyed. Had corrective surgery when I was just 2 years old, actually remember events of that day. Now, my left eye sees slighty higher and to the right of where my right eye does. Prismatic lenses in my glasses helped some, but that really bothered my peripheral vision ----- Steve
Post #102,013 by dmarker 5/15/03 8:03:41 AM Reply	Best of luck & all good fortune to you I look forward to your report on your 1st solo. Typically it starts with you sitting at the end of the runway with an empty co-pilot seat & you saying out load to yourself ... 'What the hell am I doing here - ahhmm gonna dieee' but you do it anyway & land and know you have just joined a very special club. Those of us who have been there before never forget that moment & we nearly all love to hear others telling of their just completed achievement as it takes as right back to our own moment of glory, also when you have achieved that 1st solo, you tend to be on such a high that you describe things in a very unique and entertaining way. Looking forward to more reports of your progress. Cheers Doug Marker Spectres from our past: Beware the future when your children & theirs come after you for what you may have been willing to condone today - dsm 2003 Motivational: When performing activities, ask yourself if the person you most want to be would do, or say, it - dsm 2003
Post #102,025 by bbronson 5/15/03 8:36:28 AM Reply	Funny, I started thinking that as I was overcorrecting on my first takeoff with the instructor in the back! But the Citabria is a very forgiving aircraft as long as the wheels aren't on the ground. Beware the groundloop. It'll be a bit harder learning in a taildragger, but all the pilots I know tell me I'll be a better pilot for it. Of course, they're all taildragger pilots, so... If the flying goes well and the weather cooperates, I should solo Septemberish. Since I'm in Wisconsin, I can count the the weather screwing me more than once, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. Thanks. Brian Bronson
Post #102,178 by dmarker 5/15/03 11:47:56 PM 5/15/03 11:49:45 PM Reply	What the situ re min hours prior solo ? When I learned, things were pretty casual & was sent aloft solo after 15 hrs instructor training. I suspect that may have changed quite a bit. My original starting point was the ole faithful Cessna 152. Damned thing could almost fly & land itself, pilot was mostly there to mess things up or change direction, 'cept in a cross-wind landing - Pilot was really needed then. Cross-wind landings are really good fun (seriously). But cross-wind gusting conditions are the evil that can be lurking for the unwary. Sept seems a long way off ? Cheers Doug Spectres from our past: Beware the future when your children & theirs come after you for what you may have been willing to condone today - dsm 2003 Motivational: When performing activities, ask yourself if the person you most want to be would do, or say, it - dsm 2003 Edited by dmarker May 15, 2003, 11:49:45 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #102,210 by bbronson 5/16/03 8:18:44 AM Reply	Don't have my 'bible' with me The feds require 20 hours with an instructor and 20 hours solo for the private license. I'm anticipating the bulk of the instructor time would come prior to soloing, but I'm not sure if there's a hard requirement of hours. Tack on the increased difficulty of learning in a taildragger (ie, a REAL airplane) which should be good for a few hours extra. Plan for 2 hours per week and factor in weather in Wisconsin. That takes me into at least August. I don't think I've ever been in a 152, but that's what most people learn in here, and for good reason. It's an easy plane to learn in. Of course, they can be a pain to land. If it's calm and somebody sneezes in the tower just before you touch down, plan on staying in ground effect for another minute or so! Usually it's either a 152 or the Piper Tomahawk (bleeeeach!) Pipers are fine, just not the Traumahawk-butt ugly; spindly little landing gear. Brian Bronson
Post #102,399 by dmarker 5/17/03 7:59:43 PM 5/18/03 6:53:28 AM Reply	Tail draggers scared the bejabbers out of me eva since ... I saw a group of them (WWII vet craft) taking off at Oshkosh. The lead plane's engine failed just before he was to lift off & he slowed down, the next 2 behind him saw what had happened & pulled off the runway, 4th was at full throttle & had not seen #1 stop & begin to taxi off (couldn't see the runway over his nose) and went right into the back of #1 & cartwheeled down the runway on fire. I think the ones I saw were something like Bobcats or Hellcats ?. (###2 Was a bearcat & a corsair - see links below) Horrific sight - I think the pilot lived but no one expected him to. If your t/d has good runway visibility then I am sure you won't have that kind of problem. I guess the biggest problem to avoid is the nose over (don't apply full brakes when up on wheels & tail hasn't settled :-). Cheers Doug ###2 It seems the pilot of the cartwheeling craft is paralysed from the chest down. [link\|http://www.aafo.com/racing/news/99/07-31-99.htm\|http://www.aafo.com/...s/99/07-31-99.htm] 1999 crash details [link\|http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jul99/eaasid31073099.asp\|http://www.jsonline....aasid31073099.asp] more info [link\|http://www.myplane.com/oshkosh/corsair1.asp\|http://www.myplane.c...kosh/corsair1.asp] photos of the crash as it occured Spectres from our past: Beware the future when your children & theirs come after you for what you may have been willing to condone today - dsm 2003 Motivational: When performing activities, ask yourself if the person you most want to be would do, or say, it - dsm 2003 Edited by dmarker May 18, 2003, 06:53:28 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #102,563 by mmoffitt 5/19/03 11:24:14 AM Reply	My 2. These days, most pilots solo with between 15-20 hours, and more towards the 20 hour mark. As with everything pertaining to flight instruction, YMMV. I solo'd with just under 19 hours. I think AOPA did a survey recently and the average number of hours prior to solo was 20.x or something. At my little field in the past two years (my flying time), I haven't seen anyone solo with fewer than 17 hours and most are in the 21-23 hour range. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
Post #102,039 by drewk 5/15/03 9:11:49 AM Reply	ICLRPD (new thread) Created as new thread #102038 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=102038\|ICLRPD] === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #102,143 by mmoffitt 5/15/03 5:27:41 PM Reply	THAT IS GREAT! And welcome to the club ;-) If you ever get discouraged at ANY point during your training, just remember that every human being who has ever lived on this planet has wanted to fly. And this has been true since the first time a man saw a bird in flight. Very few people ever get to do that, and you've already done it. Have fun! bcnu, Mikem PPSEL 9/30/2002 (and proud owner of N7522T) p.s. Just knock off that stuff about nose gear aircraft will ya? ;-)
Post #102,212 by bbronson 5/16/03 8:26:43 AM Reply	Thanks (and NEVER; taildraggers RULE dood!) ;-) I don't expect any major discouragement. I've wanted this for long enough that I'll stick to it. And, I've some people that made me think if they've got a private, the feds should start me with at least an instrument rating! So, what is N7522T? I gather it has a nosewheel. Which doesn't make it a bad airplane; just something in which I'm less interested. Brian Bronson
Post #102,292 by mmoffitt 5/16/03 2:25:25 PM Reply	C172A Made two months after I was born (November 1959). I need to take some pictures of it, people are always asking me. Won an award at Oshkosh one year. I got really lucky :-D Like you, I had to wait a long time to fulfill my dream (34 years). But I can assure you, it is definitely worth the wait. I'm going to start Instrument Rating soon, probably some time this summer. (As soon as I can afford to upgrade the avionics in my airplane ;-) Clear skies. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
Post #102,304 by bbronson 5/16/03 3:14:30 PM Reply	That's a good airplane Decent performance; 4 place or 2 with luggage. It's the Ford Taurus of the skies. My dad's a part owner of a 172; built in 1957, IIRC. I don't anticipate going beyond a private. But, I'm just starting, so who knows what I'll want 5 year from now. Brian Bronson
Post #102,383 by mmoffitt 5/17/03 3:06:13 PM Reply	You'll want your instrument rating. Unless you live in FL, CA, AZ, etc. where old man weather isn't a problem. Up here in Northern Indiana, I'd guess we have fewer VFC days than we do IMC. Having a "VFR only" ticket really restricts your flying up here. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"

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