Flying

[DownwardDog]

What sort of costs are you looking at here?

When I was in the full throes of my mid-life crisis I had an Extra 300L. It was 200 knot, +/- 10g rocketship and would seduce the operator into increasingly perilous maneuvers. The closest I've ever come to getting divorced was when I did a Lomcovak above a friend's farm with my wife in the back. Then, when I worked out it was costing me nearly 400 quid/hour to operate it, I sold it. Now I have a 172 with bush wheels which costs about 70 quid/hour. I usually fly a few bush charters every month which just about pays for it.

 

[dylanredefined]

So during my second solo lesson of takeoffs and landings, I was taxiing back to hold ready for another takeoff when a bunch of trucks followed by walking people with flags appeared in the field just to the RHS of the runway. Radioed in to ask what the deal was. Was told to proceed with takeoff - they were only hunters and they probably wouldn't shoot at the plane

Hadn't your tower heard the phrase "it flies it dies!"
On the other side been looking at wrecks of helicopters and learning all the ways aviation can kill you.

 

[paolo]

When I was in the full throes of my mid-life crisis I had an Extra 300L. It was 200 knot, +/- 10g rocketship and would seduce the operator into increasingly perilous maneuvers. The closest I've ever come to getting divorced was when I did a Lomcovak above a friend's farm with my wife in the back. Then, when I worked out it was costing me nearly 400 quid/hour to operate it, I sold it. Now I have a 172 with bush wheels which costs about 70 quid/hour. I usually fly a few bush charters every month which just about pays for it.

OMG you had an Extra 300L? Win the lottery?

Only flew one once - first loop was 8G with finger tips. :-o

The rest of my aeros time was in a Robin. Lovely (that helicopter-like visibility)... but after the Extra it felt like a total plodder.

 

[DownwardDog]

OMG you had an Extra 300L? Win the lottery?

No. I made some astute (ie lucky) moves in the classic car market over the years. The funds have now been confiscated as my wife wanted a new house.

The rest of my aeros time was in a Robin. Lovely (that helicopter-like visibility)... but after the Extra it felt like a total plodder.

Yep, pretty much anything you'll fly in GA feels like a total plodder after the E300.

 

[paolo]

Everything in an Extra is thought through, brilliantly engineered. Just the basic thing of the leg bend, to minimise the blood hunt in Gs. After I flew one, I knew: If I ever have the money, I will get one. I flew such neat figures with it (not hard, I thought) my instructor/owner suggested I do competition aeros. But it seemed so easy to make neat shapes - just think what you want it to do, be decisive, bang - you were exactly where your head expected it to end up.

I did some training time in a Pitts S2, with a view to buying a share in an S1. Trying to get through the whole scary tail-dragger thing. Then other stuff happened. It does with flying I guess.

Might go back to it one day. Aeros was my love. You can always have fun and you decide what fun you'll have. The 'process orientated' thing of doing A-B nav - satisfaction for a job done, but no excitement. Aeros FTW.

 

[paolo]

Fave aeros pilot. Yurgis Kairys.

 

[A380]

Apart from half an hour of lazy eights and such in the Steerman at Fantasy of Flight, I've only ever done glider aeros (I learnt to aero tow in the winter so after spinning a bit needed a way to burn off the height). That was great. Later on I did a couple of flights with a mad octogenarian who used to loop off of the top of a winch launch. I mean pull off at 800' and straight into a loop and then another before a reduced circuit. It was fantastic, but I only flew with him that one day...

 

[WouldBe]

The rest of my aeros time was in a Robin.

Not of the Reliant variety I hope.

 

[paolo]

 

[paolo]

That specific one... not me in that photo though

 

[doddles]

Fave aeros pilot. Yurgis Kairys.

That is just absurd

Not sure if it's the sort of thing I should be watching 14 hours into my training.

I've had the great pleasure of being taken for some loops in gliders, as well as some nice inverted stall turns by an airforce pilot in a small Grumman. So much fun. One day maybe I'll be able to do that myself. One day...

 

[Lancman]

The last time I tried aerobatics was in a Tiger Moth and I invented a new manoeuvre. A half roll followed by a downwards half loop when I ran out of airspeed half way round the roll. Bloody bi-plane drag!

 

[A380]

You show me yours... this is mine (well a 15th of it).