Any pilots out there? What do you fly?

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68gtxman

68gtxman

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Just curious if Mopar people also love to fly. I know that I do. I started flying late in life, just flying for fun. Got my private pilot, instrument and multi-engine tickets. Bought a gyro copter a dozen years ago, but I am only half way thru rebuilding it (life got in the way).

Currently, I only fly a friend's Piper Cherokee Archer.

What do you fly and is it just for fun or do you fly away for vacations and/or business? Commercial?
 
I once owned what was unlovingly called the "skud missle,"

(low flying poorly guided missle)
 
For fun.........
 

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I have always wanted to fly, but have never had the money. I had the chance, if I would have realized it, to get my private pilot's license at a fraction of the cost if I had joined the flying club on base at NAS Memphis when I was there in 1994-1995. Unfortunately I didn't take advantage, and now I'm pretty much SOL. No money, and no local flying schools. One of these days, though. Until then I'm still craning my neck watching the planes fly over me. And dreaming...

EDIT: Funny about this thread. I was just on aerotrader.com looking at planes I can't afford, and couldn't fly if I could.
 
I've had a private pilot license for the past 34 years and currently own a 1976 Commander 112. Flying less and less these days with fuel prices nipping at $6.00 a gallon and the airplane uses 10 gal/hour. The airplane and I have crossed the country several times landing at North America's highest elevation airport (Leadville, CO 9800 ft) and the lowest elevation airport in Death Vally, CA -230 ft)
If you want to see the beauty of your country as no one else can, then take a flight in a small general aviation airplane. Makes a great gift for that special someone, be them a child, wife, girlfriend...etc.
 
What would ya like to know Sir? CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, COM-SEL, ATP LJ, LR45, CL-30.....
All of which simply means I'm a limo driver; it just happens to have wings.....;-)
Challenger 300 currently, for one of the fractionals....and I might one day own one still....
....but working on the ground transportation right now!
 
Gen2Cudas said:
What would ya like to know Sir? CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, COM-SEL, ATP LJ, LR45, CL-30.....
All of which simply means I'm a limo driver; it just happens to have wings.....;-)
Challenger 300 currently, for one of the fractionals....and I might one day own one still....
....but working on the ground transportation right now!
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You sure have all the E tickets! Sounds like you fly for a living. I looked into that several times and came to the same conclusion each time: I want to be home every night with my wife. I never flew commercially, but I don't think it could match the fun of just hopping in a plane and flying an hour and a half to a cool place for lunch. I never even flew myself away for vacation because we worried about being able to get home on time to return to work.

But if that's what you love, then God bless you! We sure need people like you to safely get us everywhere we all need to go. Hope you love it every day!
 
pbiggs said:
I've had a private pilot license for the past 34 years and currently own a 1976 Commander 112. Flying less and less these days with fuel prices nipping at $6.00 a gallon and the airplane uses 10 gal/hour. The airplane and I have crossed the country several times landing at North America's highest elevation airport (Leadville, CO 9800 ft) and the lowest elevation airport in Death Vally, CA -230 ft)
If you want to see the beauty of your country as no one else can, then take a flight in a small general aviation airplane. Makes a great gift for that special someone, be them a child, wife, girlfriend...etc.
Click to expand...

I hear you my friend, re: the $6 gas! My pal's Archer can cruise at 6 gals/hr (with mixture set at lean of rich) but that still hurts.

Yes, there is nothing like seeing the country from the air. I've done so much flying over NJ, that I know the whole state (VFR) by sight.

The most fun I had flying was in an ultralight high wing. Felt just like being a bird!

I wish my wife wasn't so afraid of flying though. She's a victim of the media. She feels as though the "small planes are falling out of the sky everyday" because she hears about crashes seemingly everyday. I asked her if she heard about car accidents or bicycle accidents everyday too, but she said they must be much safer than planes because she rarely hears about them. I replied that because those kinds of accidents are so common, they aren't usually newsworthy. But that airplane accidents are so rare, they all are newsworthy. She's not buying this, even though it's true. Oh well, some people are just "ground pounders".:sad5:
 
1968dartman said:
I would LOVE to be able to fly. It is one of the things on my bucket list!
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Did you know that flying lessons are usually given on a pay-as-you-go basis? You take a lesson, you pay for that lesson. Usually a lesson with plane rental costs included is less than $150 each (they roughly average an hour each). After about 15 hours, you'll be flying solo (though you'll need about 55 more hours of just plane rental at roughly $70 per hour) to be ready for your flight check ride. You can spread all of this out over years if you needed to, for cost purposes.

You never know when you'll kick the bucket, so stop putting off your dreams!!!:blob:
 
68gtxman said:
Did you know that flying lessons are usually given on a pay-as-you-go basis? You take a lesson, you pay for that lesson. Usually a lesson with plane rental costs included is less than $150 each (they roughly average an hour each). After about 15 hours, you'll be flying solo (though you'll need about 55 more hours of just plane rental at roughly $70 per hour) to be ready for your flight check ride. You can spread all of this out over years if you needed to, for cost purposes.

You never know when you'll kick the bucket, so stop putting off your dreams!!!:blob:
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I agree 100% but life, bills and family are stopping that dream at this time. And of course the 68 Dart that is in my garage that I keep spending more money on.
 
68gtxman said:
Just curious if Mopar people also love to fly. I know that I do. I started flying late in life, just flying for fun. Got my private pilot, instrument and multi-engine tickets. Bought a gyro copter a dozen years ago, but I am only half way thru rebuilding it (life got in the way).

Currently, I only fly a friend's Piper Cherokee Archer.

What do you fly and is it just for fun or do you fly away for vacations and/or business? Commercial?
Click to expand...

Im a mechanic and work on them does that count,?

If so i work on

Embraer 140ER / 145LR
Canadair CRJ 700

American Eagle fleet
 
moparmat2000 said:
Im a mechanic and work on them does that count,?

If so i work on

Embraer 140ER / 145LR
Canadair CRJ 700

American Eagle fleet
Click to expand...

Yes, working on them counts, and so do airboats.

I've seen that the whole airdrome environment is different from everywhere else I've ever been, in that the people are more friendly and trusting. I've been to airports where the FBO guy gave me the keys to their car so I could drive out to get some lunch. When was the last time you were somewhere that they trusted a stranger so much? Even many types of GA aircraft can usually be started with a paperclip if someone ever wanted to steal one. I've seen several older models that don't even use keys, just a simple start button, but they've never been stolen.

I'm not saying pilots and airport people are better than anyone else, but they seem to be nicer than the average bear.:cheers:
 
Used to........and dearly miss it, but could not feed my family on the income at the time. Better for a single person then. Had CFII, multi instructor, etc., etc. Flew numerous singles and twins. Did also take a ride in a P51D Mustang, a friend of mine owned. He had the 75 gallon tank behind the pilot seat removed and installed a jump seat.......that was awesome!
 
Wow - P51D! What a plane! My third favorite after SR 71 and P38. I never rode in any of them but I can dream!
 
Yeah, the guy had 2 Mustangs based out of Danville IL. Last I heard he had sold one of them and found a P47 (Jug) Thunderbolt. His father had flown P47's in WWII and before his father passed away he had took him one last ride. Also, the airport where I got all my ratings out of was Frasca field owned by Rudy Frasca. He built and designed flight simulators. As last I knew, Rudy had an FM2 Wildcat, AT-6 Texan, as Mitsubishi Zero clone, a P40 and the latest one, which took several years to restore a MK 18 Spitfire, Griffin engine, 5 blade prop.
 
I have a few hours of seat time in a 172. I'd love get my cert. and fly more but we're saving for a house right now. Having said that, flying in Hawaii is a real treat!
 
67Dart273 said:
I once owned what was unlovingly called the "skud missle,"

(low flying poorly guided missle)
Click to expand...
i have a friend that played hockey 6ft 7in 285lbs he played defence they called him the unguided missle guys would see him comming into the corner and skate away and leave the puck lol.
 
If working on aircraft counts, then count me into that group. In the US Navy, I was an Avionics Technician. Specifically, I did intermediate level maintenance on the fire control radar of the S-3 Vikings (affectionately dubbed the "Hoover" because of its engine intakes) and the F-14D Super Tomcat. I spent six years in, 4 and a half years on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). That was a lot of fun. Especially getting to plane check a radar box. I got to stand on a ladder next to the plane and look in the cockpit while one of the squadron guys powered the system up to check and make sure everything worked. Those things were awesome!

In the S-3B Viking photo below, the front nose piece is lifted up and the yellow thing you see is the radar antenna. It is a large egg-shaped pain in the ***!
 

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I am not a pilot but I love being a flyinng crew chief. Nothing gives me a bigger rush than when the pilots look at me when something breaks and I say, "no worries, I got this".
 
Commercial Instrument Rotorcraft , haven't flown anything in years and my license isn't current but for 10 years I flew Medevac Hueys (UH-1V) in the Army
 
Thanks and prayers sent to all US servicemen and women! This includes past, present and future.
 
I have an unfinished Gyrocopter.
I hope to one day get back on it.
Its a Gyrobee.
 
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