Boy would I like to get on board and fly somewhere. I could use vacation.
I really miss flying. I almost got my license, but ran out of money; then I was grounded with a permanent inner ear disorder and wouldn't be able to pass the medical. But I loved being up in the sky! Loved handling a small plane and flying over traffic jams on the x-way (as opposed to sitting in my car stuck in them!), loved the feeling of being in the air - it was magic! I've flown a Cessna 152, Grumman (shoot, I can't remember which one - it was one of their low-wing single-engine all-glass canopy general aviation aircraft - they had a line which was based on military design but was civilian) - Ah, I just remembered! The Grumman Cheetah!, I've been up in a blimp (that was really unusal and cool!) and I've flown a sailplane, which was the closest to pure flight as I've ever gotten - no noisy loud engine up front.
I'd love to have an ultralight. They're not subject to the full regs that regular aircraft are. I remember one day I was hiking at Pinckney Rec. Area and just came off the trail at the Silver Lake Beach, when a guy flew in on an ultralight with floats, landed on the lake, taxied up to some trees at the shore, tied up his ultralight, and then set up a picnic lunch on shore! It was so cool!! What a great way to spend the day!
My only experiences are as a passenger of course in airliners but also in a Cessna T210 Turbo Centurion and Stearman PT-17.I someday want to go soaring.I have always thought that would be the type I would own,mainly a a motor-glider type like a Katana-Diamond. Ultralights would be a blast too!And no ATC,just land and takeoff anywhere.
There's a naturalist/researcher named Charlie Russell who has been studying grizzly bears in Kamchatka, Russia. He built. something called a microlight to fly in to his remote cabin in the Kamchatka peninsula wilderness. It's really cool, has an all-clear canopy, and actually looks like a motor-glider but smaller. He added floats to it, since his cabin is on the waterfront. I saved a picture of it to my computer but don't know how to post it to you. Anyway, if you go to http://www.wildweb.org/c.russell/ there's a good picture of it. These kinds of aircraft gives one the true freedom of flying, I think. Like you said, no ATC, regs and all the other crap. Cool stuff! Someday, someday...
"...feel, hear, smell history" - what a great way to say it!
I know what you mean. The first time I went to England to visit my friend Anne, we went horseback riding through the countryside (we had met when she was working here in Michigan at her half-cousin's riding stable - I was taking riding lessons there and working part-time in the stables, and we got to be good friends; when her work visa ran out and she went back home, she invited me to visit the following summer - 1972); anyway, as we were clopping along this quiet country road, Anne, who was leading, turned in her saddle and called back, "I thought you'd be interested to know that we're riding on one of the old original Roman roads." I thought, "Wow!". I pulled Paddy, my horse, to a stop, and leaned over in my saddle to stare at the road (which, of course, looked like any other road! haha) and I thought, in amazement, "I'm riding on history!" It was such an incredible feeling!
6 comments:
Boy would I like to get on board and fly somewhere. I could use vacation.
I really miss flying. I almost got my license, but ran out of money; then I was grounded with a permanent inner ear disorder and wouldn't be able to pass the medical. But I loved being up in the sky! Loved handling a small plane and flying over traffic jams on the x-way (as opposed to sitting in my car stuck in them!), loved the feeling of being in the air - it was magic! I've flown a Cessna 152, Grumman (shoot, I can't remember which one - it was one of their low-wing single-engine all-glass canopy general aviation aircraft - they had a line which was based on military design but was civilian) - Ah, I just remembered! The Grumman Cheetah!, I've been up in a blimp (that was really unusal and cool!) and I've flown a sailplane, which was the closest to pure flight as I've ever gotten - no noisy loud engine up front.
I'd love to have an ultralight. They're not subject to the full regs that regular aircraft are. I remember one day I was hiking at Pinckney Rec. Area and just came off the trail at the Silver Lake Beach, when a guy flew in on an ultralight with floats, landed on the lake, taxied up to some trees at the shore, tied up his ultralight, and then set up a picnic lunch on shore! It was so cool!! What a great way to spend the day!
My only experiences are as a passenger of course in airliners but also in a Cessna T210 Turbo Centurion and Stearman PT-17.I someday want to go soaring.I have always thought that would be the type I would own,mainly a a motor-glider type like a Katana-Diamond.
Ultralights would be a blast too!And no ATC,just land and takeoff anywhere.
There's a naturalist/researcher named Charlie Russell who has been studying grizzly bears in Kamchatka, Russia. He built. something called a microlight to fly in to his remote cabin in the Kamchatka peninsula wilderness. It's really cool, has an all-clear canopy, and actually looks like a motor-glider but smaller. He added floats to it, since his cabin is on the waterfront. I saved a picture of it to my computer but don't know how to post it to you. Anyway, if you go to http://www.wildweb.org/c.russell/ there's a good picture of it. These kinds of aircraft gives one the true freedom of flying, I think. Like you said, no ATC, regs and all the other crap. Cool stuff! Someday, someday...
Stearman PT-17 is a very cool plane. I'd love to go up in one of those, too. What was it like, being up in that?
LOL.Somewhat loud,windy,and the ever-present smell of AVfuel.It was great!And you can feel-hear-smell history.
"...feel, hear, smell history" - what a great way to say it!
I know what you mean. The first time I went to England to visit my friend Anne, we went horseback riding through the countryside (we had met when she was working here in Michigan at her half-cousin's riding stable - I was taking riding lessons there and working part-time in the stables, and we got to be good friends; when her work visa ran out and she went back home, she invited me to visit the following summer - 1972); anyway, as we were clopping along this quiet country road, Anne, who was leading, turned in her saddle and called back, "I thought you'd be interested to know that we're riding on one of the old original Roman roads." I thought, "Wow!". I pulled Paddy, my horse, to a stop, and leaned over in my saddle to stare at the road (which, of course, looked like any other road! haha) and I thought, in amazement, "I'm riding on history!" It was such an incredible feeling!
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