How long ya been flying?

[captain_john]

Seeing as this February will mark 10 years aloft for me, it made me wonder about the others here.

In those ten years I have acquired a Seaplane rating and three additional signoffs for HP, Complex and Taildragger with just over 400 hours total time.

Some years are more active than others. This year was my most active flying year yet with more than 80 hours logged!

I am so glad that I picked up this hobby. It is the most rewarding and satisfying hobby I have ever participated in.

How long have you been flying for?
What experience have you gained?
Any comments or "there I was" stories you would like to share about your career?

I wonder how I will celebrate my 10th year? Hmmmm, hopefully the weather will be nice!

CJ

[cjensen]

How long have you been flying for?
What experience have you gained?
Any comments or "there I was" stories you would like to share about your career?
CJ

i've been flying for 6 1/2 years, and have logged 675 hours to this point, so that equates to just over 100 hours/year since i started.

i've added a commercial license with instrument and multi-engine ratings. rated for complex and high performance airplanes, and have recently been learning how to fly our company king air 200 on charter (should be going to simcom soon for official schooling). i've flown 36 types of airplanes (including spike's favorite, the trinidad, sorry spike! , and my favorite the TBM 700).

no real war stories, but i have had a real engine failure in a 421 (with an instructor on board), and had a 172 lose power about 10 miles from my home airport. i've had an alternator fail in my cherokee while in the soup, but decsending through the overcast 15 miles from home.

i have one hour of tailwheel time (in a CAP 10B-so fun!!), so this is something i will be learning soon! recently, our flight school has purchased a Diamond DA40 with the G1000 in it, so i've been learning that gizmo.

that about sums it up! oh, i'm also a ground instructor.

[4kilo]

CJ,

I made my first solo in 1977 (wow, that's scary). I have never had a BFR because in my early days, I never went two years between ratings. Now days, I have to take three check rides per year for the airline. I have averaged 760 hours per year over my flying career so far, and I still fly for fun!

Light airplanes are the second most fun flying I do. I still enjoy soaring more, but when you need to be somewhere, sailplanes are just not a reliable means of transport! Getting a glider ready to fly is a lot of work, and you need a tow pilot too, so if you just want to fly for an hour or two, the RV is the way to go.

I have more "there I was" stories than you want to hear. Not many in singles; most of my stories are about flying night freight or soaring. Here is a link to a soaring war story from this summer:

http://www.napwars.com/wcsa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=48

If you want my suggestion for celebrating your tenth year flying, try soaring! Your only regret will be that you didn't try it sooner.

Pat

[hngrflyr]

I started hanging around the local airpark in 1954 at the age of 13. My first ride was in a new 1954 Tri Pacer. I soloed in a Cessna 120 in 1957. I've flown lots of different airplanes and have accumulated something over 4000 hours. Probably 90% in tailwheel airplanes.
I purchased a Cessna 120 in 1970, and still own it. I purchased a flying
RV-6 in 2004. Both are great airplanes for way I use them. I am retired, and still love flying as much as ever.
I worked as a machinist/tool maker, and maintenance technician in the food industry. I've always been heavily involved with the maintenance of my airplanes. I coudn't own them if I weren't. In fact, my RV6 cracked a cylinder head Friday afternoon when I was about 10 miles out, inbound for landing. The engine got a little rough, but was smooth at reduced power. The landing was uneventful. All temps and pressures were normal during the flight. I'd began reducing power when it let go. I'm currently tracking down a replacement cylinder for it. I'll know by tomorrow where my parts will come from.

Bob S

[bmurrish]

Been flying for 8 years

Commercial Airplane Single Engine Land
Commercial Airplane Single Engine Sea
Commercial Airplane Multi Engine Land
Certified Flight Instructor
Certified Flight Instructor Instrument
Advanced Ground Instructor
Air Force Mountain Check Pilot
High Performance Aircraft

[Rupester]

OK, all you Hairy Chested Men ... I can't compete with any of that, so here goes .... I started taking flight instruction in April '05, soloed in May, and passed my Private Pilot checkride on Nov 21, 2005. I have a whoppin' 81 hours logged, all in two models of 172's. The day before my checkride I did get 20 min of sticktime in Jack Holland's spectacular RV7. (felt like an F18 compared to a 172!) And, as some of you know, my RV9A tail kit just arrived on 12/29/05. Now howzat for a newbie ?!?

[svanarts]

Coming up on 14 years. I took my written after staying up all night helping my wife deliver our son. A lot of help I was. She wouldn't even let me watch Monty Pyton's Quest for the Holy Grail during the long labor. But I digress.

In those 14 years I've acquired a PP-ASEL. Ta-da! I've logged about 1100 hours, 900 of which is tailwheel. My greatest accomplishments to date are:
- Landing in Hansen's cow pasture
- Landing on that closed strip on the side of the hill in Tuolumne County
- Regular flights to the 4th fairway at J-B golf (we can land there as long as no one is tee-ing off.)
- Landing at Moyle's strip in the Red Hills.
- Two flights to Oshkosh from Oakdale, CA.
- A RV transition course with Mike Seager
- Built and test flew my own airplane
- Oh, and a really daring flight to Merced for biscuits and gravy.

[aparchment]

Hey John:

"Experience" tally and war stories:

Though I flew with my Dad when I was a kid, I didn't get my license until about 6 years ago. I have just under 400 hours total. '05 was my most active year at just about 170 hours thanks to great rates on a club airplane and a kid sister who needed to be taken back and forth to college in PA.

I am instrument rated with about 25 hours actual and 50 hours simulated. I am finishing my commercial now, but without a good reason to get it done (anyone want to pay me to fly?), I haven't been motivated to master the 60 degree spiral to precision landing maneuver which is my nemesis. Also have my complex and high performance endorsements. I have one hour tailwheel time, hence my building a 7A.

I have flown the usual stuff as well as some cool stuff. Usual stuff includes 172, 150, 210, Warrior, Arrow, Bonanza, Sirrus. Cool stuff includes RV8, RV7, AT-6, Lancair Legacy, Lancair ES, Cozy MkIV, Citabria and believe it or not the Diamond Star DA40.

Lots of interesting stuff seen from the cockpit, but no real scary incidents. The engine on my club 172 stopped for a couple of seconds on a cross country, and that kicked the adrenaline up. Fortunately the emergency procedures were instinctive and she fired right back up.

One of my more interesting instrument flights was noteworthy because the controller vectored me right through a good size cumulous buildup. I couldn't deviate from course to avoid it due to traffic. Just as I entered the cloud and was getting bounced all to heck, he assigned me a new heading, cleared me to a lower altitude and handed me off to a new sector all at once. C'mon buddy! I politely requested that I stay on his frequency for a few minutes until I exited the worst of the turbulence and was able to tune the radio. Fun stuff.

Boy do I love to fly!

Antony

[Spike]

Ive had the ticket (SEL) 5 years now with just shy of 250 hours, not nearly enough in my opinion. Most of that time is in TB-9's, 172's, and an Archer thrown in hear and there. Ive also got a smidge of 182 time. Basically, Im a pretty boring guy compared with you all. Building the 9 is more something to do with my hands in the off time than it is to get a screamin airplane. Though, I am looking forward to getting it in the air.

Im about 1/3 of the way through my instrument ticket and hope to finish that up in '06. So much to do, ya know?

-- John

[Wicked Stick]

I got my license to learn (Private Pilot cert) on September of 1999.
So far I've got about 800 hours and still learning

Of the 800 hours, 65 of them are tailwheel and I have about 100 hours of formation experience and I'm FFI certified as a wingman.

Check out the pictures in my gallery when you have a chance.

[tshort]

I got my private when I was in college in '95, then had to take some time off during med school / residency ... didn't get back in the air until '03. I have about 250TT, 4 of tailwheel, and have flown C-172s, 170, 152, 140, piper cherokee warrior and lance, and an RV-6 and a little stick time in the back of an -8.
No instrument rating yet, haven't had the time. Working on the TW endorsement now (except the weather sucks and I haven't flown for 2 weeks!!)

Thomas

[Dan A]

I got my lic in 1976, bought a T-craft in 1978, restored it, and flew it until I sold it in 2003 to help fund my 8. I currently have about 1250 flght hrs. I didn't get to do the military flying thing because the Navy didn't approve of my weak eye. (drat!) But I still enjoy my poor man's fighter
Dan

[Cherokee Driver]

Mine is a very humble experience set in contrast to the group...

PPL in 1982, took a 13 year break in mid 80's and picked it up again in the 90s. 500+ PIC but all of that in spam cans, Tomahawk, Archer, PA 28-140, C172 and the like.

Most memorable flight...the first time I held the stick...I was hooked.
Most enjoyment...first aerobatic flight in an RV8 (of course).
Biggest.. right seat in a 421. (not PIC)
Most memorable flight not in cockpit...laying in tail boom position of a KC135 as a guest.
Best scenery...flying a C-170 in Anchorage.

Seems almost pedestrian in comparison to the rest...but still a lot of fun for me and the kids !

CD

[Rupester]

You know, regardless of differences in experience or hours, the clear commonality is we all LOVE to fly. Reminds me of the day this past June when I was exclaiming to my CFI how much a loved to fly. I told him, "I wake up at 3:00am thinking about flying! There's times I'm doing stall recoveries in the middle of the night." He responded with a smirk," All the exciting, fun things to do in life start with 'F'". I said ... "No way. I never found fishing either fun or exciting."

[Andy G]

Commercial ASEL w/ instrument. Currently working on tailwheel in a Citabria. Should start multi in a Seneca in a few weeks. Total time is somewhere around the 300-hour mark.

Largest aircraft I've flown is a Mitsubishi MU-2. Have 5 or 6 flights in it (but probably won't have another chance at that one).

Most memorable flight...probably flying from Miami to Key West. A beautiful flight for sure.

First flight in an RV was this past September (9A). I loved the feel of the aircraft. I'm a former F/A-18 maintainer and have flown the Hornet sim many times. The RV has been the closest thing to it. The RV is just so much more responsive when compared to everything else I have flown. My wife and I are both excited about building one (just which one, we haven't decided yet).

Flying, by far, is one of the best things I have done in my life.

[Spike]

A first poster everyone. Welcome Andy

[cjensen]

welcome to the board andy! great place for info and insight, and friendly people!!

[aerial]

Student Pilot - 15 hrs in a C-150.....

Did I mention that I still have a current medical and that I figured out how to use a Jepp CR-1 computer....does that count?

[bmurrish]

Flying, by far, is one of the best things I have done in my life.

Amen bradda!!!!! Now with that said, get your butt over here and help me finish my -8 so we can get it in the air.

[johnk]

Started watching planes with my dad at the local airport since my earliest memories. I started flying in Sept 1975 when my mother bought me an introductory flying lesson for my 17th birthday; I earned the certificate a few months later. Ever since, my mother has been asking me when I'm going to quit flying, because "... it's so dangerous!, why do you keep doing it?". I say "it's not dangerous, we work very hard and practice to make sure it's not dangerous". About 25 years later, I finally asked her why she keeps asking me this; I said if you didn't want me to fly, then why did you buy me that first lesson long ago, she said "because I thought it would just get it out of your system!!", oh well... sorry, mom.

John K