For Ray Zee or other pilots

[Arnie]

There was a link to Ray Zee's profile on another thread and I noticed he was a pilot. I'm just curious to know what type of pilot you are recreational, private? and what ratings you have pursued. Im majoring in Aeronautical Science (Professional Pilot) and love talking about flying...so are there any other pilots out there?

[SpiderMnkE]

My dad was a pilot... suppossedly when I was 3 I flew a Sesna while my dad cleaned up puke in the back of the plane. Does that make me a pilot?

[Barry]

Look at my avatar.

I'm an instrument rated private pilot and drive a turbocharged Piper Saratoga with an Avidyne glass panel. Some day I'll get up the energy to get my Commercial ticket even though I only fly for "fun" and not pay.

[Arnie]

Very nice...Im still in 172s...but most they are all no more than 3 years old, with decent GPS systems. Working on my commercial ticket now, it's a lot of fun. Word of advice tho...depending on how many hours you have... you may want to find a 141 school if you deciede to do your commercial. The requirements at my school for Commercial are considerably smaller than for 61 schools

How often and where do you fly?

[dirty_dan]

I'm a private pilot working on my instrument rating and about to start building an RV-8A (http://vansaircraft.com/public/rv-8int.htm). Unfortuntely, I have to build the tail section in my dining room as most Brooklyn apartments don't have two car garages.

If anyone has a line on a nice airpark home in Florida, let me know.

[Barry]

I fly about 125-150 hours per year in the northeast mostly, but I make trips down to FL and New Orleans from time to time.

I have about 700 hours so it shouldn't take me too much time to get the maneuvers down and be ready for my checkride, but I'm not too excited about doing the steep spirals.

[Arnie]

[ QUOTE ]
If anyone has a line on a nice airpark home in Florida, let me know.

[/ QUOTE ]

From my experience (im still a college student, so its not much) and the opinions of others this is the premier FLy-In Community in Florida

Spruce Creek Fly-In

History and Background Info (http://www.conway.com/cdi/sprcrk.htm)
Listings (http://www.fly-in.com/scfir.pdf)

Hope this helps

[Arnie]

[ QUOTE ]
I fly about 125-150 hours per year in the northeast mostly, but I make trips down to FL and New Orleans from time to time.

I have about 700 hours so it shouldn't take me too much time to get the maneuvers down and be ready for my checkride, but I'm not too excited about doing the steep spirals.

[/ QUOTE ]

Youll be fine for the hour requirments =P
Im only sitting on 150 hours so 141 is helping a lot

[Ray Zee]

i just fly for fun and presently fly my back country plane in the mountains and land in the wilderness strips some. also river bars and fields of green. i rarely go over 1000 feet above the ground.

[StoneAge]

I am thinking about getting certified for gliders and my private license- any advie for someone starting to look for schools? I am planning taking lessons in Stowe, Vt this fall.

[Ray Zee]

i like flying a glider but they are a pain as you usually are at a place where you need a tow.
just ask around who is a good instructor and stay ahead of him with the bookwork.

[Arnie]

[ QUOTE ]
I am thinking about getting certified for gliders and my private license- any advie for someone starting to look for schools? I am planning taking lessons in Stowe, Vt this fall.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, there is no better place to start than the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Try this site: AOPA: Learn to Fly (http://www.aopa.org/learntofly/)

If you do deciede to get your private liscense, try to fly as often as you can, this will allow you to become more proficient save you some money

Also, as Ray said, hit the books. Ive easily put more hours into my ground school training and other studying than actually flying.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions Ill answer them as best I can

[sucka]

I started flight training while in the Navy going to school in Millington, TN. The Navy had a "Navy Memphis Flying Club" that offered active-duty personel a relatively cheap ground school and flying lessons (cheap compared to a civilian school - if I remember right I paid ~70 an hour for the plane & the instructor). I logged about 35 hours (and had been flying solo) before I finished school and was transferred to Miramar NAS in San Diego which had no similar program and it just fell by the wayside for me. That was frustrating as I really only lacked a few dozen more hours, a couple cross-country solo flights and my FAA exam to seal the deal. To make it worse, I've lost my logbook along the way although I'm not sure hours that long ago (>10 years) would even count if I started back up again.

I'd love to get back into it, but it's so damn expensive to rent a plane that I'm not sure it's worth while. Having a hobby like golf is expensive enough. Not sure if I could convince the wife that I need 2 expensive hobbies while she stays home and hangs out with the little ones... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

I guess another option is to co-op a plane, which seems to be more common these days...

[SheridanCat]

I'm an 80 hour student. I just need to spend some time with my instructor to brush up for the checkride. I fly Beach Sundowners.

Regards,

T

[driller]

The real leap isn't commercial, it's the instrument ticket.

[Arnie]

I know, I was commenting on the fact you need a lot of hours to get you commercial ticket flying part 61

the instrument course was a lot of fun tho, and my checkride was cake, ive heard some horror stories about instrument rides gone wrong, but i must have lucked out =P