Aviation BS and Photo Thread

It looks like we might have a group going to Rendezvous in the Ozarks if you’d like to join us

 

Kitfox's are really hard to find, which is why I'll build, but that takes time and also lots of money. There's a really nice Kitfox 4 on barnstormers in TX right now. Around $25k.

Another option if you're not attached to LSA, is the Cessna 120/140. There are a bunch of guys on instagram with them, slap on some bush wheels and you're good to go. If you can find one with an O200 upgrade they are an awesome little airplane. They can be had for $15k-$25k all day.

 

Yeah, limited to LSA. Really, All I want is a decent J-3 or PA-11 variant. One of the newer American legend or CubCrafter designs would be nice to have a little wider body.

I spent many years in Alaska flying (riding, not piloting) in just about everything on floats: Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, 185s, 206s, beavers, otters, supercubs, plus amphibious models like the widgeon and goose. All for hunting, fishing, or just accessing the back country. Almost every weekend.

Now, those days are gone. I just want something to putz around in and remember my younger days. There are lots of lakes here in Arkansas, so who knows, maybe in retirement I'll get a cabin and have something on floats. In my dreams it's a Maule, but in reality it will probably be a refurbished J-3, which will be OK.

 

602 hours now

 

Got lucky yesterday. Most of the storms stayed west of my route. The 21kt tailwind was nice, too. I was surprised with how incredibly smooth the flight was

 

Excuse the poor quality, but these are old photos. I look back at my time in Alaska and flying was a central part of it, even though I wasn't a pilot. These are just a few of the planes I took many adventures on. The memories they bring back would take many hours to tell.

Probably spent the most time in this one.




Did a lot of heavy hauling with Andrews. They had several yellow beaver and I'm sure I was in them all multiple times.





Did several hours in this one with ceilings that got lower than 500 over the water. It was a long flight.



Wish I could find a better pic of this one.



Did a lot of trips in these too.





And to close it out, a shot of the fam before heading out. That little girl is in med school and the little boy is on an air crew over Afghanistan as I type this.

 

...^^^... Very cool pics ...

 

Anyone wanna go halves ?
http://www.platinumfighters.com/phantom2

 

Tell you what, I'll break out my checkbook for the plane, and you can pay the fuel bill. I suspect the break even will be staggeringly quick.

 

Yes.

 

It doesn't come with free fuel?!!! I'm out Uncle Sam is the only 1 that can afford the fuel. Or taxpayers.
There is a F4 on static display along the highway that goes by the Emporia, KS airport. Always catches my eye.
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x87b94f798845642f:0xbef7cb361f6ef481!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPkftSm1lTl16nN20BKWNMQyRexfEM62ljQeNvq=w426-h240-k-no!5semporia+ks+airport+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPkftSm1lTl16nN20BKWNMQyRexfEM62ljQeNvq&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwii9fDCovzdAhUFVa0KHTJwBnsQoiowCnoECAoQCQ

 

I think I'd prefer the T38 over an F4, from the fuel standpoint alone.

 

F-4D. Good bird.

 

How about a BD5? Saw 1 years ago in Coors Silver Bullet colors at an airshow. Pretty neat.

 

You obviously know what is what. Did you fly F4s? How can you tell it's a D?

 

Grew up around them, and worked around them once I joined the USAF. Bergstrom AFB (my first duty station) had RF-4Cs on the active duty side, and F-4Ds on the Air National Guard side. The Wild Weasels we had in Desert Storm were F-4Gs, which meant different nose and tail radars and very different hard points (their job was SAM killers, and they were good).

The way to tell a D model from an E model is the nose - the E actually had a 20mm cannon under the radar cone and the D had a gun pod on a hard mount.

Pound for pound, the F-4 was the most efficient way to convert jet fuel to noise. My God, they were LOUD!

 

Thank you for the explanation, and thank you for your service!

 

Here are a couple pics from a recent CSAR demo we did over the USAFA

 

God, I love invasion stripes on modern aircraft...and they absolutely look the best on an A-10.

 

I hear this all the time, but I've never heard an F-4.