Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Took a relaxing ride in the back of a Pavehawk and managed to get one decent looking cellphone picture out of it.

 

... ^^^ ... Ha Ha .. this is too funny .... I was just thinking what you posted ... i.e. ... what I paid when I first started legal flying lessons.

My first lessons were about the same price ... $20.00 Total = $15.00 + $5.00 IIRC ... but I can't remember if the price was wet or not.

And that was not in a flying club either. ........ Several years later ... I found one of the best prices in flying clubs at Lockheed, in Marietta, GA ... you were supposed to be an employee ... but they made exceptions ... .

PS ... Small disclaimer ... in reality, I started driving a car when I was 12.5 years old, so I could spot the newspapers on my paper route and did that until I was 16 and never got caught. Even took night trips in the car (drive-in hamburger stand & longest trip was 40 miles one way) and never scratched the car or did anything crazy (DC'ed speedo & refueled exactly to tape mark on gauge). Had a lot of experience driving an old farm truck on the farm only and an old tractor too from about age 9 or so. Get in the farm truck with my BB gun and play big game hunter ... lol

Yes, I realized what I did was wrong ... but those were very different times too.

Now ... one of my relatives and a farm and 2 planes and a small landing strip. I started flying with my uncle at about 10 .... when I was 14, I could fly a J-3 by myself .
I was always into stuff as a kid, but never got into any serious trouble (except drag-racing) ... but I loved to experiment and push the edge. Things were different back then and drag racing was done at the strip on weekends for the most part.

We threw home made spears at each other, never wore a bike helmet, shot our BB guns, carried a small pocket knife, played Army, ate Vienna sausage and crackers, wrecked our bikes often and got scratched up a lot, many had to serve in the military but somehow, most of us survived. Life was good.

 

I didn't take it, but this might be the coolest photo of my aircraft I've ever seen

 

SOSHeloPilot said:

... ^^^ ... Ha Ha .. this is too funny .... I was just thinking what you posted ... i.e. ... what I paid when I first started legal flying lessons.

My first lessons were about the same price ... $20.00 Total = $15.00 + $5.00 IIRC ... but I can't remember if the price was wet or not.

My first lessons were $13 wet and I remember reading about used Cessnas for $5000 to $10000. You said you were in Marietta Ga for awhile. I spent a year there while getting my M.S. Degree in Physics from Georgie Tech. Did you ever eat at the big chicken? Before I moved there several people told me that I had to go there at least once.

My best friend in Navy flight school went on to fly helos but they always scared me. God gave birds wings and I have never yet seen a bird with a rotor on top. The only time I spent on a helo was every 3 years when I got picked up by one in water survival school. That was enough. LOL During my career I had 4 different engine fires, 4 cabin fires, and 7 other emergency situations so I guess fixed wing aircraft can be dangerous at times but
it still felt safer with 2 good wings holding me up.

 

I like helicopters but, I don't want to fly or be a pax on one...pretty much for the reason.

At least airplanes will still fly, for a while, without power.

Autorotate...dead mans curve...coffin corner...???

Tho I would enjoy reading some post from other members who have actually accomplished a successful (we know what that means in aviation) landing after a real engine failure in a helicopter.

 

I worked with 3 who told me stories of successful autorotations. At the AFRCC most of our duty officers were helo pilots doing desk (non-flying) rotations with us. Not a fun landing, but survivable from the descriptions. Like most engine failure situations, altitude (space/time to react) and terrain are critical factors to a survivable outcome.

 

True true Rob. Little substitute for extra altitude, speed & fuel in any aircraft.

 

Here's a couple pics of my flight lead and I shakin' things up a bit at Gralying last month. Doing what the hawg loves most.....a nice mix of low/medium altitude CAS.

 

Bad fucking ass

 

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... ^^^ ... You went to one of the best schools in the world for a masters in physics.

On the ""BIG CHICKEN" ... oh yes, went there when I first moved to Marietta in about 1974 or 75.

Lived in Atlanta area (kept US residence for legal, tax & etc. reasons) but mostly worked out of the country.

The big chicken is a landmark that most people in Marietta use to get their bearings. Not too many locals eat there though (long story )

Spent the 1st 20 years in Marietta and the rest in Dunwoody -- Sandy Springs area.

The main place for you to go being a "GA Tech Student" would be "The Varsity" ... and that used to be the largest drive-in carhop hotdog stand in the world (before GA DOT cut it in half when they widen the interstate).

 

... ^^^ ... I love the A-10 ... and to think that the original USAF brass didn't like it at first for 2 reasons ... (1) they thought it was ugly and not sexy (2) and it was not built by the "in crowd" in that aircraft sector. (those were the strong rumors at the time).

I think that some of the older engineers at LTV had the original idea for (design the A/C around the cannon for CAS) and pushed Fairchild to develop the plane .. then Grumman bought Fairchild IIRC. (Those were the rumors at the time). I may have some of that wrong, but doing this from memory.

The A-10 was a budget aircraft sold on performance and survivability to a somewhat unwilling crowd ... but proved to be a super success.

 

So this buzzing the airspace this weekend as a local pilot owns two vintage planes.....

 

Sweet!!

I'm going to say the top is a T-6 Texan and the bottom is a TBF Avenger.

All in.

 

This is so awesome.

Please post more!!

 

Will always love these aircraft. So frickin' AWESOME!

 

I saw these being dismantled and had to wonder 'where and for how many years' these aircraft had flown.

 

Beautiful photo.

Are you flying it? You said "my aircraft" so I am not sure what you mean by that.

 

According to the guy at the hanger he has a P-51 and is restoring a Northrop F-5 Jet.....

 

P-51's are super cool, and also fairly common. Army Air planes from WWII weren't destroyed at the same rate that the navy planes were. There are probably far fewer Avengers like the one you posted than P-51's.

But a F-5?!?! That's super cool.