Sport Flying
- Thread starter Ulu
- Start date
Well it's not exactly free. The aviation gasoline is almost $5 a gallon and small planes can burn 50 gallons an hour.
On the other hand I got to learn how to fly an airplane which might come in handy some day.
Cars don't use a lot of gas but imagine how much gas your car would use if you ran it at nearly Full Throttle all the time. It takes a lot of power to fly through the air at 150 miles an hour.
I met Dave 30 years ago when I was getting divorced, and I did some engineering work for him and repaired some of his computers. I also taught him how to repair air conditioners.
I never got a private pilot's license myself because until I had my eye surgery a couple years ago I did not see well enough to want to Solo in a plane. I could do it now, but unfortunately the friends who would go in on this Venture with me are not healthy enough anymore.
I cannot afford to own and operate an aircraft without at least one other partner, or more depending on the cost and type.
Anyhow, I have a lot more photographs to put up from the air races and other adventures, and I will get around to them in due course.
On the other hand I got to learn how to fly an airplane which might come in handy some day.
Cars don't use a lot of gas but imagine how much gas your car would use if you ran it at nearly Full Throttle all the time. It takes a lot of power to fly through the air at 150 miles an hour.
I met Dave 30 years ago when I was getting divorced, and I did some engineering work for him and repaired some of his computers. I also taught him how to repair air conditioners.
I never got a private pilot's license myself because until I had my eye surgery a couple years ago I did not see well enough to want to Solo in a plane. I could do it now, but unfortunately the friends who would go in on this Venture with me are not healthy enough anymore.
I cannot afford to own and operate an aircraft without at least one other partner, or more depending on the cost and type.
Anyhow, I have a lot more photographs to put up from the air races and other adventures, and I will get around to them in due course.
Yeah, i could imagine it cant be cheap to run / maintain / store a plane regardless the size...
At least even without a license you still know how to fly a plane incase a zombie apocalypse happens...
At least even without a license you still know how to fly a plane incase a zombie apocalypse happens...
I don't think I'd have a problem with any small, conventional single engine craft, in good conditions.
Multi-engines, instrument flight, and heavy, sluggish craft would be a disaster without real-time coaching.
That little yellow Bellanca was like flying a go-kart.
Still from the Reno Air Races...
Stunt flying is way beyond me. This guy could land and take off, from the top of a moving camper.
The corkscrew.
The Heritage Flight.
To maintain this formation is a real trick. These craft all normally fly at far different speeds.
The custom-built biplanes are amazing!
Tony the Tiger:
P51 is still very popular.
Dago Red:
Wee Willy 2:
Ole Yeller:
Stunt flying is way beyond me. This guy could land and take off, from the top of a moving camper.
The corkscrew.
The Heritage Flight.
To maintain this formation is a real trick. These craft all normally fly at far different speeds.
The custom-built biplanes are amazing!
Tony the Tiger:
P51 is still very popular.
Dago Red:
Wee Willy 2:
Ole Yeller:
You could buy this Sabrejet with long-range drop-tanks! No machine guns though . . .
Rare Russian MIG. Don't know if it flew. Probably not.
How'd you like to go camping?
Crazy wingwalkers!
The mighty Thunderbirds. When I first saw them it was about 1962, flying F100's.
These are F16-A's I believe.
Tomcat Inverted, but it always lands on it's feet.
That Bellanca could fly upside down too. It had 2 gals of gas in a special tank, because fuel was in the wing above, and the pumps would suck air without it.
The Heritage Flight, again. This represents WW-II, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars aircraft.
But no flying Sabrejets from the Korean era.
(No WW-I aircraft would keep up with the minimum safe maneuvering speed of the jets.)
More Thunderbirds.
Aim for the stars, men.
I flew nearly straight up, in a Citation jet, once, leaving John Wayne airport in So Cal. There were just three onboard, and with a light fuel load it would scream off the runway.
I used to have to fly to business meetings along the west coast, on these high-rise building projects. These guys do it every week.
There were about 10 years the Thunderbirds didn't perform, due to budget cuts. They resumed in 2014.
Rare Russian MIG. Don't know if it flew. Probably not.
How'd you like to go camping?
Crazy wingwalkers!
The mighty Thunderbirds. When I first saw them it was about 1962, flying F100's.
These are F16-A's I believe.
Tomcat Inverted, but it always lands on it's feet.
That Bellanca could fly upside down too. It had 2 gals of gas in a special tank, because fuel was in the wing above, and the pumps would suck air without it.
The Heritage Flight, again. This represents WW-II, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars aircraft.
But no flying Sabrejets from the Korean era.
(No WW-I aircraft would keep up with the minimum safe maneuvering speed of the jets.)
More Thunderbirds.
Aim for the stars, men.
I flew nearly straight up, in a Citation jet, once, leaving John Wayne airport in So Cal. There were just three onboard, and with a light fuel load it would scream off the runway.
I used to have to fly to business meetings along the west coast, on these high-rise building projects. These guys do it every week.
There were about 10 years the Thunderbirds didn't perform, due to budget cuts. They resumed in 2014.
Your buddy had a sweet ride. I want a little cessna one day to jump around on...and a fishing boat...among other things.
I have no pictures to prove but i used to copilot many aerial adventures when my buddy was in flight school. The aviation school at our college allowed him to take one of the skyhawks pretty much whenever he wanted to log hours towards his commercial license.
Not that it counts as sport flying since we were in one of the smallest and slowest planes there is, but In the years 2009-2011 you may have seen us performing such stunts as making emergency landings in the outer banks, being escorted by president obamas fighter jet escort, and making record numbers of fuel stops due to being overloaded with passengers and cargo.
I have no pictures to prove but i used to copilot many aerial adventures when my buddy was in flight school. The aviation school at our college allowed him to take one of the skyhawks pretty much whenever he wanted to log hours towards his commercial license.
Not that it counts as sport flying since we were in one of the smallest and slowest planes there is, but In the years 2009-2011 you may have seen us performing such stunts as making emergency landings in the outer banks, being escorted by president obamas fighter jet escort, and making record numbers of fuel stops due to being overloaded with passengers and cargo.
We never got a jet escort, but we did have to make an emergency landing at March AFB. We were ging to look at a glider for sale down on the Anzo Borrego, and about half way over Lake Perris I started smelling fuel.
Then we lost one cylinder and started shaking a bit, as we declared an emergency and made a U-turn.
The flight line was not very busy.
They sent a fire truck, an ambulance, the "follow me" truck, and a Humvee with 4 armed Air Police, but we were fine. That strip is so big we could have landed on it sideways. They also brought us a huge fire extinguisher on wheels, just in case.
Then it rained and we had to abandon our plane.
The next morning some guys from the local flying club helped us by welding a cracked fuel injection line, and we were back in the sky.
Taking off from March AFB.
A pylon turn over the March hangers.
Stickers of historic unit insignia, from the pilot's ready room at MAFB.
At the glider base in Anza Borrego.
Flying thru the rainbow.
Then we lost one cylinder and started shaking a bit, as we declared an emergency and made a U-turn.
The flight line was not very busy.
They sent a fire truck, an ambulance, the "follow me" truck, and a Humvee with 4 armed Air Police, but we were fine. That strip is so big we could have landed on it sideways. They also brought us a huge fire extinguisher on wheels, just in case.
Then it rained and we had to abandon our plane.
The next morning some guys from the local flying club helped us by welding a cracked fuel injection line, and we were back in the sky.
Taking off from March AFB.
A pylon turn over the March hangers.
Stickers of historic unit insignia, from the pilot's ready room at MAFB.
At the glider base in Anza Borrego.
Flying thru the rainbow.
