Who else flies something?

[Dennis Peacock]

I flew R/C airplane for years and was and R/C instructor for 2 years. I've always wanted to fly and I've always enjoyed flying. I have 4.5 hours in a 172 and 1 hour in a Mooney. I was able to take off and land on my first time out. Loved it.....but until I get my last 2 out of the house....it's out of financial reach for me.

Hey Neal........
If you EVER need someone to ride with you just for the fun of it? I'd love to go.

[Tim Janssen]

Off the handle on occasion.
I guess that doesn't count.

[Neal Clayton]

I flew R/C airplane for years and was and R/C instructor for 2 years. I've always wanted to fly and I've always enjoyed flying. I have 4.5 hours in a 172 and 1 hour in a Mooney. I was able to take off and land on my first time out. Loved it.....but until I get my last 2 out of the house....it's out of financial reach for me.

Hey Neal........
If you EVER need someone to ride with you just for the fun of it? I'd love to go.

Sure, we could do that. I go to NLR pretty regularly, I still have a house for sale up there. Next time I'm up, I'll take ya for a ride if you wanna go.

PM'ing you my email/cell in a sec.

Well, in all fairness, ladders don't have much of a glide path

I found it amazing, in the smaller planes, when you pull the power, and do the math, it might take 6-7 minutes before you'll hit the ground, and that's from fairly low altitudes. 6 or 7 minutes to find a place to land is a lot more forgiving then falling off a ladder

Pretty much, yeah.

Here's the glide performance chart from my airplane's manual...

Screen Shot 2015-05-21 at 3.45.49 PM.jpg

I typically cruise between 10 and 12k. So with a complete power failure, I've got at least 20 miles in me if I keep the wind at my back.

Looking at the map, it's just near impossible to be more than 20 miles away from an airport in north TX. And since cow pastures count as airports, in the daytime the odds are virtually 100% your favor as long as you follow the golden rule...

[Kent A Bathurst]

Looking at the map, it's just near impossible to be more than 20 miles away from an airport in north TX. And since cow pastures count as airports, in the daytime the odds are virtually 100% your favor as long as you follow the golden rule...

Shoot -- I'd go for a ride if you promised to get to 12k, cut the power, and glide. If you are good with it, I will be too................

[Neal Clayton]

Shoot -- I'd go for a ride if you promised to get to 12k, cut the power, and glide. If you are good with it, I will be too................

Ok but you have to remember the gear alarm.

On my last 2 year review (for those not familiar you have to go re-take an FAA exam with an instructor every 2 years to keep your license current), I was puttering along back to the airport we left from when the CFI yanked the power and said "ok find us a spot to land." So I casually pulled the nearest weather frequency to get a wind direction, got lined up on about 50 acres of pasture, and at 1000 feet he pointed out "you might wanna put the gear down."

I was always one of those people who couldn't wrap my head around how anyone could forget to put the gear down and tear up their airplane, but after a few minutes of the alarm going off, your brain just tunes it out. I have a little more sympathy for those guys after I almost did it myself.

As the old saying goes...

Q: "Why didn't you put the gear down when the tower controller called 'check gear' to you?"
A: "Couldn't hear em over that stupid alarm going off"

[Scott Hearn]

For the life of me I can't figure out why Gulfstream is so synonymous with high end private aviation, whereas by the numbers the Falcon 50 (and its newer variants) looks to be a superior airplane in terms of cabin dimensions, comparable speed, and can still go from NY to London non-stop for a much more fair price.

They are considered the Rolls Royce of business jets and they seem to like that moniker.

I built the majority of the structural parts for the fuselage and empennage for the G4 and G5 series in my former career. They are super nice but like you I don't understand spending that much. I guess it's for those that just have to make a statement.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Q: "Why didn't you put the gear down when the tower controller called 'check gear' to you?"
A: "Couldn't hear em over that stupid alarm going off"

Perfect. I'm still in, Neal........

I have heard many great stories from the left seat - my big brother flew for the USAF, and then commercial - his last day is Sept 3, because he turns 65 on Sept 4.................

[Scott Shepherd]

Neal, fly Kent backwards a little, he'll like that I found out that was possible when trying to do a stall on a windy day. Could not make the thing stall for anything. Was actually flying backwards.

It's really amazing just how safe the smaller planes are. People tend to think if you lose power, the nose dips over and it heads straight to the ground. It just generally doesn't work like that. Those things want to fly and stay stuck up in the air.

[Curt Harms]

Neal, fly Kent backwards a little, he'll like that I found out that was possible when trying to do a stall on a windy day. Could not make the thing stall for anything. Was actually flying backwards.

It's really amazing just how safe the smaller planes are. People tend to think if you lose power, the nose dips over and it heads straight to the ground. It just generally doesn't work like that. Those things want to fly and stay stuck up in the air.

But - but - but the TV show I was watching said that's exactly what happens!

[Dave Richards]

Ok but you have to remember the gear alarm.

Neal, when I was checking out in the Cessna 172RG, my instructor pulled the power on me. I didn't forget the gear but nothing happened when I moved the lever. While I was busy looking for a field he pulled the circuit breaker. It's kind of a challenge to pump the gear down while you're flying the airplane. Right hand pumping up and down, left hand on the yoke wants to move in unison. And you can't see over the glare shield while pumping.

When I turned final I asked my instructor if he was happy and he said, "Continue the approach." There was a farmer driving a tractor in the hay field going the same direction we were. we went by him about 50 feet up at a hundred knots. I was happy we had a plane with small tail numbers.

[Neal Clayton]

Neal, fly Kent backwards a little, he'll like that I found out that was possible when trying to do a stall on a windy day. Could not make the thing stall for anything. Was actually flying backwards.

It's really amazing just how safe the smaller planes are. People tend to think if you lose power, the nose dips over and it heads straight to the ground. It just generally doesn't work like that. Those things want to fly and stay stuck up in the air.

We're not gonna pull that off without a stiff breeze! Maybe if we rented a 152 . Mine will stall at ~70 knots.

Neal, when I was checking out in the Cessna 172RG, my instructor pulled the power on me. I didn't forget the gear but nothing happened when I moved the lever. While I was busy looking for a field he pulled the circuit breaker. It's kind of a challenge to pump the gear down while you're flying the airplane. Right hand pumping up and down, left hand on the yoke wants to move in unison. And you can't see over the glare shield while pumping.

When I turned final I asked my instructor if he was happy and he said, "Continue the approach." There was a farmer driving a tractor in the hay field going the same direction we were. we went by him about 50 feet up at a hundred knots. I was happy we had a plane with small tail numbers.

I have only had to pull the emergency gear release in anger once in my few years of flying, and it turned out to be a minor issue (slow hydraulic leak, pump couldn't keep up). I have seen a tower controller save a King Air 200 on short final, though. That would've been an awfully expensive mistake. The guy was about 20 feet up and the tower controller caught it on the binoculars. Just in time to pull it up and go around. We were first in line for takeoff watching him and I didn't notice it at a glance either. I would hope that guy in the tower got a steak dinner for his troubles but I doubt the guy flying the King Air wanted anyone else to know what he almost did...