The un-official aviation thread

[owequitit]

AHHH! The memories...

[Accord R33]

AHHH! The memories...

Ricer...

[bracersi]

I lost my lust for aviation a long time ago. Being a avionics tech for EA-6B's can ruin anyones experience. The only thing that didn't break on that jet was IFF. 30 yr old jets with 50's technology.

[ray ray]

I will take just about anybody flying, especially if they haven't had a chance to it before.
__________________
hey scott when we going flying. you know id be a good pilot.wooo hoooo

[PakaloloHonda]

That is definitely a lucky course of events...

I was very lucky .. nice to have been in the right place at the right time ...
and know the right people ..
He was a sailing buddy of mine who I actually taught to sail .. he said it was very similar to flying ..
and wanted to treat me to the F/18 simulator .. I'll never forget it ..

the higher level sims (LEVEL D commercial simulators for instance) are so realistic
it is legal to log it as actual flight time!

Wow .. thats unbelieveable .. Now I wish I woulda logged those 72 hours in somehow/somewhere .. LOL !!!

He would literally crash out and catch some ZZzz's while I was on fuel over-ride
and I was on bombing missions over some enemy territory .. lol ..
He even put me in a dog-fight with a mig once .. it took the guy 2:13 seconds
to shoot my ass outta the sky .. hey .. wuddya want? I was a rookie .. lmao !

He said I was actually pretty good at evading the mig and was pretty brave to try and find ways
to get on his 6 .. and wanted to put me up against more migs .. however,
to be quite honest .. I told him that I simply enjoyed flying the thing .. and to tell you the truth ..
I was completely wore out and quite sore from bein slammed around the cockpit
from zippin the stick to 3 and 9 o'clock, just to get outta the way of what that mig
was throwin at me .. not to mention jamming that stick to 12 and six ..
whew .. its alot more work then one would think it is .. and errr .. I'm no *Top-Gun*
Those 2:13 seconds .. felt more like a half hour work-out in the gym .. lmao !

He did have me land on a bunch of aircraft carriers .. and to his suprise ..
(and mine as well) I did that better then a basic landing on the ground ..
I found it very easy to catch the 3rd wire .. always ..

The most fun I had was when he had me do touch and go's .. I would come in quite fast ..
but not fast enuff to rip off the landing gear .. and do a chirp ..
and then immediately flip the switch for landing gear up, while at the same time, throwing her into afterburn,
and then pull back on the stick as hard as I could, and take it vertical for few miles
straight up into the night full of stars .. amazing rush !

I have a sense of vertigo .. or should I say .. I'm sensitive to it .. when I leaned that F/18 over
and flew upside down .. I really felt like I was upside down in that cockpit ..
When I flipped into quarter turns ... like the Blue Angels do in their air-shows ..
I got slammed around pretty good .. He always told me that I jammed the stick too hard ..
but I really wanted to see if I could do .. and handle .. what they did .. and le me tell you ..
you sweat .. your heart pounds .. and your head is on a swivel like The Exorcist .. LOL !!!

He got in the other sim one night, and we flew canopy to canopy .. like they do in the movies ..
verrrry difficult and time consuming maneuver to learn .. not to mention ..
ridiculously dangerous in real life .. lol

Sooo much fun tho .. and I'm glad he gave me the opportunity to do so ..
Who knows ... maybe in my *next* life .. huh?

A Hui Hou !!!
Tomi

[owequitit]

Ricer...

Where did you find that picture of my car!?!?

[owequitit]

I lost my lust for aviation a long time ago. Being a avionics tech for EA-6B's can ruin anyones experience. The only thing that didn't break on that jet was IFF. 30 yr old jets with 50's technology.

We had some old ones a while back. The radios often liked to retire with out warning, and would sometimes bless us with the occasional electrical fire...

Oh well, it is still the thing I love most.

[owequitit]

I will take just about anybody flying, especially if they haven't had a chance to it before.
__________________
hey scott when we going flying. you know id be a good pilot.wooo hoooo

As soon as I finish my commercial...YOU BUY, I'LL FLY

[accrdpower]

my grandfather flew for 30 or so years. mostly Sesina (sp???) he even flew back and forth a few times to his job. he was one of the head CEO's for IBM a long time ago. but i used to go over to his house when i was 6 all the way up to 16 and we would fly planes using Microsoft flight simulator. i always loved playing but i could never fly in real life. takes alot of practice and is real expensive. my bro's girlfriend flys at a local small airport where i live (Skyhaven airport) in Rochetser, NH. it is an amazing sight to see a small plane take off and land. lots of respect for those that fly. takes alot of skill and time and money to learn.

[owequitit]

my grandfather flew for 30 or so years. mostly Sesina (sp???) he even flew back and forth a few times to his job. he was one of the head CEO's for IBM a long time ago. but i used to go over to his house when i was 6 all the way up to 16 and we would fly planes using Microsoft flight simulator. i always loved playing but i could never fly in real life. takes alot of practice and is real expensive. my bro's girlfriend flys at a local small airport where i live (Skyhaven airport) in Rochetser, NH. it is an amazing sight to see a small plane take off and land. lots of respect for those that fly. takes alot of skill and time and money to learn.

It is definitely not a hobby that you acquire because it is cheap!

Having said that though, if you choose it as a profession, and ultimately go either large Corporate Jet or Commercial, you DO make back your investment and then some.

Right now, max Captains pay at the major airlines is right around 200K base salary, even after the pay cuts. Of course that doesn't include benefits or anything else either. Per the FAA, commercial pilots are not allowed to fly more than 100 hours per month, so you work about 2.5 weeks a month.

Honestly, even though it is very expensive, one years worth of max Captain's pay will offset the entire cost of training, making everything else a bonus...

It is very time consuming, and it requires you to be VERY forward thinking, because ordinarily, the event that is going to conspire to kill you hasn't happened yet. It requires a lot of discipline and concentration as well, but you learn it all over time.

I used to think my flight instructor was crazy when he used to tell me when I first started flying that someday I would be able to watch TV, eat dinner, have a conversation, and read the newspaper all at the same time.

He was right.

It is also hard to get started initially, because flight time is life in this business, and you can't make a lot unless you have the time. So you end up flight instructing, and then going to work for a puddle jumper, and then moving to the majors eventually. You don't really make that much until you get to the majors, or stay with the puddle jumpers forever.

A lot of pilots qualify for food stamps when they first get all their ratings.

But to me it is worth it.

[lil_dcb7]

Yes Rolls Royce does make airplane engines. They are one of the 3 biggest makers.

The other 2 are Pratt & Whitney and General Electric

www.rolls-royce.com

www.pratt-whitney.com

http://www.ge.com/en/product/business/aviation.htm

Most other engine companies are a subsidiary of someone else.

Williams International - Major supplier in small biz jets

Honeywell (Garrett - yes the same one that makes turbos) - major supplier in larger biz jets

http://www.williams-int.com/

http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/...on_Engines.htm

SNECMA is a French engine manufacturer that does mostly military stuff. Their biggest commercial collaboration is with General Electric on the engines that power the newer Boeing 737 (series 300 to series 900)

is curtis wright still in business? I know they used the rotary engine in some of their planes. But then again, that was YEARS ago when GM contemplated using the rotary for their corvettee :shurg:

[owequitit]

is curtis wright still in business? I know they used the rotary engine in some of their planes. But then again, that was YEARS ago when GM contemplated using the rotary for their corvettee :shurg:

I think Curtiss Wright is no longer around. Most likely, they were swallowed by someone else.

Unfortunately, for them, their technology pretty much hit its peak with the super powerfull Radial piston engines of the 1950's. Curtiss Wright and Pratt and Whitney were the 2 companies producing 4,000HP turbocharged and aircooled 36 cylinder radials back in the day.

I will look into it and see what happened...

[skubydobdo]

I must say that there was one specific time that i decided to be a pilot. My family is all up in the airlines, pilots and flight attendants and such. My mother was working a flight from Dallas to Tokyo back in the day when American still had 747s. I was 12 years old and this was before there were more regulations. I got to sit cockpit jumpseat for 14 hours over to Japan. Completely awestruck the entire time. Professional pilots are stand up guys. Never once have I encountered a dickhead pilot who has made it all the way. Takes too much time and effort and we absolutely love what we do. I've still got some years to get up to teh majors though. I have the best office view in the world

[skubydobdo]

one more thing, any pilot will agree....there aint nothin better than the smell of jet exhaust ahhhhhhhh

[HenRoc]

I've always had dreams of flying an F-16 Falcon, I just love the way it looks.

But you can't wear glasses and fly though