I have a helicopter scheduled for 10:00 in the morning tomorrow (Saturday). Fly 'til noon, then off to Tito’s Tacos for lunch.
Happy woppa-woppa-woppa-woppin’! A for fun bit, or are you working?
Hey, can you go get the tacos while in the helicopter? That’ll scare the drive-thru folks for sure. 
I’d like to do it for a living, but unfortunately I have to pay for it.
Taking off From Van Nuys. Don’t know where I’m going yet. Maybe along the coast, maybe out to the river wash.
Ha! at Audrey’s joke. Nah, the FAA frowns on people landing on busy streets. Besides, Tito’s only has a walk-up window. no drive-through. (It’d be totally cool to land for lunch, though!)
“Hurry with that, willya? I’m feeding the meter for this baby, and I’m running out of change.”
“You don’t mind if I park this here, do you?”
“Yes, to go, please.”
Ha! The taco stand bit reminds me of a great Vietnam War photo I’ve seen. It’s a guy flying a Loach and he’s hovering about 3 feet off the ground while he sucks down a Coke he’s apparently purchased from the Vietnamese cart vendor who’s standing next to the skid (I guess waiting to get the bottle back).
Cool…
I’m going flying tomorrow as well. Plane, 2 hours. I think it’ll just be buzzing around the airport. A few takeoffs and landings maybe. Then to vancouver island to spend four days with my girlfriend. Can’t wait to sit in those ferry lineups! Oh boy! It is, however, worth it.
-niggle
Beatle, that’s a photo I’d like to see!
Niggle, can’t stand the ferry line-ups? How’s this, then? Rent the plane and take another pilot with you. Fly over to Vancouver Island. The pilot flies the plane back. After four days, reverse the procedure.
That’s just what I would do, but I’m still working on my license and need an instructor with me. That and the flight takes less than 30 minutes, plus I need to drive to her place which is an hour away from the nearest airport. Unless, of course, I get a foat plane ticket, in which case I could land right next to her place. 
-niggle
Ahhh, that sounds fun.
I wish I could fly with you.
Anniz, I have an exra seat. But you only have four hours to get here!
Four guys from work just went flying this morn… One of my friends here is a pilot so we decided to take advantage of that… it was awesome! Ive never been up in that small of a plane before… (it was a Cesna 172 if anyone of you should want to know)
Anyways we just spent a couple of hours humming around over Copenhagen and Sweden… it was a pretty cool experience for a someone like me (and my other coworkers) who usually only fly on larger commercial airplanes…
Maybe i should become rich so i could start learning how to fly…
Most pilots here aren’t rich. Although it’s certainly more expensive to fly in other countries, I don’t know how much it is elsewhere.
Here, a 1970s Cessna 172 (note: Most of the light aircraft in the U.S. were built in the 70s) costs about $35,000 - $45,000 to buy. That’s about what you’d pay for a mid-to-high-end sport-utility vehicle. A 172 rents for about $70/hour in the L.A. area. The FAA requires a minimum of 40 hours (20 dual and 20 solo) to get a license. 40 X $70 = $2,800. Add 20 X $30 for an instructor ($600) and you get $3,400. A Private Pilot Ground School class can be taken at a community college for about 50 bucks. Then there are examiner’s fees, books and materials, and a medical examination. Just a rough estimate of course, but you can probably get a license for about $4,000. Most people take more than 40 hours though, so the cost will increase as the time does. Other ground school options (a self-study video course, an actual ground school, or hourly sessions with an instructor) will also increase the cost. But compare it to a skiing vacation at a nice resort, or a Carribean cruise and you can put it into perspective. I looked into an Alaskan cruise and the prices were in the $3,000 range. Getting a license seems like a bargain!
As I said, flying in the U.S. is much cheaper than flying overseas. The helicopter operation I rent from has many international students. Many places (Including Group 3 Aviation) will help the student arrange for visas and arrange for lodging. In many cases the cost of the course, plus airfare from the student’s country, plus apartment rental and transportation is less than the student would pay at his home just for the training! (At least, for helicopters.)
I like having that little piece of grey paper in my pocket (although I wish the FAA would issue something prettier). Once a vacation is over, it’s over. But my license lets me fly whenever I feel like it (and I have a couple-hundred dollars to rent a helicopter).
Here are a couple of links from the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association):
http://www.aopa.org/learntofly/
http://www.aopa.org/pilot/features/feat9806.html
Thanx!
I would like to get a certificat… and yea i know compared to a huge vaca or something its not really that expensive… but well i think ill wait until i actually move to the US (once im done with uni… coz its payed by taxes here = no tuition) anyways i do plan on leaving denmark when i got a proper education and the states might very well be the place im going so it would only make sense to wait until im there to start taking classes and all… u know
The guy from work took his certificat in florida btw… its way way too expensive here!
Ah, Denmark! The best calzone I ever had was in a restaurant called Napoli in Copenhagen. That was a long time ago, though. And speaking of Denmark… I wonder when The Kingdom is coming out on DVD?
(How do you like that? I just hijacked my own thread!)
Oh, well. Time to get ready to go to the airport.
Happy choppin’, Johnny! Too bad I can’t come with you…I’d help you finally get some use of the barf bags that are just collecting dust in the cabin.
Glad to hear you’re out, up, and about!
Ah! That was fun! And the tacos from Tito’s were good, too!
Ruffian, people tend not to get airsick in helicopters. They don’t have that “swelling” motion that airplanes do. But just in case, I almost always fly with the doors off, so just lean over and heave!