The Great Ongoing Aviation Thread (general and other)

In the early 80’s I had to get a license when working in Operations for an air freight company. I became a private pilot after that but don’t remember having to take a test of any kind but that was 40 years ago.

Same here. I learned to fly in the early/mid-'80s. As I recall, getting my Radio Operator’s Permit was just a matter of filling out an application.

AFAIK you don’t have to be an instructor to let someone fly. You’re still the Pilot in Command. I’ve used passengers as auto-pilots to free up time for problems that came up.

You may be right, I’m not familiar with PPL specific rules.

More damn airline-service cutbacks: Further Cutbacks 'grape?' by Jack Ziegler

It’s been about 18 months since I last took the controls of any aircraft and this week I got the opportunity to make use of my birthday gift, a voucher for a glider trial flight. I had been solo in a glider when I was 17, so about 30 years ago, but hadn’t flown one since. It was quite an experience. Different to how I remembered it, I think I’ve been spoiled by flying heavy machines that aren’t affected by low level turbulence. I had a go at flying it behind the tow and never quite got a handle on it, though flying once released was fine.

Google Photos

I also went up in the back of the tow plane, a Piper Cub, on their morning check flight. The pilot does a circuit, checks the condition of the strip, and has a short flight around the local area looking for any lift conditions so they have an idea of where to tow the gliders.

Google Photos

The airfield itself is quite challenging. It’s perched up on a ridge line surrounded by forest/bush. The strip has about a 5% slope and taking off uphill is towards more rising terrain with a bit of a valley off to the right as an escape route for the tow plane in case of engine failure.

Google Photos

Put the satellite layer on the map to see the strip.

My partner has suggested that we need hobbies (we are in a work/kids/chores rut) and has encouraged me to join the gliding club. I’m seriously considering it.

It’s a small world. The tow pilot is an engineer with the airline I’m furloughed from and two of the gliding instructors were at the gliding camp I attended in 1991.

I’m green with envy. I miss flying. Between heart and wallet surgery I’ve had to sit in the right seat.
I believe that’s a Super Cub based on the struts.

With the heart surgery, can you sit in the left seat with a safety pilot? (Doesn’t help with the wallet surgery).

Yes it is a Super Cub, 160 hp. I’ve only flown a 100hp Cub with no flaps and heel brakes and a J3 Cub which was similar but even less power. It was a hot day so the Cub struggled a bit to get us going.

I missed the discussion of mobile stairs earlier. I’ve actually used them several times relatively recently, albeit mostly outside the US. I’ve boarded 737 / A320 sized planes using stairs in Havana, Cuba (one of those “educational” tours for US citizens), Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Santorini, Greece. I also boarded a 737 via a ramp in Kona, Hawaii.

Also for fighting wildfires. Those 747 and DC-10 tankers look really cool, but since they’re limited to a few big airports they can sometimes take house just flying to the fire. A small plane can use a GA airport nearby and get to the fire much faster.

If I hit the lottery I’d pick up a sport plane to play with. Might even be able to pass a physical but I get visual migraines which makes it hard to see at times so I would only fly with a safety pilot. I do miss it though. The windier the better for landings. I use to go up on windy days just to knock out some landings.

Ouchies:

That kind of landing really messes up the stealthiness of an airframe.

Back to GA… I missed that there was a plane crash in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. An early analysis popped up on my Facebook feed:

[T]he pilot is heard to scream in air-traffic control audio “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!”

you left out the The Wilhelm scream at the end. according to the comments under the article it was a medical flight. No way of verifying.

It went down quickly so it looked like a classic stall/spin. I was at Oshkosh when Jack Roush stalled it. I was looking straight down the runway from the other end and was doing a mental “WTH” when he tightened an already aggressive turn.

Bit of a late reply, my understanding is that it used to be that way, but hasn’t been for quite a while:

“There is no license requirement for a pilot operating in the United States;”

When I started flying a radio license was required for the plane, but that went away maybe 20 years ago?

You do need to get the license for both pilot and plane to fly internationally.

It appears that I am unexpectedly getting old.

I guess at some point we have to give it up for one reason or another. A friend of mine kept flying his Tiger Moth with a safety pilot while he was battling cancer, but ultimately it had to end.

I only hope I know when my last flight is (not via a few seconds of terror though!).

So far my last flight was to Oshkosh and back. Still going there every year but now it’s in a support vehicle. I will probably still get some right seat time with friends.

I can’t think of anything more satisfying than coming off the Fisk approach to 36 and turning final. There is something indescribably fulfilling with that view of the airport filled with planes.

It just occurred to me. The first and last flight was in the same plane that I helped build along with a good friend who taught me to fly and was the original owner. He’s since passed away. Wow, it’s been a lot of years and a lot of memories.

My last flight was a ferry flight out of the military base where we had our plane tied down. They were closing the base, and had already closed the runways. They were going to make me truck out the plane, but I said I’d have no problem taking off from a taxiway, and they let me. Sold the plane shortly thereafter, then lost the medical.

I “flew” (was in the backseat) to Oshkosh in 2019 in a 182. Got to circle Rush Lake many times (delayed due to B2 overflight). On the way back I sat in the front (right side) and after take off the PIC let me take the controls. I’m pretty sure I was at the controls while still in OSH airspace. I flew from OSH to Viroqua (Y51), though he landed.

Brian