Any pilots on the board?

[gizzy]

Who of you have your pilots license?
What rating do you have?
What is your favorite plane to fly?

I still only have my student license (for a few years now) but would love to get back into the cockpit. Wife thinks it's too expensive though so it might be a while before I finish up. I just started working on my cross country work when she made me quit -- [sigh] oh well.

My brother who lives in Nevada just recently got a job flying business jets for Flight Options. Before that, he was flying for Vegas Air.

Personally, I like flying in the Piper wariors the most, but have most of my hours in a 172 followed by a 152.

 

[Kirby]

No licensed pilots answered so far, so how about an unlicensed psuedo pilot? The company I work for has 2 planes - a Cessna 340 RAM and a King Air 200, a few years ago we had a Cessna P210 Turbo. I travel a lot on business and we use the planes for travel within 1000 miles. We have full time pilots, but on shorter trips only 1 pilot flies, so I fly in the right seat. After the initial climb out, they let me take the stick. I didn't realize how challenging it is to maintain level flight at altitude while trying to stay on course, and listen to flight control. It's the ultimate in multitasking! I was also amazed at how sensitive the controls are. You see all this crap on TV/movies where pilots are manhandling the stick. If you handled a real plane that way, you would auger in pretty quick.

I've thought about taking lessons, one of our pilots is a certified instructor, I could get the instruction at no cost, just pay for plane time. But as you know, it's expensive, I'd rather spend my "mad money" other places. So I'm happy just playing amateur pilot now and then.

Here are the planes - King Air on the left, 340 RAM on the right.

 

[mrferg]

I got to take the controls of a 172 once, it was a pretty awesome experience. I must say though, I like the two dimentional ease of a car, three is a little much.

 

[jszar]

meeeeeeeeeeeeeee! not licensed yet. few more months. i am going to college to basically get every rating possible, and then go inito the military to pay off the loans lol. to me, flying is the most incredible experience, and it never gets old. helicopters are fun to fly as well. me and my dad, who got me into flying (pilot in 'Nam), used to race jet skiers on the river all the time. or go to the pacific ocean beach and take pic's all day of people, boats, activities n such. people wave from only a few hundred feet down, you wave back, they think you're cool...

helps with the ladies too - moonlight flights over the beach, through the clouds.... lol. i'm a genious!

 

[theBMWenthusiast]

i want to fly...but probably parents wouldn't let me

 

[tool fan]

I fly...................down the Autobahn!!!!!! When my paasagers tell me I drive to fast. I tell them,"I don't drive to fast....I just fly to low!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[gizzy]

I was also amazed at how sensitive the controls are. You see all this crap on TV/movies where pilots are manhandling the stick. If you handled a real plane that way, you would auger in pretty quick.

The only resistance to your controls for the most part is the wind over the control surfaces (in the small planes at least). You do have to manhandle the backpressure when doing steep turns (left and right pressures are still very light), but it's still something that is done with only one hand.