I completed one of my dreams today!! UPDATED *PICS*

[whaleskinrug]

yay 🙂

 

[GTaudiophile]

Congrats.

I soloed at age 16 in a Cessna 152. The three most perfect landings you'll ever see...and what a rush it was!

I've been behind the yoke of several aircraft in flight, including a Cessna Citation and a Beechcraft Super King Air.

 

[MAME]

Expensive?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: MAME
Expensive?

Quite! Though GA Tech offered lessons at around $40/hour, mine cost more like $90/hour back in 1996.

 

[Descartes]

What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

 

[Ionizer86]

Hehe, cool. So now that you've actually been up there and all, how real/fake do you think MS Flight Sim is?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

It's funny. The day I was suppose to solo for the first time, I was pre-flighting my aircraft, and an electrical fire started in the engine. Mind you the aircraft had just been topped-off with fuel, so I had to run, and along with my instructor, put out the fire. You couldn't breathe afterwards inside the cockpit the fumes were so bad. Needless to say, I didn't solo that day. Came back and did it a week later.

(I had to turn on the Master Switch, lower the flaps, then turn off the Master Switch before conducting the pre-flight check. This somehow started the fire.)

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Insurance companies rate general aviation at about the same risk level as driving motorcycles. But when you consider that something like 90% of all accidents are because of pilot error, as long as you get good training, keep learning, and practice stuff like engine out procedures it is pretty acceptable.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

 

[Conky]

Very cool! I've always wanted to fly too!

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

Want to show me some statistics? Granted, when something goes wrong in the air, there's a decent chance you won't walk away alive, unlike a car accident. But compare the proportion of car drivers to accidents and pilots to plane accidents.

 

[acemcmac]

VGG :beer:

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Actually, part of me wants to say that learning how to recover from spin stalls at 5,000 feet is half the fun 🙂

And you do a lot of that...

Landing on a grass strip is pretty cool too.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Insurance companies rate general aviation at about the same risk level as driving motorcycles. But when you consider that something like 90% of all accidents are because of pilot error, as long as you get good training, keep learning, and practice stuff like engine out procedures it is pretty acceptable.

Same risk as driving a motorcycle doesn't sound too good 🙂

 

[spanky]

pics?

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

Want to show me some statistics? Granted, when something goes wrong in the air, there's a decent chance you won't walk away alive, unlike a car accident. But compare the proportion of car drivers to accidents and pilots to plane accidents.

No I don't because I don't care enough to go looking. It has been discussed in recent issues of Plane & Pilot and the AOPA magazine.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Okay, I'll take your word for it. I was just led to believe otherwise.

 

[WannaFly]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Attention all ATOT'ers!: Please notice there is not mention of achieving "Lifer" status!
Thank you.

Hah i'd like to know what you mean by that

Regarding emergencies - we place alot of emphasis on it during training, that way, WHEN (NOT IF) we need them, we'll be prepared to handle them.

 

[Renob]

Did you buzz the tower?

BTW Good job.

 

[WannaFly]

Originally posted by: Renob
Did you buzz the tower?

BTW Good job.

No, no buzzing the tower, that would violate 91.13, along with many other regulations 🙂

Thanks!

 

[Mill]

Sorry, but I would rather not die.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

Want to show me some statistics? Granted, when something goes wrong in the air, there's a decent chance you won't walk away alive, unlike a car accident. But compare the proportion of car drivers to accidents and pilots to plane accidents.

Actually, there's an excellent chance you'll walk away alive. An engine failure does not mean instant nor guaranteed death.

Airplanes will glide, you know. My examiner told me, "if you have an engine out landing and do it with full flaps into the wind, I guarantee you will walk away from it."

Google "Gimli Glider" for the story of a Boeing 767 (I think) that did the same thing with full passengers on board.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

Bullshit. I've been flying in private single-engine aircraft every week since I was 6 months old. I've been around aviation folks my entire life. I promise you that it is true. The most dangerous part about flying is driving to the airport.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Descartes
What about the stigma of safety problems with single-engine aircraft?

Eh. It's there, but you just have to remind yourself that you have better chances of dying when you step into a car.

That's the "big lie". It just isn't true.

Want to show me some statistics? Granted, when something goes wrong in the air, there's a decent chance you won't walk away alive, unlike a car accident. But compare the proportion of car drivers to accidents and pilots to plane accidents.

Actually, there's an excellent chance you'll walk away alive. An engine failure does not mean instant nor guaranteed death.

Airplanes will glide, you know. My examiner told me, "if you have an engine out landing and do it with full flaps into the wind, I guarantee you will walk away from it."

Google "Gimli Glider" for the story of a Boeing 767 (I think) that did the same thing with full passengers on board.

I agree, in a small plane an engine failure might be kinda ugly but it shouldn't be fatal. Personally, I've always wanted a nice small single engine plane or even a Bi-plane. They are both incredibly safe with competant pilots.

 

[WannaFly]

Airplanes will glide, you know. My examiner told me, "if you have an engine out landing and do it with full flaps into the wind, I guarantee you will walk away from it."

For example, the 172SP i fly will glide approximately 9000 ft for ever 1000ft it is high. - 9:1 ratio, pretty darn good.