Flying

[ettsn]

I earned my Private Pilot Certificate this week, and I'm pretty excited about it! :)

I started my training over the Christmas break last year. Got my license at 42.9 hours (40 is minimum, 50+ is average).

Anyone else into aviation?

[Freude am Fahren]

:up: Nice. I've always wanted to, and almost started in High School. My dad is a private pilot and has been flying for decades, and I've been going up with him since before I was old enough to even remember. With a bit of studying of certain Navigational and radio systems and procedure, I'm pretty sure I could pass a check flight right now :)

[G'day Mate]

Nice one :up:

[Random]

:up:

I think KB got his license. Intrepid, too?

[Random]

What'd you solo in?

[Godson]

Sweet!!!!

[ettsn]

Solo'd in a Cessna 172. Also did some hours in a Diamond DA20, a Piper Cherokee and .3 in a Ford Trimotor :D

[ettsn]

Sweet!!!!

Wanna try to work in a flight this weekend?

[Godson]

It'd be tough. I'll be trying to get in around 7pm. We could fly early sun morning!

[ettsn]

Got to fly in a Boeing 777 simulator today. Amazing experience! :)

http://www.aircargoweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Lufthansa_cargo_777_simulator.jpg

Honestly, it felt soooo real! A friend is an instructor at Delta and got me two hours bright and early this morning. :)

[Freude am Fahren]

:up: awesome!

[KillerB]

Congratulations, and welcome to a very exclusive club! Less than 0.3% of Americans have a PPL or better.

Haven't gotten to do much flying since I moved out here, but I'm hoping to get back into it and start my instrument rating over the fall and winter.

[ettsn]

Yeah KB, it's a fantastic hobby. Loving every minute of it! Tyler came to visit over the weekend, and while the weather wasn't playing very nice, we did get to go up with a buddy in his C182 and shoot a few approaches. Lots of fun!

Come visit Atlanta, and we'll go convert some 100LL into noise and smoke! :)

FaF: Yeah man, it was amazing! Got two hours and did 24 TO/LD cycles. By the end of it, I was very familiar with pretty much the whole cockpit and could configure the airplane for pretty much all modes of flight. Got decently proficient with the A/P and F/D too. Couldn't get enough! :)

[21Kid]

Neato!!!!
Joby 16-rotor electric VTOL (http://www.gizmag.com/joby-s2-tilt-rotor-vtol-multirotor-aircraft-concept/40662/)

http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/12/joby-s2-vtol-electric-aircraft-tilting-multirotor-5.jpg

[Crazed_Insanity]

Neeto concept indeed!

However, I'm skeptical of its range... and I'm sure if you do one too many vertical take off and landings, it'll probably significantly reduce your overall range.

Anyway, I do wonder how will the aviation industry survive once we ran out of fossil fuel... flying across the atlantic or the pacific may no longer be possible! :|

[Rare White Ape]

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-034-DFRC.html

NASA's solar powered research aircraft.

New technology doesn't just come out of a vacuum, Billi.

[Drachen596]

Solar Impluse? Didnt think that was NASA and they didnt complete the round the world flying yet.

they fried some batteries on the climb to altitude on the Japan to Hawaii leg.

[Rare White Ape]

Drach, I was thinking of something different. Post above edited to hide my wrongness :p

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm aware of these solar airplanes; however, do you know how long it'd take you to fly a solar power Boeing or Airbus plane to visit me? Even if you could afford it, not sure if you'd want to!

Just saying that if we were to run out of fossil fuel now, automotive industry will most likely survive, but commercial aviation will be hit hard...

[Rare White Ape]

I'm not sure of the volume of jet fuel used when compared to gasoline, so it's hard to make a good comparison or determination to when each group will eventually run out of fuel. Let's just say that it won't be at the same time.

But one will learn from the other and progress doesn't exist in isolation. You're talking in extreme hypotheticals that only work in today's terms. It could be a hundred years before we truly need solar powered turbines to propel aircraft around the world. By then we might have developed magnetic cannons that fire winged glider capsules full of people into outer space on suborbital flights that last 45 minutes.

I wonder if there's a mod for Kerbal Space Program which simulates that…

[Drachen596]

regular aviation fuel still has small amounts of lead in it. they're working on getting rid of it however its is complicated due to old old engine designs which in some cases require that lead. there are i think 3 or 4 companies working on alternatives that wont require huge expensive changes to piston engined planes.

Jet fuel is essentially kerosene and there are diesel engined aircraft that can use it as well. its cheaper than the Av Gas(100ll) as well, i assume mostly due to the volume of production.


speaking of Nasa and Solar power, weren't they developing a solar charged electric glider/plane for Mars or somewhere?

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah a flyer for Mars is in the works right now but it's a 20-year vision sort of thing.

But with having a thin atmosphere and flying anything on Mars the difficulty is (wait for it…) astronomical so whatever does end up cruising the hazy skies of the red planet will be weird and wonderful to our eyes.

Remember the time they put a car on Mars and they couldn't use a parachute except for a Mach 2+ drogue 'chute and then suspend the car under a rocket-powered crane to stop it smashing into the ground?

Yeah. That hard.

[Kchrpm]

Question for the people who have gotten their pilot licenses: is this going to be an unreasonable cluster, or is flying sans-GPS something that should be/is tested regularly?

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/GPS-Interference-NOTAM-For-Southwest-226365-1.html

[GB]

Became a Private Pilot in 1986.

Haven't sat behind a yoke since. :sadbanana: