PEACE AND QUIET

[fireflyr]

HAAAA!

There are some people who just ask TOOO many questions

[happylanding]

Hoho! This strip brought me back memories of the old times, when I still was with my former who was - at the time - flight instructor. There were evenings during which we just laughed at students he had and did not appreciate for the same reason (kind of comradeship among lovers, I presume, since when one hates somebody, you could have the same reflect!) and he sometimes filled the flight plan by writing 2 people at tkoff 1 lndg.......
 

[Mike]

ohh yeah.... the joys of being a flight instructor, huh?! 

however I do like it when people get all excited about flying and can't even wait out the answer because they have soooo many more questions (also... I charge by the hour so it's all good  )

[happylanding]

Well, I still think that no flight compares to the joy of a flight by yourself, you, the plane and the sky. and were it possible, no radio to do! No wonder I always go alone up there. But on the contrary.......it could be that nobody trusts me! And....who know if I were able to answer to all the possible questions?!? 

[undatc]

You can actually fly here in the US without a radio, no transponder too in some areas.

[tundra_flier]

I've always wanted to get checked out in a glider.  Seems like such a cool way to fly.  I did a little power off work with one of my ultralight instructors who was also a hang glider.  Was pretty awsome, just the wind in the wires.

I typically fly solo, tough to find someone who fits in the 150 with me after all.     And it just flies so much nicer without a passenger too.   However, I rather enjoy having the radio on, since I live alone solitude isn't a problem for me.  Often times when flying cross country I'll tune into one of the local carrier's co. frequencies and easedrop on their banter.

I'm not a flight instructor, but I do fly young eagles every year.  It's always so much more fun when you get a kid that's really excited about it.  And the ones that just sit there and stare out the window without saying a word really make for a long flight.  However, the kid that asked the most questions turned out not to be excited but very nervous.  She was asking about every thing I did during the preflight and taxi, even asking what everything the tower said.  Figgured she was really into it.  Well, she was my last flight of the day, and the thermals were starting to really build up....the first little bump we hit on climbout she grabbed both sides of her seat as hard as she could and held on like that till the engine was shut down!  At which point she exited the plane as fast as she could and practically ran to the car.
But at least I've been lucky, so far no sick kids. 

Funny...all my really memorable young eagle flights have been girls.  The boys I've gotten are usually either really quiet or really focused on trying to do everything perfect.  Had one girl that I swear will be a fighter pilot someday, and another that had ridden on small commercial flights a lot that wanted me to do aerobatics.  I feel for the next commercial pilot she rides with 

Phil

[TheSoccerMom]

Yes, gliders look like a real blast.   

I've had two single-engine airplanes turn into gliders...  there wasn't much time to enjoy the aesthetics of the "peace and quiet"...  too busy figuring out where to land.    

Phil, that is neat that you do those flights.  You may never know what effect you've had on those kids....  but it's GREAT that you do it!!!   

[tundra_flier]

Well Soccer, my ultralight did become a glider once briefly.  But I had plenty of altitude and after I picked a landing spot managed to get a restart.  Got home without further incident.  But that's what I get for climbing from 450ft to 9,000ft without in-flight mixture control   

Phil

[fireflyr]

9,000 FEET----IN AN ULTRALITE
That will renew your fear of heights

[tundra_flier]

9,000 FEET----IN AN ULTRALITE
That will renew your fear of heights

Actually it was pretty cool.  I was looking across the tops of a few scattered Q's over the hills to the north, and could see hundreds of miles in all directions.  Only down side was I was freezing my @ss off.  I was dressed for flying open cockpit at low altitude, at 9,000 ft it was much colder.  When I idled back to lose altitude my Rotax 503 two cycle flooded out.  Once I oped the throttle I easily got a restart.  Bui I figure I had about 30 min to find a place to land. 

Phil

[tundra_flier]

BTW I've never been higher than 7,500 in my Cessna.  Go figure?   

Phil

[TheSoccerMom]

That's a pretty neat claim!  7500 feet, eh?  That's pattern altitude for the airport where we spent most of last summer...  kinda cool to think about it, from that perspective!   

That's the FUN of flying, I think...  being able to see all the neat things there are to see down low.   

[tundra_flier]

Don, here's a photo of me in my ultralight a few years back.

[tundra_flier]

Don
Actually I was at about 1,000ft AGL when the photo was taken.  It was mid August as I recall, and a fairly wet day.  We were flying in and out of light drizzle, temp was probably around 65F.  Location is North Pole Alaska, and I was based out of Bradley Sky Ranch at the time, which has a 3,000ft gravel runway at only 485ft above sea level.

Phil

[Baradium]

I thought untralights weren't allowed above 1,000 ft AGL...