Leaderboard

Since starting as a USAF mx officer in 1995 I've had a Pitts S1S, Luscombe 8E, Kitfox 4, Clone of a 135hp SuperCub and now a RV-6. 12 yrs active total, C-9As and C-17s, then AFRC C-17s with part 121 cargo. Gave my AFRC O-5 pledge pin back 5 years early this past Feb as at 23 total they'd pegged the funmeter. More time for GA! Just turned 14 hours of driving into 4.5 of flying. North of Louisville to South of Atlanta, round trip. 180mph at 9 GPH, and mine is a slower one. I've had the same $35k out of pocket in planes, only did a note for a while on the Pitts. I help with the mx, so annuals are about $350, plus parts. Insurance is about $1k a year for 2 seats with enough hours. Plan Fuel burn $ x 2, $50 in the tank, $50 in the fix-it bank, plus hangar and insurance and you'll be close in the right plane. There are no cheap planes. An oops, woops or "what's that" costs about $300 per fist coverage, hopefully including labor. Need a Magneto? 2-3 fists. Carb? Same. Hope you have yuger hands. Mechanics and their schedules can mean huge downtime, which deflates the fun and family support system if you all fly together. Mechanics are slightly easier than finding a good, local hangar. Hangars can be a nightmare, find that first. I split with another RV, $120 each, but it's 35 minutes away and pretty dead. Good for getting work done, not so much for hangar flying and extra hands. If you don't fly 50 hrs/yr, RENT, if you care about the $ side. I do not pretend it makes sense to own, even in partnership. Buy a good one, under 300 hrs and 3 years since overhaul, but not too fresh to avoid infant mortality and A/Ds on defective new parts. Do not buy old panels if you need IFR, pay up for current to MAYBE 1 gen old, if supported. I dig on experimentals, known types that are easier to inspect and check vs. plans and standards. I'm as happy in a cub, door open at sunset or sunrise as flying acro in a Pitts or travelling mad miles with a digital autopilot, good tunes and the frau in the RV. Sure I jumpseat, fly airlines and drive- sometimes a GA plane makes a trip possible, sometimes it's a drag if worrying about weather/hail/FBO hangars/icing, etc. It's not hard to know when the car or airline tickets are best. Think mil space A. It's also about the folks in flying GA, we're ready to make the hangar-home move next. Any background of pilot can yield a great friend, probably similar to many hobbies, good enough for me so far in flying private GA. If it will get you to family, friends, second homes- great, no further people-side needed. But, it's the EAA folks, chapters, fly-ins, Oshkosh, etc that put it over the top for me. Look at a radius calendar on eaa.org or similar and see what happens near you year round. When I was at CHS I met folks that years later put me in touch with the FFO area crowd. At work, trips where I fly with another GA pilot of ANY background go by 9 times in 10 like paid time off. Now, I soloed in gliders at 14, and already knew this is what I was in to. Did not know what I was in for, but the $ in GA has been some of my best spent.

I fly a little Titan Tornado S now and it is a blast. It's a full light weight metal aircraft with only 80hp (Rotax 912) but it will do a loop, actually more of an oval ellipse since it barely gets over the top and kind of falls off the back side. It cruises at C-172 speeds and has 2 seats in tandem and a stick rather than a yoke. A fun little experimental that carries about as much (600 lbs - that includes the 15 gallons of fuel) as its empty weight (~620lbs). The reason I chose it is that the front seat height is pretty much even with the seat in my wheelchair (I'm paralyzed now so can't use feet/legs) and the rudder and brakes were easy to modify so that I can use my hands to operate all flight controls. Never consciously thought about how much I would miss flying until it was taken away for a little while. The first picture was when I test flew one before I bought mine, the second shot is my plane shot from a friends plane.

I think it would have been better if somebody didn't "out" him.

Fixed. Sorry for the delay.

John's was an egregious example of AMC leadership, but he is the rule, and not the exception. I love ASAP as a concept. We are so busy on the tanker/airlift side of the house, we lack the time to reflect and hanger fly. ASAP could provide some institutional lessons learned, but I have no faith in AMC senior leaders. The choice is CYA or share what you've learned with a risk of adverse actions. I'm not convinced the risk is negligible.

This is just a culture thing within the MAF. If you bend metal, everyone associated with the flight gets a Q3, irregardless of the facts or if you could have prevented it. This is same command that tries to track down aircrew for ASAP reports when self reporting a breach of flight discipline, or court martials a pilot for an off DZ drop. Non AMC MAF units like LTS can make smarter decisions, but rarely do since the leadership is drawn from AMC.

CK didn't become persona non grata when he took a knee; he did it when he wore socks depicting cops as pigs and a shirt idolizing Castro - even a high school education should have prevented him from that level of hypocrisy. Even at that: plenty of asshat players have still found employment when they can play serious ball: TO, Pacman Jones and Vick were a few. What sealed the deal with CK was when it became obvious that his only good season in SF was a result of a strong Harbaugh team hitting on all cylinders. He sucks, plain and simple. Maybe, if he weren't such an asshole, he could get hired as a backup. So could Johnny Football. It's not about race; it's about how much benefit you offer and at how much cost (both monetary and in terms of associated drama). His risk/reward just doesn't make sense to any team right now. That's what you get for being an a$$hole.

It's the same team that knows how to fuck up a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl and they also just installed a Chick-Fil-A in their new stadium...that's not open on Sundays. Makes total sense.

1111, Let me ask you one question. I'm an airline pilot. Let's suppose I show up to fly... in my uniform... for my company... and we take off. At level off, the seatbelt sign goes off and I begin to talk on the microphone: "Ladies and gentlemen... from the flight deck... welcome to yada, yada,... seat belt sign is off... yada, yada.... And by the way, folks, I want to tell you what I think about the current political climate in the USA, and discuss my views on the whole LGBTQ scene going on..." What do you think my airline should do to me if I decided to do that? Assuming they didn't ground me or fire me, what if I did that every flight? When Kaepernick puts on the uniform, he is there the perform for his team and represent the NFL. That's it. Play your silly game to the highest level you can. You're an employee,. Execute your job. CK's actions... on the job, and in his company uniform... are disgraceful to the company (NFL) and he should be disciplined. However, Goodell was too weak to do anything, and his "company" let him run amok. If CK wants to run his mouth and give his views when he isn't working, he has that right like anyone else. I'm not sure he really can, since he comes across as not too articulate, and not very well read. While he probably has a diploma, I seriously doubt he really developed his intellect during his college years. But while his is in the uniform of an NFL team, he represents that business. He isn't there to make "statements". Play your silly game, go home, takeoff the uniform, and then call your press conference. Yet another reason I'm glad I gave up watching NFL football in 1992.