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#12
11-08-2006, 02:22 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
How many flight hours did you have before your first solo flight? How nervous were you? [/ QUOTE ] Great question. The FAA minimum is 10 hours of dual instruction. (Dual instruction is where you and the CFI - Certified Flight Instructor - both fly together). Hours are counted by "Hobbs Time" - that is, the number of hours the engine is running. as reported by the Hobbs Meter, a meter that shows the number of hours the engine is operating.) In my 13th hour of training, I had just completed a third good landing in a row, and the CFI said "Pull over to transient (parking) and leave the engine running. I pull over - I knew this was it. I pulled over the transient, and he jumped out, saying "now go do 3 landing just like that!". Wow. It was a collection of feelings - nervousness and excitement all together. I had in my flight bag a T-shirt which I was carrying for the purpose of soloing (more on why in a moment) The T-shirt was a Led Zeppelin shirt - the one with the Hindenburg crashing in flames on the front. Picture:  I put on the T-shirt, asked the tower for clearance to taxi to me active runway: "Whiteman tower, Cessna 5138 Hotel - student pilot, first solo - request taxi to the active for a series of touch and gos". The tower (with no expression) said "38Hotel, whitman tower, taxi to runway One Two". I taxied down to the end, in line behind 2 other aircraft. As I waited for my turn, I had a million things going through my head - making sure I would impress my CFI, doing the best landings I could, not [censored] up... Then it came my turn: Tower: "38Hotel, taxi into position and hold" Me: "Position and hold, 38 Hotel". After taxing onto the runway and holding (for traffic ahead of me to clear) Tower said: 38Hotel clear for takeoff. Me: "38Hotel is rolling" as I pushed the throttle to the firewall, the engine spun up and I was moving - faster that I expected, now with the 170 pounds of extra weight gone (my instructor) - I took off before crossing the tower. And I was a pilot. Whiteman from above: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=12653+Osborne+St.,Pacoima,+Ca&ll=34.260628,-118.408563&spn=0.011630,0.015836&t=k&h l=en After making three touch and go landings, I picked up my instructor, and we flew back to Burbank - once parked, he took a pair of scissors and ripped off the back of my shirt as is tradition for a first solo. The shirt is in the picture above as I had it framed. AB 
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#13
11-08-2006, 02:25 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
Whiteman from above [/ QUOTE ] AB, Im pretty certain we've been in the pattern at the same time. -surf
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#15
11-08-2006, 02:28 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
How much did it cost for you to get the license (like classes, and other fees)? Do you own an aircraft? How expensive are they? Are there planes that people can rent if they don't own one? [/ QUOTE ] I got my license in 1997 - all told I think I spend around $3,000, including instruction, equipment (head sets flight bag, etc), and the instructors fees and test fees, ground school, etc. Used Aircraft are somewhat reasonable - a Cessna 152 (small 2 seater) of the 1970s era will be about $15000. A piper Warrior from the mid 70s will be around $30,000. You can rent aircraft and that what I do. Flying clubs can be a great way to do this, but after 9/11 many of the good ones went broke. Still, you can rent Warriors. In general you pay only for the hours on the Hobbs meter (engine hours), and the fee is "wet" meaning that fuel is included. When I was flying a Warrior was $54 an hour (cheap!!) today it's about $75-$80 an hour. If you wanted to keep a plane over night, there is a minimum of 2 hours per day useage. AB
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#16
11-08-2006, 02:29 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
Could you take off if you didn't have a long straight runway, but instead had to take off from a conveyor belt that ran backwards so you could build up speed?
How about in a 757?
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#17
11-08-2006, 02:33 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
Have you done instrument approaches yet? On that same topic, feel free to ask me about IFR (instrument flight), ME (multi-engine planes), my Commerical License or being a CFII (certified flight instructor with instrument teaching rating). -surf [/ QUOTE ] Only those required for the private - I have planned on getting an instrument rating, though to be honest here in sunny California it's not as needed as say, back east. As it happens, the time I went up with my CFI for the under the hood stuff, we ran into actual instrument conditions. Requested vectors from approach, and wow - that was a really eerie experience. Just kept my head in the panel and listened for "turn right to 180" . Incidentally - are you in the SoCal area? AB
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#18
11-08-2006, 02:44 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
What is it like knowing that at any moment you could crash? (That is a serious question) [/ QUOTE ] The serious answer is that any moment, you are NOT going to crash! Any moment, the engine might swallow a valve - or quit completely - and much of the training you receive is exactly about dealing with that kind of emergency. In short (and you do this by rote) you first trim the aircraft for max glide, you then identify a landing area that you can reach, you then trouble shoot the problem and try to correct, you then squawk 7700 on the transponder, tune radio to 121.5 and declare an emergency. [ QUOTE ] Also, how sensitive are the controls? [/ QUOTE ] Fairly sensitive - on small aircraft you only need a small amount of input to maneuver. [ QUOTE ] Why are there so many buttons and switches? Do you really use all of them? [/ QUOTE ] Are there alot of buttons and switches? Yes, they all have a purpose. On a larger commercial aircraft, though, many of those switches may be mundane things like cabin lights, or the heater, etc. [ QUOTE ] How easy or hard is it to learn how to fly? [/ QUOTE ] If you are focused, it is fairly straight forward. If you are lazy, you will die like JFK Jr. [ QUOTE ] If you could be a commercial pilot, would you do it? [/ QUOTE ] I have thought about it. But the reality is that I am too busy with my film career to pursue it right now. AB
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#20
11-08-2006, 02:45 AM
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Re: Ask Me About Flying
[ QUOTE ]
As it happens, the time I went up with my CFI for the under the hood stuff, we ran into actual instrument conditions. Requested vectors from approach, and wow - that was a really eerie experience. Just kept my head in the panel and listened for "turn right to 180" . Incidentally - are you in the SoCal area? [/ QUOTE ] Yes, I am currently. Funny you say that thing about your hood experience. On my CFI checkride, I failed the first time b/c the ride is all VFR, but when we took off some clouds blew off course and I found myself in actual only about 1200 feet Above ground level. I was supposed to turn back and land but being the dip$hit I am and having my IFR like 2 years earlier, I got fuct and had to do a re-check. pain in the azzzzzz
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