Should you learn to fly?
Probably not, but there is one big reason to do so revealed at the end. There’s a lot to unpack. Flying in a small aircraft is fantastic: expands your mind, develops new and interesting skills, responds well to perseverance, and opens up a whole new dimension of freedom. It’s an exclusive club, there are only around 600,000 “active” pilots in the U.S. and that number is overstated, it is probably less than ¾ of that. There are about that many pilots in the entire rest of the world. My flying club has had active, dues paying members for 10+ years that have never flown a single hour that I’m aware of and most of the airplanes at the airport are unairworthy or fly < 10 hours per year.
There are probably 150,000 people making their living as pilots in the US, with a very high standard deviation in earnings, kind of like a pro sports career if you include all the people playing minor league ball and college sports. If you want to earn a living as a pilot, the first thing you need to do is spend $75,000 separate from any college to get to a commercial license (250 hours), a multi engine rating and then 500 hours, the insurable minimum for a $10 hr job. You can do it cheaper at the cost of time, but time is money too. Working for a major airline can pay amazingly well, $300k plus. BUT. You’ll only earn that if you are hired at the right time, stay at the same airline your entire career, don’t suffer any adverse medical events or screwups, etc, and you WILL be furloughed, your company will go bankrupt and this will happen multiple times. There are exceptions and unicorns, but you are probably not one. Know yourself. I work in IT.
Airplanes are old in ways old car people are amazed by. The post-war US industrial base and economy produced a lot of them and since that economy ground to a halt in 1986 very few have been produced since then, maybe 15% of the fleet size, so the old ones are still around and in use every day. The average small plane is 45 years old, i.e. 1975 vintage. They are amazingly well built and durable but are not something that is readily legible to the youth and monied middle-aged of today and old is old regardless of how well it was built and maintained. A 2020 Cessna Skyhawk, basically the same plane as a 1955 Skyhawk, is $400k+ for the same performance. Sure, the instruments are nicer and it’s not 65 years old but… I can afford $40,000 for a toy, $400,000 might as well be $4,000,000.
Pilots are old. I got my license when I was 19 (I’m 46 now) and was routinely the youngest pilot at fly-ins (fly your plane to an airport to eat pancakes and jabber with the other pilots and locals) until I stopped going in my early 30’s. There was just no new blood for 20 years. There has been a surge of younger people over the last 5 years or so but they are all on a professional track and are not plane owners nor will they be. They are also all unemployed at the moment or working their backup jobs due to the covid panic.
Why did everyone get so old? I have a few theories and it’s probably a little of everything. Baby boomers and older that could afford airplanes mostly had pensions and weren’t expected to pay for their kids college, so they could consume, be it a lake house or an airplane. Others ran small or midsize tool and die or multi-location manufacturing locations so they could justify it as business expense and write it off. Tax changes and China killed off most of those, so guys my age work for big companies now, we save for retirement and our kids’ college (plus overconsume on housing) so we just don’t have as much free income at every life stage. Finally, airplanes are no longer sexy… they are something your grandpa did. A boat jet ski or motorcycle is much more accessible and has more pussy power than an old or even new airplane.
There is an entire federal department dedicated to regulating every bolt in an airplane and just about every square foot of airspace in the US. You will deal with them, directly or indirectly, and they are probably better than you expect individually, but on the whole they increase costs and risks endlessly. Play their game and you can enjoy a simulacrum of freedom, enough to kill yourself in mundane or spectacular fashion. Don’t play their game and you can sit on the ground while they bleed you to death with papercuts. Know yourself.
That was pretty negative. What is the final upside? Heinlein, always Heinlein. You worked for an education. You work hard at your job and your job skills. You take responsibility for your family and your community by voting correctly, paying what is needed, going to court when you have to, having a generator, gasoline, guns, ammo and a plan. You can ride, drive, shoot straight and speak the truth but you are still restricted to the ground, to the roads, to two dimensions.
Other people or authorities can block the roads, hem you in, drive faster or call their friends, foment a better mob and surprise and surround you. When you can fly, you are literally above all that. If you can make it to the airport you and your family can be 500 miles away in less than 5 hours and there is no-one short of the military that can stop you, and even then they won’t. There is value in that, for you, your friends and your family. In a world of chess, get high above the board where their moves don’t apply.
The FAA along with their airline buddies are working hard to rid us of all those pesky GA pilots.
Flying is fun. Besides, how else are you going to get that 100 dollar cheeseburger?
Fly? aint nobody got time for that. or money.
I severely dislike flying. I can’t help but irrationally think of the fall.
That is not irrational, UCS. In fact, thinking about “the fall” is how you ensure that when it does happen, the landing is one you can walk away from.
the fall sans aircraft.
Make sure the plane is touching the ground before you open the door and get out, and you’ll be fine.
That takes all the fun out of flying.
I’m very touchy on high places that I feel I can fall from. Skywalks, open steps, mesh grids etc.
Enclosed in an aircraft isn’t one of them.
Yeah, I have a bit of a problem with heights.
#metoo
But it can be overcome. The Marine Corps knows how, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that route for most.
Jumping out of a perfectly good airframe, fixed or rotary wing, can be interesting but is not for everyone. The bookmark mi DI left in my ass some 38 years ago still hurts.
Watching hours & hours of Big Jet TV helped me get over my fears. It’s all generally so…routine. Even the heavy crosswind landings.
Of course, my fears of flying were based on technical issues/weather, not heights.
#AvGeek
(I know a close-to-retirement AA pilot who flies the A330. Or did, because AA is retiring those and he’s old enough not to get a type rating on another aircraft. Anyway, pretty sure he makes bank. He’s got one of those unicorn deals you spoke of)
Is he single? Sounds like your cup-o-tea.
Definitely not
It is amazing and I miss it almost all of the time. I have to say, as much as I agree with you about flying planes, I’ll just add that helicopters are everything you said multiplied by about 3 or 4: aggravation, maintenance, costs, etc., BUT – having the ability to land nearly anywhere is pretty cool. Shorter “legs” for certain, but being able to land on the roof of a building or the back of a ship is a pretty neat feature.
Unfortunately, no civilian models come with the 20mm nose gun, so it’s all kinda lame by comparison.
I’m trying to picture an R22 with a 20mm nose gun.
Well, then imagine it tilted forward so much that the pilot would be pressing his hand against the windscreen to stay upright.
I can’t remember the exact specs, but the gun and the can for the ammo both sit up front (under the gunner’s feet and seat, in fact, respectively), and I’m gonna hazard a guess the combo would be past the R22’s max gross weight.
Meh, CG calculations are for pussies.
Spoken like most of the Huey guys with whom I flew.
I was a backseater , in days gone by. Some things drove me to rethink my position on the VN War.
Mister Fourscore, I have a story you would appreciate.
As a helo pilot, I used to mock the pax sitting in the back of my squadronmates’ UH-1Ns. Specifically, the grunts who would sit on their helmets going into a hot LZ. “Pshaw!” I would chortle. “Fat lot of difference that’ll make if rounds start coming up through that Huey’s skin!!” Yuk, yuk, yuk.
Fast forward 10 years and I’m in the *back* of a helicopter now, going into the Afghanistan mountains at night (cir. 2005). I feel the helo twitch and I instantly know two things: one, that it’s the pilot’s feet on the rudder pedals, AND, two, (without looking) that we’re taking incoming fire. As the helo banks to go around, sure as shit I can see the tracers arcing up through my NVGs.
In that moment, I looked to my left and notice some of the guys sitting on their helmets, but I had disdained it. And now I had the uncontrollable urge to sit on my helmet, but I wasn’t going to let my ego admit I might have been wrong, so I just gritted my teeth.
Holy shit, I don’t know if anything matches the terror of being in the back of a helicopter getting shot at.
You were a UH-1 pilot, and then became a lawyer?
There’s a joke in there somewhere.
“Both involve….”
Indeed sitting in the troop seats of a UH-60 taking ground fire is uncomfortable. When the door gunner started returning fire the reactions were mixed. Some cheered, some turned absolutely pale, one wet himself. I was trying to will the rounds onto the assholes shooting at us. But as uncomfortable as that was I would take it any day of the week over riding in a CH-47 (or CH-46) in combat.
My bestest bud from college (a prior enlisted Marine arty guy) wound up as a 46 pilot and flew medevacs during the most recent Gulf excursions, including into some very serious hotspots. I don’t know how those guys do it because – well, you know. Those Phrogs were old and tired aircraft. Oh yeah, and not very fast. And also leaky as shit. Did I mention how utterly fucking helpless they were?
But, I shouldn’t complain, because they were a big part of our mission work: armed escort for those pigs and the troops in the back. I really liked that mission.
I think the two things Hollywood consistently gets wrong are helicopter and beach assaults, or maybe wrong isn’t the correct word. Misportrayed perhaps. Both are so much slower in real life and feel like just sitting like a duck forever.
Stayed out of Blackhawks so don’t know how that feels. Shithooks have to pray to the sky gods first to get airborne I think.
Ahem.
AH-1W pilot. Let’s not start insulting each other.
(I keed, I keed, Huey guys!)
I’ve probably got 30 hours of logged Huey time – great aircraft, and probably the last of the “real” stick and rudder pilots who were left in the military (at least before they got the Y models). Those guys had to occasionally play with the throttle (i.e. manually meter fuel flow to the engine) in autos and shit like that. Everything else had gone to complete computer fuel-control – with ‘lockout’ being the exception for emergency only.
Not much passenger capacity on that model.
We sat on extra flack vests. Always wore one and grabbed one from another seat
“Holy shit, I don’t know if anything matches the terror of being in the back of a helicopter getting shot at.”
Having been in both situations, I am going to say being mortared while you are in a fixed position is worse.
Being mortared or rocketed both suck as a life experience. A “short round” from friendly artillery was worse for me. The explosive charge was larger, plus it was your own guys doing it. WTF guys? You have computers and shit to help you and you still fuck it up?
I have grunt buddies who echo what Swiss says about being mortared – particularly when it is being directed by a spotter. I’ve been rocketed and that’s no fun, either. Especially the 122mm version. But it’s not the same slow-motion terror as I experienced in the back of the helicopter. I can’t imagine what the troops (and locals) on the western front in WWI and WWII lived through – because those wars used a LOT of BIG, conventional bombs and launched them everywhere and at everyone (seemingly).
How about the Japanese dug in on some of those islands that received multi-day preparatory bombardments from (among others) 16″ guns??? Fuck that very much, thank you, no.
Or the Germans at Kursk, 10s of thousands of artillery pieces. Hard to imagine how horrible that must be.
I cannot fathom living through Western Front WWI, sane.
hoofy, saw the title and immediately started singing some Pink Floyd. And then some Ozzy. Heh. Good job.
Thanks! I was going to link to a video, but I quickly realized the ambiguity would be better resolved by each individual based on age and music taste.
Are we allowed to admit to liking post-Waters Floyd? What’s next, admitting to liking Gilmour’s solo work?
(I liked the one album of his I bought.)
Fly, like in a plane?
I think you are spot on with the priorities. A lot of old folks had an old car to run in the Independence Day Parade but now it’s boomers with Corvettes. Old people are fewer, Model A’s are fewer. Even the 50s/60s cars are scarce, except for people like Tundra and Brooks.
“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?”
I’ll take my share of the blame. Good article, Hoof-man, thanks
Thanks! We still have a Model A club near me that actually has a few younger members but the average age is “long deceased”. I may join one of these days.
Yeah. The problem with classic cars is they keep getting older. Sort of like classic rock…
I have a good friend who is a GA pilot and loves to fly.
After he explained all the stuff he goes through for both his license and to maintain his airplane any desire I had to be a pilot evaporated.
So you traded in horses for airplanes? What boats just weren’t enough of a money sink?
No, I think he’s trading horses in airplanes.
The airplanes pre-(and post-) dated the horses but yeah… I should have taken up cocaine, would have been the financially responsible thing to do.
I hear you can make 7 figures if you combine the two…
Horse cocaine? Hmm… I bet they do need a lot to get the high.
Isn’t Horse+Coke why we no longer have John Belushi and Chris Farley?
Well now, flying cocaine can be very lucrative, if just mildly dangerous.
He’s smuggling it in the horses?
Dummy, you’re supposed to use mules.
But don’t the cops already know that trick?
LOL, nice
THIS! IS! SPARTA!
*kicks prop to start engine*
I use the plane to visit friends and family more often. The plane turns a 4 hour drive into 1 hour of flight.
I would like to be able to expense it with consulting, but my currents tasks in IT don’t require site visits. My father was able to use a plane in his engineering firm for site visits and customer support. 12 hour drive, or 3 hours in the plane.
We have only flown commercial when the airplane was down for long term maintenance. Florida is about 7 hours… Denver was 11. The airports for smaller planes will almost always be closer to where you really want to go.
The rule of thumb is, 1 hour drive.. don’t bother it doesn’t save time. After 4 hours of piston flight time, you can now travel faster on the airlines, but I will still fly my plane.
The costs?.. It is like a vacation home that moves. Rather than going to the same place each trip, you go to a new place.
I’ve decided against vacation homes, muscles cars, boats, etc because it’s always cheaper to rent and I don’t always have to do the same thing over and over. Unless you are just head over heels nuts about something, rent it.
The problem is that you can’t rent long distance traveling airplanes.
Trainers that go 120MPH? no problem. 6 seats, 240mph retractable?.. you used to be able to rent them in the 1980’s… no longer. (very rare in this area)
Now, I say that, but at the field by me the local flight school has a twin piper, that you can rent for about what I pay for my plane. It is a little slower than mine… but he didn’t have that plane in 2013 when I acquired mine.
Definitely there are downsides to renting, but for me I like too many activities to buy anything. I like helicopters and about 10 minutes from my house there is a place you can pay to ride. Is it the same as flying or owning? No, but it’s much cheaper.
What I see is that you can rent a VW golf… or you can hire a car service in a town car, Suburban, bus etc.
If what you want is a Camry, you have to own it yourself. The rental market no longer has a middle, or upper range only the trainers.
In the late 80’s I remember the flight school had T182RG and T210 (6 seat) planes that were available for rental with not too much extra training for the retractable gear. My father’s M20J was also available on the flight line.
in 2010? I could rent a 172, buy a time share in a SR22T for $30K/year at an airport 45 mins from my house. Or I could buy my own plane for $30K/year in a hangar at the airport 10mins from your house… It was buy what you need or do without.
A close friend of mine in Maine has a cousin that has a plane at Fryeburg, which is really close to her house, unlike PWM. I asked her to find out how much it would cost for him to fly me from Freeway Airport to Fryeburg. Of course, I would also have to pay him to fly from Fryeburg to MD, so it’s probably prohibitive.
Back in March I asked how much it would cost to charter a private plane out of Costa Rica because of COVID. I remember it was like 40k. Life styles of the rich and famous, indeed.
I think your auto-correct messed up COCAINE and turned it into COVID.
What is the world coming to?
The problems of picking up other people is that the flight time is doubled.. you have to get them.. bring them back. Then return them. So double the time.
Also paying for a trip like that is a no-no under the FAA rules. I have done this for people who were 2 hours drive away… 30 mins in the plane.
Now, a friend of mine in NH wanted to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton. I calculated that the flight time from NJ, to pick him up, fly to Dayton, and back was the same as picking him up from Chicago, where he often visited for work.
So I flew on a Friday from NJ to Gary, IN. Picked up cheap fuel (Midway is stupid, and the train from Chicago goes right near the Gary airport) We flew to Dayton, stayed overnight, visited the Museum then flew back to NH.
The plane turns a 4 hour drive into 1 hour of flight.
But then your friends and family have to pick you up at the airport, right? There are not so many destinations that you can just walk from the airfield. That makes it not very practical for trips. Any thoughts?
https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html
Many small airports have a vehicle available to fly-in pilots. Keys are generally in the office, just top off the gas when done.
This is true.. in Iowa they were mostly ex police cars.. Older impalas.
Or the FBO will have a crew car. (some of them are top quality, others less so)
Or rental right on the field.
We also have folding bicycles for the Provincetown sort of day trips.
Local hotels will also often pickup and drop off from the Airport… the FBO will have pilot rates with them.
North Myrtle Beach? Uber to the hotel.
Council Bluffs IA? Hotel shuttle, just make sure they know you are at the little airport. It seems that they also pick up flight crew from Omaha International, so don’t confuse them.
Naples FL, 2 hour crew cars, let us pick up the family car from the condo.
Marco Island, Uber or the same..
Even if it is your friends/family picking you up at the local airport, it is often 10mins drive for them.. it is still a win all around, you were going out for lunch anyway right?
Thanks to all. I see there are options.
And a number of FBO fields have an outlet for rental car chains, particularly if there are regular corporate flights.
Plus you get a free pat-down for when you’re feeling lonely.
“…12 hour drive, or 3 hours in the plane…”
I have heard several of our customers (I work for a company that makes small 4 and 6 seater General Aviation airplane) call them time machines.
That is the marketing term for it. (Cirrus right?) If your time is valuable, fly your own plane. In business the benefit is ridiculous. I can go anywhere in the north east faster than the airlines, for a cost that is comparable to a demand business class ticket. Not a 3 months booked in advance ticket.
The equal time point happens around Chicago. and only because I live near NYC and EWR is a United hub.
If you are going to tier-2 cities where you have to change planes, a private plane offers much greater flexibility.
Many people schedule meetings at the airport FBO. If you don’t have to go on site, but need a in person meeting. you fly in and use the FBO conference room, usually free or a reasonable price when you are buying fuel.
That particular flight was 3 hours in a 172 from NJ to near Pittsburgh. flew out in the morning, the business picked me up from the airport 5 mins from their facility. We solved their installation problems, and I flew home that evening.
Another time (pre internet and good modems) we flew a new software feature release out to the new haven airport, and the local techs met us there and had the software update in the power plant installed that night.
I had a major server die in Silver Spring MD… vendor support would take 24 hours to get on site.. so my manager told me to take the one from the lab and drive 4 hours to MD… I asked if he would expense X$$$ and I would get it there in about 2. I flew down in the mooney to the College Park airport, handed off the server to the local tech, had lunch and came home.
I did the whole “take off, fly around for a while, touch and go, fly some more, land” bit when I got my aviation merit badge. I was surprised by how easy it was, though admittedly it was a simple plane (Cessna Skyhawk II) in ideal weather conditions. When my dad was in college, you could take flying lessons as an elective (and he did).
The cafe (Ozzy’s) at Max Westheimer airport in Norman was very good and even more cheap, so we’d go there a lot and saw pilots doing the fly-in breakfasts.
I did that as well, especially when renting you had to keep current in their airplanes. but it gets old, the reason to fly airplanes is to go places, fast.
As a family we flew around the country a couple of times visiting the national parks of the west.
Trip #1 we did Black Hills SD, Yellowstone, Glacier, Minnesota Lake region and Upper peninsula.
We landed in Rapid City SD, and were told that there wasn’t any rental cars available, it was Sturgis (had never heard of it at that time) We did ask why bikers needed rental cars. We beat the bikers to to Cody WY, but still couldn’t get a rental.. so the FBO’s crew car was a 70’s Cadillac with horns on the hood..
Trip #2 was, Carlsbad Caverns, Four corners, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Sequoia, Crater Lake, Olympia, and return.
Two years ago my wife and I met up with the inlaws over the 4th of July Glacier, MT. Friday Harbor WA, Half Moon Bay, CA, East Bay, Denver, Home.
Nice.
My best friend is (was?) a pilot. So I got to do a lot of flying with him. He also built a really sweet little plane that won BIS at Oshkosh.
He got his license young, as well. I just never had the motivation (or money!) to do it. As you say, it’s spectacularly expensive.
Still, flying close to the mountains in Montana is something I’ll never forget.
Great article, HiM! Nice plane, but sorry about the shirt!
Great article, HiM!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FYy-YVDpU3I/hqdefault.jpg
Thanks! Was my commercial checkride, I’d only wanted it for 25 years.
On topic.
Lol! I guessed it.
That one came out later, but the Tom Petty version and the Pink Floyd one got worn out when I was in flight training.
And THIS one is the correct one for that song.
Cool!
I assume it worked?
NM. Found it.
In the various plane type owner meetings, I’m in the younger crowd at 50, owning a plane is just a later life financial goal, unless you can justify it for business.
I should have taken over my father’s plane when he no longer could keep current, but at that time I didn’t need it for the lifestyle.
Dad was passionate about flying. He bought his first plane while enlisted in the AF back in the 50’s. His flying lesson consisted of a flight around the field with the guy selling it. Back on the ground the guy hopped out while the engine was still running. “It’s yours, now”.
I flew with him many times in most of the planes that he owned, probably have 50 hours of flight time (all of it un-logged).
Also, my sister was a pilot for United. Up until the spring of 2001 her flight was UAL175 from Boston to LA. She was good friends with the crew that went down that day.
Oof.
So much respect for the crews & ATCs that day. I bet she was devastated.
My sister always wanted to fly, so she took lessons and got her license. Then she got married and had kids. The end.
^^^
I have a coworker who finally jumped through all the hoops to be able fly again. He is my age with a tweener daughter and two daughters in college. He gets to fly about once a month. He told he wouldn’t have been able to swing it if he wasn’t friends with the instructor and plane owner.
As for myself, I deeply regret not getting my license from the Aero club when I was in the service. I was in college during my off duty hours though, and couldn’t do it. Then marriage….
I flew over my house in Microsoft Flight Simulator while I was inside playing Microsoft Flight Simulator where I was flying over my house playing Microsoft Flight Simulator.
So that’s why it uses so many system resources.
It downloads the terrain in real time from the satellite imagery so… yeah. I uses a shit ton of resources.
Not I. It.
*hits bong*
Duuuuuude…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus_argument#/media/File:Infinite_regress_of_homunculus.png
Flight Simception
Only one important question: Were you masked?
But if you had an airplane you could fly over your plane in your plane playing Flight Simulator in your plane flying over your plane!
I haven’t flown commercially since 1983, but a few years ago I had the pleasure of being flown over/around Lake Chautauqua by my BIL (former flyboy in VN and retired airline pilot) in his small plane. I enjoyed it immensely. Of course, it helped that I took along my good camera and obsessively snapped many, many pics to distract myself from any anxiety and stave off airsickness.
Thanks for the article. I remain content to leave the piloting duties to others.
I haven’t flown commercially since 1983…
Wut?
No, really! Flew to two weddings that year and didn’t mind flying. I’ve just driven everywhere since, including from SW OH to SW CO & NW NM. Post-9/11, I’m not sorry to miss the hassles.
I love to travel. The hassles are what they are (although Global Entry helps a lot).
And a lot of my favorite places aren’t road-trippable.
I have a client for whom I’m doing travel guides to Pakistan. It’s beautiful. He makes it seem so attractive. Well, it IS, but the more I look at these photos, the more I realize it doesn’t look any different from places here in the U.S. I’m not into mountain climbing, so K1 holds no attraction that the Grand Tetons don’t also. Waterfalls–the Ozarks has those and it’s a hop, skip, and a jump from where I live.
The mosques and things, those are interesting, so I would visit for that, but landscape? Nothing I haven’t seen in the Rockies, Ozarks, Yellowstone, and southern Utah.
I’m guessing much isn’t written about the people. At least not honestly. Plenty of beautiful locations are inhabited by assholes.
There are sections where he talks about whatever region’s locals who wear traditional Pakistani garb and hold traditional festivals. The emphasis has mostly been on museums and outdoor activities.
Most beautiful locations are inhabited by assholes.
I’ve always heard from people who have been there that Islamabad is an utter shithole. But then again, so is Baltimore.
Most
beautifullocations are inhabited by assholes.Maybe I’m being too cynical.
Maybe I’m being too cynical.
Maybe. I’ve managed to find really cool people everywhere I’ve traveled.
Even Wisconsin.
*looks back through the series*
Not a whole lot about Islamabad.
“Plenty of beautiful locations are inhabited by assholes.”
Like Earth?
And you dummies dream of going to other planets. It’s assholes all the way down.
Plenty of beautiful locations are inhabited by assholes.
Glibertarians, for example, is inhabited by Brochettaward.
Most beautiful locations are inhabited by assholes
Having lived in Monterey for 2 years it appears the higher the beautiful, the higher the asshole Q.
Sadly, the extent of my international travel has been a few hours in southern Ontario when I was a kid, right after we took my oldest sister to scope out Michigan State. : (
One year after I applied, I was finally invited to schedule a Global Entry interview. Might as well proceed with it, in the hopes I can fly internationally again someday.
I’ll think about flying internationally again when I run out of America to see.
I’ll probably just drive to Canada again instead.
My desire to fly internationally is, opposite of Moj, the journey itself. Bigger & newer aircraft on the long hauls. But my chance to fly on a 747 again is gone, and the chance to fly an A380 is slipping away. And I’ll never get to fly on an A346. The trans-Atlantic A318 trip opportunity is gone also.
Trans-Atlantic is OK. Trans-Pacific is a bit of an ordeal in coach. I think my flights to and from Japan were around 12 hours.
My longest flight was LA to Singapore on an A345.
One reason I haven’t been skiing in Japan yet is the flight expense. Momma don’t fly no trans-oceanic in coach!
I got my entire UK trip (JFK – LCY, LHR – MAN, GLA – LHR, LHR – IAD) in Bidness Class for 3 large. Flying to Asia is close to that much for just coach.
I flew the 787 for my first time coming back from Japan. Despite the hype it didn’t seem appreciably quieter or more comfortable than any other widebody I’ve flown.
Flying from the east coast to Japan is the longest I’ve ever been in an airplane. It most definitely isn’t fun in coach. That said after the first 6 hours I got resigned to it and the remaining 8 or so hours didn’t seem as bad.
Airplanes are your jam, which, by the way, I think is super cool. To me, they’re buses with wings.
Sensei – I want to fly on a 787 just to see the wing flex.
I flew JFK – Shanghai (stopover in Anchorage) in coach once. I was only about 25 years old, though – much more game for that kind of thing. I’ve worked & earned my way into at least business class at this point.
I was willing to pay to fly business, but it was another $5k at the time.
I’d rather blow that in Japan and suffer in coach.
When I used to fly for work I had business class.
I prefer the 777 over the 787, even with the supposed better air.
NYC-TYO is a flight that never ends, no matter what class you sit in. It’s tiring due to length but still doesn’t wipe me out with jet lag like flying east from Japan does.
Bangkok to Frankfurt was actually a bit shorter than LAX to Tokyo but, since I was in the middle of the middle seating section on a widebody, seemed to take much, much longer.
I’m terribly excited for the 777X…I see Boeing doing test flights several times a day on my Flight Radar.
I once flew from Ft Riley Ks to Ft Stewart Ga and it only took 3 days. It actually took 5 days, as the aircraft developed a ‘mysterious’ overheating problem in FT Rucker.
(Mysterious in that the pilots were from Rucker and got to spend two unscheduled days at home, with the cooperation of the maintenance tech)
This was in the back of a UH1 helicopter. Which gets old after about 20 minutes.
I would. It really makes coming back into the country a snap, especially if you are connecting through a small airport (looking at you, CLT!!).
I have a sekrit gubmint security clearance, yet I have to go through the same vetting process as you peons. Like, they’ve already investigated the fuck out of me.
Second GE/Nexus.
If you have access to a Nexus appointment location, do that instead. Cheaper and has bidirectional fast lane crossing between Canada and the US in addition to GE.
Oh, so you and Sean, and Mojo are the reason I can’t retire.
*kicks pebble*
J/K, I hate the hassle myself, and I can fly for free. Well, not anymore.
I’ve flown exactly one round trip for pleasure to DC in about 10 years. Then a couple trips to Evansville on Barbie jets for FIL’s passing in Jan.
I haven’t flown as much as I did pre-TSA. KCI is such that you used to be able to just hop out of the car at the curb and skedaddle to your gate 20 feet away, 5 minutes before the airplane doors closed. There are a ton of baggage claim areas so you never had to walk far at all. The first time I was in a normal airport with concourses and suchlike, I was like, WTF is this bullshit?
However, post-9/11, KCI’s layout is a huge liability. Navigation is just awful because there’s nowhere to put all the people in line.
So now I’d rather drive than get groped. Also don’t have to rent a car when you get where you’re going.
you Americans have a strange fetish for not getting groped
Weird, right?
I loved flying in and out of KC, it was so convenient. Even after the TSA grope lines started the large numbers of TSA lines keep waiting pretty short.
For whatever reason, my dad hated KCI when it was built. I don’t know that he ever traveled enough to know what a gem its design is (brutalist architecture notwithstanding).
But it was just a glorified bus station, which is the best kind of airport there is.
^^This. Except it’s MCI.
*pedant!*
My favorite airport is ABQ. It has a single concourse and a wonderful viewing lounge right in the middle.
?
Probably a similar year for me. We were flying down to Disney.
Though after that, I had hundreds and hundreds of small aircraft rides. Not many landings though.
I think of flying the way I think of driving: I just want to get where I’m going as quickly and expediently as possible. I’m really not a wanderer and I don’t stop and smell the roses along the way. It’s a tidge distressing, actually. OTOH, if my destination is, say, Yellowstone, I will linger as long as possible and see the sights. If my destination is, e.g., England, I’m going to meander.
Most of the time, though, I have a destination and business there.
#ramenking
Dude is still funny.
Actress Dame Diana Rigg, famous for roles including Emma Peel in TV series The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has died at the age of 82.
Not covid
Damn. She was smoking in The Avengers. Gonna have to on some old episodes soon.
Probably what killed her.
Owning your own plane is some white privilege shit.
Shitlording done right.
Ain’t that the truth. My freshman year roommate in college was a very rich kid who had a Cessna his dad bought him. Flew himself from Minnesota to LA for school.
Black privilege is getting a personal helicopter, like Kobe Bryant.
He was renting.. So you don’t gain the shitlord points.
Many people own a time share in those expensive jets.. down to 1/16th share… someone who owns all of a 1 million dollar airplane has more capital tied up in their ride.
Why did everyone get so old?
IMO, it’s because the barrier to entry is insane. I’d love to get my private pilot’s license and fly regularly. I took ground school in undergrad but noped out when I saw how much it was going to cost to get the license. My dad similarly finished ground school but bailed when he got a feel for the actual costs.
The only remotely affordable way to fly if I don’t want it to be my only discretionary spend is to buy a plane that is older than my parents, store it really far away, and fly it to out of the way places. Basically it’s an old, cramped yacht with wings. A luxury whose expense outstrips any reasonable usage. It’s not practical from a transportation point of view.
Yep. I’ve always wanted to learn to fly. Top Gun came out when I was 10 and into my teenaged years all I wanted to do was be a military pilot. It was not to be because of my rather extreme nearsightedness. Still dreamed of becoming a pilot but, unless my mother finally wins Powerball after many years of trying, I’m never going to be able to afford it.
same here, but less because of top gun and more because my dad worked for NavAir. Somewhere I have a letter from some public relations guy at NavAir who sent me a VHS of the blue angels in response to airplane drawings that 9 year old me sent to the address (Pax River) I found on one of my dad’s envelopes from work.
It started with Top Gun and was reinforced by my aunt. In the late ’80s, she worked at Grumman on Long Island and used to get me all kinds of promo stuff, mostly posters and stickers for F-14s, A-6s, etc. Had that stuff all over the walls of my room as a kid.
Speaking of expensive hobbies.
Exquisite.
Can’t drive it without one of these in your jacket.
Shit, son. If you can afford that DB5, then you can afford a pre-’68 PPK in 7.65mm.
Here’s one for a very reasonable $2200.
Sold for $745K!!!
Damn. I should have studied harder 😉
Getting my sport pilot license, to start, is a long-standing ambition of mine for all the reasons Hoof listed. Fortunately, I can take my school’s aviation classes for free, 1 per term, but I’ve just been too busy to do it. This has motivated me to rethink that.
The sport pilot license is a good bit less expensive, isn’t it?
I got my license at 19.. and flew intermittently until about 30. Then I was talking to a friend that was learning, and was part of convincing his wife that he wasn’t crazy and there was utility in a license and owning a plane. It also got me to think about doing it again. There was no flight school at the local airport at the time, so I checked out the other airports, got a new medical and picked a reasonable school and re-qualified in their planes (took about 5 hours, after 10+ years off). Then I added an instrument rating, and started looking for used planes. Found a good candidate in 2013.
That flight school, like much of the industry, didn’t care about selling flying. They aren’t hostile to new pilots, but aren’t welcoming either. It is been a long problem with the industry. A little too clubby.. I knew how to push through it since I already had a license and knew how the systems worked.
If you have a pilot mentor, it will help. And do think about going to a full license eventually. the light sport planes are limited in utility. 2 seats, 120mph.. weight.
The three items that take time to master in flying, are landing, navigating, and the FAA regulations and test. The sport pilot license already has to cover two of them.. adding the cross country is most of the difference.
If memory serves, you have a Mooney, correct? How much gear can you get in that?
My buddy built a Lancair that was really slick, but very tiny. Even a fly fishing trip required careful planning. His club had a Centurion that we used when the girls came along. It was a beast, but carried a lot.
M20M Bravo,
You can get plenty of gear into it.. 4 full people. The issue is fuel vs load.
My model is light on useful load because it has A/C and the TKS FIKI anti-ice system.
886# of total load.
so, 1 person, full fuel, plenty of luggage.
two people + bags, reduce fuel to 89gallons… still 4+hours of flight and 700+ mile legs.
Three people, IFR ranges 2.5 to 3 hours legs.
Four People, VFR only. 1.5hours.
If your guests are super sized, you will need to adjust accordingly. I couldn’t fly with my 250# friend, my wife and his scuba gear up to the lake… we had to arrange for the scuba gear to go up by car a different time.
the 210 and 182’s are cargo haulers, but go much slower. Everything in flying is a tradeoff. I would like to rent a 6 seat plane when I need to, but I need to get my multi rating first, and then rent enough to be safe to fly IFR in the Senaca.
Sweet plane.
Thanks for the info!
Just curious, why the Mooney (unusual) vs a Cirrus (common)?
The Mooney was always the epitome of efficiency. It was usually the fastest in its class, it didn’t haul the highest load, but it gave the best speed per gallon per mile. Pre Cirrus it was the clear winner.
After Flight #1 across the country, while flying back over the fields of Montana in a 172 at 120Mph, my father said, we need to get a faster plane.
He then researched all of the current planes and the M20J came up as the best in speed, price and efficiency, We toured the factory in Kerrville TX, found a good used candidate and then flew that for at least 10 years. Including cross country flight #2.
I test flew a Cirrus, and didn’t really like the feel of the controls. The sidestick spring action didn’t do it for me, it felt Ho-Hum.. The Parachute usually sells that plane to the family.
I flew out to Long Island to test out one for sale, and when I sat in the left seat, it felt like home.. This was a pilot’s airplane
The Mooney’s were still high in efficiency, but the Bravo was the speed and power machine. The Acclaims were at least $100,000 more.. so I tried to buy that plane from Long island, but the seller backed out at the last hour. A broker in TX had just listed one for sale, so I made a “low” offer for it.. and we settled somewhere in the middle but closer to my number than I expected the plane to go for.
As for the pilot’s plane, I have a friend from college that was Flying Gulfstream IV’s and had just transition to the right seat on the 474-800. He was interested in a plane, perhaps a Bonanza, I gave him a ride in the Mooney, he bought a used one six months later..
the Bravo is also just a bit faster than a SR22T… and burns less fuel. The Acclaim has the same engine as the Cirrus and is 20Kts faster across the board.
Last time I looked, it’s about $35K to get it done. Is that right?
For a Private Pilot? I did mine for like $6k at a 141 school. Now all the way to ATP while working as an instructor was probably 35-40k.
Hmmm.
*Ponders dropping children off at the recruiters’ offices. “Pick one.”
That was back in 2006 so undoubtedly the prices have gone up. The key is to hit all the block checks exactly on the hour requirements. Most students I found pick up the flying no problem with a few exceptions. It is the ground work that they lag on because it isn’t as fun. The airplane performance information will also affect successful completion of maneuvers. So I advise anyone that is interested that the flying is a smaller part of the license than the ground work. Typically people that hit the books hard get their license much cheaper than the weekend guy that focuses on turns around a point skills.
I’ve got another article about learning to fly coming out next week where I discuss cost. The quick and dirty answer is that a part 61 private license will cost about $10-12,000 these days unless you have some insider connections or do it all at once.
You ever fly an ultralight? I’d like to try that sometime. No license required!
No thanks. Those things are sketchy as hell.
I’ve watched enough videos of the airfoil collapsing on those things because the pilot got into an invisible eddy or wind shear to be properly scared of them.
Are those the things that look like a go-cart with a hang gliding wing attached to it?
Yup
I’d much rather be in a sailplane or a helicopter.
Hell, I think I’d rather skydive.
Powered paraglider – parachute wing, foot launch
Powered parachute – parachute wing, wheeled cart
Ultralight – fixed wing, wheeled cart, conventional controls
Trike – hang glider wing, wheeled cart, weight shift control
Those all sound terrifying.
Add hot air balloons to that list and you have a compendium of things I won’t go up in.
How about a Zeppelin?
I have, a Quicksilver II. The view is amazing but sketchy is the right word. The flight envelope is like 20mph, the drag is palpable, the control iffy and the engine is suspicious. I think it’s one of those things that the more you do it the less you trust it, lots of guys get one and then park or sell it quickly.
LOL… my stepdad’s brief foray into ultralights lasted about 2 months. He sold it and dove in to the world of racing go-carts.
…
…
I’d rather stay on the ground.
When I was 15 I started sailplane lessons since I loved planes. I had saved up what I thought was enough money, and went for sailplanes because I could ride my bike to the airfield, it was cheaper all the way around, and you could get your license at 16. Some people are natural aviators, I was okay. I wasn’t an accident waiting to happen but I wasn’t going to transition to power and become the next Robin Olds, Eric Hartmann, Dick Bong, “Gabby”, or Sakai.
I did solo plus one more flight, then ran out of funds and was working my way back into training money. I tried rock climbing and was hooked. That and the post Vietnam pilot drawdown was hammering the USAF. I asked a AF pilot about it and he said if you weren’t coming from the Academy you weren’t going to get a seat in Pilot Training. That was the final nail. (Of course he was incorrect. The Reagan build up was happening when I was in college and the USAF ROTC tried to poach me from the Army ROTC with a pilot scholarship. The Army countered with a Airborne slot. I stayed army.)
Great story. I hope GA gets a new life since it was fun. I can’t see it happening without serious tort reform and FAA handcuffs.
#metoo, but I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen. The flying club I run is slowly dying, down to 12 members from 52 in 2007, I’ve tried everything, worked with AOPA, done ads, mailings… tort and the faa could certainly ease up and help but it really is an economic and attitude indicator (I think). The Boomers age out and nothing replaces them. Lots of people have the interest (and many the means) but I don’t know what will get them to pull the trigger, not sure anything will.
Maybe once the kids have grown up and moved on I could afford it, but I’ll be in my early-mid 50s by then. Would seem a bit old to start learning to fly.
My father got his license at about 50. He flew single prop for a while then picked up his helicopter ticket.
It’s doable, with the correct funds of course.
$400,000 for a 172 is what is killing it.
I like to show this via the Mercedes comparison.
In 1980 a MB 500SEL was $30,793
a 172 was: $42,460 fully loaded.
Todays MB S560? $10400.
172 SP? $400,000
the car price tripled, and the airplane prices went up by a factor of 10. It doesn’t matter logically why the costs went up so much, but that differential puts the costs so high, it goes out of reach of much more of the population.
“The Army countered with a Airborne slot. I stayed army.”
HAHAHA! You fool….uh, sir.
Well, it’s better than how the recruiter ensnared me – “You’re mom says you like computers. There’s a computer in the Vulcan canon, ya know.” He then broke out his photo albums full of fun things one would do in Army… like attending a Van Halen concert in Germany.
Oh I was a fool. I wanted to earn that Green Beret. I did, BUT they never tell you what your body will be like at retirement after a career of parachuting, rucking, shooting, and whatnot.
Plus nobody wants to pay me $300K to sit in front of an airplane and live “hours of boredom with minutes of near terror” and skipping lines in airports.
This looks like fun
That guy has about eighteen different things going on in his head at once. Impressive.
Hoof – I’d just like to add a plug for flying. There’s a freedom to it, a liberation from the concerns below you when you’re flying, but that feeling is compounded (IMO) by the immediacy of the act of flying. It requires such a significant portion of attention and there isn’t the… I don’t know… headspace, for lack of a better word, available for what’s going on on the ground. When I was flying, none of my “ground problems” ever went with me because the demands for my attention in the aircraft were so…manifest.
It’s pretty much the most non-trivial thing you’ll do while you’re doing it.
That’s certainly moreso with helos than planes – and you can still enjoy flying – but I always loved the complete demand for my attention. Like riding motorcycles on a track, is my best analogy. While you’re screaming around a track on a motorcycle, you’re not worried about the TPS reports. You can’t be. But you’re still having a helluva time!
I haven’t ridden a motorcycle on a track, so I can’t relate. I could ride a motorcycle and chew on my problems at the same time.
Just be careful out there… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1iv9wyFL9kc
Pilots and skydivers both say “I need some altitude” to mean that, that total concentration and for that period of time nothing else exists or matters.
That’s how I feel when I ski & shoot gunz
I don’t think I could sustain the degree of heightened awareness that shooting brings on for minutes, let alone hours.
One hour at the range does me a world of mental good. Emptying my brain of all but the process of shooting is better than 50 hours of therapy.
Depends wh
oat you are shooting.100 hours of therapy, then.
Range shooting is very meditiative, but I am still having internal conversations and usually I’m just focused on a few things at a time.
When the buzzer goes off… there’s the draw, the sights coming into alignment for the first shot and then something happens
Yup. Shooting and motorcycling both produce that similar felling of intensely relaxed concentration. It’s a good thing they can’t put that in a pill, because I would be hooked on them like a striped bass.
Biathlon, or shooting while going downhill?
In an odd way, that’s how I always felt when I went diving. I haven’t done it in a long time and probably won’t, because I’d need a lot of new gear now and it’s expensive, but gliding through the water 80 feet below the surface always had a peaceful and liberating effect on me.
I feel the same way about scuba diving. That’s another great example.
When I’m diving, nothing above the surface matters. None of it. Ensuring I don’t get bent, have enough air, and enjoying the scenery where I am dominate everything.
Fear of decompression sickness will definitely focus your mind.
I never experienced nitrogen narcosis, but have seen it happen to someone else. That’ll freak you out.
I had it start to come on once, but was with a very experienced dive buddy, so she made sure we got back up, made our deco stops, etc. She had some crazy stories about being narc’d and with people who narc’d themselves.
My motorcycle is what relaxes me. As Sheldon said above. I’m concentrating completely on what is around me, where an am on my bike, and predicting what I have to do next.
When I didn’t have a requirement to fly long distances the motorcycle gave me the same feelings as the flight around the patch, or the 100$ hamburger, and it starts at the end of my driveway. That covers the decade I wasn’t flying. It was only the desire to bring back the traveling that got me into the left seat again.
Yes, it is a totally different level of concentration. not quite track level, but much higher than driving. I spent a few mins in flight to check email over Charleston, and felt totally disconnected.
More flying related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBVY3Qb2p9U
@Pie re:Attack on Titan and das Jews
The plot has gone in pretty weird directions. Only one race can turn into titans. Outside the one island the plot was originally confined to, they are kept in concentration camps and used as disposable military forces by the rest of the world. The reason for said oppression is because supposedly in the past this dark haired race who can transform into monsters that eat people once ruled the entire world in a reign of terror. Of course now one brave protagonist has decided the answer to the world hating his race is to kick off a revenge genocidal race war so that there is only one race and no more tension between normal people and mostly normal potential monster people. With visual cues and a technological setting somewhere between the 1910s and 1940s. The implications are… not great. 4chan of course loves notJewish notHitler who did nothing wrong. The upcoming animated season is going to start deep diving into this metaplot as opposed to earlier end-of-the-world with monsters in an early industrial setting.
*confused face*
Japan doesn’t exactly do subtle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
https://pm1.narvii.com/6717/fa11980236703f1443dba050d43314cac48baf34_hq.jpg
Unless those propellers have separate drive shafts in that single bar, I’m doubting they’re getting any additional thrust from having two.
The blade pitches could be different.
I normally don’t care for opera, but….
https://youtu.be/aV6tuwm4Srw?t=329
On that Sturgis study. During a tedious teleconference, I had a chance to look at the DIVOC numbers for the US as a whole. They don’t have a cumulative case count, but they do have an active case count. I wanted to see what the increase in cases nationwide was during the Sturgis “window” – I picked a week after the rally started (8/14) through two weeks after the rally ended (8/30).
Total active cases nationwide increased by @ 311,000. The study attributes @ 260,000 new cases. Meaning that only 50,000 new cases nationwide over that period were not attributable to Sturgis. The overall curve of active cases during that period actually shows a gradual flattening; the pickup in active cases for the preceding three weeks was actually greater than the pickup during the three weeks I looked at. Its simply not credible that w/out Sturgis we would have seen an abrupt decline in active cases. Worst. Superspreader. Event. Ever.
Another model runs aground on the shoals of actual data. And this was data that was available when the model was being developed.
To quote Derpy: Quiet, you!
I thought it said there would be (eventually) 260,000 cases from Sturgis. From the little I read, it seems that they are assuming that if 1 person got it and spread it to , say 5 people, and then those 5 spread it to another 25, all 30 are attributed to Sturgis and so on, which is kinda dumb.
Your read is even dumber.
Not you dumber, but what the authors are saying (if your read is right) is even dumber.
We need to create a stupidity index to properly compare news stories.
From the study summary:
On a very quick review of the study document, I didn’t see that they were projecting “surplus” infections into the future. Somebody with time and energy would have to winkle that out. The study results are written in the past tense, leading me to believe they were looking at a similar window (I think theirs closed on 9/02).
You’re probably right.
Could be. I haven’t studied their claims that closely. The advantage to that approach is that it is completely unverifiable. Like all the best science.
So basically an infinite number of cases some time in the indeterminate future can be attributed to Sturgis. That’s super useful.
Well it is to the media/DNC
The problem I have with this study is the news running with it as if there are 250000 infections due to those who went to Sturgis. They didnt even try to report it as anything other than gospel.
Saw this linked at Instapundit.
I’ll add this, in case someone out there is young and stumbles across this post- there’s still the Army’s street to seat program, and at least one regional offers a fixed wing transition program for rotary pilots. Downside is a ridiculous service obligation, so make sure you go in with your eyes open (and even then life happens and you’re still stuck).
This seems pretty cheap for a ’57 Bel Air in nice condition. I’ve seen people asking for $5000 for a rusted hulk of a body.
Long time left to go. That AM up there ^ climbed a ton in the last 30 minutes.
That looks like a heck of a deal.
Allow me to register my objection to low profile tires on older cars like that. They just don’t look right.
Sounds like several people have been caught setting wildfires in Washington and Oregon – at least some of them are Antifa.
Because forests are fascist?
Duh, cylindrical objects standing upright… Hell we even use the word wood to descibe them. Definitley patriarchial fascist mysoginistic symbolism, Also, the root word of fascism is fasces: a bundle of sticks with a projecting axe blade, You have both parts of trees, and an axe, the tool most associated with trees!
*sends Cancelled tenure track professor offer*
Whoohoo I can trade As for sex… Wait, you mean in Womxns studies don’t you? With the purple hair and … Yeah, nevermind.
I do hope that someday I have the opportunity to piss on the grave of an antifa member who gave xis all for the cause.
I really don’t want to do Weimar 2.0.
You mean boogaloo boys posing as antifa. But they’ll still be quickly released without bail by the lefty DA for some mysterious reason.
Pshaw. Antifa means “anti-facist.” What’s antifascist about setting fires? Unless of course you’re talking about burning down those swastika larches or something, but I don’t think we have those in the US> .
Summary Execution
It’s all about the revolutionary terror.
If anybody doubts the Democrat’s desire for a single party state….
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/i-used-think-gop-should-be-saved/616189/
Good Republicans vote lockstep with the Democratic majority and roll over when called woman-haters.
If your definition of conservative includes Romney and Collins as examplars, you might want cake.
My thought exactly. Why any “conservative” would want to “save” the likes of Romney and Collins is . . . mysterious.
Why can’t all Republicans be RINOs? It’s not fair.
It’s still hard to believe that UT elected that carpetbagging piece of shit to the Senate.
At least his dad claimed to have been brainwashed.
Ah the Atlantic; the rag owned by Jobs’ widow. How much Apple stock is propping up that stain of a magazine. Nichols is a sock puppet and a cuck. I’m not buying his GOP creds.
Yep, keep putting that out there. Nothing convinces a swing voter than telling them if your party wins, you plan on eliminating all choice in the future.
All the
Trotskyitesneocons have gone back to the left party and I’m supposed to care why?Why the strike thru, you had it right the first time?
hahahaha….it’s THE EXPERT! One of the grifters of the Lincoln Project, what a surprise.
Oh, and I see Norm fuckin’ Ornstein, pet Marxist of AEI, has a piece linked from there. What a shock!
Anyway, what particularly amuses me about the Tom Nichols and Bill Kristols of the world is that, even now, they still can’t grasp that actual GOP voters largely rejected their brand of DC establishment GOP. They harbor these rather hilarious fantasies of being some kind of hybrid prodigal son/white knight who will return in glory to restore Bush Republicanism once the evil Cheeto Menace is gone. Really don’t see it going that way for them. Even most of the Republican voters who dislike Trump have no use for the Bulwark crowd.
Ah, the Bush years. When Chimpy McHitler was the worst tyrant to walk the Earth since Reagan. If only every President could have 9/11 happen, then we’d all experience that great and fleeting sense of national unity again and again. And, after all, what is conservatism if not giving out free drugs to seniors?
Gov Kunt proves she’s a retard
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2020/09/oregon-gov-kate-brown-issues-executive-order-to-crack-down-on-price-gouging-amid-statewide-wildfire-emergency.html
Great. So now we can have completely empty shelves instead of price rationing by the market.
People don’t think beyond a week in most cases. They get panicky and when prices go up because supplies are dwindling they always….always, believe its nefarious.
You’re looking at this wrong. File complaints about the price of 5.56.
CCI Blazer 9mm 115gr brass cased is over $30/box. Limit 3.
Ouch.
While I am not an FAA controller, I work closely with them. GA flying to a major airport irks them unless they are frequent flyers. They enjoy routine and GA is not always routine.
The contract controllers at the executive airport are more vicious and you will sit at the hold line for a long time burning fuel if you get on their badside, which from what I have observed is as little as a bad readback.
Love this video of doing just that
https://youtu.be/vipvtaRbQho
I have a hard time making out all commands and responses.
Like any job and special jargon, it becomes easier. I don’t fly but listen to enough of ATC at work to know what is going on.
Its hard to understand it if you don’t know the airspace, all the players, etc
I started listening to ATC (for fun – nerd alert!) about 8 or so years ago. I was into it enough to Google all the stuff I was hearing.
Fun watch! Thanks
I’ve only flown into DTW in a small plane once, to drop off a friend that was flying out a corporate jet. Who happened to be at the FBO? Candidate Hillary Clinton’s planes and rump entourage while she was out at some event. All the secret service personnel, including the pilots were weirdly short fireplug no-neck guys, serious, openly armed and scary. There was a mousy fixer guy running around doing random stuff. It was surreal in its prison-planet feel.
I ve heard on several occasions the following “I hate Trump but he is by far the easiest president to work into the flow” They despised Obama flying in, same with Bush. When secret service decends onto site they come with what procedures and restrictions will be in place.
A place like Vegas, all traffic is stopped which affects not only McCarran but the two regionals and helicopter tours.
Trump’s team only requires helo traffic to hold until he has departed and arrived at his location. Obama’s team required helo traffic to hold until AF1 was out of the airspace.
I haven’t pulled the tapes to verify this guys claims though.
Guess I could watch this weekend since Trump is still coming to Vegas.
You could tell how annoying AF1 was to everyone at MIA when watching the show Airport 24/7
AF1 flying in, no matter the president, is a huge pain. All ground movement stopped, we can’t work on equipment, airport vehicle traffic blocked and stopped. Its such a cluster.
I know the pilots get annoyed because they’re not told anything other than “VIP arrival/departure” and they definitely don’t get advanced notice.
No, we know if AF1 is landing anywhere in the USA but Andrews… Huge 30nm TFR’s follow the president around. ForeFlight is telling me he will be in PA on Sep 11th. He will be in Saginaw MI, this evening. Unless is is a real pop up we usually have a couple of days notice.
Pence was in Vermont for labor day weekend. I saw his TFR because it is close to Ticonderoga Airport where I might have flow to… Other times he winter vacations on Sanibel Island FL, as I will see the TFR there when flying south.
What burns is that when he Trump is in NJ, all flight training, gliders, etc stop within that 30nm circle… Glider flights are 50% of the activity at our airport.. gone.. for many weekends in the summer season.
I can still fly, but the people based at Solberg and Somerset are locked down all the time he is there. Same a PBI… that isn’t closed since VIP’s fly their jets there, but the GA airport 5 miles south.. locked out. The same exceptions were done on Martha’s Vineyard.. the main airport had handling processes since the rich use it, but the small other field, nothing.
The VIP TFR’s really chafe me, not just because they’re all totally replaceable and 100 people would fight each other naked with knives for the opportunity, but because physics say that these small planes are no threat at all to a airliner. There is literally no way I can catch up with or approach a 747 that didn’t want me near it, even if I was diving at Vne from high above and it was taking off.
The presidential TFR’s are this big so that there is no possibility that an air threat can get from the 10mile marker to the center without being intercepted by the Air Force.
I’ve seen planes intercepted at the 30mile ring, since my house is near it.. the F15’s are quite loud when they are being made to fly slowly and herd a GA plane.
Everyone is watched and speed limited in the outer ring, and forbidden (except for certain exceptions) from the 10mile ring.
I’m sure they have gamed “releasing Biological or nerve agents” etc. It doesn’t have to be direct risk from the aircraft. They don’t keep 30 miles from other planes in the air.
They ban firearms from being carried in planes into our out of that 10 mile circle. How is that 2nd amendment legal?
I want them to open up DCA again… that was a great way to fly in.. I’ve done it twice, arriving down the Anacostia river (pre 9/11 of course) Just use the same rules as the TFR… Not hire a guard, who can?.. shoot the pilot?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvFhIFzaac&feature=share
Pretty good covid stats breakdown, hat tip to David Henderson at econlog.
I thought it said there would be (eventually) 260,000 cases from Sturgis. From the little I read, it seems that they are assuming that if 1 person got it and spread it to , say 5 people, and then those 5 spread it to another 25, all 30 are attributed to Sturgis and so on, which is kinda dumb.
You are a generous and kind person.
no sarc
Since this is a flying post, I have to ask who all has installed FS2020? I’m thinking of doing a trial XBox sub, just to see what I can do.
Not me (yet), I’m waiting until they release it for the new xbox and will get both. Hopefully it will be pre-configured for my Saitek controls, I’d like to be able to sim from my couch on my big tv.
Installed it, buzzed over my neighborhood (which did not look very accurate at all, I assume it was just conjectured from house sites, not sat imagery) — but that’s about it.
Seems *really* touchy on the controls, just messing with a Xbox controller and the yoke slams on the slightest pressure.
Will have to hook up my old Saitek if I can clear the desk space for it at some point.
Another retard
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/09/portland-may-require-landlords-to-pay-tenant-relocation-fees-for-any-rent-increase-extend-eviction-moratorium-to-end-of-2020.html
Count the number of different agencies and nonprofits in the story. How do you fix something like that without going full Ripley?
Also, the story reporter is a piece of shit racist, but because he’s racist in the correct ways, it’s perfectly fine.
Hoof, I’m glad you wrote this article so I don’t have to. You’re a much better writer than I.
You’re welcome.
I learned to fly relatively later in life. It has opened up many new possibilities for me, shortened my travel time to see dear friends and family, made possible weekend vacations that wouldn’t have made sense before, and introduced me to a ton of wonderful, friendly, and helpful people.