Any Pilots On Here??

[fried1765]

Me thinks you don’t know much about airplane insurance. An instrument rating is viewed very favorably by underwriting regardless of instrument hours flown. The completion of the rating shows a high level of skill and proficiency.

You are absolutely correct!
I do not know much about airplane insurance!

I DO know a he11 of a lot about flying though,....with 49 years of it, and 30,000+ hours.
A newly rated instrument rated pilot...... " shows a high level of skill and proficiency"?
Yes,...... he did complete the minimum requirements to get the rating.
That is a far cry though, from the "high level of skill and proficiency",..... necessary in actual instrument conditions.

Once upon a time, I was a newly instrument rated, 300 hour wonder, military pilot.
It totally scares me now, to think about my lack of experience back then.
And then......came the carrier landings!

 

[jaydee325]

The mention of instrument flying reminded me of an old experience.

It was the late 70's and my buddy was logging time for his commercial license. He wanted to get into aerial crop dusting. It was boring flying around poking holes in the air so he asked me to go along frequently for company.

One thing lead to another and he ended up teaching me to fly. He had me to the point that I could get some real lessons from a qualified flight instructor and have a solo license in a very short number of hours with the instructor.

One of the things he had to log was a night time landing at a controlled airport. The Cesena 172 we were flying in those days only had a compass, gyro, and VOR for instruments. Did not have a radio either. The procedure was that he log a flight plan, call on the phone the controlled airport and get instructions. The instructions were that at a certain coordinate (determined by VOR and compass) he was to establish a pattern around the airport. That allowed the tower to locate him on radar. When he had clearance to land, they flashed a green light from the tower. As he was descending toward the runway, the tower flashed a red light, signaling he had to go around and establish the same pattern. Another green light and we were on the ground safely. The departure procedure was similar using the lights from ground control.

Before that experience, I was looking forward to getting my pilots license. However, there was a problem highlighted by the controlled airport experience. That problem was, I am color blind in the red/green spectrum. I knew it was over as even if there was some allowance for color blindness, I was not about to risk my safety and that of others unless I possessed all important physical attributes.

 

[k0ua]

Reminded me of this story....

Now that was funny!

 

[MossRoad]

Now that was funny!

I liked the part about the 12 year old in the back seat. :laughing:

 

[k0ua]

I liked the part about the 12 year old in the back seat. :laughing:

Yep, just too much to resist!

 

[PILOON]

Hey, congrats---

Also an (ex) pilot owned a few A/C with a 182 being my last one.
Still my favorite was a C170B that I flew everywhere and even on skis.
Actually swapped the C170B for the C182 on an even swap. (somebody absolutely wanted a C170).
(The B had factory float fittings is the why.)

My 182 was a military liaison bird so it was 24 volts. I also did many long range flights in her.
While I clocked some 3500 hrs flying I never wanted to go commercial and remained a simple VFR pilot although my bird was IFR capable.
LOL, only crashed twice.
The 170 decided to split her crankshaft and I became a glider but as luck had it I was over a 6000 ft plowed farmer's field.
The downside was the field was very freshly plowed and my bird flipped over upon landing even tho I made a perfect 3-point landing.
She rolled all of 40 ft and flipped over on her back as the soil was so fluffy soft.
The upside was that my re building her earned me my A&P (AME can,) ticket

As my better half says, springtime has the same effect on dogs as on pilots. (LOL, horney!)

At 81 my flying days are over but I still get that urge every spring.
As a hobby/past time I really enjoyed being a bird.

I started off earning my ticket on a Piper J3 and evolved to that C182F.
Later on being in the aviation community I became a Cessna dealer in the late '80's.
INHO aviation was a very rewarding career, at least it was for me.

As an FBO I modified some 25-30 AC for single engine transatlantic ferry flights.
Great challenges

My best was to modify 5 crop dusters for ferry to Africa and we did that in all of 30 days and that all approved by Transport Canada.
Oh, I did a few wild mods back then.

Again, congrats.

 

[ray66v]

I am not so sure.
I can't imagine an insurance company being very happy about a freshly minted instrument pilot.
A bit better than non instrument rated,.....but with minimal instrument experience, and very likely overconfident.

I am sure. I have seen them give a pilot a deadline to get it done, or they would not continue to insure him, in his aircraft.

They know most people don't buy go fast airplanes just to fly locally. And, they know if you're flying on trips, the chances you will wind up flying in marginal conditions are greater.

Yes, most low time instrument rated pilots are not the guy you want to trust your family to. But, they would rather their insured fly with the proper training, and the rating, than not.

 

[John White]

Sometimes a pilot sews a seed and they don't know it. Yesterday I got a call from a kid I knew 35 years ago and hadn't seen since. It went something like this. Hello is this John. I replied yes. He said this is Tim. Do your remember me when I was about 6. I said yes I remember you. Well he said I am at Wright Patterson to pick up a c147 and fly it back to Omaha. Plane had some problems and would be in for repairs till next morning and he wanted to know if he could stop by and talk with me for awhile. I said sure. When I grew up there was only one plane in the county. A piper Cub. My shop teacher gave me my first ride foe my graduation present from high school. I could never afford a plane throughout my younger. But always dreamed of flying. In the 70's the ultralights became popular. I went and got about 3 hours of training and read all the books I could find including Wile E. Coyote's book on gravity. I bought my first ultralight and was off to the wild blue yonder. Cheap flying and didn't brake the bank. I had four of them. Mirage, Flight Star. Rans Coyote and I built a Capella. I remember when this kid was about 6 years old and was at the air port watching me fly. I sat him on my lap and flew about 6 ft off the ground down the runway. I had heard that this got him interested in flying. He went on to join the Air Force. Became a instructor who teaches other instructors to teach other pilots to fly. He specialty was flying cargo planes and has flown all over the world and served time in the middle east. I think he even flies the Galaxy 5 and other planes. He said after I gave him that ride he could never get it out of his mind and the wild stories I told him about ultralight flying. Over the years some of my flying buddies got killed in them and I finally gave it up after a mishap. I enjoyed the times at Oshkosh air show. As someone said on here pilots are a different breed of people.

 

[fried1765]

Sometimes a pilot sews a seed and they don't know it. Yesterday I got a call from a kid I knew 35 years ago and hadn't seen since. It went something like this. Hello is this John. I replied yes. He said this is Tim. Do your remember me when I was about 6. I said yes I remember you. Well he said I am at Wright Patterson to pick up a c147 and fly it back to Omaha. Plane had some problems and would be in for repairs till next morning and he wanted to know if he could stop by and talk with me for awhile. I said sure. When I grew up there was only one plane in the county. A piper Cub. My shop teacher gave me my first ride foe my graduation present from high school. I could never afford a plane throughout my younger. But always dreamed of flying. In the 70's the ultralights became popular. I went and got about 3 hours of training and read all the books I could find including Wile E. Coyote's book on gravity. I bought my first ultralight and was off to the wild blue yonder. Cheap flying and didn't brake the bank. I had four of them. Mirage, Flight Star. Rans Coyote and I built a Capella. I remember when this kid was about 6 years old and was at the air port watching me fly. I sat him on my lap and flew about 6 ft off the ground down the runway. I had heard that this got him interested in flying. He went on to join the Air Force. Became a instructor who teaches other instructors to teach other pilots to fly. He specialty was flying cargo planes and has flown all over the world and served time in the middle east. I think he even flies the Galaxy 5 and other planes. He said after I gave him that ride he could never get it out of his mind and the wild stories I told him about ultralight flying. Over the years some of my flying buddies got killed in them and I finally gave it up after a mishap. I enjoyed the times at Oshkosh air show. As someone said on here pilots are a different breed of people.

"pilots are a different breed of people"

Yup....
And THAT is a GOOD thing!

 

[Fuddy1952]

Maybe someone here could answer a couple questions. My grandfather next door was a physician. His first plane was a Taylorcraft, two pictures of him and daughter (My Mom) taken WWII era. Second plane which he crashed into 10kV power lines (he survived, electrocuted,crash,burn)...a teenage boy saved his life ("Doc" gave him land to build a home, and he became a Piedmont pilot!).
Second plane I'm guessing a piper cub or Cessna. Taken about 1954 before crash.
Any information if you could tell by pictures appreciated.