Back in Germany for the time being. Was literally weeks away from ending up moving to Australia on a more permanent basis, then **** hit the fan right around May.
@JonathanWalters Could be anything really. Sure, Vmc is one candidate (though that leaves the cause for the Vmc, which can be pretty much anything). Gust locks is another potential candidate.
Along w/the entire aviation community, we're sad to hear Bob Hoover has flown west. We reflect on his achievements… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/790927958043164672
I've noticed some flight schools are advertising 2-week crash courses for a sport license. Do you guys think it's a good or bad idea to earn a license in an intensive course like that?
I work with a lot of medical personnel, and I think they are just as bad. Military pilots seem to be the worst.
I like intensive courses; they work well with my learning style. Generally with flying, you are better off condensing the time spent, rather than stringing it out and only flying once a week.
@JonathanWalters The ones I've seen it's the whole shebang. You go like 6 hours a day for two weeks and most will hand a license. Some might need extra follow-up
I had a friend do a one-month (or something like that) course in Florida. He did well, though busted his checkride and had to go back a while later to finish. Doing a course like that where the weather is predictably good is a must.
but there's definitely something to intensive training: If you can take the time off, go to a place with good stable weather, and bang it all out flying every day you will pick up the required knowledge and motor skills much faster than flying say 2 days a week.
They may only get you to minimum standards (you might have to fly with a CFI when you get home to get the controlled airspace endorsements, cross-country endorsements, etc., and you may want to polish some of your skills further as well) but you come out of it with a valid & usable certificate.
I decided I'm going to cash in some stock to pay for lessons. Planning on taking a two week vacation next summer for it. I've heard the quicker you learn the cheaper it ends up being. Just wanted to make sure you'd actually learn it going through it that quickly
@voretaq7 I've got an old high school friend who's a cfi and has his own plane. Haven't approached him about what he'd charge me, but that's an option too.
@TomMcW You can definitely do it in 2 weeks - it's a LOT of flying though (like 4+ hours a day for private, a little more relaxed pacing for sport I would assume)
and if you hit any learning plateaus you might need an extra few days, so it's good to look into what extra time would wind up costing you in case you need it.
@voretaq7 Being in my late 40's I sort of expect it might take a bit extra. I have always learned stuff quickly. But some of the stuff I read on av.se I unferstand fine, but I also find it goes away fairly quickly
Stuff like VFR minima. I have to go look every time it comes up because it just won't stick in my head. Maybe it would if I had more context for it, as in actually flying
@voretaq7 How long have you had your plane? Did you used to have to rent?
I rented through almost all of my training (bought the plane, took another 2 months to bomb the landings on my first checkride, rented the school's plane for a couple of weeks, Winter Came, the school sold the plane I did like 90% of my training in, got solo-endorsed in mine, and did my second checkride in it like a week later)
@TomMcW VFR minima like weather? I'll be honest, I don't remember any of the numbers anymore
Cloud Clearance Requirements: "Stay the hell away from the clouds: Sometimes they spit out airplanes at high speed!"
VFR weather minima: "I am nowhere near as brave as whatever scud-running lunatic wrote the regs. If I can't see at least 5 miles and put at least 1500 feet between me and the ground without busting cloud clearances I don't want to fly."
^^ Those were essentially the answers I gave on my checkride oral :)
(I did glance at the tables in the AIM to make sure I had all of it in my head for both the written and the checkride oral so I could give the actual numeric answers, but as a practical matter you don't want to fly that close to the line - at least I don't)
the 162 out in Brookhaven rents out for $70/hr dry so if I'm batshit-crazy about fuel burn that would still be like $110ish/hr wet
That's an aviation thing apparently - lots of places don't publish their rates online anymore. I don't know if they're worried about scaring people off with the numbers or what
@TomMcW Most have a daily minimum if you rent it for more than X hours (X=4 at most places around here).
so if the daily minimum is 2 hours and you take it for 2 days on a trip that's 1.3 hours each way you would pay for 4 hours even though you only flew 2.6.
Sucks for the renter (paying for 1.4 hours you didn't fly), but otherwise it really sucks for the FBO (extend that to be a 3-day weekend vacation somewhere and now they're out whatever they could have rented that plane for while everyone is on holiday and has free time to fly).
@voretaq7 One thing that stinks is by the time my wife and I get in a 162 there's no weight left to take anything. I'd have to empty the change out of my pockets
@falstro Not True: The piston-powered pressurized aircraft don't have bleed air
so you get a compressor that squeezes in more cold air from outside :)
(Of course I don't know anyone using Constellations in the real world, and when you get into fancy pressurized piston singles AC is a luxury you can afford :P)
The Hangar
The Hangar