Flying and Airplanes

Dragonmaster Lou

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always had a fascination with flying and airplanes. I used to want to be an airline pilot for a while as a small kid -- especially after getting my first airplane ride at 6 or so. The first PC game I ever purchased was Microsoft Flight Simulator (3.0 if you're curious). One of my favorite shows as a kid was the aviation documentary program Wings on the Discovery Channel. I loved it when my dad, Boy Scout troop, or anyone else took me to the local general aviation airport to see how the tower operates or even just watch planes landing and taking off. Even after I decided that becoming a professional pilot wasn't something I was particularly interested in, I still wanted to get my pilot's license and own my own small plane of some sort. Hell, I even contemplated in majoring in aerospace engineering and becoming an airplane designer, although that changed because my first choice among the colleges I got accepted to (and second choice overall) didn't have an aerospace engineering program (I instead started with chemical engineering and eventually went into computer engineering, which was probably my true calling in retrospect).

Recently my interest in planes and flying has been rekindled. I've gotten back into simulation via FlightGear and X-Plane and I've also started looking into what it would take to get a pilot's license and hope to actually start taking flying lessons once certain higher-priority things are taken care of. I've also internet "window shopped" for used and new planes just to see what I can get for any particular amount of money (it's a decent way to pass the time while waiting for my code to compile).

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else lurking here has any interest in flying and planes. If you're an actual pilot, even if just a small single-engine prop pilot, that's awesome. If you're just someone who likes military/civilian/general aviation/etc. aircraft and wants to shoot the breeze that's also okay too as I'm also a fan of that stuff.

Dr. Timo

I just flew my new Trojan T-28 for the first time. Crashed it a few times, but man does it fly well.

Victor Frost

I was REEEEALLY into the fighter jet sim Falcon 4.0 when I was a youth. These days, I've abandoned the joysticks and moved to steering wheels.

panfriedmarmot

I eventually want to get a pilot's license, but I don't think I will be happy to just fly a Cessna around from airport to airport just to be up in the air. I LOVE jet fighters and air to air combat. I love the Ace Combat series and Top Gun is in my top five favorite films. In that vein I have two dreams: the first to eventually own and fly a MiG 21 or similar retired surplus jet fighter or trainer. Surprisingly there is quite a bit of surplus stock available, especially trainers, and for a lot less than you would think. The second dream is to fly them against other jet-fighter enthusiasts in some form of simulated dogfight, perhaps using some sort of system similar to laser tag or the MILES system the Army uses for war games. I don't know how feasible my dreams are, seeing as my choice of career is not exactly one that would allow me such an expensive hobby.

Victor Frost

You could do stunt flying.

panfriedmarmot

I suppose, but a large part of my interest is couched in also being a massive military geek, so I would want a military type aircraft. Most stunt pilots fly small turboprop aircraft.

Victor Frost

I suppose, but a large part of my interest is couched in also being a massive military geek, so I would want a military type aircraft. Most stunt pilots fly small turboprop aircraft.

Stunt RC piloting? They make remote control Jet fighters nowadays.


Wanna go real big?


Edit: I actually might get one of these. l

Luke Burrage

I think I might get a toy helicopter to fly around the stage while hosting the shows at the European Juggling Convention.

Byron

So I thought panfriedmarmot was talking aboot flying full sized aircraft with simulated dog fighting in a real cockpit.

If we're just talking about RC planes, I have seen a lot of things which make me believe this would be a home project that could be undertaken. An IR lens or two on the craft and some strong red laser pointers (which I believe leak into IR) mounted for weapons and wired to a controller button. I guess the hard part is determining score and what happens when a ship gets hit.

In RC dog fighting, what would a hit do? Forcibly ground the plane? Screw with the controls? Disable the laser for a time?

Victor Frost

He WAS talking about real planes, but I brought up RC as a more easily enterable possibility.

panfriedmarmot

In RC dog fighting, what would a hit do? Forcibly ground the plane? Screw with the controls? Disable the laser for a time?

Probably you would have some small pyrotechnic device that would leave a colored smoke trail which signals you're hit and out.

As for the RC planes, I feel while it would be a blast, for me it would be more of a tease of doing the real thing. All it would do is make me want to do it all the more. Guess I'd better find a way to become idly rich. Either that or somehow get into the Air Force OCS at 25 years old and get my vision fixed.

Byron

Guess I'd better find a way to become idly rich. Either that or somehow get into the Air Force OCS at 25 years old and get my vision fixed.

The AF accepts certain eye surgeries but not others. If you are serious about it, make sure to check up on what is accepted.

Or, if you get idly rich, you can start your own private or militia air force.

Churba

We Have at least one chopper pilot on the forum, and I'm an ex-flight attendant, along with having held a Pilot's license. My love of aviation? Definitely the fault of Talespin.

Neo

The second dream is to fly them against other jet-fighter enthusiasts in some form of simulated dogfight, perhaps using some sort of system similar to laser tag or the MILES system the Army uses for war games. I don't know how feasible my dreams are, seeing as my choice of career is not exactly one that would allow me such an expensive hobby.

There are ways to do this, though of course a fair amount of monies are required: Air Combat USA

panfriedmarmot

Wow that looks awesome! I think that would be a great start. Thanks for the link.

Luke Burrage

I fly about 40 to 50 times per year. But only as a passenger. It isn't an up side to my job, but I've worked put various routines and tricks to reduce most of the stress. I can also sleep immediately on making it to my sleep, which means I avoid most of the time in the air while I'm in dream land.

Meanwhile my long term goal (as in I've had the goal for about 15 years) is to take up paragliding. So far all I've done is a tandem flight. I have the money to learn it now, but time is an issue. It would take a few weeks of training to get the basics down, and I don't ever prioritize that over other vacations. Another huge factor in putting this off is where I live. Berlin is in the middle of a massive flat plain. There is nowhere around here even remotely suited to paragliding, except for one cable launcher, and a small hill called Devils Mountain.

Victor Frost

My love of aviation? Definitely the fault of Talespin.

DAMMIT, Now I wanna watch that show again.

Omnutia

Nerd child of the 90s.

Dragonmaster Lou

Guess I'd better find a way to become idly rich. Either that or somehow get into the Air Force OCS at 25 years old and get my vision fixed.

Depends on what your goals are, I suppose. If you're patient enough, each hour in a private trainer plane costs between $100-$200 and figure $50/hour for an instructor for when you need to fly with one. At a minimum, you'll need about 40 hours of flight time, at least 20 of which is with an instructor. The average is apparently about 60-70 hours of overall flight time. It's not cheap, but I think it is semi-affordable if you have a decent job and are patient enough that you don't mind waiting a couple of years to build up the flight time to get your license.

In my case, my goals are simply to be licensed to fly a small plane, ala a Cessna, under instrument conditions and hopefully to be able to purchase one one day (if you buy an older, used, but still in good condition plane it's about the same cost as a luxury car). I have a fair bit of friends and family up and down the east coast and the ability to hop into my own plane to visit them anytime I want without dealing with airport security bullcrap would be very, very nice.

If you want to be a fighter jockey, yeah, that will be hard. I'll stick to simulations for that, personally.