My Experiences Flying

One of my passions is flying which likely will never be again (due to family needs, finances), however I am learning to accept this (but I still miss it).

I started in Piper Tomahawk, and then moved to a Piper Warrior before finishing primary training. After receiving my license I got checked off in an Archer which was an easy mice flying airplane (I also probably have more hours in this airplane than any other).

I skipped high performance training and went right into ME with the Seneca (with some Piper Lance training thrown in). After my ME license, I also got checked out in a Cessna 182 (which was also a great plane) and a 210.

The 182 was also a plane that I enjoyed to fly, it was a nice blend of utility, performance, reliability, and ease of flying. My only negatives were I did not like the “push button” throttle, mixture and prop controls not did I like the “look” if a high wing as much (although this is admittedly a silly reason to give a negative mark for). I did like the electric flaps over the Piper aircraft I flew. Over all if I ever can fly again and could own a plane this would be one I would really look for (even with the minor negatives I stated).

The Seneca probably was still my favorite. I still remember my first flight (which came after a couple hundred hours in Archers and Warriors); it was just skinny me and my also small ME instructor and when I pulled back on the yoke at just above Vr, the plane immediately pegged 2000 + on the VSI and that really was cool. This was also an easy to handle plane (albeit rather slow considering fuel consumption), VMC demonstration was easy in this plane.

Here are a couple videos, the first is of a 747 landing in Hong Kong during a storm set to music. The second is a really cool video of an Air Force flight (I believe a C17) through a severe thunderstorm with lots of lighting, turbulence and St. Elmo’s fire: