• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The Aviation Enthusiasts Thread!

#41
Relic said:
I've thought many times about trying to get a pilot's license. It would be like a dream come true but alas I don't think I'll ever have enough $ to actually own a plane.. not to mention invest the time into learning how to fly..:(
Click to expand...

Same here.....and that's how I got into radio control model building and flying. I think I found as much satisfaction in the building part as I got from the flying part. I've seen scale RC models of the real stuff do maneuvers more extreme and beyond the "envelop" of their full-scale counterparts and thought "if someone was in the cockpit of that thing, he or she would have blacked-out by now due to the sheer G forces and the model would have crashed by now."
 
#43
I used to have my morning cup of tea sitting in the shadow of this rather sad example:

f104.jpg


It has since been restored and put on a plinth elsewhere. So now I have my tea sitting under one of these:

f84b-4.jpg


I really like this one, though:

s37_03.jpg
 
#47
Relic said:
I would seriously love to hear some of those stories!
I've heard it said that they were notoriously hard to fly, with take-offs and landings being especially tricky.

I've thought many times about trying to get a pilot's license. It would be like a dream come true but alas I don't think I'll ever have enough $ to actually own a plane.. not to mention invest the time into learning how to fly..:(
Click to expand...

I started my private while I was finishing college and passed the check ride a week to the day before I got married. My first flight as a newly minted private was to take my bride on a sightseeing flight in a Cessna 172 around Maui.

(The checkout flight in Maui doesn't count. That was fun though cause the check pilot looked at my logbook and said "The FAA just said you're qualified so who am I to argue. Let's go up though so I can show you some cool **** to show your wife").

Instrument, Commercial and CFI-I all came before the kids and the house. I could not do it now. Haven't flown in years because real life is just too busy. Recently been thinking about getting a glider rating though from the local club.

Scooter loved the 104. He said it was a cranky old b*tch of a plane to fly and would kill you if you weren't paying attention but he loved her just same. I remember one story that illustrated that. He was doing a formation takeoff with one of his squadron mates - and a close friend - when the wingman's plane lost his engine at about 200', pitched down and plowed into a open field.

Some of the F104s were equipped with downward firing ejection seats because apparently they couldn't fit the plane with a seat powerful enough to clear the vertical stabilizer at cruise speed. Iven Kincheloe, a Korean War ace, test pilot, X-15 pilot designee and contemporary of Chuck Yeager's died in a takeoff accident in a 104. He lost an engine too low to eject and tried to roll the plane inverted to eject upward. He apparently ran out of time....


Here's a picture of 2 CAP10s being flown by the husband and wife aerobatic team "The French Connection".

400px-FrenchConnection.jpg



They're the folks I learned aerobatics from. Sadly both Daniel and Montaigne died in a mid-air while practicing for an airshow in 2000.
 
#49
I just took a checkride this past Thursday with an FAA Designated Examiner to revalidate my CFI tickets. The CFI ride revalidated my Airplane (Single Engine and Multiengine), Rotorcraft (helicopter), and Instrument (Airplane and Helicopter) instructor privileges.

I used to love aviation a lot more than I do, but about 30 years of working as an airline pilot has kind of dimmed my ardor. I still enjoy watching the world slip beneath my wings during cruise, all systems functioning properly, and nothing to do but sit and watch the instruments, gauges, and the world. Oh yes, and occasionally ringing the flight attendants to make me a cup of coffee:p
 
#50
I've been an aviation enthusiast my whole life...first book I remember flipping through was an aircraft encyclopedia at age 4/5. Spent 8yrs in the USAF working in windowless buildings though, never got to be aircrew (although they tried to make me once...motion sickness kinda ruled me out).

Now I normally work at Macdill AFB, and get to see/hear an occasional cool aircraft (F-15s, A-10s, F/A-18s, C-17s, C-5s, tankers, a U2, etc).

HOWEVER, I'm typing this from Bagram Airfield, AFG...where I get to hear loud-ass fighters (and transports) ALL D@MN DAY LONG! And those badass F-15s? FRIGGIN LOUD when they take off at full afterburner. But I've seen a lot of cool stuff out here. All kinds of helos, fighters, transports (US and Russian alike).

My current favorite: SU-34 Fullback (long-range strike derivative of the Flanker)
This is the current wallpaper on my netbook:
sukhoi-su-35-flanker-e_1366x768_1495.jpg
 
#51
Here are some shots I took at the IAF museum outside of Beersheba, IS:

Remnants of an enemy MiG-21
Link Removed

A Czech Me-109 donated to Israel during the War of Independence:
Link Removed

A MiG-21 that defected, courtesy of the Mossad:
Link Removed

The Lavi, a prototype that Israel eventually abandoned because the US "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" for F-16s. Suspiciously identical to the Chinese J-10 fighter:
Link Removed
 
#53
I've been an air enthusiast all my life...I built models like crazy, and was just obsessed with planes. Alas, music and life got in the way, and I haven't really had time for anything anymore. Though, I do occasionally find someone to go up with for a few minutes. I also buy a model every now and again, though I haven't done anything big since my B-36 earlier this year.

My fave plane would be either the F-104 or this beautiful beast:

xb70to.jpg
 
#54
bassteban said:
Are you sure it's not an Avia CS-199?
Avia S-199 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's basically the same thing. Me-109 airframe with a different engine. But if you want to get technical, if you consider the aircraft in my picture is the exact same aircraft pictured on the CS-199 Wiki page, then yes, it is a CS-199. In any case, the sign in front of the aircraft in my picture said "Me-109," as well as a bunch of stuff in Hebrew that I couldn't read. So whatever, lol.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back