i'm terrified off heights, anything much above 10ft. though it doesn't bother me at all when flying - and normally if i'm up high somewhere i just freeze. weird!

I've done a spiral dive at about 1600ft. Then a spin at less that 1000. OK, this was in a glider, so didn't lose too much hight, but still not nice seeing the ground spinning towards you ;)

Sbradley - It's alright for some :rolleyes: ;) :p never really thought of becoming a mercenary pilot :D

Nimbus - While climbing up to 6000ft my instructor hold me about a time when another instructor took a pupil out and it took 3 or 4 recovery attempts :) quite funny when the instructor was harping on about how the plane they where in was one of best planes to recover :D can't remember what plane it was but I think it was an old warplane :)

The Ka50 looks like serious kit. I would surrender if I saw that ;) +9g ????? :eek:

F15 would be on my list too. I saw a prog about a Russian fighter that that could climb to 70,000, vertically, on one of its two engines.

bigJoe, You can get a 100mph flexwing now. Leaves C152s for dead ;)

I've done some spiral dives as recovery is part of the training. Quite enjoyed them but I expect its a bit more interesting in a GA.

We had a Sukoi doing aerobatics near our field at the weekend. Stall climbs into 4,000ft tumbles, pulling out at 1,000ft. I'll bet that was scary for his pax.

Pilot here.......bet you never guessed from the name?

Also very fortunate in that I have my own plane and can go flying anytime I choose (when I'm not working).

Will be at Popham this weekend.

Pete - I know, Just pullin ya chain :D

Road - I went to Reno in 2000 – those guys are craZy, hopefully I’ll be in Texas around that time for a bit so maybe I can make Reno

Is it the microlight fair at Popham this W/E then?

If so I’m passing by Saturday afternoon so I’ll take a look

Microlight fair this weekend, aero-jumble on Monday too.

Thanks FB, are you flying? If so in what?

I’ll say hello if I see you

That goes for anyone else to!

probably flying in BigJoe......Beech Bonanza G-ENSI, come and say Hi.

See you guys in the beer tent, late afternoon, if you are there.

http://www.aerialadventures.net/videos/tampabay.wmv

Definitely fun Joe and what's the rush? ;)

Ok Pete I’m fully converted, in fact I won’t get any work done for the rest of the day now, I’ll be thinking about flying in the states :D

I’ll look out for you guys in the tent then, dunno what you look like thou – wear something Scooby, I would do but don’t have anything!

Pete


That'll be the Su27 or a derivative, then. Saw one doing a shakedown at Zhukovsky a few years ago. Big handful, start rolling down the runway. At around 100kt shut both engines down to flight idle and carry on going. Then take off like nothing's wrong, clean up and come around in a high G turn before lighting the burners and f*cking off...

You might say they've got a bit of oomph :)

There's a wee video here that may impress you if you're talking about aeros as well. I had the original but loaned it to a client. Next thing I couldn't get hold of the sod and this has appeared on the net :( This is the latest, canard fitted vectored thrust version. Rumoured to have a power to weight ratio approaching 2:1. Loaded :eek:


http://www.schoolboost.com/4Mark/su37v3.mpeg

SB

Edited for spelling.

[Edited by Sbradley - 4/30/2003 4:41:35 PM]

Simon

The one I saw had vectored thrust and looked similar. It said computers interpret what the pilot is trying to do from his stick/throttle movements and then sort it out for him. The thing could not be flown by "manually".

I've never seen anything backflip like that though :eek:

I want to learn to fly now :)

What license do you need to fly for BA or Virgin? it might cost loads to learn to fly but it will pay off in the long run:D

So whats an average cost to learn.....3-4k?

Also does anyone own a part/whole share in a plane?

Yes...I own a whole share

I hear Mycroft is a Rear Gunner......

Ray, basically you need to obtain a commercial license and then once you have that airline companies won't look at you until you have hundreds and hundreds of flying hours under your belt!

If you want to get into the airline business then best bet is talk to your local flying school, nearly all instructors are peeps who are building up their hours to become commercial peeps :)

I think the average cost on obtaining commerical license is 40K. Thw worst part though is building up your hours! that's way wanna be commerical peeps become instructors because everytime they take a pupil up they can put down half of the lessons flying time in their log books!

South-star - For fixed wing the UK average cost is more like 5-6k

Roadrunner

That means i have no chance of becoming one. Im 22 and poor :(
Theres going to be a lot of ladies out there very disappointed that i wont make it as a pilot.

Hey Pete,

Yes, the computers are pretty heavily involved but the pilot does primarily fly manually. Western philosophy has a flight control system which won't allow the pilot to get into trouble - control authority is limited, for example, to stop the driver from overstressing the airframe and if a manouvre (I can never spell that) is likely to make the aircraft depart then the computer won't allow it. If the pilot wants more control authority - like to avoid the cumulogranite for example - then he has to use a lot of force, typically over 4kg and the computer will override.

The Russians have a different approach. There is what they call the panic button on the stick. Press it and the aircraft will recover to straight and level flight as quickly as possible. Then you just get on with it again.

Some extreme maouvres are pre-programmed (like Pugachev's Cobra) and are executed by a press button command rather than through manual inputs. The aircraft will allow it, but the computer is more accurate and more likely to recover in less time.

Needless to say, helicopters are not blessed with this sort of technology. That's why all chopper pilots are hugely well endowed :)

SB

Anyone know how much roughly to learn to fly a helicopter? Always held a fascination for, which planes (excluding vectored thrust supersonic jets) haven't.

LOL at SB :)

Andrew, about twice the price of fixed wing. A trial lesson would be approx £200 an hour and a license would be approx £10,000. Much cheaper to go to Florida for a month and do it there.

Started my PPL in January this year, and Im *apparantly* ready to go solo now. Just need the right day, conditions and a good run for 3/4 of lesson (I think). Im planning on going into Aero's once I've cracked it.

Did look at doing the NPPL, but basically got told that I still might have to put in 45 hours to get signed off, in which case you may as well do your JAR PPL. I also plan to fly to France one day if I feel upto it, which you can't do on your NPPL.

Im looking at ~5k to get my basic licence.

Looked at doing choppers, but thats ~10k, then the additional (massive) cost of hire afterwards ruled it out.

Once I've got my licence I can hire out using block bookings at the following hourly rates:

C150 £57
Piper Cadet £65
Piper Warrior £69
Robin 2160 £70

Have to pay for 11 hours up front, but its well worth it at those rates. Make it a tad easier to build on those hours as well.

Be aware that if you start, you will start to use a new currency, in that everything will be "thats one hour", buying that will cost me "n number of flying hours" etc.

I flew with RR last year, and in the back of my mind I was already thinking about doing it. After that I started dropping it in coversation at home, so the point that the wife eventually said, "your going to learn to fly aren't you" :)

I had a couple of sessions at my club with a guy in a Cap 10B. Those were my "trial lessons" ;) I remember my eye sight going black and white / greyish on a few things we did. That kinda of hooked me.

You only live once, so if you can, do it !!!!!

Flyboy-F33....whats a rough breakdown of the costs of owning/flying a small plane?

Hang Gliders, (my first love, the closest thing to having a pair of wings sprouting from your back), flying for 20+years. France, Spain, USA etc., Wonderful to launch in the Alps with the guys and fly for 5 hours through the mountains with no certainty as to where you might land.
Gliders, not so much but a great trip that included the East coast of Oz and then New Zealand to enjoy Mount Cook in a 5 hour flight in an Ash. Wonderful!
Microlites too....probably go to Popham this weekend.

So popping over to France for a day would cost well over £500 in hire fees? Sounds a bit pricy to me

Jlang

You pay hire rates on what is known as "wet" hours ie engine running time. Berks to Le Touquet would be about 1.5 to 2.0 hours flying time depending on wind strength/direction.

4 up, sharing the costs, helps.

AFAIK, the rates I quote above are "Wet". That's in the region, or even less than it would cost you "Wet" in a share, where you have a montly fee to pay.