On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 18:15:02 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Ohhhh, let's see, 2003 minus 1975... 28 years now.

Wow -- congratulations! (You've beat the national average by 400%!)

How long have you been flying?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Mmmmm, tough question. Started formal lessons with my father (Ex Navy
pilot who'd flown PBY's, PB4Y-1/s -2/s and Neptune P2V's and a CFI,
also had an endorsement for seaplanes, both single and multi) when I
was 15.5. That would have been back in 1963 or so. Soloed at 16 with
around 8 hours logged in a straight tail 172. Had about 25 hours when
I left home for college, never had any money to spend on flying
lessons after that, till now.

Re-engaged in flying lessons this February and soloed for the second
time that month on the 27th. Passed the practical last month on the
25th.

In between those times have been lots of flying with friends. Most of
the flying was in a Waco UPF-7 Biplane. Did not get to land it, or
takeoff for that matter, but I did fly it for a number of hours on
long trips, like the one to the Dayton area Waco fly-in and also to
Oshkosh in '95 when they had the big Waco celebration. It's a long
flight from Vermont to Oshkosh in a biplane.

My log book now says around 78 hours or so, including those I logged
when a young man. I asked, the flight school generously allowed it to
be included towards the necessary total to go for the practical.
Interestingly, the early logbook shows about half an hour flying time
in a DC-3. It was my father's company's corporate airplane and he had
me do the takeoff, plus fly it to Idlewild from North Philadelphia
during a parts pickup. No, my father did not allow me to attempt the
landing. :-) This was after I'd soloed of course guffaw. It was
like flying a house. I have two standout memories from flying the
DC-3. 1. I was taught to taxi by lining the airplane up down the
taxiway and then locking the tail wheel. We'd rumble along like that
till we veered off the centerline a bit, then unlock the tailwheel,
straighten out, and relock it. 2. Takeoff, my father neglected to
instruct me in what power setting to use for the 1200 hp radials. I
didn't know any better, since I had piloted only airplanes that you
firewalled for takeoff, so when he said: "Well let's go", I grabbed
the two throttles and pushed them up as far as I could. The engines
BELLOWED. My father quickly grabbed the throttles and pulled them
back to the normal takeoff setting and told me that I ***COULD***
overboost the engines. Well I didn't know that, at least not at the
moment we took off. What did I know? I was just a 17 year old skinny
kid. All this conversation taking place while we gathered speed on
the runway. Couldn't tell you what the power setting was for takeoff
now, but I do remember they can be overboosted. :-)

The FBO requires at least four takeoff's and landings every 45 days to
maintain proficiency. Other than that, I can't plan much in the way
of xcountry because at $99/hr, I can't afford it. So it's just local
putzing around, taking people for rides.

Corky Scott