What crashed in front of us today?

In article ,
nt (Gordon) wrote:


Of course, now the kid is ruined for life. He's going to want to do it
again. And again. ... :}


LOL

Steve, I think he actually got it out of his system - at least for now!

"For now". Exactly. :}

Of course, my daughter is another story. We stood under the Atlas ICBM standing
in front of the air museum hosting the EAA yesterday. She looked the giant
rocket over carefully, then asked,

"...Can I ride it...?"

Excellent!

Steve Hix wrote:

You did good Gordon. I envy your son, being as there is nothing much to
match the feeling of your first flight (passenger or not).

Of course, now the kid is ruined for life. He's going to want to do it
again. And again. ... :}

I'll say he did good, all right. It takes me back to my first flight
in a Cessna (150, I think; I wasn't old enough to discriminate) at the
Maxville Highland Games in 1964. It cost my mother $20 or so for the
two of us (a lot out of her budget) for a 15 minute flight and I
really think I was an excuse so my mother could justify going up
herself. I was enraptured. When the pilot turned on final after about
only eight minutes, my mother pointed this out to him, so we did a
touch-and-go and another little jaunt. Certainly the high point of my
life up to that point.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)

Hi Andrew

Ahhhhhhh, because of that experience, you ended up joining the Army and
became a bird gunner so you could shoot aircraft down with Blowpipes,
eh??????????

Cheers...Chris

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 19:31:47 GMT, Andrew Chaplin
wrote:

Steve Hix wrote:

You did good Gordon. I envy your son, being as there is nothing much to
match the feeling of your first flight (passenger or not).

Of course, now the kid is ruined for life. He's going to want to do it
again. And again. ... :}

I'll say he did good, all right. It takes me back to my first flight
in a Cessna (150, I think; I wasn't old enough to discriminate) at the
Maxville Highland Games in 1964. It cost my mother $20 or so for the
two of us (a lot out of her budget) for a 15 minute flight and I
really think I was an excuse so my mother could justify going up
herself. I was enraptured. When the pilot turned on final after about
only eight minutes, my mother pointed this out to him, so we did a
touch-and-go and another little jaunt. Certainly the high point of my
life up to that point.

Memories, my first flight was in an AeroCommander, circa 1063. It
belonged to a friend of my mother's, so no cost (I doubt if we could
have afforded it). Wonderful a/c, and as I recall a super pilot.

Al Minyard

In article , Steve
Hix wrote:

In article ,
nt (Gordon) wrote:

I'm supposed to raise him, not keep him in a bubble. For years he's
stood by
the runway, watching me step out of various aircraft with a giant-sized
s-eating grin on my face, telling him, "Sorry, you aren't tall enough
for this
ride." Under the tutetage of a 7,000-hour TWA Captain in his personal
aircraft, meticulously maintained since he purchased it in 1976, it seemed a
more responsible than handing him to a leather-clad biker on a Ninja.

You did good Gordon. I envy your son, being as there is nothing much to
match the feeling of your first flight (passenger or not).

Of course, now the kid is ruined for life. He's going to want to do it
again. And again. ... :}

Reminds me of my own first flight as an engineering student working at
a company named (at the time) Airwork in Millville, NJ, overhaul and repair
of various gas turbines, such as the Spey, CJ610, etc. circa 1973

Asked by lead pilot if I wanted to go on shakedown flight in Gulfstream II.
Of course he twisted my arm.
It turned out to be Ray Kroc's private jet. I sat at Ray's desk for the flight.
Partial fuel, we sat at the end of the runway while the pilot held it at
full throttle checking engine pressure and temp. The a/c was shaking
and rumbling with the nose pushed down, then....he just released the brakes.
Snapped back in seat with acceleration, a few seconds later he rotates
then we're off and climbing at a fantastic angle.
Still don't know if he did this for my benefit, or if it was his SOP.
Gotta think he was giving me a memorable ride, especially with the plane
so light.
Only about a 20 minute flight, but I found out later that the G II at that time
was the highest performance private jet available. (So they told me)

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

"Harry Andreas" wrote in message
...
In article , Steve
Hix wrote:

In article ,
nt (Gordon) wrote:

I'm supposed to raise him, not keep him in a bubble. For years he's
stood by
the runway, watching me step out of various aircraft with a
giant-sized
s-eating grin on my face, telling him, "Sorry, you aren't tall enough
for this
ride." Under the tutetage of a 7,000-hour TWA Captain in his personal
aircraft, meticulously maintained since he purchased it in 1976, it
seemed a
more responsible than handing him to a leather-clad biker on a Ninja.

You did good Gordon. I envy your son, being as there is nothing much to
match the feeling of your first flight (passenger or not).

Of course, now the kid is ruined for life. He's going to want to do it
again. And again. ... :}

Reminds me of my own first flight as an engineering student working at
a company named (at the time) Airwork in Millville, NJ, overhaul and
repair
of various gas turbines, such as the Spey, CJ610, etc. circa 1973

Asked by lead pilot if I wanted to go on shakedown flight in Gulfstream
II.
Of course he twisted my arm.
It turned out to be Ray Kroc's private jet. I sat at Ray's desk for the
flight.
Partial fuel, we sat at the end of the runway while the pilot held it at
full throttle checking engine pressure and temp. The a/c was shaking
and rumbling with the nose pushed down, then....he just released the
brakes.
Snapped back in seat with acceleration, a few seconds later he rotates
then we're off and climbing at a fantastic angle.
Still don't know if he did this for my benefit, or if it was his SOP.
Gotta think he was giving me a memorable ride, especially with the plane
so light.
Only about a 20 minute flight, but I found out later that the G II at that
time
was the highest performance private jet available. (So they told me)

Which of course was an ugly dog, compared to Joan Kroc's GIV, with its
priceless Egyptian antiquities.

Sounds like a hell of a ride, Harry!

G
PS, had Ray gone round the bend at that point..? I used to take tequila
lessons from his bartender, Rick. Ten years on, I have very nearly recovered.

Small GA is less safe than operating a motorcycle, on the road. (US)

Seriously? I've seen a heck of a lot more downed motorcycles than GA a/c.


Actually, injuries from riding horses exceed those of all other sports
including riding motorcycles. (Trust me - I'm an avid rider who's been bucked
off, and I work with injured riders) However, I admit I don't know how the
stats would match up against GA flying. I believe the horses would still "win"
- they seem to want to think on their own!

nt (Gordon) wrote in message ...
Small GA is less safe than operating a motorcycle, on the road. (US)

Seriously? I've seen a heck of a lot more downed motorcycles than GA a/c.

What
you were doing was never the safest thing.

I'm supposed to raise him, not keep him in a bubble. For years he's stood by
the runway, watching me step out of various aircraft with a giant-sized
s-eating grin on my face, telling him, "Sorry, you aren't tall enough for this
ride." Under the tutetage of a 7,000-hour TWA Captain in his personal
aircraft, meticulously maintained since he purchased it in 1976, it seemed a
more responsible than handing him to a leather-clad biker on a Ninja.

What would she say if you let
him go as a passenger on a motorcycle?

My son and I have a deal - he never gets on a motorcycle while I am alive, and
in return, I will never break his legs. The worst moment of my life has been
telling parents that their son was killed on his bike (hit by dozens of cars at
the I-5/I-8 interchange). I can't protect him from life, but I couldn't take
re-living that particular moment from other side of the desk.

LOL! You remind me of my late brother, who flew a few hundred combat
hours in Dustoff UH-1D/H models in Vietnam and returned to the US
where he spent a couple of years as a paramedic for a municipal fire
department and flying for the Guard until he went back to aviation as
a career. He was thirteen years older than I was, and I still remember
at about the age of 16 or so, when I wanted the independence of my own
transportation (but knew the parents were not going to let me have my
own car), deciding that maybe I could afford a motorcycle. Having
picked up the leavin's of more than a few suicide jockeys during his
time, he put his arm around my neck and quietly told me, "Sure, you
can get a motorcycle--but if you do, I am going to break every bone in
your body and save Mom and Dad the worry of waiting for some cop to
deliver the news to them that you killed yourself on that bike." I
never did get that bike.

Brooks


Gordon

You remind me of my late brother, who flew a few hundred combat
hours in Dustoff UH-1D/H models in Vietnam

snip rest

I would be deeply honored to be anything at all like your brother. Dustoff
guys, to me, earned a seat next to Mother Teresa on the Holy outbound bus.

By the way, I'm glad to see that someone with his background agrees - I loved
motorcycles in my childhood, but lost that love while laying under a frickin'
Toyota, kicking the door in with my free foot. Its not so much that I hate
motorcycles, I can't stand the cycle/car "interface"!!

v/r
Gordon