Did I miss the Era of GA?

What'cha building, Bill?

An RV10. I've completed the Emp kit (tail feathers and tailcone) and
moving on to the quickbuild wings. A long way to go but a lot of
satisfying progress towards a very impressive machine.

Good luck, and stick-to-it.

With as many RV's as are out there, you can't be far off the mark! g
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
What'cha building, Bill?
An RV10. I've completed the Emp kit (tail feathers and tailcone) and
moving on to the quickbuild wings. A long way to go but a lot of
satisfying progress towards a very impressive machine.

Good luck, and stick-to-it.

With as many RV's as are out there, you can't be far off the mark! g
I'm pounding away...

There are a lot of RVs out there and that's one reason I'm building
one... good design and kit producing proficiency are pluses in my book.

Don't know if you follow the homebuilding thing and RVs in particular
but the RV10 is a different beast from most. The single digit RVs are
all fun flyers - fast, acrobatic, efficient. Great single person CC too
with an occasional passenger and matching tooth brushes. But not what
I'm after...

The RV10 is their first CC cruiser - 260HP, 4 seats, 1000lbs useful,
200mph, non-acro. A lot of transportation grade airplane for the
kit-built crowd. Quickbuild wings and fuse reduce the build time
substantially and there are a lot of 'pro' builders offering services
too. We're going to see a lot of these around soon. The people who
can't quite bite into a Cirrus (or a Lancair) are going to be chasing
this one.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Bill 'pound pound' Watson
aka Mauledriver

But, I've heard so many depressing things about the state of ( and future
of ) GA I'm wondering if the era of GA has passed me by.

But, I've heard so many depressing things about the state of ( and future
of ) GA I'm wondering if the era of GA has passed me by.

Read my posts about "Beale Street Rocks" and "Flying to Texas" to see
the vast and amazing possibilities that await every private pilot in
the year 2007.

My family (wife and two kids) has flown from coast-to-coast, all VFR,
for 12 years without ever having to ask permission or pay any fees.
We've had literally thousands of airports to choose from along the
way, most of them staffed by friendly, welcoming people.

A vast continent awaits discovery by air. Don't whine about it --
just go do it.

Make your own "Era of GA". I am, and it's absolutely fantastic!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
(Presently in Memphis, TN)
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I got my PP-ASEL last year in New Jersey. There are two reasons why
you should go ahead and do it:

1. You haven't missed the boat. There is still plenty of fun to be had
at reasonable costs. I have flown over New York City and Boston a
bunch of times, I have flown from Boston to Maine for the weekend, I
have flown to the Hamptons for lunch and returned by starlight. When I
went on vacation in Hawaii I rented a plane and flew all over the Big
Island. And that's just a few things I've done, in a few months,
without even flying that regularly. Even living up here in the
northeast winter, I haven't had to cancel for weather many times. And
if I take 3 passengers with me, which I normally do, the cost is under
$30 / hour per person, all in. I rent from clubs (one in Boston and
one in NYC) which is incredibly easy to organize - a 1 hour checkout
with a club instructor and you're cleared to rent their planes.

It is true that there are some worrying trends in GA, but look at the
ever-increasing hassles of scheduled commercial flights.

2. The training itself is fun. If you have a decent instructor, going
through the training is a fun and rewarding experience. And the
feeling you get when you pass the checkride is unbelievable.

One piece of advice - do the training quickly. Clear out some time so
you can get it all done, from start to finish, in a handful of months.
If you do it this way it is easier and cheaper, and you are less
likely to encounter frustrations along the way. I did it in 10 weeks
by taking a week off to get started (during which I did 15 hours), and
then flying about 15 more half days on weekends over the remaining 9
weeks. I would thoroghly recommend this method - I passed easily in
just over the 40 hour minimum.

Have fun, and let us know how you get on.

Tom

Avgas: $3.00 (if you're lucky)
Aviation Insurance: $850/yr (if you're lucky)

If someone asks if you are a pilot, you can say...(and this is the
best part)

"Yes, yes I am"

Priceless!

(to paraphrase a credit card company)

-Ryan in Madison, WI
-

On 15 Mar 2007 09:16:15 -0700, wrote in
.com:


If someone asks if you are a pilot, you can say...(and this is the
best part)

"Yes, yes I am"

Priceless!

If you require the reflection of another person to validate your
aviation experience, you aren't doing it right.

The joy of dwelling in the third dimension and beholding the sights
from a lofty vantage point, not to mention the utility of aviation as
a mode of transport, are the true reasons for becoming a pilot.

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:44:46 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

The joy of dwelling in the third dimension and beholding the sights
from a lofty vantage point, not to mention the utility of aviation as
a mode of transport, are the true reasons for becoming a pilot.

Larry's saying it's fun.

What you want to do is log onto eaa.com, and find a nearby chapter and
go to one of their meetings. If that bunch seems wrong for any
reason, try some more eaa groups. Eventually you'll find some folks
whose interest in building airplanes and whose bank accounts align
with yours. Let them explain the various ways of complying with the
51% rule.

At the same time, yYou're also likely fo find independent CFIs in the
chapter who can help you keep primary-training costs in the mid four
figures.

Gas at $10 a gallon is cheap if you're not paying $120/hour for minor
wrenching and you're not paying Cessna's or Garmin's liability
insurance.

Don

Larry Dighera writes:

If you require the reflection of another person to validate your
aviation experience, you aren't doing it right.

The law requires it, unfortunately.

The joy of dwelling in the third dimension and beholding the sights
from a lofty vantage point, not to mention the utility of aviation as
a mode of transport, are the true reasons for becoming a pilot.

Best not to mention the utility of aviation as a mode of transport, at least
with respect to small GA aircraft.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

If someone asks if you are a pilot, you can say...(and this is the
best part)

"Yes, yes I am"

Priceless!

If you require the reflection of another person to validate your
aviation experience, you aren't doing it right.

The joy of dwelling in the third dimension and beholding the sights
from a lofty vantage point, not to mention the utility of aviation as
a mode of transport, are the true reasons for becoming a pilot.

Man, you just can't enjoy a light moment can you...? I'm trying to be
positive for the guy. And it was also a play on a popular commercial,
your total lack of a sense of humor is quite depressing around these
parts. It's one of those little intangibles that seperates us out from
our earth-bound breatheren. And I certainly didn't need anyone else's
reflection or validation when I pulled out my 172 and flew around the
pattern today just for hell of it.

The "Era of GA" is what YOU make it. Go out and do it! You will NOT regret
it. I know no other recreation that offers so much education, freedom, and
satisfaction.

After our last flight I was curious as to how many hours I had flown during
the past 12 months, often used as a gauge of a pilots or airplane owners
activity. What I had failed to do was to pay attention to all the places
that I'd visited, the experiences I'd had, and the adventures that made all
of it so enjoyable. THESE are the reasons that I fly and what GA brings
me... the friendships, the experiences, and the advetures that I would not
find nor have the time to find in other activities.

Just off the top of my head I can bring up some great memories from the past
years trips (seperate) flights from Wisconsin to:
Las Vegas, NV
Rantoul, IL
Iowa City, IA (several)
Grand Rapids, MI (several)
Detroit, MI
Louisville, KY
Nashville, TN
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
and our latest from Wisconsin to Key West FL and back.

I'm sure I would have driven to Grand Rapids, MI a few times as my wife's
family lives there. I'm sure that I would have taken one or two of the
remaining trips by flying commercial for a family vacation. I'm equally
sure that the rest would never have been considered if I weren't a pilot nor
had reliable access to an airplane.

Make GA what YOU want to make it.

Jim