Why Buy and Airplane?

Passed on from a friend of a friend....

For those needing a reason of some kind for buying an Aircraft

I have read many posts on the web site from members and on MMAIL who are
thinking about owning their own aircraft and looking for ways to offset the
cost of ownership. I have heard many reasons for and against ownership. Why
buy an aircraft? It's cheaper to rent and you do not have all the hassle
with maintenance, fuel and insurance. Well, here is a little story that I
think explains it all as to why I own my own airplane.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. No winds and the temperature was just
right. So instead of mowing the lawn like my wife had planned for me, I
decided to go to the airport and take the Sport out for a run. She yells
back at me, "WELL IF YOU GO, TAKE YOUR SON WITH YOU." So I ask my son. Want
to go flying with dad? In which he says Yea, Can I take my light saber?

You see, my 9 year son thinks he is a Jedi Knight and that our Sport is his
personal X-Wing fighter. He is only 4'5 and has to sit on a pillow in order
to see over the glare shield and he always carries his light saber just in
case we land on a strange planet in which there might be trouble or civil
un-rest. Always prepared this one is. So away we go.



THERE I WAS....

We were straight and level at around 6,000ft and I let him take the controls
of the "X-Wing" to do some turns to the left and right. Joshua Approach
called and said there was traffic at our 2'oclock 2 miles opposite direction
and my son said to me "Look over there dad, 'Tie fighter' coming right at
us". I told him to steer clear of the Tie Fighter because our lasers were
out for repair and we were un-armed. No reason to provoke a fight.

So even though he is having a blast, I am starting to get a little bored and
thought, "Let's go do a practice approach on the ILS". So I called Joshua
Approach, requested the ILS 25 Approach to Palmdale Full Approach and off we
went. I maneuvered the X-Wing to the VOR and started the turn outbound to
the outer marker. Now my son is just really enjoying this. At the outer
marker, the blue light started to flash and you could hear the BEEP in the
headset. My Son jumps in and said "That Tie Fighter has locked on to us"! I
said "That's Right" and I started my evasive maneuver on the procedure turn.



My Son is listening to the exchange between me and the controller and wants
to chime in on the conversion. I said to my son, "Just hang on; I will give
you a chance". I never should have said that because now he is all excited
to talk on the radio. As I start to turn inbound on the turn, the Approach
control said "Contact tower when established on the localizer". So I told my
young Padawan Learner "OK, when this needle gets here on the dial, push the
radio button and tell the tower that 93 Romeo is inbound on the localizer".

Now imagine this, I am giving basic instrument instruction to a 9 year old.
Before I can give him something simpler to say he keys the mike and says
"REBEL BASE, THIS IS RED 5. WE ARE STARTING OUR ATTACK RUN ON THE DEATH
STAR".



Good God!!!

Now this was post 9/11, and before I can key my mike and say anything, the
tower jumps on and says "RED 5, YOUR CLEARED FOR THE APPROACH TO THE DEATH
STAR. REPORT HITS AWAY"

Now I am waiting for the tower to add "And tell your dad to call this
number" But I hear nothing else. So we continue the approach. Now my son is
in heaven. This is real life stuff to him and he is doing everything I tell
him to do as far as tracking the needle. As we approach the outer marker
inbound, the light starts to flash and there is that tone again. "Dad, the
Death Star has a lock on us". Yes Son, you keep on the approach, I will
worry about the guns.

Everything is going great and now we are approaching the middle marker. My
son has noticed the GPS has a red line with an airplane on it and it ends at
the Death Star. So he asks me "IS THAT A TARGETING COMPUTER DAD?" Well of
course it is, and it shows us where we are to the target. So now he hears
Obewan tell him to USE THE FORCE SCOTT and he turns the GPS OFF. Tells me he
is OK and does not need the targeting computer because he is using the
FORCE.



Now the middle marker light flashes and the tone comes on. I apply full
power and the airplane,,,X-Wing,,, Starts a climb. I start the turn to the
missed approach path when my son keys the mike and says "HITS AWAY". The
tower answers back with "GOOD JOB RED 5, CONTACT REBEL APPROACH ON 126.1"

We go back to Mojave SPACEPORT, and I decide that the X-Wing needs a bath.
So out comes all the cleaning stuff and we spend the rest of the day washing
and waxing the turbo jets and laser pods.

So you see. This is why I own my own aircraft. You cannot beat this kind of
quality time with your kids. And there is no way you can put a price on
that.

Jeff Bryant
Southwest Regional Director
Beech Aero Club
1975 X-Wing Fighter Model B-19
N6993R

Jim Burns wrote:
Passed on from a friend of a friend....

For those needing a reason of some kind for buying an Aircraft


GRRRRRREAT! I've seen this before on the Beech Aero Club site. It
never gets old. G

Great story, but in truth this could have just as easily been done with
a club or rental aircraft. It's an argument for =flying=... for =being=
a pilot and using the licen...er... certificate g. The main advantage
of owning is that it's always there for you.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jose" wrote in message
m...
Great story, but in truth this could have just as easily been done with
a club or rental aircraft. It's an argument for =flying=... for =being=
a pilot and using the licen...er... certificate g. The main advantage
of owning is that it's always there for you.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

The story starts with "So instead of mowing the lawn like my wife had
planned for me, I
decided to go to the airport..."

I was a member of a flying club for one year. During that time, every time I
called to see if the aircraft was available *now*, the answer was no.

Had the author been a member of that club, the story would have ended with a
cold beer after mowing the lawn.

This is great! I laughed so hard at the ...

Before I can give him something simpler to say he keys the mike and says
"REBEL BASE, THIS IS RED 5. WE ARE STARTING OUR ATTACK
RUN ON THE DEATH STAR".

that I almost burst! Sounds like something that one
of my instrument students would say if they ever
thought of it.

My weekend story about the advantage of owning your own airplane:

Having a son in college 478 nautical miles flight line distance that you
can fly in 3 hours, but would take 14 hours to drive, one way. Deciding
on Saturday afternoon that you'd like to attend his band concert Sunday
afternoon and being able to hop in the Aztec Sunday morning, fly over,
have lunch, attend the concert, have dinner, and fly home in time for bed.
And still being able to get to work Monday morning. I'm afraid I just would
not be able to do that last minute type of trip if I were depending on a
weekend
rental airplane when the weather was CAVU.

Ronnie

That was great I was busting up. Its cool that the tower jumped in.
"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
Passed on from a friend of a friend....

For those needing a reason of some kind for buying an Aircraft

I have read many posts on the web site from members and on MMAIL who are
thinking about owning their own aircraft and looking for ways to offset
the
cost of ownership. I have heard many reasons for and against ownership.
Why
buy an aircraft? It's cheaper to rent and you do not have all the hassle
with maintenance, fuel and insurance. Well, here is a little story that I
think explains it all as to why I own my own airplane.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. No winds and the temperature was just
right. So instead of mowing the lawn like my wife had planned for me, I
decided to go to the airport and take the Sport out for a run. She yells
back at me, "WELL IF YOU GO, TAKE YOUR SON WITH YOU." So I ask my son.
Want
to go flying with dad? In which he says Yea, Can I take my light saber?

You see, my 9 year son thinks he is a Jedi Knight and that our Sport is
his
personal X-Wing fighter. He is only 4'5 and has to sit on a pillow in
order
to see over the glare shield and he always carries his light saber just in
case we land on a strange planet in which there might be trouble or civil
un-rest. Always prepared this one is. So away we go.



THERE I WAS....

We were straight and level at around 6,000ft and I let him take the
controls
of the "X-Wing" to do some turns to the left and right. Joshua Approach
called and said there was traffic at our 2'oclock 2 miles opposite
direction
and my son said to me "Look over there dad, 'Tie fighter' coming right at
us". I told him to steer clear of the Tie Fighter because our lasers were
out for repair and we were un-armed. No reason to provoke a fight.

So even though he is having a blast, I am starting to get a little bored
and
thought, "Let's go do a practice approach on the ILS". So I called Joshua
Approach, requested the ILS 25 Approach to Palmdale Full Approach and off
we
went. I maneuvered the X-Wing to the VOR and started the turn outbound to
the outer marker. Now my son is just really enjoying this. At the outer
marker, the blue light started to flash and you could hear the BEEP in the
headset. My Son jumps in and said "That Tie Fighter has locked on to us"!
I
said "That's Right" and I started my evasive maneuver on the procedure
turn.



My Son is listening to the exchange between me and the controller and
wants
to chime in on the conversion. I said to my son, "Just hang on; I will
give
you a chance". I never should have said that because now he is all excited
to talk on the radio. As I start to turn inbound on the turn, the Approach
control said "Contact tower when established on the localizer". So I told
my
young Padawan Learner "OK, when this needle gets here on the dial, push
the
radio button and tell the tower that 93 Romeo is inbound on the
localizer".

Now imagine this, I am giving basic instrument instruction to a 9 year
old.
Before I can give him something simpler to say he keys the mike and says
"REBEL BASE, THIS IS RED 5. WE ARE STARTING OUR ATTACK RUN ON THE DEATH
STAR".



Good God!!!

Now this was post 9/11, and before I can key my mike and say anything, the
tower jumps on and says "RED 5, YOUR CLEARED FOR THE APPROACH TO THE DEATH
STAR. REPORT HITS AWAY"

Now I am waiting for the tower to add "And tell your dad to call this
number" But I hear nothing else. So we continue the approach. Now my son
is
in heaven. This is real life stuff to him and he is doing everything I
tell
him to do as far as tracking the needle. As we approach the outer marker
inbound, the light starts to flash and there is that tone again. "Dad, the
Death Star has a lock on us". Yes Son, you keep on the approach, I will
worry about the guns.

Everything is going great and now we are approaching the middle marker.
My
son has noticed the GPS has a red line with an airplane on it and it ends
at
the Death Star. So he asks me "IS THAT A TARGETING COMPUTER DAD?" Well of
course it is, and it shows us where we are to the target. So now he hears
Obewan tell him to USE THE FORCE SCOTT and he turns the GPS OFF. Tells me
he
is OK and does not need the targeting computer because he is using the
FORCE.



Now the middle marker light flashes and the tone comes on. I apply full
power and the airplane,,,X-Wing,,, Starts a climb. I start the turn to the
missed approach path when my son keys the mike and says "HITS AWAY". The
tower answers back with "GOOD JOB RED 5, CONTACT REBEL APPROACH ON 126.1"

We go back to Mojave SPACEPORT, and I decide that the X-Wing needs a bath.
So out comes all the cleaning stuff and we spend the rest of the day
washing
and waxing the turbo jets and laser pods.

So you see. This is why I own my own aircraft. You cannot beat this kind
of
quality time with your kids. And there is no way you can put a price on
that.

Jeff Bryant
Southwest Regional Director
Beech Aero Club
1975 X-Wing Fighter Model B-19
N6993R

Fortunately the tower controller had a sense of humor and didn't have
you contact the Dark Side (FAA?) : )

Jose wrote:
Great story, but in truth this could have just as easily been done with
a club or rental aircraft.

If it's available at an hour's notice.