Flying in the US

George Patterson wrote:

In Georgia and Tennessee, we call mobile homes "tornado bait."

Interesting. Some of my friends call me tornado bait. All I have to
do is fly across the midwest in May or early June, and one will find
me. I haven't tried it in a few years, but my record was unblemished
for '99, '00, '01 and '02. I saw at least one on every trip.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:eHyfe.67700$WI3.22260@attbi_s71...
I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown
in sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a
bit of fun and has a sense of humour.

Nigel, I humbly suggest visiting the heartland of America, the Midwest,
and using our lovely town of Iowa City, Iowa as your "base of operations."

We've got two very friendly flight schools, renting primarily Cessna
products, and we're only 90 minutes from Chicago, Milwaukee, or Oshkosh.
And we're just 60 minutes from Kansas City or St. Louis -- so you can
cover a very wide swath of America from here.

I also know a pretty nice place to stay while you're here, that gives
pilots a discount...

Nigel,

Before you get too swept away in the sheer freedom of flying in the US, make
sure that you go through the process to get your US private certificate if
you don't already have it.

This includes going through the licence validation process details from here

http://registry.faa.gov/airmen.asp#verify

This time of the year it can take up to 4 weeks to get through the process
so planning ahead is important.

You also need to alight near a FSDO so you can visit it in person to get the
US certificate issued.

If you want to do any training towards a rating then you may need to get a
student visa. This could seriously restrict your choice of flying school,
usually to Florida or California to one which has INS status. Then there is
also the issue of the TSA whose details are here
http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/.

However, to keep things simple, just rent a plane, do no training. Just get
the US certificate. The checkouts and BFRs are exempt from the TSA stuff.

Did I say freedom at the start of this well all things are relative.

Grumman-581,

There are many terrific things here, and you don't have
to lock your car doors while you check them out...

But you need to lock up your tanks of ammonium nitrate...


ROFL. The heartland, indeed. Nothing that beats a really simple view of
the world...

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Nothing that beats a really simple view of
the world...


Just to clarify, I didn't mean yours, Grumman.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Not to mention that it makes the insurance companies real nervous when a
wall cloud passes over AirVenture, as it did 15 years ago.

Jay Honeck wrote:
Hey, it keeps the riff-raff out...

NS wrote:

I would be grateful for your views

Regards

Nigel
Maidenhead, Berkshire UK



Nigel,

OK....I have to make a pitch for the "Great Northwest" part of the country:

Beautiful snow-capped montains, scenery, islands, the Pugent Sound,
clean air, the only legal place to land on the beach at the Pacific
Ocean (Copalis), Mt. St. Helen's volcano (active every day), right next
to Canada (Vancouver and Victoria are wonderful cities), lots of
touristy stuff to do in Seattle, and finally...a really good-humored guy
who can rent planes at cheap prices (club member) who is intelligent,
urbane, witty, handsome, knows all the girls, etc. (Call me and I'll see
if he is free to come along.)

Antonio

That's "Puget Sound"!

Antonio

"Antoñio" wrote in message
...
OK....I have to make a pitch for the "Great Northwest" part of the
country:

Beautiful snow-capped montains,

Not this year. It was sunny all winter, so we have no snow left.

scenery,

There's scenery everywhere. Ours just happens to be here.

islands,

Yup, can't dispute that.

the Pugent Sound,

Heh...well, at least you didn't write "Pungent". (Yes, I saw your
correction...so what? )

clean air,

Haven't been here in a couple of decades, huh? Well, I'll grant the air is
usually pretty clean right after it rains. Used to be that was almost every
day, except in the summer. Now, I'm starting to wonder.

the only legal place to land on the beach at the Pacific Ocean (Copalis),

Hmmm...I believe what you mean is "the only official on-beach runway". I
would be surprised if there were not a single other beach on the US West
Coast (never mind the entire Pacific Ocean!) where one is permitted to land
an airplane. There sure are plenty of beaches where you can drive pickups
everywhere.

On a more serious note, there are many airports all along the US West Coast
where there are paved airports less than a five minute walk from the beach,
and even more within 15 minutes.

Mt. St. Helen's volcano (active every day),

I suppose that depends on what you mean by "active". Technically, Rainier,
Baker, Hood, Adams, and other mountains in the area are also "active". St.
Helen's doesn't have flowing lava or constant eruptions or anything like
that. For me, the only active volcano in the US is in Hawaii.

But sure, if you're happy with a few wisps of steam, a bulging lava dome,
and the occasional geyser, St. Helens will do just fine, thank you very
much.

right next to Canada (Vancouver and Victoria are wonderful cities),

Yes, they are. How about suggesting folks go visit THEM instead.

lots of touristy stuff to do in Seattle,

"Lots"? No specifics? You ought to at least mention the Underground Tour.
http://www.undergroundtour.com/

and finally...a really good-humored guy who can rent planes at cheap
prices (club member) who is intelligent, urbane, witty, handsome, knows
all the girls, etc.

Oh...I see. Your post was a JOKE! I know it must be, 'cause there aren't
any people like that around here.

(Call me and I'll see if he is free to come along.)

Yeah, you do that.

Pete

Jeeeze Peter! You contradict me more than my wife does !

Oh. I see! I forgot first rule of the "northwest club" -- Don't tell
anyone about the beauty here. I see now that you were just covering for
me in case any Californians were watching.

OK...so I'll give it a shot--Seattle area tourist traps...

Ferries to the islands and to Victoria,BC
The Underground tour (A city underground!)
Pike Place Market
The Space Needle restaurant at the Seattle Center
Boeing Tours--the Museum of Flight, The Paine Field Boeing Factory
Tacoma Museum of glass (Chihuly stuff)
Seattle Art Museum
Kenmore Air float plane tours to the San Juan Islands (or by ferry)
Bruce Lee's grave
Experience Music Project (Jimmy Hendrix museum)
Seattle Arboretum
Ballard Locks and Ship Canal
Hiking in the Olympics where the mountain goats eat out of your hand
Mt.St. Helens ape caves ..about 6mi of underground caves to explore near
the infamous volcano
Seattle Homepage:
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/html/visitor/points.htm

Just over the border to the south--Howard Hughes famous "Spruce Goose"
(and you will never call it that again after you see the movie "The
Aviator") http://www.sprucegoose.org/aircraft_.../exhibits.html


Antonio (waiting on Peter's review ;-) )

"Antoñio" wrote in message
...

Jeeeze Peter! You contradict me more than my wife does !

No I don't.

Oh. I see! I forgot first rule of the "northwest club" -- Don't tell
anyone about the beauty here. I see now that you were just covering for me
in case any Californians were watching.

You know, it doesn't do any good if you go pulling the curtain back and
revealing the anti-immigrant strategies.

(And yes, public disclaimer, I'm an immigrant myself, though I've been here
as long as some of the folks had been who had been calling themselves
"locals" when I first moved here ).

OK...so I'll give it a shot--Seattle area tourist traps... [...]

Not bad. Got most of the really obvious ones. However, due to my nature, I
must point out that the Museum of Flight does not belong categorized under
"Boeing Tours". The museum is not a Boeing operation.

A person going to Paine Field for the wide-body assembly plant tour would do
well to stop by the Museum of Flight's restoration center there.

One warning: unless the food's gotten a lot better in the last decade or so,
don't expect the Space Needle Restaurant to taste as good as it costs. You
are paying for the rotating view, not the cuisine.

Pete