One of my passions in life has always been airplanes and flying. You can tell my love for flying because both of our company logos have wings in them. Due to my health issues I can no longer get a medical certificate but I can still fly if I have safety pilot with me. My son for Christmas last year bought me some flight time in a twin engine. I have never flown a twin with a glass cockpit before so it was a real buzz.
The kid ( safety pilot with more hair then me ) sure enjoyed the flight as he handed the controls over to me during the takeoff roll and sat back taking in the view of the Gulf of Mexico. Ingrid went up with me and did some sight seeing and video taped some of the segments of the flight.
I didn't get to see much below as I had a lot of traffic to contend with and I got in to some rough air. You can tell by the camera / video bouncing around and when I got around 1,000 ft coming in on final Ingrid started getting nervous because she was getting jostled around pretty good.
It is the first time I have flown since 2003. The last time I flew was in Duxford, England and that was a 1942 Dehavilland Tiger Moth. I had so much fun Sunday that I will start doing this more often. It is one amazing stress reliever and gives me a chance to leave all my headaches on the ground and get up into the sky and buzz around. It isn't cheap but then I do not golf, bowl, drink alcohol or spend money on any hobbies so I can throw some money at flying now and then.
The flight was out of Clearwater and the water below was the Gulf of Mexico.
Here are the videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0GMCgwWiP7uc59jIzOb2dQ?view_as=subscriber (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0GMCgwWiP7uc59jIzOb2dQ?view_as=subscriber)
I still have a smile on my face and was amazed at how well I did considering I had been out of the cockpit for so long. Just thought I would share my passion with ya'll. :)
Chris
Nice job - glad you're back at it. The video that followed yours on you tube was the landing of the space shuttle - your video was better :)
SA
That does look fun. I don't know if it is still true but you can get your pilot's license before driver's?
Also, in a twin-engine if one fails are you able to fly on one engine only?
Flying does make one feel free. Never flown my own plane but several different kind of commercial from little guys all the way up to the big boeing jets.
Yes you can solo at a young age, I think 16.
In the little twin props you can lose an engine and make it back. During take off it is going to be real dicey. That is why I monitor no only grown speed but engine oil temps and pressures during take off. Losing an engine during takeoff on a small aircraft can be dangerous. Not so much on the big jets.
Mojo
That's pretty crazy, don't you think? with as much aircraft as the (at least the US) has, flying solo at age 16. Then again, my guess is if you are motivated enough to do so, you probably have a good understanding of what's involved.
Unlike today's reckless drivers that think they can do just about anything while driving an automobile, until they can't.