Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Monday, October 17, 2011

Hours and Types And Stuff Like That There

Ole Phat Stu has suggested that I write a blog post discussing the type ratings that I have and the kinds of airplanes that I've flow.

This is going to be a short post.

I have between 1,000 and 1,500 hours of flying time.* I am rated for single-engine landplanes with a complex/high-performance endorsement in my logs. When the FAA began to require a tailwheel endorsement, I was grandfathered, since I already had time logged. I have never gone for an instrument rating, what with owning an airplane that isn't equipped for it.

I haven't flown a lot of different airplanes. The primary reason is that I have my own aircraft, so I have no need or urge to rent someone else's airplane. The only time I do is when I have a biennial flight review, as finding an instructor who is comfortable flying in a Stinson 108 is a tall order.

So in rough order of time in type (highest to lowest):

Stinson 108-2 (vast majority of my time)
Cessna 150/152
PA-28-151 (Piper Warrior)
Cessna 172
Bellanca Citabria 7ECA
Piper L-4 (militarized Cub)
American Aviation AA-1A
North American Navion
PA-28-140
PA-28-180
PA-31**
PT-17***

All of my flying time is in airplanes with "steam-gauge" instruments (and, in some cases, damn few of those). I have never flown an airplane with a glass panel.
_______________________
* No, I am not going to be more specific. Sue me.
** Dual instruction only. I tagged along on a chartered parts flight for a GM plant. The pilot was a CFI; he let me hand-fly most of the trip and he entered the time in my logbook.
*** Dual instruction, I couldn't afford to keep flying it. It was probably the most fun I've had in an airplane.

3 comments:

LRod said...

I have a somewhat similar record (if anyone cares). About 1/3 to ½ your TT. ASEL, Commercial, Instrument, complex A/C (although I don't know that it's so noted in my logbook—most of the entries were done with a chisel…but items # 2, 3, and 5 below pretty much settle the matter, especially since the total time in those three is in excess of 100 hours).

By time, highest first:

* Cessna 150
* Cessna 182
* Cessna 182 RG
* Cessna 172
* Cessna 172 RG
* Cessna 177
* Citabria

In my day, checking out in the 182 with its constant speed prop pretty much constituted all of a "complex" endorsement, although there wasn't an actual entry required. It was more to satisfy the renter that you knew better than to pull back to low RPM at go around thus causing the big Continental to eat a valve or something.

Similarly, years later, when I started flying the Cutlass and the 182RG, it was noted in the logbook simply as the type—it was only for the concern of the renter to whom it represented a statistically smaller probability that I would flare their airplane gear up.

I'd probably be able to get a tailwheel endorsement, but I wouldn't be safe to fly with it—or more to the point, land with it—so if the need were ever to come up, I'd suck it up and get some dual.

LRod
ZJX, ORD, ZAU retired

Anonymous said...

CPL/IFR with 4000+ hours, complex singles, float- and seaplanes, a few twins, but being a CFI means I get to fly lots of different singles. So, in no particular order :-
Cessna 150, 152, 172, 172RG, 175, 177, 182, 185.
Piper Cub,PA11,12,24,28,38,61.
Other singles MS883, MS893, FA200, AA5B, SF35C,KA6,D140E,Taylorcraft, PittS2A, M201, Tobago, BeechV35B, KA7,
Stearman & AgCat for my cropdusting rating, Chipmunk, Bucker Jungmann, Stampe, Tiger Moth, Maule, Citabria, Lake, Optica,Speed Canard, VariEze, Longeze. The sailplanes were for my tow-rating.
Twins : Apache, A601P, PushPull Cessna,
Partenavia, Islander.

Mostly though, I flew a PA28-140 I owned for 26 years :-)

Average flight was only 1 1/4 hours because the CFI task pulls the average down a lot. Longest hop = just under 7 hours.

Stewart Dean said...

Is that you in the rear cockpit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WAVE_parachute_rigger_with_N2S_c1944.jpg