Dauntless
Well-Known Member
Older pilot here sticking one toe back in the water...
Like most of you I have been a life-long aviation buff. In my case it started one summer afternoon in the late 50's when my older brother and I were playing in the back yard. A small silver airplane flew low over the house, and I remember jumping up and pointing at it while excitedly shouting that it was an airplane.
Fast forward to the end of the unpleasantness in SE Asia and I was in AFROTC when the detachment commander called all of us in to tell us our services were no longer needed. I went off and did other things.
Five years later I was between jobs and called the local AF recruiter to ask if the AF was looking for pilots. He laughed and said yes, but that you had to have a degree and that the program was highly competitive. I said okay...I have a BS in math and had been in ROTC. To make a long story bearable several months later I enlisted in the AF, made it through "Fishpots" and OTS before settling in at Laughlin Air Force Patch in sunny Del Rio, Texas. A year later I walked across the stage as a newly minted AF pilot.
Fast forward 25 years and I retired from the AF after participating in every significant military adventure after Grenada, and was really no longer interested in aviation. Determined to find something new in my life I started making composite wings & things for my other hobby...road racing with SCCA.
Some years later and those airplanes flying low over my house are starting to arouse my interest again. I have an old TEAM Hi-Max that is nearly complete. I should complete it before moving on to any other projects. Flying my Maule low and slow over the countryside was always a favorite way to spend a few hours, and the Hi-Max fills that bill nicely.
That said, I will never forget my first flight in the T-37. The big bubble canopy with its low nose and an uninterrupted view was so superior to that Cessna 172 I had flown in Flight Screening, with its El Dorado-style long hood (cowling) and six foot spinning disc interfering with my vision, that I keep coming back to a 2-seat side-by-side pusher as my ideal bird.
I don't know what's out there that might fill the bill, but I'm interested in looking. Heck, I didn't even know what an SLA was a week ago, and had only the dimmest recollection of ultralights. The journey should be fun... :ban:
Stan
Like most of you I have been a life-long aviation buff. In my case it started one summer afternoon in the late 50's when my older brother and I were playing in the back yard. A small silver airplane flew low over the house, and I remember jumping up and pointing at it while excitedly shouting that it was an airplane.
Fast forward to the end of the unpleasantness in SE Asia and I was in AFROTC when the detachment commander called all of us in to tell us our services were no longer needed. I went off and did other things.
Five years later I was between jobs and called the local AF recruiter to ask if the AF was looking for pilots. He laughed and said yes, but that you had to have a degree and that the program was highly competitive. I said okay...I have a BS in math and had been in ROTC. To make a long story bearable several months later I enlisted in the AF, made it through "Fishpots" and OTS before settling in at Laughlin Air Force Patch in sunny Del Rio, Texas. A year later I walked across the stage as a newly minted AF pilot.
Fast forward 25 years and I retired from the AF after participating in every significant military adventure after Grenada, and was really no longer interested in aviation. Determined to find something new in my life I started making composite wings & things for my other hobby...road racing with SCCA.
Some years later and those airplanes flying low over my house are starting to arouse my interest again. I have an old TEAM Hi-Max that is nearly complete. I should complete it before moving on to any other projects. Flying my Maule low and slow over the countryside was always a favorite way to spend a few hours, and the Hi-Max fills that bill nicely.
That said, I will never forget my first flight in the T-37. The big bubble canopy with its low nose and an uninterrupted view was so superior to that Cessna 172 I had flown in Flight Screening, with its El Dorado-style long hood (cowling) and six foot spinning disc interfering with my vision, that I keep coming back to a 2-seat side-by-side pusher as my ideal bird.
I don't know what's out there that might fill the bill, but I'm interested in looking. Heck, I didn't even know what an SLA was a week ago, and had only the dimmest recollection of ultralights. The journey should be fun... :ban:
Stan
