MarcoAviator

Anytime. Where do you live? GRRR GRRR! And he's nice too!

Any man that can just jump in a plane and go for a spin like i would jump in a car does not need punishment, sir, you have my full admiration! Thank you sir! Sadly ... the time is coming for me to part ways with my lovely plane ... I am going for my commercial license and I will soon need to get acquainted with more powerful tools of the trade (multi engines and turboprops) ... I will need to be spending my time flying other birds ... so it won't make sense for me to keep this plane around if I am not going to use it much anymore (it ain't cheap to own a plane and 3 years of ownership have been a bit tough on my finances). It was great while it lasted. Time to make aviation pay off a little bit, even if still just as a hobby. And I plan to start building my own bird by next year ... I need to decide between a Titan T-51 or an RV8 (taildragger of course). Time to go for something SPEEDY.

Anytime. Where do you live?

yep. 1972 ... it's a 180G. It suffered hail damage 4 years ago, and we had it repainted (and re-skinned in some sections). So it looks brand new. Oh and it's got a new panel with a big-ass garmin (480) in it (that's more recent ... last year). Yeah ... I can't complain. I had it for 3 years already (can't believe it's been that long). I am so used to flying it, I can set it up for landing, takeoff, cruise, etc. without looking at the gauges ... just by feel.

Well, in the US Alpha space starts at 18000. So, in theory, I can climb, uncontrolled and without talking to anyone, under VFR all the way to 17999 ... then Alpha starts and you need to be IFR up there (meaning, IFR certified and under an IFR flight plan). I know that other countries have it different ... "transition levels" I think they are called and they start anywhere between 6000 and 10000 depending on the country. Yeh my cherokee has 180hp ... but it's a heavy bird. It's 1600 empty and it grosses at 2500 which means that on a hot summer day I gotta wrestle it off the ground a little (if I have 3 people on board ... 4 people, forget it. it won't even lift off).

thanks for the tips. Will do that. It's a PA28-180 with "Hershey Bars". Better pics ... here: and oh yeah ... that's me.

Oh good! Gotta question for ya then: would it have been ok for me to ask for flight following in this case? even if I am not leaving a 5x5nm square? even if I am just climbing as high as I can go? What do I say? "Allentown approach, N12345 over Alexandria, on a sight-seeing flight, 3000 climbing 10000, will remain within 5 miles over Alexandria" Would the controller be ok with that or would he laugh at my face? Or question why the heck do I want to climb that high to begin with? I mean ... one thing is that you are climbing to your cruise altitude... but in this case I am just, literally sight seeing and there's really not much to see up there ... wouldn't they find it strange? I only ask because I am used to fly with a "purpose" ... never flew just for "sightseeing" before. Always, any altitude, any time of the day (or night) and no matter if I am flying VFR or IFR.

Sorry I didn't make it on Sunday for my first on-line flight with you guys ... but I had an excuse: it was such a beautiful, quiet, sky-clear day, that I couldn't resist the call of the sky.

Nice!! My favorite is the I-16 Vs Me262 ...

Thanks for the welcome guys! Beebop, thanks for the invite, yes I am interested. Mostly I can fly at night. Saturdays til the wee hours sound good to me I just need to practice a bit to remember how to land and takeoff in taildraggers again ...

Howdy! A while ago I played IL2 sturmovik FB pretty intensely but mostly in SP. At some point I got somewhat busy with my (real-life) plane ... which pretty much took all of my spare time. Now, while still busy with my somewhat "dull" Piper