Airplane Thread

Im a commercial pilot...
never thought id see this on Veeky Forums
what do i do? do you guys have any questions?

How much do you get paid to keep your mouth shut about the chemtrails?

I fly 737-800’s (Not on flight sim)
Feel free to ask questions
I won’t answer questions about the company I fly for

Larp

Sailplane pilot reporting. I don't own anything myself, but through my club I have some toys. Schweizer 2-33 is what I learned on. Now I mostly fly our club's L-23 Super Blanik or our PW-5. Thinking about picking up a Schweizer 1-26. Working on my power rating, most of my hours are in a 172.

Straight to the point

We built a Zenith CH750 back in college as part of an RSO. Used a Corvair engine, definitely a fun little runabout.

Is it really easy to fly a plane?

Some more than others, but yeah, for the most part. Just like a car, it becomes somewhat second nature, but you should always be thinking, always be planning.

>737-800's
That would e southwest

Passed my written test, got my medical cert, but don't have time to take flight school and I'll have to do it all over again.

Nope not american

CASEL here, waking up for my ME checkride today

Fly safe and stay calm

Are sinulators a viable part of your training? Like if I fly thousands of hours in a sim, would I have an easier time to fly the real thing?

Thanks, pilotbro. Just passed it

It's expensive, difficult, fraught with disappointments and unexpected things, and more than 80% of people who pick up a student pilot certificate + medical never get a license of any kind.

As far as making a career of it is concerned, the deal is getting better, pay is going up, but it's still a difficult and often frustrating career.

For hobbyists, it's like sailboats - less expensive than you imagine in some ways, and more in others... And it's easy to get in way over your head.

I have 250 hours or something like that, only flown the 172, 210, and a Tecnam P2006T. Quit for a variety of reasons and don't really have plans to start again, working on planes is much better paying and less stressful (also I can afford the training).

>I know what school you attend, who you are, and where that is.

You taking the course right now?

No. I'm alumni. From before they had the Tecnam.

What did they use for multi before the Tecnam? One of them crashed and 2 instructors were killed, though I've been out for 1.5 years and wasn't there for that.

A red twin commanche that was broke more often than it flew. And ended up in the dirt more than once. Gear was almost as unreliable as the motors.

So???

>Are simulators a viable part of your training?
Yes
>Like if I fly thousands of hours in a sim, would I have an easier time to fly the real thing?
No, you'll just teach yourself bad habits that will make your instructor want to kill you with a ballpoint pen

What if you watch videos on youtube, learning the proper procedures?

Simulators never feel like the real thing, kind of like condoms. And they don’t represent real life well. Good for practicing individual scenarios or situations though

Student pilot here

I fly the Cirrus SR-20

>mfw flew as a teen
>get old
>fuck gay regulations
>only fly paramotors now

Well shit, I have a buddy who's a Parajet distributor.

You flew a Cessna 172 then.

I'm training to to become commercial. I'm at private license right now, how many years did it take you? What was your first job flying?

Private pilot here, i fly an old 182p, but she's in pretty good shape

I'm a mechanic first and a pilot second.

what avionics do you use?

Those things are actually pretty safe.

Nice, do you own it? I'm considering buying a small plane in the next couple of years but it has to be small and light enough that I can operate it from my property after I clear cut and level a strip on it.

Glorious DC3. I'd love to fly one of those, probably never will though. Biggest twin I've flown was a Cessna 421.

At least with boats that's wrong, older engines are piss easy to work on and fiberglass work is pretty easy to learn, sure buying new is always stupid, but you can get a boat pretty cheaply if your willing to fix it up a bit.

I share it with a friend, we wrench on it during the week, and fly around the islands on weekends.

As long as you've got 2500ft, you'll have a lot of options as far as what plane to get. Figure out what you want to use it for, and you can start narrowing things down

...

The easiest part of being a pilot is flying. Even crosswind landings I don't have a problem with. The stressful stuff is everything else.

...

You must either flying for a company, or flying somewhere with predictable weather and tame terrain.

Aircraft ownership is a joy most of the time, its the flying that gets challenging

rekt

Cool, co-ownership is nice, I had a stake in a Cherokee Six for some time, but never needed the capacity.

From the surveying of my land I've done, realistically I have a half mile max of clearable space, but I can only clear what I can afford time and money to clear, I'll probably wind up clearing 2,000ft. I'm very close to sea level so that helps takeoff distances. I already know what I want to use the plane for, mostly short range pleasure flying and the occasional cross country trip. I've been looking at everything from a Super Cub to a Laser Z-200. I'll probably wind up going with something more practical but still aerobatic like a Citabria or Decathalon. It will take a long time to clear the space for the strip so I have plenty of time to save money and look around. I just recently purchased an broken down old grader, and I'm refreshing the hydraulics and engine. It should be up and running by the end of the year, then it'll be time to start felling trees and clearing brush, which will take the most time.

United and Delta have 737-800s too

Why does nobody want this god-tier plane?

If you don't need lot in the way of seating and want something cheap but aerobatic, why not a Sonex? It's a complete blast to fly and it'll do +9/-4.5

Cool, sounds like you've already got a pretty good idea of what you want.

Getting a plane was a huge learning experience for us. There's lots of things outside of performance envelope to consider. Ease of access for old or injured people, low wing VS high wing storage benefits, etc.

It's Canadian.

It's more comfortable and more efficient than any of its Embraer/Airbus/Boeing competitors.

sorry for late reply
took two years from zero to hero, 10 months of that was doing the CAA ATPL which is just about the hardest thing you will do in your career.

If you are in US dont worry about it, its piss easy to become a commercial pilot there, but you will never make european/asian pilot money, and more importantly, you will not have a deep technical understanding of everything aviation.

now wish me luck, I have my SEIR revalidation tomorrow :)

What Sonex does +9G? I've never heard of that. To be honest I haven't looked into them, I just know of them. They probably don't have enough useful load. for what I want.

and they're fucking hideous, I wouldn't take one if you offered it for $100

Sorry, my mistake, that's apparently the limit load factor, according to Sonex. The aerobatic rating is +6/-3

But they're fun, especially with a Jabiru 3300

Superior

>jabiru

But what if i want a reliable engine?

Of course the RV-8 is superior, it's three times the price

I know you can do a Corvair or AeroVee conversion, but they both have their tradeoffs and negatives. Pretty sure a Rotax will work too.

I want to ride in a DC3

I have my private and instrument. Flown a Cessna 172 for the most part. Also a few hours in a turbo 182.

Flying is one of the greatest thrills man can experience.

My brother is an intercontinental Lufthansa pilot.

Vans RV3 /RV4

Wouldn't know... no one has them except Swiss air and airbaltic.

I’ve just started learning in a Robinson R44 and my hovering is shocking. Forward flight isn’t too bad.

No love for the Cherokee?

I prefer the throttle on the PA-28 over the push/pull arrangement in the Cessnas. I also think the Cherokee reacts a little quicker than the 172. I kind of liken the Cherokee to a Miata and a 172 to Corolla.

Tried to compete with Airbus/Boeing and got fucked. Now they're Airbus property because Bombardier was too broke to afford the program that they had to ask Canadian govt help, which fucked them even further because now they have to face two accusiations from Embraer and Boeing.

I like seeing what's below me though.

I spent plenty of time behind the yoke of Cherokees when I was in flight school, had partial ownership of a Cherokee Six, they're good planes. They're a little more responsive than Cessna 172s just by nature of being low wing, though they have a lot of dihedral. I too prefer a conventional throttle to control to a old school vending machine knob.

Meh, you can see the ground pretty well with low wing planes especially if you turn. I'll probably wind up owning a high wing plane but low wing is what I want for the flight dynamics and looks and mid wing is even better.

Except when you have to turm, right? Lmao
172 is a meme plane, it flies like shit and is incredibly unpleasant to land, feels like a plane designed for girls. The Cherokee on the other hand is an absolute pleasure to land, you cut the power and it gracefully but willfully comes down. I am so glad I never have to touch a 172 again. Have 100 solo xc in a Cherokee and would do it all again because that plane is a pleasure to fly.

I like being able to use the floorspace in my hangar. Low wing planes are a bitch to work around

The 172 is stupid simple to fly and I think that's its mass appeal. It turns like a boat and goes nose down everytime you push it where it isn't comfortable. I mostly fly gliders and it's a lot like a Schweizer 2-33, but at least the 2-33 has character.

>gliders
Ever fly a Windex?

Nope, but they're cool as fuck. Haven't had much experience with motor gliders aside from a Xenos once, and that's not quite the same concept.

I wish i had a small airplane with an engine of my choice

LOL @ 300% tariff

Seeing how you're on Veeky Forums you'd probably choose an engine which is shit for an airplane and wind up deadsticking in some trees somewhere.

I've only a minimal number of hours in gliders compared to my GA experience but it was enough to give me the glider mindset which made me a lot more conscious of energy management and less afraid of an engine failure. I'd love to own a Windex motorglider because I love how gliders fly but requiring a towplane or winch launch really complicates things and adds to the cost of flying them, they seem like the best option for a single person gliding operation out there since they don't require ground assistance and are good as both a powered airplane and a glider. Plus they're pretty aerobatic.

Saw some pretty cool setups with turbo Subie Boxer-4s up at Oshkosh a few years back. I think there are some other guys doing aero kits for LS engines too. You just have to use a PSRU, which, granted, is heavy, but you could potentially get the same performance as an expensive high output Lyco.

What do helis go full autists when you shine a laser at them

>tfw no Rutan plane

Should I decide to stop falling for the STEM meme, but dad's boss was willing to help cover flying lessons for me if I want to fly cropdusters for him. The issue is I heard enough from my dad about the frequent accidents given they fly so low, and how sketchy their fleet it, some of them including Hueys dating back to Vietnam

You're totally right. It's amazing how even a few hours in a glider can change the way you fly, isn't it? It gets you thinking about coordination and how you use the rudder. Guys with thousands of hours in power suddenly realise how much of a crutch the throttle is. When correcting with power isn't an option, you learn how to use your controls efficiently and effectively.

Private currently getting commercial licence and instrument rated. Float plane training in Alaska after that.

That's why Airbus bought it. EU was afraid of losing >muh jobs in Eurostan.

I wish I could fly, I just got shit eyesight and need glasses, and am R/G colorblind

Always wanted to be an astronaut after seeing all the Apollo missions or a test pilot or hell even a bush pilot, Fuck life is depressing, If I ever did build my own aircraft Id try to see if I could get pic related flying, Tired of EAA members calling their shitty homebuilt cessna's "experimental"

Experimental should be a class of airplane left for those truly insane/suicidally romanced by flight, no more, no less.

Id either build an LLTV, or a Bell X-1, because fuck it, might as well try to do something crazy or interesting for once.

Come to Fort Worth

Never seen a laser but it's probably because they fly low enough and the increased visibility of the cockpit makes it worse.

I work for a company manufacturing planes, we are small, but the product is great. I work on wing completion