Aircraft mechanic. Have worked in General Aviation, piston engine overhaul, a little bit on helicopters. Now with a regional airline. After spinning wrenches for the airline, I’m now in the office working on fleet reliability improvements and maintenance issues.
I have a 1/2 share in a Cessna 172b but I am lucky to fly it 100 hrs a year as I chase those elusive $100 hamburgers on whatever bright sunny days we happen to get in Wisconsin. I will also probably fly less in the years to come because of the fuel prices. We are STC'd to burn auto gas and that helps some, but it is still getting expensive.
I also have a 80% scale Tiger Moth (the Fisher Flying Products kit) that I have the wing structures, tail feathers, and fuselage just about finished after about 6 years of work. Now comes engine, controls, varnish, covering, and paint, at the rate I am going I give myself about another 6~8 years to finish it. I guess I like being able to say that I have an airplane in the basement!
I have been an airplane nut since I was little. My Dad was a Navy pilot and then always had airplanes as a civilian. In fact, he had a 1/2 share back in the 60's in the exact same 172b that I do now. Its kinda neat to fly the same plane that I flew in with my Dad when I was a pup, and I hope to keep the airplane another 6 or 7 years so my son can pilot it too. He would be the 3rd generation at the controls!
There has been some mention of EAA AirVenture/Oshkosh in the travel forum. My Dad took me to my first when it was still at Rockford, and since it moved to Oshkosh in '70 I have only missed it 2 or 3 times. Myself and my family will be there again this year. We'll be set up out in Camp Scholler probably the entire week, out near 10th and Lindbergh (look for a white Starcraft toy-hauler trailer pulled by a blue Ford F-150). Any CX/GL types are very welcome to stop by in the evening for a cool one and plenty of aircraft or motorcycle talk.
Interstater
LaCrosse WI
mcreviver wrote:Everybody will be flying less as fuel prices escalate into the wild blue. I have some customers now who only fly 6 to 25 hours a year. And for that they have to pay me to re-license their planes every year, plus hangar rent, insurance, and recurrent check rides and medicals. How much does that figure out to per hour? I wouldn't recommend anyone get into small aircraft maintenance at this time. And if you want to learn to fly, you better have deep pockets or else join the military and let them pay your bills.
I checked my logbook. In 2007 I flew 102.6 hrs, at the rate I am going this year i will be lucky to fly 50 hrs. This sux. My aircraft's annual is also up at the end of the month, so there is another bill I get to face. Even doing an owner-assisted annual it is going to be painful. I am also being hammered this summer with a 80% increase in T-hanger rent and a new requirement that I buy insurance that covers the city's hangar. What the??? You are right, flying is for the birds,,,,,,
WHAT!!!! Jump out of a perfectlly good airplane....bbbbbut why???
Actually I already know the answer to this question having done this my self.
Al
anoke422 wrote:I am currently working as a pilot on a Citation II that is owned by a couple of locally based companies. I am also an active flight instructor (CFI, CFII). I don't make much money, but hey, it beats the hell out of having a real job!
RichNCT wrote:We seem to have some pretty old Genes in this gene pool . . .
Not forgotten by me, I love WW 1 aircraft and I also like peanut scale. I don't do much right now but I will get back into it. Have you ever looked over the planpage
http://www.theplanpage.com/