I Could (Don't want to) Fly A Plane.

My Dad was a pilot.  I'm told he let me fly the plane several times.  I have no memory of it. I vaguely remember flying with him.

I'm told, when I flew it was quite an experience.  (recanted by my brothers and step-mother) 

FTR:  My Dad didn't drink.



I have absolutely zero interest in piloting an aircraft.  I will ride a commercial aircraft nowadays if I need too, but I have developed a fear of flying.  Which is actually a thinly veiled excuse for a fear of dying. 

So, I'm no Greg Norman, McPhilson, Travolta, et al.

Any aspiring pilots here?  Anybody wish/want to give it a go?    If I had mega bucks I would hitch a ride with a real fighter jock in an F-14 or some type of Top Gun jet............I think that would be fun, but other than that, my foots is Terra Firma.

Ya'll?

LOL  Stat.s     Not the way I ride.  You should see the looks on peoples faces when they pass me on that machine........It's like What is he doing riding so slow, what is he up to?  He should be doing a hundred.  I'm not sure why he's doing that.  Better get away from him quick.

I got passed the other day by a p.o.s. '97 S-10 who got tired of me doing 55.   

Arrive alive baby.

Yes, yes.  But surely you know what makes them dangerous is only partially caused by the rider - more often than not, its the car/truck that never saw you until you were tossed over the roof or rolled under the bumper.  You're putting a lot of stock into less than alert drivers out there.

Slow is safe - visible is safer (at any speed).



But flying - yeah, I'd do it.  My brother has his helicopter license (unless it expired recently) and some years ago his instructor let me feel the controls and fly for a bit when I was down there one Christmas.  I was stroh cautious, so he had to tell me more than once to TURN it to the left.  He wanted me to make a moderate bank, I was just easing it left ever so slightly... and trying his patience  .  A few minutes later and was getting used to it and made a better backing turn for him  .  It was cool!  

I was working on my private pilot rating for a while, taking lessons on a Cessna 150 and 152.  Only got about 15 hours into it before I gave up.  Crazy expensive for lessons, plane rental, and instruction.

LOL at myself.  I just cracked up with the thought of you on the bike, head darting around like a merkat sensing danger.

Back in the day when I was in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, I won some sort of contest or another (NASA related) and got a ride in a T-38.  The trainer version of the F-5.

Once in the air I was permitted to perform a few manuvers.  I tried an Immelman, but had to quit before I barfed.  Barrel rolls just short of mach 1 are really cool too.  Of course that was some 30 years ago, and I wouldn't come close to fitting in a cockpit now.  (Although I'm down to 236 in the LB category )

This thread proves stroh is a *humid grotto*.

I used to be a kickass pilot on flight sims.   Had a lot of crashes, but I'm still here.