Questions about flying etc

[Mallory]

Been in a small plane (4 seater), a helicopter and a hot air balloon. I really have no desire to do anything more than that.

I used to fly commercial for business about twice a month, flying lost all it's romance for me after about the third trip and just became a glorified bus from that point on.

 

[nevermore]

Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying?

No, but my colleague does, which means I get to go to conferences in her place, which is nice.

Is there anyone who has never flown?

Flew for the first time when I was 2 weeks old, Baltimore to LA. Probably about 50 times since then, varying lengths. Cross-country about 15 times, cross-atlantic thrice and smaller flights of 30 mins-6 hours make up the rest.

Who here has a pilot's licence?

Not I, but another colleague is getting hers, which sounds fun, And hard.

Have you ever done any of the following

Been in a small plane

Puddle jumpers for short hops, yes. Something really small like a Cesna, no.

Been in a helicopter
Been in a glider
Gone hang gliding

Nope. No interest.

Been up in a hot-air balloon

Yes, though it was tethered. Not that exciting, really.

Been skydiving

Nope, but I would so do that. Almost did a couple years ago in Vegas, but we were too hung over...

Flown an ultralight

Nope. Not interested.

 

[Niorah]

Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying? Not a phobia, but I am definitely not comfortable with flying, mainly because I don't want to die in a plane crash.

Have you ever done any of the following:

Been in a small plane: Yes, it had only 18 seats all in all, 9 on one side and 9 on the other, and it had two propellers, one on each wing. I'd call that small.
Been in a helicopter: No, and I would like to try it
Been in a glider: No, and I wouldn't want to try it
Gone hang gliding: No, and I wouldn't want to try it
Been up in a hot-air balloon: No, and I wouldn't want to try it
Been skydiving: No, and I wouldn't want to try it
Flown an ultralight: No, and I wouldn't want to try it

Does it show that flying is not really my thing?

 

[teya]

You can answer some or all or none of the questions I am about to ask.


Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying?
Is there anyone who has never flown?
Who here has a pilot's licence?

No phobia. I took my first flight at 2. And no license.

Have you ever done any of the following

Been in a small plane
Been in a helicopter
Been in a glider
Gone hang gliding
Been up in a hot-air balloon
Been skydiving
Flown an ultralight

if not, are there any of these that you would like to do.?

I've done all except flying in a glider, hang-gliding and flying an ultralight.

Skydiving was the best.

 

[MANT!]

Flying IS my thing.. after all I work in aviation,

I have flown in a small plane (A Cessna 152) during high winds..seemed a bit scary at the time..

Flew in a Ford Trimotor during an airshow in the 60s..a lot of fun for a little kid..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/EAA_Ford_Trimotor.jpg

Flew airliners several times during the 60s..we had to dress up, got to sit in the cockpit of the 707 before the flight..lots of fun for a 7 year old..and you were treated good...

Flew on Bombers (B-52Gs and H's) while I was in the USAF during the 80s..Low level training missions were fun..if not downright exciting..

though "touch and go" landings were hard on the stomach..

Flew on deployments in cargo aircraft. (C-130 and C-141).seemed a bit spartan but over all I enjoyed myself..except for the inflight meals..the dreaded "Box Nasty"..
http://www.choxnpinz.com/141starlifter/boxnasties/etarpax.jpg

Flying modern commercial airliners just simply sucks today..You are herded around and treated like cattle shoved into too small seats that you can't stretch out in (I had more leg room in the troop seats I flew many hours in http://www.oromfg.com/seat.jpg)...

at least the meals are better..

 

[Jan]

Have you ever done any of the following

Been in a small plane

Not too small. About a 19-seat commuter plane.

Been in a helicopter

A couple of times

Been in a glider
Gone hang gliding

Nope and nope

Been up in a hot-air balloon

Only once but I'd love to do it again!

Been skydiving
Flown an ultralight

Nope again.

if not, are there any of these that you would like to do.?

I think I'd like to try the glider but that's about it. And more hot air ballooning.

Jan

 

[NCC1701]

I love flying, and everything that comes with it, with the exception of jet lag, maybe lol. Even airplane food is no problem, as I avoid flying over the US, and with airlines like Qantas and Air New Zealand. I've flown in a lot of aircraft (Boeing 737, 747, 767, 777, Airbus A320 and A330, Lockheed L-1011, McDonnell Douglas DC-9, a large variety of Cessnas, Piper Warrior II) and I started to train to fly for my PPL in Robin 2120s about three years ago, nearly getting to solo stage, until I ran out of money for it. I'll get my PPL one day, when I'm a qualified gasfitter.

 

[Lindley]

I may well have had my pilot's license by now if the weather hadn't been so windy lately! As it is I've got a few more hours to build up, but it's not too far away.

Obviously I've flown small planes----mostly 172s, although I did try a 152 once. Longest I've flown solo so far is Manassas to Richmond, then back via Gordonsville (KGVE).

Gordonsville is a *tiny* airport. I know they say the runway is only 2000 feet long and 40 feet wide in the book, but the reality of actually trying to land on a runway that small---with a nice ridge uncomfortably close to the standard left traffic approach---is something else entirely. Especially since the narrow width throws off your approach instincts and there's no glide slope indicator! If I'd had that flight to plan over again I would have ducked over to Charlottesville where they have a proper runway.

Haven't done any of those other things on the list, unfortunately. I'd like to try several of them.

Yes, I flew in a small plane over the Grand Canyon in a thunderstorm. Exciting!

Dangerous. Nothing Cessna-sized has any business near a thunderstorm, no matter what rating the pilot has. If the pilot managed to convince you things were fine, he must have been either very confident or very stupid.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yes, I flew in a small plane over the Grand Canyon in a thunderstorm. Exciting!

Dangerous. Nothing Cessna-sized has any business near a thunderstorm, no matter what rating the pilot has. If the pilot managed to convince you things were fine, he must have been either very confident or very stupid.

I think it came up unexpectedly, but it was eighteen years ago, so I don't remember the part before the flight, just the flight itself. And about a week after I got home, I read that a similar flight had crashed in a thunderstorm.

But a picture I took during the flight won a little photo contest.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Yes, I flew in a small plane over the Grand Canyon in a thunderstorm. Exciting!

Dangerous. Nothing Cessna-sized has any business near a thunderstorm, no matter what rating the pilot has. If the pilot managed to convince you things were fine, he must have been either very confident or very stupid.

I think it came up unexpectedly, but it was eighteen years ago, so I don't remember the part before the flight, just the flight itself. And about a week after I got home, I read that a similar flight had crashed in a thunderstorm.

But a picture I took during the flight won a little photo contest.

Do you still have the photo?

 

[clint g]

I've flown a few times, mostly in commercial jet air planes of varying sizes. I have flown in Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters before. Those were pretty cool

 

[captcalhoun]

i've never flown, but i have sat in the cockpit of a trainer at the RAF Museum at Hendon.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Dangerous. Nothing Cessna-sized has any business near a thunderstorm, no matter what rating the pilot has. If the pilot managed to convince you things were fine, he must have been either very confident or very stupid.

I think it came up unexpectedly, but it was eighteen years ago, so I don't remember the part before the flight, just the flight itself. And about a week after I got home, I read that a similar flight had crashed in a thunderstorm.

But a picture I took during the flight won a little photo contest.

Do you still have the photo?

Somewhere, yes. I'm not sure how easily I could find it. My mother also had a large version hanging on her living room wall for a while; I'll see if I can dig one of them up this weekend.

 

[cultcross]

i've never flown, but i have sat in the cockpit of a trainer at the RAF Museum at Hendon.

That's an awesome museum.

 

[John Clark]

Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying?
Is there anyone who has never flown?
Who here has a pilot's licence?

Have you ever done any of the following

Been in a small plane
Been in a helicopter
Been in a glider
Gone hang gliding
Been up in a hot-air balloon
Been skydiving
Flown an ultralight

if not, are there any of these that you would like to do.?

I have a bit of a phobia about heights, but at the same time love to fly.

I've flown in a small plane and helicopter. I'd like to try skydiving and when I get round to it, want to try getting both a fixed wing and rotary wing licence

I've also flown in an old Dragon Rapide and Dakota besides the above and the usual commercial types.

 

[RevDMV]

I have my private pilots license, and owned a Cessna 172 for awhile.

I've always loved flying and planes (anything that fly's really). I'm one of those people who look up whenever I hear something flying by.

One of my piloting goals is to fly a P-51 Mustang. Not sure how I'll pull that off, but its a goal.

My next training goal is to some taildragger training this spring.

 

[DeafPoet]

Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying?

Yep. Terrified.

Is there anyone who has never flown?

I've flown begrudgingly. It's a funny story. Most of my buddies are pilots but until 2 years ago I had never flown at all. So my friend Jeff dropped by one day and asked if I wanted to go to Toronto with him for the day. I agreed, but the son of a bitch pulled off the highway at the airport on the way. "Oh, we're flying to Toronto. Did I mention that?" Fucking jerk

Been in a small plane

Yep. A Cessna 172. In fact, that's it. Never flown commercially.

Been in a helicopter
Been in a glider
Gone hang gliding
Been up in a hot-air balloon
Been skydiving
Flown an ultralight

So that's a 'no' to the rest of these.

 

[Mark de Vries]

I've only ever flown once in my life (will, twice, since it was a return trip), and that was just a short 1-hour hop. I'm fine with it, which is odd since I do have a mild fear of heights. It's a good thing aircraft don't have floor windows...

I would fly on most other contraptions, I think, but I wouldn't skydive.

 

[Arthur Frelling Dent]

I've flown many, many times on commercial jets varying in size from 727's and 737's to 747's on flights ranging from 45 minutes to 14 1/2 hours. Although I was supposed to fly in a US Marine Corps Chinook helicopter once but missed out due to miscommunication (long story), the only other type of aircraft I've flown on was a blimp, which was awesome. The only thing that bothers me about flying is turbulence. It's not even the turbulence itself (and I've been through some nasty stuff). It's the anticipation and not knowing. Is each bump going to be followed by an even bigger bump? How long is the turbulence going to last? It's like an earthquake here in California. When a little one starts you never know if that's it or if it's the start of The Big One.

 

[Guartho]

•Who here has a pilot's licence?
Close, but no cigar. It was a schedule/weather thing and I never got back to it after graduation.

•Have you ever done any of the following
•Been in a small plane
Yes. I've even been onboard for an unexpected landing in a field and I've been a passenger in one of these:

Unfortunately my stomach wasn't up to some of the real fun stuff that day.

•Been in a helicopter
Yes. One of these:

•Been in a glider
Nope

•Gone hang gliding
Nope

•Been up in a hot-air balloon
Nope

•Been skydiving
Nope

•Flown an ultralight
Nope

I would like to do all of those.