Jaypratt

Jaypratt

Well Known Member
Mentor
How to do more flying??

Like others, I came to this late, 38 years old getting PPL, Comerical , INST, Multi. Now have 4325.8 TT
I have averaged 160 hours a year since starting.
I would like to do more in the time I have left. Pattern work is not interesting.
Local flights to friends farm strips, along with lunch flights are a weekly activity. Spring and summer trips are fun. Every day I look out and check the WX and think,,, can I fly today? Still I want to fly more.
Guess I have the flying bug, and can't get over it. I have the time and money. Do not have the want's to fly around the world or other countries.
Stunts and Formation are not my thing. Still want to fly more.
Ideas from the RV family?
The Puppy flying sounds good. How do I get into that?
 
Sign up at Pilots n' Paws right here, Jay. You can fly as much or as little as you want. Great organization. I am not an accountant, but you can take a charitable deduction for those flights according to their website.
 
Charity work is always good for the soul and leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling. Dog rescue work may be a good one. Find someone in hospice care with a relative that can't afford to fly in for that last good-bye, then go pick them up. Think outside the box and see where your heart leads you. There are plenty of goodwill deeds to be done and I'll bet a guy with his own plane, time, and money can foot the bill for many of them.
 
Perhaps I'm in the same boat. As my children leave the nest, I find that I have more time to enjoy flying, and the budget allows me to try new things.

I do the acro - it's fun and teaches me how to control the plane in unusual attitudes and conditions.

I do the formation - it's challenging to maintain precise position in relation to other aircraft in the flight.

I do the local fly-outs to visit projects or grab a burger.

I do the pattern work - still trying to get on the ground without bouncing a couple of times.

I do cross-country - visit my extended family, oshkosh, etc.

I've signed up to receive notifications of animal transport, but haven't participated yet. I will when the need arises in a location where I can assist.

I would enjoy more "destination" flights - When someone says "Let's meet at the campground at La Petit on such-and-such date, or someone plans a flight such as Rosie's flights to the Bahama's, or down to Baja California, or Alaska. These would be great chances to expand the flying camaraderie while increasing our skills.
 
More Things to do

Hello, Jay,

Here are a few more ideas:

1. Participate in the EAA Young Eagles program: http://www.youngeagles.org/
This is a great way to introduce young people to aviation, and share your time and passion doing something you want to do anyway. Most local chapters have a "Young Eagles Day" at some point during the year. There is also a schedule on the Young Eagles website.

2. Try some SARL (Sport Air Racing League) cross country races. "Borrowed Horse" should do very well in the RV Blue class. Mike Thompson (RV6) of Austin has done a great job starting and growing the sport: www.sportairrace.org and Mike's e-mail is [email protected]

3. Finally, combine a trip to Pagosa Springs for some camping with the Pagosa 150 air race on September 22 of next year. It's a fun route through the lower mountains around Pagosa, with great socializing on Friday night.

(For those not familiar with SARL, Mike Thompson sanctions races throughout the US in the stage rallye format. There is no wing-to-wing racing as the aircraft start at 20 second intervals, with the fastest ones first. FARs are adhered to, and safety is the prime consideration. Great fun! How fast is YOUR RV?)
 
Instruct?

Jay,
One thing to augment your current flying would be to get your CFI and then do some transition training, both in your RV and maybe tailwheel checkouts in your supercub...just a thought!
 
panhandler1956 said:
One thing to augment your current flying would be to get your CFI and then do some transition training, both in your RV and maybe tailwheel checkouts in your supercub...just a thought!
Click to expand...

NOT everyone should teach, but I'm really surprised to hear you're not already instructing, Jay. When I met you at LOE a few years ago, it only took a few minutes before you were explaining the historical implications of "Borrowed Horse." Teaching seemed natural to your personality. I knew you were already teaching people to build, and I was sad I didn't live closer to Hicks to take advantage of that.

Hear, hear, to you instructing. I think you'd be great at it.

--
Stephen
 
Jay,
Seems like in our previous conversations you had a cessna 180. You could check out Angelflight.com . This entails hauling kids from one place to another in need of treatment for illnesses and other problems. A good cause from what I understand.
Ryan
 
These are good ideas Jay, but I have one word for you....FLOATS! I can see you & Carol and all your gear on a nice lake. I believe that some 180's actually have floats already, so you won't be first.
 
Paws

I signed up for Paws. We will see if I can get a flight to help some dogs.
The 180 does not have a float kit, but Shooter does, but I don't think I will float it.
Thanks for the Ideas.
 
Jay,

Before I started step one, I had your rules for finishing a build in a timely manner posted on my garage wall. I added one of my own rules to it...save a bunch of money before starting so when that engine/prop/fwf needed ordering I would be ready. Thanks for the tips.

In two years of building, I had two RV pilots take me up. I really appreciated it and was a big motivator for me. I flew approximately one hr/month in rented 172's ...very motivating too, if you know what I mean.

So, my recommendation...take a nearby builder without much excess money and deteriorating flying/radio/navigation skills up flying to a close destination. Lunch, EAA pancake breakfast or to another airport with lots of RV's. They will always remember those times. Every once in awhile someone will ask on here but many are probably like me and would not. I am going to return the favor when I get some time on mine.

All of the above posters had some great ideas too and I may try some of those soon.
 
We have some of the same background factors

I also was not one of the fortunate that learned to fly the family Piper Cub in my daddy's lap as an infant but then those that have to wait with personal flying off in an abstract part of the mind reserved for impossible dreams may appreciate it more when it comes to pass. I took my first flying lesson at 44 and currently have a little over 5,000 hours all ASEL with an instrument rating. Three flying activities were/are great satisfiers to me:

(1) Fly to work - In the late 1980s the stars aligned and things were right to enable me to fly to work every day in the Los Angeles area until I retired in September of 2004. It is impossible to convey the depth of that very personal experience to anyone and it is not something you can just do if conditions are not right so I will just say those 15 years of twice a day flights in almost any weather with a demanding work schedule are golden to me. I still have my worn out leather jacket that I wore and hope to have it restored some day.

(2) Group Travel - Group travel to a common destination for exploration, appreciation and/or adventure is great enjoyment. A fellow named Doug Bowles started a program for our flying club to make weekend trips to interesting places. We were based at the Orange County Airport in Santa Ana, California so our trip history radiated from there. Westward we didn't get very far but in the other 190 degrees or so we used the capabilities of our magic carpets to see much that we would never have even thought about on our own. To the north we reached Hood River and Gold Beach in Oregon as well as the Reno Air Races (twice). To the south we visited Cabo San Lucas and many other exotic destinations in Mexico. To the east we hit all of the National Parks and Monuments where we could rent vans, cars or hire local buses (once a school bus) and once or twice a train to provide ground transportation. Doug was like the pied piper and he drew in this group of unrelated people into what was to become one of the most memorable activities of our lives. After the first couple of years volunteers were stepping forward to plan and organize trips. I am kind of a loner personally but even I was affected by the camaraderie. Based on the LOE results I think there would be a lot of interest in such trips within VAF.

(3) Cross Country Air Racing - I believe we met at a race in Taylor, Texas. You were probably just in the area and checking it out but the Sport Air Racing League (SARL - www.sportairrace.org) is growing and you could participate in that activity. This year ther were twenty or so races and next year the leader Mike Thompson said there is interest in putting on eight more. This is technically challenging if you want to win and the associated social functions are growing (although I seldom participate, quite a few people are glowing in their feedback). Me, I just want to use my capabilities to modify our RV-6A to get more speed out of it - if I win races over other 360 powered RVs it validates the accomplishment.

Bob Axsom
 
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Jaypratt said:
Stunts and Formation are not my thing.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you know better, but precision aerobatics is the antithesis of "stunts". :) Precision acro is not about adrenalin or getting your kicks watching the horizon spin around. It's about the satisfaction of learning to precisely control your airplane through a much wider range of envelopes than would otherwise be possible if limited to "non-aerobatic" maneuvering. The fact that you acheive unusual attitudes is almost incidental. Most people who do acro are just lazy fun "floppers". I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but many don't realize (or care about) the large potential left for doing even the basic maneuvers. Of course, folks who get serious about precision acro start out "flopping around", and if it doesn't interest you at this basic level, then it's probably a safe bet that it's not for you. Just trying to spread the gospel. :)
 
Technical Counseling

You have tons of invaluable experience in RV building Jay. Expand RV Central to national level and fly to advise the builders. Be in Maine this weekend and in Arizona the Friday after next.
 
I'm with Vlad--

Consult!!!!! Share your knowledge with lucky others that you could visit.
I look at it this way, if we don't share the knowledge, when we pass on, the knowledge is also gone. And----if you help someone to LEARN, then they can also teach others. The Jay Pratt Legacy plan!
Tom
 
Set a goal to visit every airport in Texas; that oughta take a while, Airnav lists 391, and that doesn't include the private ones you could get permission for. When you get done with that, move out to Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc...
 
You Can Be Proactive, Too

Jaypratt said:
I signed up for Paws. We will see if I can get a flight to help some dogs.
Click to expand...

Hey Jay,

You can be proactive with PnP as well. You don't have to wait for an email to make it's way to you. (Be sure that you filled in at least some distance willing to travel (even if you aren't sure what that is) on your profile, or you won't get any emails about transports through your area).

Take a look at the map, http://pilotsnpaws.org/references/maps/, and see if any of the routes tickle your fancy. You can get details about the dog, requester, any special notations by clicking on the course line. (It is sometimes tricky to get it, but if you click on the larger map and zoom in it makes it easier.) You can then add a post with what part of the flight you are willing to do or contact the posters directly (either through the board by clicking on their user name if you're logged in, or many provide an email address right in the request post.)

Don't forget that PnP will send you crates if you give them enough warning to get them shipped to you. Just let them know what size you'll need. You can find info about how to get the crates on the pilot FAQ page, http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/forum/faq.php?mode=pilot#f2r0

I know that one person tried to add a dog to the Dallas to Denver flight, but we just couldn't accommodate it. I don't see a request on the board for the flight, but I'm sure she'd be glad to hear from you, kimberly at shelter2rescue dot org. If she were to have the first half of the flight taken care of, she might find the other half if you didn't want to go all the way to Denver. (I wouldn't, that's a long trip.)

If you ever need a tag team from my neck of the woods and the dog is small enough, give me a holler.

Be sure to check out the success stories at the PnP home page, http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/. Our trip from Saturday went up this morning.
 
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Jay, you need the 4 "B's"

Beer, Brats, & Boating at Bull Shoals.
Pick a time and give me a call or PM.:)
 
Great Idea!

Vlad said:
You have tons of invaluable experience in RV building Jay. Expand RV Central to national level and fly to advise the builders. Be in Maine this weekend and in Arizona the Friday after next.
Click to expand...

Since i am a senior citizen and can only look.. ! Is there any one building a RV in a Hooters Resturant? I will travel in my RV8 Borrowed Horse and help! San Diego, Ca would be a nice warm location.
 
PnP

tcard,,, I will study the PnP web site an try to learn the ins and outs.. I did put a 250 mile limit in my res. Thinking I would not want to be stuck over night somewhere. Yes Denver is a bit long.

Thanks
 
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LA

Jay,
If you come to South Alabama for Pat, you're welcome to RON at my house!!! Close to where the Cub is/was. Of course, you'd have to look at my 9A and tell me if I'm doing it right!!!
 
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