Any other pilots?

z987k

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Joined
Sep 9, 2020
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1,425
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AK
Bumping this as one of the newest commercial AMEL/ASEL pilots in the US. Will probably do my CFI this summer, and hopefully get to 500 hours by the time I'm headed to AK permanently next year. If anyone has advice or a hookup on a gig near Anchorage, shoot me a PM!
Show up, knock on doors. Don't wear a suit. Get a 907 number.
Join the EAA, go to the airmen show events, fly ins....network.

If hiring goes back to pre-pandemic levels, which it very well might by early next year, forget what I said above and just have a pulse and make a couple phone calls.
 

Geewhiz

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Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
2,027
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SW MT
Reviving this. Just started ground school a few weeks ago. Hoping to have my PPL within the next year.
Congrats on jumping in! What are your goals? Are you hoping to buy a plane, partnership, rent? What type of flying do you envision yourself doing? What kind of plane do you want to fly?
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Messages
1,149
Location
Alaska
Congrats on jumping in! What are your goals? Are you hoping to buy a plane, partnership, rent? What type of flying do you envision yourself doing? What kind of plane do you want to fly?
Just always like airplanes from a young age. Joined the airforce and have gotten to work on them for the last 15 years that has caused a love hate relationship.
Just going to rent for now hopefully buy in a few years(retirement).

But I'm really just wanting to enjoy it for now. I do want to get my rear wheel and float endorsements. Just got stationed in Alaska and a plane is the best way to really see this place. Of coarse I am wanting to use it for hunting and fishing but enjoyment is really the number goal.
Hopefully one day go commercial but that's probably a second retirement thing.

The what kind of plane is a hard answer. I don't really know enough about them yet to know specifically. So I let go with they kind that I know...F-16, 22, 35.. not the 15 really hate that jet!!!.
Ok seriously though just any of the rear wheels. Our club has one and I'm not sure what it is. It's canvas body. It's super slick though.
 

Geewhiz

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Aug 6, 2020
Messages
2,027
Location
SW MT
Just always like airplanes from a young age. Joined the airforce and have gotten to work on them for the last 15 years that has caused a love hate relationship.
Just going to rent for now hopefully buy in a few years(retirement).

But I'm really just wanting to enjoy it for now. I do want to get my rear wheel and float endorsements. Just got stationed in Alaska and a plane is the best way to really see this place. Of coarse I am wanting to use it for hunting and fishing but enjoyment is really the number goal.
Hopefully one day go commercial but that's probably a second retirement thing.

The what kind of plane is a hard answer. I don't really know enough about them yet to know specifically. So I let go with they kind that I know...F-16, 22, 35.. not the 15 really hate that jet!!!.
Ok seriously though just any of the rear wheels. Our club has one and I'm not sure what it is. It's canvas body. It's super slick though.
I've had the itch for quite sometime too. Maybe I'm going about this a bit backwards but I wanted to save up until I had the cash up front for an airplane and flight lesons to get my ppl. That way I can buy the plane and learn to fly in it. All that to say, I just purchased a piper j5 cub with a 125hp lycoming 0-290d up front. I'm giddy to get going to say the least.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Messages
1,149
Location
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I've had the itch for quite sometime too. Maybe I'm going about this a bit backwards but I wanted to save up until I had the cash up front for an airplane and flight lesons to get my ppl. That way I can buy the plane and learn to fly in it. All that to say, I just purchased a piper j5 cub with a 125hp lycoming 0-290d up front. I'm giddy to get going to say the least.
Looks like a really nice plane. With that being a rearwheel I'm not sure if they will allow you to train in for your ppl. I could be totally wrong. But I know most places want you to train in a Cessna 172. It's know as "The Trainer" it's pretty standard. But I would be crazy giddy if I had just bought a plane like that too!! I do know it should be cheaper if you buy "block hours" instead of doing maybe a few hours a month or week if you can dedicate several flights a week some schools will give you a discount if you buy the hours in advance.
 

Geewhiz

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Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
2,027
Location
SW MT
Looks like a really nice plane. With that being a rearwheel I'm not sure if they will allow you to train in for your ppl. I could be totally wrong. But I know most places want you to train in a Cessna 172. It's know as "The Trainer" it's pretty standard. But I would be crazy giddy if I had just bought a plane like that too!! I do know it should be cheaper if you buy "block hours" instead of doing maybe a few hours a month or week if you can dedicate several flights a week some schools will give you a discount if you buy the hours in advance.
I know the flight instructor at our local airport well and have been discussing the whole process with him. I will have to fly their 172 for a few hours for some instrument training but otherwise I will be able to get my training done in the cub.
 

z987k

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Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
1,425
Location
AK
Looks like a really nice plane. With that being a rearwheel I'm not sure if they will allow you to train in for your ppl. I could be totally wrong. But I know most places want you to train in a Cessna 172. It's know as "The Trainer" it's pretty standard. But I would be crazy giddy if I had just bought a plane like that too!! I do know it should be cheaper if you buy "block hours" instead of doing maybe a few hours a month or week if you can dedicate several flights a week some schools will give you a discount if you buy the hours in advance.
It's tailwheel. Not rearwheel.

You can train in anything. You can do you initial training in a twin or a float plane.

If your entire purpose in doing this is to fly tailwheels off airport hunting and fishing, honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense to learn in a 172. You'll have to learn to actually fly airplanes after the 172 anyways. It'll take a little longer to solo in a tailwheel and another 50 hours to master it. But then when you're done you'll be able to go out and fly tailwheels. Not the 1-2 hours an endorsement takes which is a license to wreck your airplane.

You will be a wildly better stick and rudder pilot starting in a cub or citabria than a 172. That said it'll cost more. Tailwheel airplanes are a lot more desirable up here, so purchase price is more. CFIs that can teach in tailwheel are not dime a dozen like a flight school 172 CFI is and therefore cost more. Most flight school CFIs still haven't a clue what they're doing and won't for another 1000 hours or so. Right when they stop teaching.
 
Joined
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I know the flight instructor at our local airport well and have been discussing the whole process with him. I will have to fly their 172 for a few hours for some instrument training but otherwise I will be able to get my training done in the cub.
That's awesome man! Sounds like you have it figured out.
It's tailwheel. Not rearwheel.

You can train in anything. You can do you initial training in a twin or a float plane.

If your entire purpose in doing this is to fly tailwheels off airport hunting and fishing, honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense to learn in a 172. You'll have to learn to actually fly airplanes after the 172 anyways. It'll take a little longer to solo in a tailwheel and another 50 hours to master it. But then when you're done you'll be able to go out and fly tailwheels. Not the 1-2 hours an endorsement takes which is a license to wreck your airplane.

You will be a wildly better stick and rudder pilot starting in a cub or citabria than a 172. That said it'll cost more. Tailwheel airplanes are a lot more desirable up here, so purchase price is more. CFIs that can teach in tailwheel are not dime a dozen like a flight school 172 CFI is and therefore cost more. Most flight school CFIs still haven't a clue what they're doing and won't for another 1000 hours or so. Right when they stop teaching.
Tailwheel! I knew it it didn't sound right when I was calling it a rearwheel!! I don't know why I got stuck on calling it that to begin with.
But that's some great insight! I'll have to look into it more to see if the club here has a tailwheel I can train in instead of the 172.
You seem to know a fair amount and this is probably a really rookie question, but once you get your student license can you log hours with any CFI or does it have to be with the same school you did your ground school with?
 

z987k

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Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
1,425
Location
AK
That's awesome man! Sounds like you have it figured out.

Tailwheel! I knew it it didn't sound right when I was calling it a rearwheel!! I don't know why I got stuck on calling it that to begin with.
But that's some great insight! I'll have to look into it more to see if the club here has a tailwheel I can train in instead of the 172.
You seem to know a fair amount and this is probably a really rookie question, but once you get your student license can you log hours with any CFI or does it have to be with the same school you did your ground school with?
You can change CFIs at any point you wish. That's something I wish someone told me when I was new. You can fire your CFI if it's not working for whatever reason. That might mean another instructor at the school, a different school, or a freelance CFI. Almost anyone can do basic VFR flying. So if it's really not clicking, look for a fresh perspective. It could be you also, something to keep in mind.

I assume you're doing this on base at the club there?
 
Joined
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You can change CFIs at any point you wish. That's something I wish someone told me when I was new. You can fire your CFI if it's not working for whatever reason. That might mean another instructor at the school, a different school, or a freelance CFI. Almost anyone can do basic VFR flying. So if it's really not clicking, look for a fresh perspective. It could be you also, something to keep in mind.

I assume you're doing this on base at the club there?
I am.. I havnt met the CFI yet. Take you might know a little something about the club?
 

Howard Mee

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Had some of the craziest ice I’ve ever experienced. At one point there was a finger or ice growing forward like an antenna. So bizarre.
78255bd4dbecb443a1c4dd1b919337f8.jpg



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Grumman

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What are we looking at there is that the tip tank? That would scare the hades out of me. How long were you in those conditions?


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