[This article contains 19 individual SEFSD member’s stories.
Six or seven will be printed in each of three parts. Please see the introduction in Part One here – ed]
XIII
- Tom Baker – Age 48
- Did you fly R/C planes before your First Solo, and if so, when did you start flying R/C?
Yes, I flew R/C in 1981 with a balsa wood airplane. Today with flight simulators and SAFE systems it’s so much easier to learn and repair!
- Year (or your age) of your First Solo.
Age 48.
- Location of First Solo.
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
- Aircraft type First Solo’d.
Cessna 150.
- If Solo’d later in other types of aircraft (sailplane/glider, propeller plane, jet), please include that information too.
None.
- Year (or your age) your Pilot License was earned (if you later earned a Pilot’s license).
2009 – Powered Pilots License
- Any additional ratings/certifications earned (Certified Flight Instructor, Instruments, Commercial, etc.).
None.
- Average cost of a single day’s training flight and ground lesson prior to your solo. I expect flight training costs have exponentially increased over the years!
$70 per hour.
- Anything funny, hopefully not too scary, or your most memorable lesson learned while learning to fly actual aircraft or anything else you may like to share with the SEFSD Pilots.
I was most fond of training on flight simulators, how to keep precision turns, horizontal figure 8’s, stalls, and landings which helped a lot before I got in a cockpit. I did about 30 hours of simulator before I got in the cockpit.
The instructor was quite impressed I was able to keep +/- 50 ft of altitude around the pattern. Learning how to talk on the radio was fun too, rattling off a conversation in the least amount of words between plane and tower. Learning a lot about the weather was good to know.
The scariest time I had was stall training where the Cessna 150 stalls around 35 knots and I got down to 30 knots and the left wing lost lift first putting me into a steep dive and spin. I was at 3,500 ft, so no problem in recovery, and I expected it at some point but it’s a wake up call to be prepared for your first spin.
- Would you recommend SEFSD Pilots learn to fly actual aircraft too?
Yes, if only just to take an initial flight. In the air in a small plane you are much more aware of how many souls are onboard.
XIV
- Howard Glen Merritt (note – this is Glen, T-28 Racer and Electroglide Flyer!)
- Did you fly R/C planes before your First Solo, and if so, when did you start flying R/C?
Yes and started control line at 5 years old and R/C in 1980 when I was 20.
- Year (or your age) of your First Solo.
1998 when I was 38.
- Location of First Solo.
KSEE, Gillespie field
- Aircraft type First Solo’d.
My 1967 Cessna 150 G.
- If Solo’d later in other types of aircraft (sailplane/glider, propeller plane, jet), please include that information too.
Tailwheel and Sailplane endorsements held.
- Year (or your age) your Pilot’s License was earned (if you later earned a Pilot’s license).
1999 when I was 39.
- Any additional ratings/certifications earned (Certified Flight Instructor, Instruments, Commercial, etc.).
Nope. Fair weather pilot and sailor.
- Average cost of a single day’s training flight and ground lesson prior to your solo. I expect flight training costs have exponentially increased over the years!
I traded time in the airplane for lessons from a fellow modeler, Randy Lake. One hour of training for two hours flight time and he paid for his own fuel. Total was about, $40.00/hr + my $225/month partnership fee on the plane owned by my father, myself and another friend, an ex-Navy Chief.
- Anything funny, hopefully not too scary, or your most memorable lesson learned while learning to fly actual aircraft or anything else you may like to share with the SEFSD Pilots.
Was going to keep the Cessna for 2 years and upgrade to an aerobatic ship, but the model airplane hobby, job, family and little pink house in the suburbs took most of my time. Kept the plane for 22 years, sold it 6 years ago. Don’t miss it a bit. Now I have a large sailboat addiction.
- Would you recommend SEFSD Pilots learn to fly actual aircraft too?
Only if they must. You have to have deep pockets now and a commitment to stay current to the point that you must fly every month to have the confidence to throw you and any passengers up into the bloody sky!
