Pilots with Prius

Got my SEL certificate of few years ago...been flying Cessnas and Pipers for the most part...Did take part in the right side in flying a FORD Tri Motor a few weeks ago...what a bird...

Just upgraded to a C 172 SP with interior leather and flat panels...what a way to go...sort of like the prius...
Fuel prices are getting out of site, though, seeing how there is only 1 refinery refining 100LL AV GAS...in Whiting Ind, prices range from 3.38 -4.28 per US gal in and around the area..Maybe one day a hybrid plane...but i doubt it...diesel seems to be the way they are going after 100L Low Lead is phased out...

 

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Boy, I would hate to try to prop a diesel!

 

Just a FYI ...local rental prices for a Piper cherokee is : $90/hr...
Cessna 172 SP is $98/hr...additional...the CFis are getting $25hr for basic instruction and $40/hr for IFR training sessions...so if you fly with an instructor for basic with the 172...that goes for $123/hr and the governor gets 6% of the hourly rate...

 

Yea flight training is expensive. My buddy is bummed out right now, he's going to go to a grievance hearing with his co-pilot, and Continental says they will give him probation, he has 4 years as a captain on that bird. He says the safety committee who reviewed and simulated the incident felt he put the craft in danger. The executives in the flight department in Houston stuck their necks out and will help him. He has had one prior where he did what was considered to be an improper cabin announcement. He did it like in the Navy, in his early days he announced a final and said "runway in sight to minimums", and the airline said that statement could cause alarm in the cabin, because it also could mean that the runway in sight announcement, would unduly alarm the passengers. Everybody is getting picky and picky..

 

Reply from my UAL pilot son. I hesitate about even posting it since it is not my intention to further a "he said she said" thing. For that reason, I won't post any more concerning this situation.

Continental is ALPA. This is the largest and most powerful pilots union. (As powerful as a union can be in today's political environment!)

There are a few things embedded in your note I want to comment on.

1) This incident as you described it would not warrant a simulator recreation. Maybe there is more to it than meets the eye.

2) The safety committee is actually a branch of the union and would want to protect the pilot. They would not or could not fire the pilot.

3) I would be surprised if the flight attendants reported the pilots. If they did, then I would be even more surprised if the company took it seriously. The caveat here is that if the flight attendants had some sort of personal issue with the pilot(s) there are things they could claim such as harassment that would get the company's attention and then the whole incident would be disected.

4) It is very rare for a pilot to be fired from a major carrier unless they have a history of some sort. In this case, the company may be looking for a reason to get rid of him. As a union representative, I have defended pilots in these types of circumstances.

I am not sure what else can be said or done here. The pilots should have the luxury of union protection and they should be defending him. Like I said earlier, this whole story doesn't make sense to me. Either it is an urban legend, or is more complicated than originally thought.

 

Evan: Flying is indeed cool. I've always suspected that you were also pretty cool, judging from your contributions to Priuschat. Being a pilot, of course, puts you over the top.

Flying, for me, is a religious experience. I used to be a Catholic, and at one time was nearly ordained a priest. The Church stopped having answers for me in 1970, but the "religiosity" remained and has suffused much of my artistic and social endeavors. Being a flight instructor has been like being a priest without the hierarchical b.s. It is an awesome thrill to teach someone how to fly. All the metaphors about flight and spirituality are true.

If you lived anywhere near where I lived, I'd want to meet you and get you back into the air.

My fellow flight instructors love my Prius.
Bob

 

Well enough said, my friend is in the industry and will have to deal with it. I only repeat what he tells me. You are right about prior stuff, he probably has a thick file, and some other issues. He did tell me the stews supposedly did him in with his cabin demeanor, I don't know. I flew helicopters and never went to commercial licenses in aircraft. He's back in somewhere, and probably as co-pilot. Anyway he was telling to ask the pilots here in case he had some kind of issue with his employer, and since he's working, I would not complain.

 

Roger. Over and out!

 

I used to fly hang gliders and ultralights, did five assisted jumps. Wife and kids and getting older put that on infini-hold. Maybe one day I'll get an ultralight and fly again.

Dad was a pilot -- used to fly mail into the Idaho back country in Travelaires and the like.

 

I just found this thread. I see that it is rather old but I wanted to add my name to the list of pilots. I am a Commercial Hot-Air Balloon Pilot. I have had my license for 14 years now. I also work part time as a flight paramedic for an air ambulance company. We usually transport people in a Lear 35. I also need to make it back up to Oshkosh for the fly-in. My Grandparents live in Oshkosh and I can remember playing softball as a kid and watching the Concorde fly over.

 

As long as this thread is here, add me, too.

I don't fly any more, but if I had an ultralight or something, I probably would. (It was more affordable when I was single :lol: )

I'm rated for:
Single engine - land
Rotorcraft - helicopter
Glider - aerotow only

I've also flown ultralights and powered parachutes and have 1 hour in a hot air baloon...

I think pilots are especially drawn to cars like the Prius. Maybe it's all the gadgets, maybe it's the technology, maybe it's because it's different/unique... Anyway, I like it!

 

Yes, it's a shame Flying is so expensive now. I rmember when I was 14 and took my first $5 introductory flight. Clipped the coupon out of the paper and asked my Mom if she would drive me over to the airport and took my first lesson in a Piper Colt. Sorry to see those days are past for the kids now a days.

 

I just ran across this topic, so I'll chime in...

When I got my first full-time job out of college, I finally had the $$ to go after my dream - getting a pilot's license.

I took the majority of my lessons out of Lambert International in St. Louis, before they banned small craft (this was over 25 years ago). Boy, was that a trip - taxing next to L-1011s in a Cessna 150

Quite a few of my lessons were at night, and I even soloed at night(!). My most embarrassing moment was when I was returning from a solo flight (prior to having my license) and I couldn't find Lambert (there are so many lights in the city I had trouble locating it). The airport kept raising and lowering the runway lights to help me find it, and I finally did. After I landed, I got quite a bit of ribbing from the gang back at the FBO

Another embarrassing episode was when I was on my first solo cross-country. I was momentarily lost (as is typical with new pilots), and I was doing a 360 to find a water tower to figure out where I was (another pilot trick). When I had turned about 180 degrees, I saw this big, black thunderhead that was putting out lightning. Yikes! At that point, I found out that the saying is true that your life flashes before your eyes when you think you're going to die (it literally did!). As luck (or divine intervention) would have it, I saw an airport right below me, so I hurried down and made a quick, long landing (I forgot to use flaps, since I was used to not using them on the 10,000' runway at Lambert). After hurrying to the ramp and tieing the plane down, it started pouring rain. I ended up spending the night at a fleabag motel in town, and flew back the next day. After getting back, I was again subjected to ribbing from the flight staff - they said, why didn't you just outrun the storm? I suppose I could have, but considering that I was just an unlicensed rookie, I think I made the right decision.

I was also involved in 3 near-miss midair collisions - none of which were my fault(!).

And finally, the reasons why I don't fly anymore:

1. Once I got married and had the responsibilities of a family, it was too expensive
2. My wife threw up the first time we went up together after we got married, so I figured this wasn't going to be any fun if she couldn't fly with me

All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm glad I did it. My greatest dream of all time is to fly a helicopter - but I guess I'll never get to do that (WAY too expensive!)....

 

Didn't know this thread was here all this time....cool

Joined Civil Air Patrol in early '60's and learned to fly from there. Highly recommended for kids 12+. My son joined last year and still loves it.

During that era I worked many fly-in's and saw greats like Bob Hoover do his show in a Aero Commander (commuter rated) with dead stick aerobatics and coast to the chocks!

I flew just about every SEL that I could get my hands on but fell in love with the bird in my signature. That big radial "shaky Jake" roar and torque was the real deal, but had to let it go with the fuel prices. Now She is worth a bundle, wouldn't ya know.

Tried gliders as I loved aerobatic gliders, silent, a great feel/feedback in the cockpit, but thermaling (tight circles) not the maneuvering, made me nauseous.

Did the hang gliding thing back when it was dangerous.

Flew as a medic in the S.F. Bay area, another good way to get airsick.

After getting injured in the fire dept. I couldn't pass the medical. Now it's R C airplanes that have a bizarre magnetic attraction to the only tree in a half mile.

 

USMC pilot--1962-1984. Huey gunships and medivac during first tour in RVN, '65-'66. Second tour in OV-10A's,'68-'69. Over 1,200 combat hours. Presidential helo pilot for Nixon. Total time, 5,456.1 hours in many different helos, single and twin engine fixed fixed. Enjoyed it all (except for the many dead friends.) No civilian tickets, just a critical passenger now. <_<

 

PSEL instrument with ~3100 hrs in my one and only Cutlass RG since '82.
In the last year discovered two new ways to slide out of that blissful high which is lost upon landing:
1) an '05 Prius waiting in the BED hangar, and,
2) an '06 HH waiting in the MVL hangar.
Does a pilot's practiced scan technique help avoid accidents caused by MFD distraction?
Also, how does a poster turn off the annoying yellow with highlighting? Must we counter wiff misspelling? wiht dyslexia? w/ abbreviation?

 

Yup. Lots of bux to fly now a-days.... When I was learning I was paying $14/HR wet for a C-150 in northern MN.... The C-172 was $22 an hour... Anyway, PP-SEL but with many other hours in various aircraft (the ones I've maintained over the years - A&P as well) with the most fun one being a Fokker F-27. That was one sweet flying airplane!

 

I'm not a pilot (my husband is) but I have flown a good number of times - I'm another CAPer, but spent my time ground-pounding. I'm amazed at how many Civil Air Patrol members there are here. I've really missed the SAR work, especially last year with Katrina. Not a lot of better ways to teach a kid to handle responsibility than to hand them responsibilities =)

 

Private Pilot Single Engine Land Instrument here. Received while attending Kent State University.

 

Private Pilot
Instrument Rating
Commercial written passed
A couple of hundred hours in a Navaho Twin Simulator in college
Airframe and Powerplant Maintenance Technician
KC-135 Stratotanker Crew Chief with Air National Guard many moons ago
OH-58A Helicopter Crew Chief and Aero Scout Nap of the Earth Navigator with U.S. Army many, many moons ago

Cessna 150, Cessna 172, Piper Tomohawk, Piper Dakota, Piper Archer, Piper Arrow, Piper Turbo Arrow


I really love flying. I just can't afford it.