All Things Aviation Related

[flipper35]

[crustychief]

Sounds like a good ole elephant walk starting at Miramar. I hear 53's 60's 130's ov22 18's and 35's.
I love it when they do that, sunset launches en mass

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by crustychief

Sounds like a good ole elephant walk starting at Miramar. I hear 53's 60's 130's ov22 18's and 35's.
I love it when they do that, sunset launches en mass

Months of preparation for a few photos!

[brainz01]

Good to see Trent Palmer and the Flying Cowboys getting some love. Good vids.

Flying Cowboy member Mike Patey and his ridiculously awesome Draco STOL have been mentioned a handful of times in this and other threads. The latest video of his late-night suspension redesign/rebuild reaffirm my admiration for what this guy can do. I may have a man-crush. He's truly inspiring.

https://m.youtube.com/7690b31c-2f18-4a53-8c07-fcbb59f70907

[ian c2]

Great thread .
Can’t contribute as being a foreigner I’m not allowed to even take lessons over here .
Many guys at work fly , even one of the mechanics that used to work on my rangerover is a marines heli teacher at Camp Pendleton .
Get offered lots of flights , but if I’m not behind the controls I’m not interested

This is the closest I get .
Skunkworks limited edition , and emergency with 3rd time-zone module ..




I know it’s a grasp to put them in an aviation thread , but that blackbird has been on my wrist since (I wanna say) 2001 , and has crossed more international borders that most people haven’t , and has seen it’s fair share of incidents
It got retired a few years ago and the titanium emergency took over daily duties when I got it of a border patrol agent who got an office job and went sensible
One of its many batteries took a dump a few months ago , so the trusty mechanical sr-71 is back on daily duties

[KNS]

^^

As a foreigner there’s nothing stopping you from taking lessons in the US, all you need to do is go through a background check. There are literally several hundred foreigners learning to fly here everyday from all over the world.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by ian c2

I know it’s a grasp to put them in an aviation thread

Please refer the the rules and guidelines........

#1
“So the only hard and fast rule is...."there are no rules"

I think the SR-71 watch and the Breitling Emergency easily fall into the “rules” of aviation related items, my only gripe is that “I” don’t have either of those. And I am even a lover of quality watches too. Those are very cool and thanks for sharing.

This one was a special edition dedicated to the Ellsworth AFB B-1 group in South Dakota. My brother who was stationed there, arranged the purchase so that he, my dad and I all have the same squadron watch. Not a fancy one but I always thought it cool.






Also have a large 12” patch dedicated to Sept 11th that was onboard the first B-1 in country to drop its payload and signed by the crew, thanks to my brother. Just trying to figure the best way to display it so the signatures are visible on the back.





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[bugstrider]

This fired up today after I got to work yesterday afternoon . The video of the start-up is even better....Ten year meticulous restoration of a rare twin place Hawker Sea Fury. Will be going back for the paint scheme that it was delivered in from the assembly line this next year. For those that attended the Reno Air Races in years past, this was Critical Mass #77. There are only a few of this model in existence world wide.












The sound is fantastic

[bugstrider]

[ian c2]

Originally Posted by KNS

^^

As a foreigner there’s nothing stopping you from taking lessons in the US, all you need to do is go through a background check. There are literally several hundred foreigners learning to fly here everyday from all over the world.

I cannot remember what changed immediately after 9-11 , but I just checked again and a student visa is needed to study flying , and must be obtained before you arrive in USA . And you don’t get approval until you arrive so could travel all the way here and start training then get refused !!
Seems messed up ....

But that isn’t applicable to me .

Looking at it right now , it seems the only thing stopping me is I don’t have a passport !!!

Not sure how easy that will be to sort out , and I think my original thinking might have been that it’s easier to wait until I become a citizen than apply as a resident .

https://www.rainierflightservice.com/businessdocs/TSA%20Alien%20Flight%20Training.pdf

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by bugstrider

The sound is fantastic

That is fantastic!

A few pics:

Tie cutting with my primary instructor after solo. Great guy. We may have had a few Creme de Menthe's during the ceremony.



Long AIRNAV flight...under the hood from take-off to landing. My Mom came out to the airport in Columbia, SC. I give you the T-34C Thundernothing!

[ian c2]

I think this was the local school I looked at originally .
Advanced Charter Instruction

Although my buddy has a hangar at browns in San Diego fo his plane and an old ex-marines training plane he’s restoring , and I may have also looked at training down there .

Worked with him for a year right on the Mexico border so got lots of military fly-bys and they used browns to practice bounce and touch and go .
Have some pics of the breitling jet team doing fly-bys too

I commuted to south oc everyday so got to see the Pendleton boys playing with their ospreys quite a lot too

Where I live there’s a lot of daytime traffic , and I get to sit in my lounger by the pool drinking a beer and watching the sports pilots cruising the beaches

[t6dpilot]

Hey is that Bu 12260? Wildcat pulled from Lake Michigan? I am almost positive it is. Last I heard it was in San Diego. I think Foss was the pilot of our Wildcat. Back in the early 90's when my father was still actively flying, he and a partner purchased 12260 from the salvage company and restored it to flying condition. I was "this" close to getting checked out in it, but could not find anyone to give me my LOA at the time. Then is got sold. I did get to taxi it around though. Great plane. I have tons of stories about it. I still remember the night it was covertly brought to our airport under cover in the dark of night. Made the hanger reek of rotten lake bed!

Originally Posted by crustychief

Our f-4 wildcat

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by t6dpilot

Hey is that Bu 12260? Wildcat pulled from Lake Michigan? I am almost positive it is. Last I heard it was in San Diego. I think Foss was the pilot of our Wildcat. Back in the early 90's when my father was still actively flying, he and a partner purchased 12260 from the salvage company and restored it to flying condition. I was "this" close to getting checked out in it, but could not find anyone to give me my LOA at the time. Then is got sold. I did get to taxi it around though. Great plane. I have tons of stories about it. I still remember the night it was covertly brought to our airport under cover in the dark of night. Made the hanger reek of rotten lake bed!

Buno 16278.

[ian c2]

Just had a look through my photos but cannot find any plane photos I took. .
Found these work photos though ..

If they take off , something went wrong

[t6dpilot]

Looking closer at the Wildcat pic and going from my memory, ours had sea grey gear legs, yellow stencil on the prop blades, and a meticulous attention to detail to achieve a proper flat finish to the paint. Plus a few other details that are different now that I examined the photo closer. Jumped the gun a bit...

[KNS]

I wonder how many restorable planes are at the bottom of Lake Michigan..?

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by KNS

I wonder how many restorable planes are at the bottom of Lake Michigan..?

there are quite a few, I think the Navy is working out a deal with the salvage company that retrieved ours to be able to recover them to sell to collectors.

[KNS]

I had heard the Navy has claim to any planes at the bottom of the lake and won’t release them (even if pulled up privately), has that policy changed?

[bugstrider]

Back in 2003-04, our assigned helicopter mechanic was involved in all sorts of aircraft acquisition shenanigans. Now I have no way to verify the information but it did sound totally plausible.

As I remember the story:
Prior to 2003, he was involved in a recovery project that involved a very rare Brewster Buffalo flown in Russia during WWII. It too was located submerged in a lake. After spending a very large sum of money on the operation, travel, resources, travel, research, governmental contacts, etc...... and time. He went on to explain that once the plane was recovered and on the transport trailer and they were in the process of site clean up and arranging transport back to the U.S., a rather large group of “shady” Russians arrived on scene and took possession of the plane giving them a choice, “surrender the aircraft and be able to go home.........or “not” “. After the fact, he suspected Russian mafia. At the time of the telling, they had no idea the undisclosed location somewhere in the country.

As I mentioned, I have no way of knowing the validity of his story but it did make a good story coming from him. The shady actions of the locals did sound legit.




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