Any pilots in here?

[The Annoyed Man]

No problem. Thanks! What does the "initial entry" part mean? My neighbor across the street flew dust off Hueys in Vietnam, and then was a flight instructor in the Army. He later flew for the DEA for a while. He ended up as a flight instructor at Bell, which sent him overseas to instruct the rotary pilots of client militaries in other countries. He lived and taught in Iran for a while before the Shah was deposed. Interesting guy.

Same here, except I flew Cobras in RVN and afterwards. No DEA though. Did the Iran thing too. Army Flight School class 68-???

I don’t know what flight school class he was in. He first entered the Army as an infantryman, and was stationed at Fort Bragg....I don’t know what unit, but I assume airborne of some kind or other...but he told me his first issued weapon was a Garand, so it was a long time ago, and he’s getting on in years now. Super nice guy. He said he went on to flight school after a stint in the infantry, and that’s where he started flying.

That’s about all the details I can remember....except that he’s not very fond of guns. He doesn’t care if I have them, he's just got no desire to ever be around them again. One day, he had asked me about suppressors and how they worked, and I told him, and explained how they don’t really silence the weapon. I asked him, "do you remember that snapping sound of incoming rounds going overhead?" He said, "no, but I sure remember that SMACK! they make when they hit flesh." I assume that he must have had wounded crew members at some point.

Dang, this guy sounds darn near like me. Entered as an Infantryman too, made Staff Sgt, 6 years later went to flight school as an officer, etc., etc. My first rifle issued was a Garand in 1962. Got an M14 in '63, a 1911 in '65 and an M16 in '68, and a S&W Model 10 in '69.I'm 77 now, so I guess I'm getting on in years too :-) Ain't we all?

At 77, you’d be about the same age as my neighbor. I’ll ask him when he graduated from flight school the next time I see him.

[clarionite]

What airplane did you like best. I learned in a Cherokee 140 back in 1967. I have always preferred a low wing over a high wing. Where are you taking lessons?

I was given the advise from a friend to learn on the low wing. He said that flying low wing would prepare me better for other aircraft I'd fly later on.
I'm a big guy. I'm 6'7" @320. The girth isn't much of an issue in either plane. I just have a bit of a beer gut (by description not by acquisition). But my height and length of my legs is more of an issue in the Archer. It's definitely doable. Just not as comfortable. I enjoy the second door on the 172, the additional room, and I really enjoyed the view. I first attributed it to thinking there was more window area. But after my third flight (again in the Archer) I think it was not having the wing disrupting the visibility to the ground. I'll continue to fly both, but will favor the Archer based on the recommendation from my friend and my instructor. Also the 172 had an issue with the left seat back. It didn't want to adjust forward. So it had a slight recline. That made it a little difficult to keep my hand on the throttle and have the seat belt on. I put a squawk in on it. Hopefully they'll get it fixed quickly. I did tell the instructor that having seen a flat tire on the first 172 that I had booked that had the squawk in for almost a week already, and then the seat issue... It made it more difficult for me to trust the maintenance the school does. The whole broken windows theory... If visible things are broken and not repaired what about the less visible issues. He assured me this school was very diligent at keeping the planes airworthy. He said he'd quit from a school he was teaching at in Austin because the owner would pistol whip paperwork to keep planes in the air. He told the owner he wasn't going to risk his or his student's lives over that.

[The Annoyed Man]

No problem. Thanks! What does the "initial entry" part mean? My neighbor across the street flew dust off Hueys in Vietnam, and then was a flight instructor in the Army. He later flew for the DEA for a while. He ended up as a flight instructor at Bell, which sent him overseas to instruct the rotary pilots of client militaries in other countries. He lived and taught in Iran for a while before the Shah was deposed. Interesting guy.

Same here, except I flew Cobras in RVN and afterwards. No DEA though. Did the Iran thing too. Army Flight School class 68-???

I don’t know what flight school class he was in. He first entered the Army as an infantryman, and was stationed at Fort Bragg....I don’t know what unit, but I assume airborne of some kind or other...but he told me his first issued weapon was a Garand, so it was a long time ago, and he’s getting on in years now. Super nice guy. He said he went on to flight school after a stint in the infantry, and that’s where he started flying.

That’s about all the details I can remember....except that he’s not very fond of guns. He doesn’t care if I have them, he's just got no desire to ever be around them again. One day, he had asked me about suppressors and how they worked, and I told him, and explained how they don’t really silence the weapon. I asked him, "do you remember that snapping sound of incoming rounds going overhead?" He said, "no, but I sure remember that SMACK! they make when they hit flesh." I assume that he must have had wounded crew members at some point.

Dang, this guy sounds darn near like me. Entered as an Infantryman too, made Staff Sgt, 6 years later went to flight school as an officer, etc., etc. My first rifle issued was a Garand in 1962. Got an M14 in '63, a 1911 in '65 and an M16 in '68, and a S&W Model 10 in '69.I'm 77 now, so I guess I'm getting on in years too :-) Ain't we all?

I asked my neighbor when he graduated from flight school. He said that it was in about 67 or 68, and he’s going to be 76 yrs old soon. He said he did flight school in Texas, and I THINK he said it was in Mineral Wells. He also said his class had about 1100-1200 candidates in it.

[oohrah]

Camp/Fort Wolters in Mineral Wells was one of the Army's largest helicopter pilot training bases. For a great read about what those guys went through, I recommend "Chickenhawk".

[clarionite]

I now have my Third Class Medical and my Student Pilot's Certificate.

I have a few hours in the air in both a 172 and an Archer II. The weather, some bouts of flu, Strep and family issues on both my side and the Instructor has kept me out of the air for the past two months. I've decided to focus on ground school now. Once I have passed my written, and I don't have to be so concerned about the low clouds this time of year I'll set aside more time to hit it hard and aggressive with the time in the air. Hopefully in June or July I can start soloing.

[MadMonkey]

Since this thread started a friend of mine called me up, said let's go flying and I said sure. We got to Northwest Regional, he pulled out a 172, threw me into the left seat and made me do everything until we landed (and he asked if I wanted to land )

Talk about task saturation and getting thrown into the deep end I will say that simulator time helped immensely, only issue was that I didn't even own rudder pedals for my PC until a couple of years ago so that took some getting used to, especially the somewhat delayed response while taxiing. I was used to it by the time we were going back to park though.

Made me really want to get an ultralight or something to fly off of my own property, if I ever get any. I can't see myself ever flying manned aircraft commercially even though I know I'd be good at it, but I'd definitely enjoy flying for fun.

[clarionite]

Since this thread started a friend of mine called me up, said let's go flying and I said sure. We got to Northwest Regional, he pulled out a 172, threw me into the left seat and made me do everything until we landed (and he asked if I wanted to land )

Talk about task saturation and getting thrown into the deep end I will say that simulator time helped immensely, only issue was that I didn't even own rudder pedals for my PC until a couple of years ago so that took some getting used to, especially the somewhat delayed response while taxiing. I was used to it by the time we were going back to park though.

Made me really want to get an ultralight or something to fly off of my own property, if I ever get any. I can't see myself ever flying manned aircraft commercially even though I know I'd be good at it, but I'd definitely enjoy flying for fun.

My first lesson, I had control pretty much from take off to landing. The instructor took over two or three times to show me some maneuvers, and a couple of miles out from landing. I was pretty shocked. But I had a blast.