What do you do when you're not flying?

[AerBabe]

With the typical British weather we've had the last six weeks or so, I was wondering what we're now all doing with our spare time (and money? ;) ). What hobbies do we all have which take up our non-airbourne time?

Personally I've been doing more work, so I can afford to fly when the weather picks up. :rolleyes: But I've also found time to catch up on some reading, and watch some videos.

[gus_honeybun]

me and a fellow chum have whiled away many an wet and windy day in the local boozah coming up with bizarre designs for robot wars. currently harbouring a developed sense of destruction for all things mechanical.

probably best i don't fly for a while. :(

[carb]

I can't precisely remember what I've been doing in these spare gaps in the winter diary, typically some extra freelance work followed by a good restuarant, some fine wine, then whisky. ;)

[jonathang]

Dream of Flying, Drink, Dream, Drink, Dream, Drink, Study

:D :D :D :D

is that obessive ?

[EI_Sparks]

Work, prune, work, prune, work, prune, work, prune, work, prune, work, check satellite image for wx, curse the bloody winter wx in kerry, work, prune, work, prune, go home, prune, check satellite images, curse the instructor for taking his holidays, prune, sleep.
:D

[sennadog]

I've just bought an Impreza which has an amazing ability to swallow cash (bit like flying really) after you finish buying bits for it but happily this has coincided with the cruddy WX so mainly it has diverted my dosh, which otherwise would have been spent flying.

So much for my 3 hours per month during the Winter season idea!:rolleyes:

I haven't flown properly since Sywell, so I'm not sure if I scared Evo, he scared me or I scared myself...:D

In the meantime, I'm just day dreaming of SA in ths Spring in a 172.

[FlyingForFun]

Problem is my other main hobby - driving, reparing, breaking and then repairing and generally messing around with my Triumph Spitfire - also needs good weather. So when the sun's out, I'm torn between the two (flying usually wins, but the car complains if I neglect her too much), and when the weather's crap I can't do either.

At the moment, the bad weather is giving me a chance to get ahead with my studying, which means I can spend the next few weekends recovering from various Christmas parties (mostly either car or aeroplane related!) Hanging out at the airfield is also a great thing to do when the weather's crap, because there are loads of other pilots there to talk to.

Reading and music also feature heavilly on the list of things to do, but haven't had much chance for either since I've started the ATPL exams. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up after the exams in February.

FFF
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[Aussie Andy]

A bit like EI_Sparks, see if you can spot the difference:

Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Plan flights to be made while on holiday in Australia over Christmas, Hope for VMC despite copious bushfire smoke, Check Calendar: only 7 days to go!, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune, Work, Pprune :)

[sennadog]

FlyingForFun. Your car problems are related to the way you relate to him! Aircraft, boats and cars should always be referred to as "he"......

As if by magic all of your problems (reliability, bits falling off etc) will vanish overnight.

:D ;) :p

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

FFF - I used to have a Spitfire (Triumph, not Supermarine, unfortunatly) back when it was one of the very few open-topped cars on the market (others excluding exotica were MGB and Midget). I bought mine new in 1972 (about 1200 quid, IIRC) when I were a sprog. I kept it all its life 'till it died of rust (actually got a minor rear-end shunt, but because it was so rusty it was an insurance write-off). Great fun in the winter with the top down and the heater on full blast. And even if it rained, as long as you could maintain at least 40 you didn't get wet. I'm very tempted to get an MX5 to re-live those fun days of my yoof. It would be infinatley more reliable than the Triumph and far less rust-prone.

What do I do when not flying? If the sky is clear at night, I get my 'scope out to do some (astonomical) observing. If the weather is nice but the aeroplane not available I might ride my Honda VFR 800 bike - or my pushbike. If the weather is cr*p, perhaps a bit of reading or some writing. Never DIY! (not into that!).

Oh, and drinking, of course ;-)

SSD

[Julian]

Well besides flying....

Skydiving (although decided to leanr to fly the things instead of jumping out of them as seem too much like controlled suicide!)

Motorbikes (ride a Ducati 900SS - another cash guzzler on the services!)

Snowboarding (New Year in Morzine - Wahey!)

Wakeboarding (Get the boat out Al as I cant run fast enough down the sea wall...)

Scuba (Fascination with exploring old wrecks, not just the sort you find out on a Friday night)

Karting (Just bought myself a 90mph tea tray that does 0-60 in 2.5 secs!)


I guess I am a bit of a petrolhead really !!!

[eveepee]

Shaggy Sheep Driver - Being the proud yooffull :D owner of Minx (my ageing MX5), I can assure you she (Sennadog :has to be "she" with a name like that), doesn't like this weather either. Still drives well if you don't mind feeling rather wet in the nether regions ! Every time (every day recently!) it rains the driver's seat draws in even more water - I've taken to keeping my plastic pinny permanently draped over it. I bought a can of spray-on waterproofing but unfortunately it must only be used on a dry surface...hence it remains unopened !

Aerbabe - back to the original question - work,pprune, phone airfield to see if my lesson's cancelled again, work,pprune, Christmas shopping, phone airfield again.....get my drift..:)

[Keef]

Sleep. Do that every day from 2am to 8am.

Read. Do lots of that. Some day I'll finish my dissertation and the nice Univ will give me my MA.

Stargaze. Like SSD, I enjoy pointing my telescope at the sky and watching the wonders of God's creation. It really is stunning what can be seen. OK, the thing looks more like an upturned dustbin than a telescope, but it does a super job.

PPRuNe. Too much, really.

Play Pooter: mostly reading, posting, and "adminning" on the Flyer List.

Talk. I do an awful lot of that...

G-UTSY should be out of the paintshop by Friday, so Monday might be lunch in Le Touquet.

[Remmington]

Perhaps all above could spend time sewing badges on their anoraks?

[singaporegirl]

eveepee,

Forgive the technical nature of this post ;) but have you checked the black rubber thingy that forms a seal for the front edge of the driver's window when it's closed? The centre is hollow for draining away water when it rains, but sometimes it can get blocked - this has happened to me a couple of times, resulting in a sudden desire for waterproof trousers! It's quite easy to unblock with a long piece of wire or something similar.

[Keef]

Remmington

No room left on my anorak. Haven't worn it since 1966 anyway.

[eveepee]

Singaporegirl - Many thanks for the tip - Cheers - I'll check and see if I'm blocked - If I can''t find a long piece of wire I can always use the needle when I'm not sewing on my badges :D

[AerBabe]

Ooh yes, I was finally awarded my wings by our CFI recently, for passing my PPL. Must sew them onto my flying jacket :)

[Thumpango]

Think of all the money I am saving!

This works out rather well with Ms Thump... Each time I have a lesson cancelled I can say 'well thats another £140 I have saved'

Seems to give me street cred. when I book my next 4 lessons!

And if I do a bit of gardening instead of flying I get bonus points and no questions asked for the next financial committment to the flying school!

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

eveepee - So the Mazdz salesman lied to me! He said there's no need to garage an MX5 - they don't leak, ever.

BTW does no-one on here ever watch telly in their free time? I'll admit to a bit of that (not much)

SSD

[paulo]

AB - Sod the wings. Get the bars. :D

[AerBabe]

I've got them on my pyjamas ;)

[Keef]

AB, I didn't have you down as a Jimjams pilot! I will have to treat you with more respect.

[Cusco]

Hey Keef:

G-UTSY Paint job:

Tell me more

Not starburst purple with moons and Harry Potter stripes?

Please say it isn't true:

On another tack: When are you thinking of a trip to Calais for a few ILSs?

March is looming if you get my drift.

Aaaaah.......... memories.

Safe flying..

[Who has control?]

If I'm not flying, then I'm birdwatching. Its the only pastime I know that you can do anyplace, anytime.

Come to think of it, I can go birding when I am flying - I remember the Ringed plover I scared doing PFLs at Foulness, a Common Tern we raced down the runway at Stapleford.... excuse me, I'll just go & sew a few more badges on.

[eveepee]

Who has control - If only I was a birdwatcher - I might have missed that unfortunate magpie at Rochester the other month :D

Shaggy Sheep Driver - Don't all car salesman lie ? I thought it was part of the job description. :)

[FlyingForFun]

Singapore, my car also suffers from leaks in wet weather, and it doesn't have a black rubber seal thingy! Any other ideas? I did find that replacing the seal on the front of the soft-top a few years ago helped, but with the soft-top up I get leaks through the holes for the hard-top bolts, and with the hard-top on I get leaks through the holes for the soft-top catches. Whichever top I've got on, I get leaks from the (un-sealed) front of the windows. With the hard-top on, it's not too bad because I have seals at the top and back of the windows, although they are not the grooved seals that you're talking about. But with the soft-top up, there are no seals around the windows at all!

Who, I also like to do a spot of bird-watching, although I'm not sure we're talking about the same kind of bird ;)

FFF
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[singaporegirl]

FFF,

'Fraid I don't know much about Triumphs (though a long-gone ex-boyfriend of mine did own a gold TR7 in which we drove down to Italy one summer :cool: ). I seem to recall he had all sorts of problems with it as well.

I think the answer is that for quality and reliability you have to look to the Orient. :D For example, surveys always seem to show that MGF owners have far more problems than MX5 owners...

[Sits back and waits for flame throwers to be aimed in her general direction]

[Who has control?]

FFF - I've been birding for 30 years now and strangely enough, I've heard that one before

[MikeSamuel]

I've being getting accustomed with getting up every day and working for a living. It's not too bad really. Nice to know I can retire for 4 years in September and go study instead.

Spend rather a lot of time on the computer doing various projects, flying club website (it's very good :)), an article for the BBC Midlands website, and lots of studying for college and finishing off my A Level. Haven't PPRuNed a great deal at all lately! :o

Do my bit of plane spotting every day as I pass the threshold of BHX on the A45.

Also helping to build a Vans RV-9A at the bottom of a friend's garden. It's extremely good fun and puts a whole new dimension on flying for me. Can't wait till it's ready, hopefully for Kemble in July!

Haven't been in an aeroplane for about 8 weeks or more, and am a bit stressed about the lack of progress I've made on the PPL. Tends to be if there's money in the bank I spend it :(

Have had 3 weekends away lately on drinking missions. It's been fun, though I miss my flying so much. Maybe Sunday. :)

[Genghis the Engineer]

Cook, eat, drink, shout at teenager, talk flying, read about flying, shout at teenager, drink, occasionally take some exercise currently martial arts which are a wonderful stress reliever - the one time you're actually encouraged to hit somebody.

Oh, and a part-time PhD in airworthiness, plus writing a couple of books.

G

[Saab Dastard]

Work, Work Work! :(

Cope with Family :rolleyes:

Think Single Malt, drink Single Malt. :cool:

The last one helps with the first two. ;)

SD

[Circuit Basher]

When not flying.....

- Work (we've covered that one already on another recent thread!)
- PPRuNe
- Help out with local ATC Sqn + Gliding School (could take most of waking hours doing these!!)
- Keep Mrs CB happy - a demanding job in its own right!
- Dream of what rating / training to go for next [IMC / Tailwheel / Aeros if I'm being sensible(ish), Multi / IR / CPL / FI if I'm having a really bad work day, ATPL(F) if I'm having a lifetime's worst work day ;) ;)]
- Plan next flight
- Walk dog
- DIY (it can only get better!!)
- Used to be motorcyclist, but sold that last year due to poo weather and nowhere to keep bike at new abode

[gingernut]

Spend Saturday mornings with my warm wife !

The I get up and do something I want to do.

[Keef]

Hi Cusco

No, the same colour scheme as before - just having the red bits touched up, because the pigments have broken down and the outer coating cracked. They're doing the blue as well, for reasons I didn't understand, and the leading edges cos they were a bit thin.

You'll recognise her just as before!

I'm "current" on the IR till some time in January. Did a load of ILSs in Calais a couple of months back, and an IFR trip to Biggin last Sunday ending with an ILS.

Hadn't flown IFR for a while, and it was noticeable! Must do it more often.

[Select Zone Five]

I spend far too much time playing GTA - Vice City on PS2. Fantastic and highly addictive! :D

[727Man]

Weather? what weather? head south in a 727!!

[Flash0710]

Im amazed Monkey Spanking is so low on sex crazed pilots lists of things to do.....:rolleyes:

[phnuff]

Spend time trying to work out how to ring fence the money saved from not flying so my wife doesnt spend it on her rotton horses!! :mad:

[ratsarrse]

A bit of Flight Sim for me. It gets better all the time and the really great thing is that if you don't like the weather you change it! Now if Microsoft could do that in real life...:D

[Hersham Boy]

Mountain-biking on the North Downs (my newly discovered pastime)
Pub
Trying to complete Grand Theft Auto 3
DIY
Stay in bed longer
Trying to find out why the boot of my car is filling up with water
Tinkering with motorbikes in my garage (I've never had a garage before and it's a joy)
Wonder about doing an aeros rating or whether IMC should come first!

Hersh

[Coke611]

Most of my time outside of flying (not that i've been doing much of it recently- have got to wait till may 2003 due to my age!!!!!!) is taken up by doing GCSE's etc.

Hersham Boy-
what car do you drive? Try checking the black rubber sealer around the boot edges and the carpet for dampness. Could be water in the spare wheel container.

Cheers,
Coke611

[Flyboy-F33]

Part-time sex instructor here Aerbabe;) Needless to say "First lesson's Free":p

[SuperOwl]

Try to get through my PPL and ankle surgery sets me back 2 months. I get fit enough to try to fly and the weather closes in for the winter. I can't yet play my favourite sports so instead of those and flying I have been practising getting drunk for Christmas.

Also when people ask me "How is the flying going?" and at the same time kicking my bad ankle, I have been trying very hard not to go into an Ozzy Osbourne-esque tirade.


:mad: