What has been the one, absolute highlight of your flying so far?
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Gatwick
Age: 53
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It's not as exciting as some, but at the time of writing my most memorable experience happend quite recently, on my first solo flight in the US having converted my UK/JAR licence. Having taken off from an airfield only 7nm from San Francisco International, I was heading roughly east outside of controlled airspace but in receipt of Flight Following. The radio crackles with:
"Cessna 12345 - your traffic is a Boeing 737, opposite direction, descending through your altitude, half a mile to your right"
It was, he did, and we passed perhaps slightly less than half a mile apart - and it all seemed perfectly normal. That is until I thought of all the paperwork we'd have to complete and awkward questions we'd have to answer if something like that happened at my home airfield near Gatwick!
Cheers,
MD.
"Cessna 12345 - your traffic is a Boeing 737, opposite direction, descending through your altitude, half a mile to your right"
It was, he did, and we passed perhaps slightly less than half a mile apart - and it all seemed perfectly normal. That is until I thought of all the paperwork we'd have to complete and awkward questions we'd have to answer if something like that happened at my home airfield near Gatwick!
Cheers,
MD.
Northern Monkey
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Newcastle, England
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Sorry Ill have to have at least 3 ...
1) I would have to agree with aerobatic flyer, climbing at over 1000fpm in wave lift from the penines is fantastic, It always happens when the weather is rough as %^&* below, but its perfectly calm and quiet by 3-4000 , zooming up, with the aircraft flying at minimum sink speed ~45kts with only the noise of the wind, and the fantastic view from the big perspex canopy of a glider.
2) seeing a circular rainbow on my wingtip as i climbed through an opening gap in cloud. after waiting patiently on a ridge for an hour. Theres something special about flying gliders in conditions like this. no noise, no complicated instruments, no complex contols, no one babling on the radio.
3) and just today, while flying downwind in the circuit, the cadet i was flying with who hadnt flown befre , looked accross to the apron where the other aircraft were parked, with the runway below, and just said 'coooool' brought a smile to may face.
NB
1) I would have to agree with aerobatic flyer, climbing at over 1000fpm in wave lift from the penines is fantastic, It always happens when the weather is rough as %^&* below, but its perfectly calm and quiet by 3-4000 , zooming up, with the aircraft flying at minimum sink speed ~45kts with only the noise of the wind, and the fantastic view from the big perspex canopy of a glider.
2) seeing a circular rainbow on my wingtip as i climbed through an opening gap in cloud. after waiting patiently on a ridge for an hour. Theres something special about flying gliders in conditions like this. no noise, no complicated instruments, no complex contols, no one babling on the radio.
3) and just today, while flying downwind in the circuit, the cadet i was flying with who hadnt flown befre , looked accross to the apron where the other aircraft were parked, with the runway below, and just said 'coooool' brought a smile to may face.
NB
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Shropshire
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Seeing as we're pretty much all cheating and having more than one, I'll sneek in a second.
T'was mid 99 and I was still in training for my PPL(H) at Cambridge. We had been out and done the deed in the local area and my instructor had me fly 2 or 3 circuits just to brush up. As we flew d/w we heard the tower calling an unidentified white JetRanger that was merrily flying down the 23 main approach, from everyone's vantage point it appeard to be going to land.
Numerous calls from App and then Twr gained no response from the JR; even a call from my Instr at the request of Twr got nothing.
Long story short; as the rogue JR came to a hover suddenly a somewhat flustered american voice piped up with his callsign and many apologies. Turns out the JR driver was a rather well known US ex astronaught flying into Duxford from nearby RAF Mildenhall and had mistaken Cambridge for Duxford due to the airliners and C130s lined up along the Marshall's works hangars. He had been talk quite happily to Duxford, who had been having trouble seeing him (strangely) whilst flying in to Cambridge.
The final change of freq being prompted by a call from Cam Twr using Duxford's freq on a hunch.
You have to ask yourself.... how the hell did they manage to find the moon??
As a footnote to my last, flying from Cambridge has it's fair share of high points, purely due to the proximity of Duxford.
Where else will you often hear your Twr clear your departure 'Clear depart to the south, low level, caution B17 crossing north south at 5000'
or perhaps a rejoin..'clear to join from Echo, report established on base ,confirm visual Spitfire short final 23 grass.'
It can happen quite regularly, but even so, it still makes me go oooooo
I may only be a private Robbo driver, but but God I love this flying!
T'was mid 99 and I was still in training for my PPL(H) at Cambridge. We had been out and done the deed in the local area and my instructor had me fly 2 or 3 circuits just to brush up. As we flew d/w we heard the tower calling an unidentified white JetRanger that was merrily flying down the 23 main approach, from everyone's vantage point it appeard to be going to land.
Numerous calls from App and then Twr gained no response from the JR; even a call from my Instr at the request of Twr got nothing.
Long story short; as the rogue JR came to a hover suddenly a somewhat flustered american voice piped up with his callsign and many apologies. Turns out the JR driver was a rather well known US ex astronaught flying into Duxford from nearby RAF Mildenhall and had mistaken Cambridge for Duxford due to the airliners and C130s lined up along the Marshall's works hangars. He had been talk quite happily to Duxford, who had been having trouble seeing him (strangely) whilst flying in to Cambridge.
The final change of freq being prompted by a call from Cam Twr using Duxford's freq on a hunch.
You have to ask yourself.... how the hell did they manage to find the moon??
As a footnote to my last, flying from Cambridge has it's fair share of high points, purely due to the proximity of Duxford.
Where else will you often hear your Twr clear your departure 'Clear depart to the south, low level, caution B17 crossing north south at 5000'
or perhaps a rejoin..'clear to join from Echo, report established on base ,confirm visual Spitfire short final 23 grass.'
It can happen quite regularly, but even so, it still makes me go oooooo
I may only be a private Robbo driver, but but God I love this flying!
foxtrot xray
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Midwest USA
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Like most of the other posters I guess that first solo, passing rating rides and check-outs in high performance A/C are all special moments we remember. For me , some of my most special moments were associated with many international sorties in an Aztec which I owned for nearly 22 years.
. Seeing the Greenland ice cap rise above the undercast on first Atlantic crossing from Goose Bay to Narsarssauq using DR navigation (before Loran, GPS)
. Making first ever landing in Europe out of a to-minimums ILS approach to Stavanger after diverting from intended landing at Bergen which had gone zero-zero
.Watching the OMEGA tick-off 89-58N,89-59N....... signalling arrival over the North Pole
. Circling the North Pole (clockwise to increase ground speed, of course!!!!) four times in a standard rate turn so as to go around the world four times in eight minutes
.Finding Spitzbergen after the NP crossing from Resolute Bay
.Going around the world the hard way(Detroit-Gander-Lisbon -Athens-Cairo-Bahrain-Bombay-Singapore-Bali -Darwin -Alice-Sydney-Brisbane-Pt Moresby-Biak-Manila -Nagoya-Kushiro- Adak-Anchorage-Edmonton-Winnipeg -Detroit in 24 days
.Landing at night on Totegegie in Fr Polynesia with flare pots (3) set out by the natives..on a leg from Tahiti to Easter Island..as part of South Pacific round Robin DET- Santa Barbara-Honolulu-Marshal Is-Solomon Is-Sydney(again)-Figi-Samoa-Tahiti(incl Bora Bora)-Easter Is-Lima -Guayaquil-Houston-DET
And other stuff too.
Advice to you young guys ...embellish your logs with lot's of details so that you can regale your grand kids 50 years from now...I am.
. Seeing the Greenland ice cap rise above the undercast on first Atlantic crossing from Goose Bay to Narsarssauq using DR navigation (before Loran, GPS)
. Making first ever landing in Europe out of a to-minimums ILS approach to Stavanger after diverting from intended landing at Bergen which had gone zero-zero
.Watching the OMEGA tick-off 89-58N,89-59N....... signalling arrival over the North Pole
. Circling the North Pole (clockwise to increase ground speed, of course!!!!) four times in a standard rate turn so as to go around the world four times in eight minutes
.Finding Spitzbergen after the NP crossing from Resolute Bay
.Going around the world the hard way(Detroit-Gander-Lisbon -Athens-Cairo-Bahrain-Bombay-Singapore-Bali -Darwin -Alice-Sydney-Brisbane-Pt Moresby-Biak-Manila -Nagoya-Kushiro- Adak-Anchorage-Edmonton-Winnipeg -Detroit in 24 days
.Landing at night on Totegegie in Fr Polynesia with flare pots (3) set out by the natives..on a leg from Tahiti to Easter Island..as part of South Pacific round Robin DET- Santa Barbara-Honolulu-Marshal Is-Solomon Is-Sydney(again)-Figi-Samoa-Tahiti(incl Bora Bora)-Easter Is-Lima -Guayaquil-Houston-DET
And other stuff too.
Advice to you young guys ...embellish your logs with lot's of details so that you can regale your grand kids 50 years from now...I am.
