where to from here

[Guest MattB]

Hi all,

 

Looking for a bit of inspiration here.

 

Ive finally achieved my Ra certificate with PAX endorsement, but have yet to embark on X-country. At a bit of a cross roads as to whether or not to jump over to GA, or continue down the RA path (preference is RA as of this minute), or give it all away. Im not a career pilot = too old and too stupid. Enjoying everything about flying at the moment, and have already surpassed all personal expectations so far. But wondering how many others have got this far, and given the game away, or reached this dilemna. Im more interested in vintage, so an Auster over an Archer anyday.

 

SO the main question here is... "where to from here?" Any advise or inspiration is more than welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt B

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Hi Matt

 

I dont know about insparation but here goes ,im a newbie to flying and my next lesson is solo! the flying bug started for me at 63 , and with a friend we are going to build our own plane, the time to get a licence (ppl i my case) will take as long as it takes , to old for me doesnt cut it and as for being st#@*d well your being hard on yourself,flying is going to open a new world for me and its abig sky! lots of interesting people on this forum ,some funny guys,lots of advice , technical,experience, etc Matt keep at it,4 weeks ago i had the inconsistent doldrums, it finally came together this week! , scoped out the plane we are building and gave me a new lease also talking to other guy(and gals) the age seems to be 50+anyway, good luck and keep at it

 

cheers Gareth

 

 

[old man emu]

Matt,

 

Your wondering will be solved when you do your first Nav Ex, and get away from the familiar sights of the training area and circuit.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[Guest MattB]

Thanks Gareth! good luck with your solo. A great experience, but for me, overshadowed by taking my father up as my first passenger (an ex military pilot). You are going to love the experience. And thanks for the encouragement, and look forward to hearing about the a/c build. And to 'old man', you are 100% right, but the valley where I fly is just simply outsatnding!!

 

 

[old man emu]

Matt,

 

Fly out of the valley. There's a big, beautiful country on the other side of the hills.

 

OME

 

 

[ayavner]

Any time I want inspiration, I hop over to the Aerial Photography brag thread... simply stunning work, makes me want to get up there and take pictures! Of course, first I have to finish my cert lol :)

 

 

[biggles]

Hi all,Looking for a bit of inspiration here.

Ive finally achieved my Ra certificate with PAX endorsement, but have yet to embark on X-country. At a bit of a cross roads as to whether or not to jump over to GA, or continue down the RA path (preference is RA as of this minute), or give it all away. Im not a career pilot = too old and too stupid. Enjoying everything about flying at the moment, and have already surpassed all personal expectations so far. But wondering how many others have got this far, and given the game away, or reached this dilemna. Im more interested in vintage, so an Auster over an Archer anyday.

 

SO the main question here is... "where to from here?" Any advise or inspiration is more than welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt B

[biggles]

Giddy Matt,

 

Not too sure about advice or inspiration but there are many old pilots here. I started flying at 62 and then went on to build a J160 which was completed in 2009. We fly from Southern Vic. to Qld. regularly and are about to set off for the Gulf again after Temora.I'm not a "career pilot" either

 

 

[biggles]

Hi all,Looking for a bit of inspiration here.

Ive finally achieved my Ra certificate with PAX endorsement, but have yet to embark on X-country. At a bit of a cross roads as to whether or not to jump over to GA, or continue down the RA path (preference is RA as of this minute), or give it all away. Im not a career pilot = too old and too stupid. Enjoying everything about flying at the moment, and have already surpassed all personal expectations so far. But wondering how many others have got this far, and given the game away, or reached this dilemna. Im more interested in vintage, so an Auster over an Archer anyday.

 

SO the main question here is... "where to from here?" Any advise or inspiration is more than welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt B

[biggles]

Hi all,Looking for a bit of inspiration here.

Ive finally achieved my Ra certificate with PAX endorsement, but have yet to embark on X-country. At a bit of a cross roads as to whether or not to jump over to GA, or continue down the RA path (preference is RA as of this minute), or give it all away. Im not a career pilot = too old and too stupid. Enjoying everything about flying at the moment, and have already surpassed all personal expectations so far. But wondering how many others have got this far, and given the game away, or reached this dilemna. Im more interested in vintage, so an Auster over an Archer anyday.

 

SO the main question here is... "where to from here?" Any advise or inspiration is more than welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt B

Sorry about that Matt and other forum users , but I'm doing this on my new iPad , takes a bit of getting used to.Anyway I was about to say that age is only a state of mind , thinking young with the maturity that age brings is a good combination. Good luck with whatever decision you make .

 

Bob

 

Bob

 

 

[Piet Fil]

Matt,

 

Occasionally had the same thoughts but they passed, enjoying the bag out of the X-Country learning phase (I'm a bit weird and love the planning and calculation parts as well as the joy of flying where you planned). I have also just started on building a Pietenpol Air Camper. Just glued up ribs 8 and 9 of 32. The build and the joy of flying are all I need to keep me going.

 

Hang in there and enjoy the moments.

 

Phil

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

If you're not sure, do at least one nav flight to see what it's like. I fly from the same valley you do and it is beautiful, but getting out of there is even more amazing and knowing Australia is at your fingertips (essentially).

 

Just be aware that you'll likely spend most of nav training feeling like you're constantly about one minute away from a nervous breakdown (at least, I felt that way), but once I did my first solo nav and realised I could do it solo, it was all worth it. My first solo nav is my most prized flying memory, even more than my first solo. :)

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Matt

 

I have had those thoughts all of my life. In the mid 1980's I flew gliders mainly up at Kingaroy logged around 80 hours so a fair amount of experience then women came along so it all stopped.....In 1995 I wanted to fulfil my dream of being a GA pilot so did around 40 hours in a C172 out of redcliffe went solo then had a job to do out at Birdsville so thought wow what a great nav exercise for a first navex.....I found Birdsville by compass , paperwork and pencil I was very chuffed...then I got failed on my medical so couldn't get my licence.....I have been looking at ultralights for the past 10 years or so and selected the savannah a long time ago for its "4wd" performance as I want to do more long distances and travelling to out of the way places. So I ordered a kit and it should be flying at the end of this month or a little later and a dream will come true....to build and fly my own aircraft. If the weather up here is kind this week but it doesn't look like it I was going to go for my RAA licence but maybe next week by the look of it now. So I have been though the whole lot and found flying the Savannah BETTER than flying the cessna ...I am learning in the same model Sav I am building. The enjoyment is still there the costs are FAR LESS than GA and lets face it who wants to land at Brisbane airport or Gold Coast or maroochydore anyway...there are plenty of other places to fly than to be part of the RPT guys and trying to fit in...when flying the Cessna I never really went above 7500 and we can now go to 9500 in RAA I think we in RAA get most of the good parts without the drama and really only a few drawbacks.....I will be sticking with RAA and not just because of the medical part...I have found the people that I have met in doing this and the social part or it all has been just fantastic much better than when I was involved in GA and more like the gliding fraternity back so long ago...it was a fabulous time then and is the same now.

 

You have to make your decision based on what YOU feel you want to do...my decision has been made and I know I made the right decision

 

Mark

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi all,Looking for a bit of inspiration here.

Ive finally achieved my Ra certificate with PAX endorsement, but have yet to embark on X-country. At a bit of a cross roads as to whether or not to jump over to GA, or continue down the RA path (preference is RA as of this minute), or give it all away. Im not a career pilot = too old and too stupid. Enjoying everything about flying at the moment, and have already surpassed all personal expectations so far. But wondering how many others have got this far, and given the game away, or reached this dilemna. Im more interested in vintage, so an Auster over an Archer anyday.

 

SO the main question here is... "where to from here?" Any advise or inspiration is more than welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt B

G'day Matt, I lived very close to Schofield aerodrome in NW Sydney for about 15 years. Every fine weekend I saw those planes doing circuits and, because I was paying a mortgage and feeding four children, etc, the seed of a dream to fly had to be put on hold. My dream has expanded somewhat because the dream involves building a plane as well. Now, I have been doing PPL training for some time but even this has temporarily stalled because of a funding issue which I hope will be resolved in a few months or so. I still intend to fulfill the double-faceted dream one way or another (and this is likely to include shifting to non-GA training and building an all-metal STOL plane).

 

Keep it up, and continue to make the dream a reality

 

4 weeks ago i had the inconsistent doldrums, it finally came together this week! , scoped out the plane we are building and gave me a new lease also talking to other guy(and gals) the age seems to be 50+anyway, good luck and keep at itcheers Gareth

Gareth, what plane are you planning to build?

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Hi Eightyknots

 

craig and i decided on a Morgan Sierra .we started our build on Good Friday so far we have the fusilarge complete and corrosion powdercoated and have skinned the bottom turn over tomorrow and start to do the cables etc and tail elavators and rudder ,we decided on the sierra because of it flying capabilities and the look good lines we are also putting the Jab 330 engine in

 

cheers gareth