Dylan's Flying Page
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Dylan's Flying Experiences |
Welcome to my aviation site! If you've got any aviation links you'd like
me to add, then please let me know (mail me at
dyls@alioth.net and I'll do my best to add it.
Scroll down this page for my experiences with different GA aircraft,
further for my pilot journals and links to other journals, and some
more for links of interest to all who enjoy aviation.
I've just moved back across the Atlantic from the US, so in due course,
there'll be some photos/writeups of flying here. I'm currently doing
all my flying out of Manx Flyers based at Ronaldsway, Isle of Man.
What's New? This page was last updated
on the 28th May, 2002.
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-- General Aviation Aircraft -- |
This section covers aircraft that I've been privileged to fly, and
checkout journals of aircraft that have required a signoff (taildraggers,
complex and high performance). It is my opinions on how these aircraft
are to fly, and what I like about them. Aircraft will be added as I
get to fly them. Click on the aircraft you're interested in, and
you'll see what I found when I flew them.
Cessna 140
At last, I'm in an airplane partnership!
Here's my 1946 Cessna 140.
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Beech Bonanza
Hurtling along in
the Bonanza.
A fast,
high performance machine.
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Cessna 150
Why fly a C150...
Aren't they slow?
Find out why here.
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Piper Arrow
In the summer of 1998,
I got my complex signoff
in this one.
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Cessna 172
I learned to fly in this Cessna 172, a successful GA aircraft.
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Piper Warrior
The Ubiquitous Warrior, found in FBO's all around the world.
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Cessna 170
In early 1999, I got my tailwheel endorsement here.
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GA Photo Gallery
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General Aviation Photo Gallery - Photographs of the above aircraft and more.
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When I make an interesting trip, or something fun happens,
this is where I'll record it. If you have
some interesting flying stories, let me know so I can put in a link
under my Links section on this page.
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The Rec.Aviation Fly-In. |
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Rec.Aviation 2k2 - The Attack of the Shirts
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The 2002 rec.aviation flyin saw some unusually bright shirts, some
unusually checkered airplanes, a memorial to Tony Pucillo and even
an outbreak of flying!
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Rec.Aviation 2K - Can I Get An STC for Muzzleloader Power?
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The Y2K fly-in saw lots of stuff going on in the hangar, including an
impromptu band, a lot of flying, plus a new batch of Muzzleloader to
fuel Saturday night's festivities...
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Rec.Aviation Flyin - The Gathering of the Ilk
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At the Rec.Aviation Flyin at Pinckneyville Du Quoin airport, many Ilk
were spotted roaming John Johnson's hangar. Some were even caught
on camera with experimental devices like Portable Starch Redeployment
Systems and Propane Jet Engines...
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The Aircraft
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Pictures of many of the aircraft that came to the fly-in.
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Trip Logs. |
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The Big Trip 1
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Part One of the Big Trip. A long distance Cessna 140 experience - 50
hours and several thousand miles of flying on a tour of the south west.
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Manx Flying
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Flying in the Isle of Man. What a superb place to fly! See my trip report and
photographs.
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XCOR - Mojave, CA
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Our trip to Mojave, California, to attend the Xcor Rocket-Ez unveiling. Photographs
and video clips of the Rocket-Ez. This was also my first long trip as a
multiengine/instrument rated pilot.
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Salt Lake City
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A long cross country for my first mountain flying. From Houston Gulf
to Salt Lake City Muni #2 and back in a Grumman Tiger.
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Going to Pinckneyville
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In 1999, I did my first halfway-across-the-country cross country, from
Houston Hobby, one of Houston's primary Class B airports to rural
southern Illinois.
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Gliding in North Carolina
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In December 1998, an unexpected business trip took me to North Carolina,
where I just happen to know a glider pilot. So I got my first glider
ride, and a bit of stick time in a Blanik.
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Flying In England
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In September 1998, I had 3 weeks time off work in England. I got
checked out to fly at the Lancashire Aero Club near Manchester.
Here's my experiences and a guide for US PPL's wanting to fly
in the UK.
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My original England trip
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In October 1997, I flew once at Barton, but unfortunately didn't
get enough time to check out. This page contains some first
impressions.
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San Marcos and Canyon Lake
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In May 1998, I had a fun day trip to the San Antonio Hill Country
after being starved of cross country flights for far too long.
It was good...it had been a long time since I'd seen a hill!
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One of the things I enjoy doing is reading in participating in groups
like rec.aviation.student and
rec.aviation.piloting. Every
so often a thread comes up that gets me thinking about the way we
do things. Some of these threads really get me thinking...so I write
a purely In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) rant about the whole affair.
This is all my personal opinion here; it's not advice, and you don't
have to agree. If you have any comments, just email me at
dyls@alioth.net.
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Stow that GPS!
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I feel that lots of people are just getting too reliant on those
electronic navaids, particularly GPS. GPS is nice; but some
have expressed an opinion that it's like suicide to take on a
VFR cross country without one. I just don't agree with this!
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I learned to fly with the
Bay Area Aero Club, an excellent not-for-profit flying club based
at Houston Gulf Airport in south east Texas. I kept my student pilot
journal online. It's a qualitative view of my flight training, my
hopes, fears, screw-ups etc. I'm just about to embark on my instrument
rating. I'll keep the log here too, plus links to other student pilot
flight logs and resources.
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My flight journals. |
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My Student Pilot Days
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Of course any pilot is a student for life. However, the FAA calls
us student pilots until we have that magical license to learn called
the Private Pilot Certificate. This is my experience learning to
fly with my instructor, Lee Simmons, at the BAAC. Includes my
spin training session!
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Instrument Training
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My instrument rating journal is here, along with interesting IFR experiences
I've had since the checkride.
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Wot No Engine!
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NEW! I'm
now working on my glider rating. Follow my progress here...
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Not enough stuff here? Well find other flying stuff on the Web with
my links directory. Do you have a good link that I don't have? Well, you
can also add it to my Links Directory, too. (Note, this is experimental,
I adapted this from one of my other sites and the categories may need
refinement. Please email me if you
have suggestions for categories to add)
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Aviation links
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Use the search form to find specific links, or just view them all at
once.
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Add links
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Do you have a link that you want to add? Use this form to add links to
the database.
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This website is a member of The Aero
Ring, a linked list of aviation websites. To visit other
sites in the ring, click on one of these links.
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For lots of other aviation/flight sim links see
Best Aviation Sites
Thanks to Damien Burke and his superb site
Thunders and Lightnings
from which my font use and title layout was strongly influenced. This site is the best
aviation site I've come across yet. Well worth visiting.
Big cheers to the
Lancashire Aero Club for checking me out in their
aircraft, hassle-free. I didn't expect that!
And of course...the
Bay Area Aero Club for providing a great atmosphere for learning to fly, and
fostering something that will last a lifetime.
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No html editors here!
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since Feburary 1999
Content on this site (c) 1996-present
Dylan Smith. unless otherwise stated.
In loving memory of my mother, Susan Smith, who passed away on Christmas
Eve 1998.
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