Pilot guitarists unite!

topdog91

Reading the Japan Air fire thread got me thinking, it seems that some of us may fly aeroplanes when we're not turning up to 11. It would be cool to know if that's the case so make yourselves known!

Me: A massive 12 hours towards PPL, C152 at EGTR, absolutely loving it, even not hating stalls any more. Sadly over autumn / winter it has been hard to get a lesson in, then again my wallet is thankful. Actually scratch that, I bought a guitar instead (sigh).

strumjoughlamps

Damn I was only thinking the other day about the pilot who also made guitars, I think he even donated a LP Jr to the (old)forum raffle. I think @thomasross20 won it 

Axe_meister

I put in a lot of hours on a flight sim (fully moveable platform with instrumentation only), whilst at uni as I was writing a graphical display of what you could see out of the window. Project got abandoned as the compute power of the day was just not up to it. (I did create a quick cheat by interfacing with MS flight sim).
That was back in 1991. 

AntonHunter

My dad got his PPL in the mid 2000's, and took me up in a Cessna to have a go, which was bloody amazing, can totally see why people do it. However, that was around the time there was a bug jump in the price of fuel so he ended up stopping and not getting enough flying hours in to maintain the PPL.

drofluf

I had a gliding licence before I had a driving licence courtesy of the C.C.F., I really should have been revising for my O Levels that half term.... But never kept it up.

I later joined  the R.A.F. albeit as a navigator and got some handling time before we both realised I wasn't up to the task. 

Dodge

Lapsed CPL / instructor here, I used to teach people to fly out of Oxford Airport approx 10 years ago.

I don't miss the teaching, but I do miss pottering around the Cotswolds on a clear day.

Grumpyrocker

No real flight experience, but 1000s of hours of MS Flight Sim going all the way back to SubLogic FS2.

Having started with Harrier Attack on the ZX Spectrum I'm clearly just as much an pilot as any of you.

SteveRobinson

strumjoughlamps said:

Damn I was only thinking the other day about the pilot who also made guitars, I think he even donated a LP Jr to the (old)forum raffle. I think @thomasross20 won it 

That will be Neil Morgan I think?

Chris.B

I flew for about 25 years, it only came to an end a couple of years ago when the co-owner of the plane, A Foxbat microlight, wanted to go sole ownership on a newer plane. 

It was a fantastic hobby and surprisingly cheap too, lots of great times spent enjoying flying around the country and the satisfaction that the plane could be used again after a good landing. 

ManWithoutSkin

I'm a 737 type rating instructor. I spend most of my time in a simulator instructing, but usually fly passengers on the line a few times a month.

TheMarlin

I have hang gliding and paragliding licences. I’ve got a few thousand hours flight time, but not flown now for a while. 

I miss it. 

Chalky

Always loved aeroplanes so thought I'd love a PPL, but when I tried it in a c152 I was unimpressed.  Been in others since, more modern like a Cirrus, but still wasn't for me. 

A good mate is a keen PPL so I got him rides in other aircraft including a Jet Provost and a Gnat.  Think the Gnat run in along the runway at 400kt and under 100ft into a high G break was enough for him at his age!

boogieman

SteveRobinson said:

strumjoughlamps said:

Damn I was only thinking the other day about the pilot who also made guitars, I think he even donated a LP Jr to the (old)forum raffle. I think @thomasross20 won it 

That will be Neil Morgan I think?

Yup, pretty sure that was him….XLR8 on the old MR forum

Chris.B

@topdog91 ; getting the training in at this time of year is really hard, but it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck with your ongoing lessons and keep us posted with your progress.

roundthebend

I wanted to be an airline pilot when I left school. There wasn't much opportunity unless you could fund it yourself, which I couldn't figure out, so I tried the RAF but failed to get in. Tried BA a few years later and failed something in that process. I'm adamant I'd be great at it now, and think the failures were more about my immaturity at the time.

Now I'm mid-40s I still have the itch. I'm intending to get into paragliding soon.

boogieman

@Emp_Fab ;

strumjoughlamps

boogieman said:

SteveRobinson said:

strumjoughlamps said:

Damn I was only thinking the other day about the pilot who also made guitars, I think he even donated a LP Jr to the (old)forum raffle. I think @thomasross20 won it 

That will be Neil Morgan I think?

Yup, pretty sure that was him….XLR8 on the old MR forum

Yes that was him.

Deadman

Only backseats for me; Tornado F3 (although I did ‘take control’ somewhat) and Lancaster PA474. 

AK99

Chalky said:

A good mate is a keen PPL so I got him rides in other aircraft including a Jet Provost and a Gnat.  Think the Gnat run in along the runway at 400kt and under 100ft into a high G break was enough for him at his age!

The Gnat is a bit of a special thing. They used to have one down in one of the hangers at Hurn in Bournemouth when I was there. Absolutely tiny - like an F1 car with wings.

Is there one still flying in the UK ?

Haych

I don't wish to derail the thread, but when I saw the title, and given that it's now that month between December and February, I somehow thought it would be about reuniting a '70s Scottish rock band.

ManWithoutSkin

roundthebend said:

I wanted to be an airline pilot when I left school. There wasn't much opportunity unless you could fund it yourself, which I couldn't figure out, so I tried the RAF but failed to get in. Tried BA a few years later and failed something in that process. I'm adamant I'd be great at it now, and think the failures were more about my immaturity at the time.

Now I'm mid-40s I still have the itch. I'm intending to get into paragliding soon.

It's never too late! The airline I work for have taken on quite a few guys in their 40s recently who have changed career and come to us as their first airline job.