The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I know I'm not much of a talker on forums like this, more just a search and look for answers guy. I sure have appreciated the wealth of info here tho and rarely miss many days between visiting.
Just letting you all know I soloed my 170 this morn May 04. Ive always heard it was a rush but wow! Wanted to fly for the last 25 yrs now at 38 its happening. Had to grin all day whenever I thought of it.
Getting to bed here soon so I can get up to fly early tomorrow again.

Congrats. It is a wonderful feeling. It never goes away.

Congratulations. As Doug has said, it is a wonderful feeling.

Has all your training been in your '48 170? Why did you choose or perhaps end up with a 170?

Thumbs up and enjoy!!!!!

Be careful! That flying is dangerous stuff. Look at the Wright brothers, they're both dead.

When you lifted off and yelled WHOOPEEE..... did ya suddenly feel flushed?

CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the wonderful world of AVIATORS!

delete

Thanks for the kind words. Bruce I had 3 hrs a year ago in a school 150. put it this way with 255lb solid bone and sinew and muscle me and 200 lb instructor it was somewhat challenged. I
was always interested in a taildragger but realized a 120 or 140 wouldn't quite be enough. I happened to be browsing barnstormers a year ago and this one jumped out at me. 80 SMOH 2900tt
I lucked out with an old taildragger instructor, he also does most of the flight testing for Transport Canada in Northern BC.. So I guess when he says I'm good to go I probably will be. Yeah George my first circuit felt slightly unreal. When I turned downwind on my second one it hit me and I bust out . Got up early this morn to get some time in before family woke up, but found a good layer of frost on the wings, so turned them towards the sun and went over and BSed a tri-pacer pilot by his plane for a while. They thawed fast and got 45 min with 5 T/O and landings. By the way BL I sure hope I'm dead at their age too. I'm burning Mogas to try and ensure it
Kim

I have a difficult time becoming excited when I hear about some student pilot getting about twenty five hours of dual prior to solo and then getting another ten or more dual hours to learn to fly a conventionsl gear airplane.
Stop for a minute and think about the thousands and thoudands of pilots that were trained in WWII. Every one, without exception, soloed with about EIGHT or NINE hours, In a conventional geared airplane, (That's a "Taildragger" to you young guys), and each one of them had to be proficient in SPINS and SPIN RECOVERY in order to SOLO. My, how times have changed. I'd venture to bet that a showing of hands in a group of pilots today would be pretty skimpy when asked how many were proficient in spins and recovery. It's bad enough that the vast majority of today's instructors are not tail wheel qualified.

BL you are right, times have changed. For one, in our area, there is no such thing as a cross wind runway. My friend I've been teaching and I have not had a day of training with less than 8 to 10 knots off 30° or more from the nose. There are NO grass fields either, it is all asphalt. Yes there have been calm days, but either he or I could not be training with the busy work schedules we must keep or we were waiting on parts for the plane which can not just be ordered from anywhere. We can not get out everyday, or even every other day. We are actually lucky to get out once a week. Lots of relearning going on and if that particular time and day isn't perfect for training we have to make due.

Yes lots of civilians have learned to fly or solo in 8 to 12 hours with the right conditions in a day when airplanes, airports and instructors were much easier to find. Many more military folks have done it because they had to or they were eliminated from the program. They were also flying Uncle Sams airplane and if one broke there was another.

As an instructor to be perfectly honest, I can not afford to instruct. And it has nothing to do with the money I might earn doing it. It has everything to do with the liability I'm taking on. I can not afford to have a student land and veer off the runway as they are likely to destroy the airplane with the lack of parts and the shop rates today. Then the FAA is likely to investigate which may lead to things that are popular today like letters in your file which will effect my real employment. So if I even do any instruction, I'm going to be darn sure the student knows what their doing and then some.

It is just the way it is today.

BL, don't forget that pilot applicants are prescreened for potential (in military training), and three to
four weeks of intensive ground school are applied before the first flight.
In the civilian world, you get whoever walks up with a credit card, at whatever age/ability/background exists. The first lessons are used to evaluate potential, and THEN the instructor
(not likely to be as specifically trained in his field as the military I P) has the task of turning that kiwi
into a soloist, usually performing the feat in a modern, avionics equipped airplane mixed with
various traffic, all with out a parachute.

I always find it interesting to ask fellow pilots what type of aircraft they soloed and/or training in. I am sure a bunch trained in whatever was available at the airport they were closest to. I worked at an fbo during part of my college time (ABI) and never saw any instruction being given in tail wheel aircraft. The local school had Cessna 150's (probably 172's--I don't specifically remember them) and since they were a Piper dealer, Cherokee 140's, et al. We saw relatively few conventional geared planes. There was at least one twin Beech and Trans Texas Airways flew one or two flights daily in DC-3's. Many years later when my bride gave me a check and told me that while that wouldn't be sufficient to pay for my pilot training, that it would get me started and if I wanted to get my pilot's license I needed to do so before I got too old I have a good friend who knew I was wanting to take lessons and he insisted I let him take me out to the airport (Saginaw, TX) where he learned to fly several years earlier. I assumed I would learn in a C-150 as that seemed to be the airplane de jour. The instructor asked me if I was in any particular hurry to get my license and since I was on a pretty slim budget (aren't we all ) I said "No". He then told me he would like to teach me in a C-140 as he felt learning in a tail dragger would make me a better pilot. So I did everything in one of two C-140's up until time to do the required radio work which then required the use of the 150 since neither of the 140's had workable radios. As I look back on that experience I feel I was really fortunate to have gone that route. While the first owned plane, purchased two weeks prior to my check ride, was a C-182, the other two planes I have owned (140A & Old Pokey/172TD) have all been tail wheeled planes and while I hope I became a better pilot I have enjoyed the experience of flying them for 2500+ hrs & 28+ yrs. Hope I get to add to those totals.

Congratulations! Keep up the great work.

integritywood wrote: Getting to bed here soon so I can get up to fly early tomorrow again.

I've often said that the ONLY thing that make me want to wake up early -- WILLINGLY -- is an airplane.

Happy skies and tailwinds!
-Scott