No, i'm not a pilot thought I did take a couple joyrides in the right seat with a pilot friend of mine.

It's just with all the "If you had the money would you ..." threads going around I thought it might be cool to see who is a pilot or who has built their own airplane.

The same friend of mine that took me flying also has a Van's RV-8A (the tricycle gear version of the RV-8) that he and some friends built and co-own.

Building an airplane is not on my bucket list, but it sure is cool.

Anyone?

 

There are actually a surprising number of pilots on here. Hornetball being the first to come to mind.
I wasn't a pilot, but I was a navy rescue swimmer/ crewchief on a MH60S.
Three deployments doing pretty much the coolest stuff that bird is capable of other than crashing.

 

Being a fighter pilot was a dream I had in grade school. Then I learned that being colorblind was an automatic fail. I've resented that ever since.

 

I sit in the back, does that count? I've got a few buddies who own or build or have been doing homework for 10yrs for retirement present to buy their own plane. I've never heard any of them complain about anything related to ownership.

I don't know that it's any more expensive than any other semi-expensive vehicular hobby. Owning a big sailboat or competitive racecar is the same shiz. Having kids is way more expensive.

As for building... I've got 5 buddies who built their own, and none of them took any less than DOUBLE the time they thought it would. One dude I know did a WWI replica bi-plane that took him 8 years and he ground-looped it during his first taxi-test... took him ANOTHER year before it flew.

Obviously it's one of those hobbies where there is zero forgiveness of asshattery and even the most miniscule mistake stands a good chance of killing you and anybody with you.

 

I don't but my dad does and he taught me most of what he knows, "just in case". There was a time when I worked at the local airport and planed to make it legal but life happened! Wife isn't keen on them at all. But I still browse online classifieds. Now that I have my boys I'm not sure I'll let them go up with pop pop. That's an odd feeling.

But nothing better than being in a 152 on July 4th or better yet the cold dense air of New Years.

There's a (large) runway near here that's in the middle of nowhere, scary on a moonless night. The runway lights turn on by keying the mic on a certain frequency. Again, one of the coolest things I've experienced. Like turning on a mini city with the flick of one switch.

 

Being in a 172?

(I'm tall.)


While I realize that there are certain practical considerations associated with owning and maintaining a 1950s-era jet aircraft, I would love to have a Cessena T-37:

 

I agree. That is a truly awesome little airplane.

I know it will never happen because the Navy and Marine Corps are flying them until the airframes are no longer air worthy, but I've always had the fantasy of owning a stripped down EA-6B Prowler. Sub-sonic sure, but acrobatic and four seats. Plus that is the aircraft I worked on in the Corps so I have a soft spot for it.