Just wanted to say hi, and introduce myself to the forum.
I've been lurking on this forum on and off for a while, educating myself, but, finally registered now that we bought an Archer about a month ago. Seems y'all have a great community here, and I'm glad to join the Piper family.
Short (well, we'll call it short, lol) bit about me:
I've been in and around planes since childhood, on and off during my dad's active ownership/instructing/leisure periods. He's currently an inactive CFII/MEI, but still has the love for flying. Regarding Pipers, his favorite plane was his Arrow II be owned back in the 80's when I was a kid. My grandfather was a Waco glider pilot for the Army Air Corp, and last active in the 1940's. I finally decided to join the club and make it third generation.
After logging some hours with my dad years ago in his Sundowner, but, not prioritizing actually getting my PPL while he was still an active CFI (silly, I know), and then a long break from flying after he sold his Beech, I finally finished last year with a great instructor (shout out for Nick Loftus with St. Charles Flying Service) out of Smartt Field KSET.
I wanted my PPL not only for the personal satisfaction, but, with the idea of building from that and working towards a career transition while it's hot. Although I'm a little later than I'd like for the career aspect - wish I'd have started in my teens instead of pursuing other things; now 34 y/o, I figure I still have some time to get in with some hard work, good luck, and networking along the way. Being as I love to fly, and get tired of being in a cubicle at ground level sometimes, I figure it's better later than never trying to go for it.
I've attached some pics of the new-to-me timebuilder, along with our first timebuilder we bought last year. Our C-150 was destroyed by a storm while in the hangar at KFTT, two weeks after we bought it in May 2017...The replacement search eventually led me to this Piper though, so it wasn't all bad. It took almost a year, different aircraft test-flights, log book discrepancies, sold before we got there, etc. situations before we found one that fit our wants of a good-all-arounder, that I could get my IR in, and fly with my dad and wife together, and have more overall usefulness than the 150... as we all couldn't fit in that one
1981 Archer II, great logs, high frame, but, well maintained, mid-time on a Lycoming Reman, and clean. Getting the wheel pants put on it at annual, and some other stuff checked out. I'll have some questions along the way for y'all.
We're loving it so far! My wife is comfy in it, and, I'm really happy to be able to fly with my dad, and get better. Inactive he may be, but, we'll both knock the rust off together and I can learn some more stuff from him, and hopefully it'll lead to him making a run at getting his medical and currency back so we can have some father/son learning together, this time in our plane instead of his
I'm based out of KFTT (Fulton, MO). Started logging time out of KJEF (Jefferson City), between Dad's Sundowner and later Jeff City Flying Service's Warriors. I finished at KSET (St. Charles) in their C-152's.
I've been lurking on this forum on and off for a while, educating myself, but, finally registered now that we bought an Archer about a month ago. Seems y'all have a great community here, and I'm glad to join the Piper family.
Short (well, we'll call it short, lol) bit about me:
I've been in and around planes since childhood, on and off during my dad's active ownership/instructing/leisure periods. He's currently an inactive CFII/MEI, but still has the love for flying. Regarding Pipers, his favorite plane was his Arrow II be owned back in the 80's when I was a kid. My grandfather was a Waco glider pilot for the Army Air Corp, and last active in the 1940's. I finally decided to join the club and make it third generation.
After logging some hours with my dad years ago in his Sundowner, but, not prioritizing actually getting my PPL while he was still an active CFI (silly, I know), and then a long break from flying after he sold his Beech, I finally finished last year with a great instructor (shout out for Nick Loftus with St. Charles Flying Service) out of Smartt Field KSET.
I wanted my PPL not only for the personal satisfaction, but, with the idea of building from that and working towards a career transition while it's hot. Although I'm a little later than I'd like for the career aspect - wish I'd have started in my teens instead of pursuing other things; now 34 y/o, I figure I still have some time to get in with some hard work, good luck, and networking along the way. Being as I love to fly, and get tired of being in a cubicle at ground level sometimes, I figure it's better later than never trying to go for it.
I've attached some pics of the new-to-me timebuilder, along with our first timebuilder we bought last year. Our C-150 was destroyed by a storm while in the hangar at KFTT, two weeks after we bought it in May 2017...The replacement search eventually led me to this Piper though, so it wasn't all bad. It took almost a year, different aircraft test-flights, log book discrepancies, sold before we got there, etc. situations before we found one that fit our wants of a good-all-arounder, that I could get my IR in, and fly with my dad and wife together, and have more overall usefulness than the 150... as we all couldn't fit in that one
1981 Archer II, great logs, high frame, but, well maintained, mid-time on a Lycoming Reman, and clean. Getting the wheel pants put on it at annual, and some other stuff checked out. I'll have some questions along the way for y'all.
We're loving it so far! My wife is comfy in it, and, I'm really happy to be able to fly with my dad, and get better. Inactive he may be, but, we'll both knock the rust off together and I can learn some more stuff from him, and hopefully it'll lead to him making a run at getting his medical and currency back so we can have some father/son learning together, this time in our plane instead of his
I'm based out of KFTT (Fulton, MO). Started logging time out of KJEF (Jefferson City), between Dad's Sundowner and later Jeff City Flying Service's Warriors. I finished at KSET (St. Charles) in their C-152's.
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