I am a new member who found this site while looking for info on Piper aircraft. On Saturday July 20, 2013 I utilized the introductory flight certificate that my wife and kids got for me (for Father's Day) with a flight instructor out of of Warren County Airport in Lebanon, Ohio. Myself, my oldest daughter, Sophia (12), and my instructor Pete, flew in a 1974 Piper Warrior around the area at 2500-3000 ft. Probably like many before me, this is something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember and I'm now at 47.
This was the first time I was in a general aviation aircraft/trainer and after fooling around with MSFS 2002/4 for many years with just a joystick/mouse, to be able to reach out go through the preflight, pushing buttons, switches and progressing through the startup checklist was simply just really cool to do. Using the rudder pedals was completely foreign to me and in retrospect, looking back on it, I would say it was not unlike the first time I drove a car having nothing to compare it to before, no muscle memory to call on and nothing too smooth about what I was doing. Actually being in the air was incredible as well as completely overwhelming at times. Although it was a beautiful morning, it was a bit bumpy throughout the entire flight and Pete even commented that it was not what he expected when we got up there. My favorite part of the entire trip was listening to Sophie's comments from the back seat through the headsets. She was in complete awe of the landscape below and how much open landscape there was below. She was also recording bits and pieces of the trip on her iphone which is great to have video of the event.
I'm in a great area with a rich aviation history. Just a few miles North of Lebanon is Dayton Wright Brother's Airport, WPAFB that has an incredible aviation museum and Lebanon was the home to Neil Armstrong for many years. I enlisted in the Navy in 1987 and spent 4 years on the USS Carl Vinson CVN 70 from 1989-1993. My grandpa and grandma met in WWII while they were both Navy medics and I'll neither confirm nor deny I watched Top Gun too many times. I did not work in aviation while in the Navy and was an electrician that worked in the nuclear power plants on the ship but any chance I had, I would go up and watch flight ops from the Crow's nest when we were underway. I can see some similarity with my military background with aviation. Operating nuclear/electrical power plants required a lengthy training process and getting qualified and signed off by my peers and superiors, constant scanning of the instruments, following procedures and protocols for everything and drilling/training for emergency situations, and the importance of good communications. So, I think what I'm getting at is that there is something about that feeling that I will welcome back in my life...the structure, the comaraderie etc.
I have been practicing as a physical therapist for the past 15+ years and I am fortunate to have such a wonderful profession. Doing something in aviation is about the only other thing I can think of that I'd rather be doing. Today I had another reason why I can think this would be a worthwhile endeavor to pursue. I am especially fond of and thankful to the WWII vets, well, all of them regardless of the era really. My grandparents have both passed on and my wife's grandpa who has 2 purple hearts from Battle of the Bulge is still with us...but many of them are leaving us at an exponential rate. Anyway, I had patient today (I am now primarily working in home health) and this gentleman who is an USAF veteran from the Korean area and he has had a rough few months with medical complications. He is used to keeping busy, wood working, building homes, remodeling etc and now, he's really depressed and in need of a hobby. I couldn't help but think about that all day. I think as we go through life, having things to work on, learn new things and keep the mind and body engaged is very important. So to me, I can see how aviation could be that thing for me possibly to do just that, keep engaged in life. Add that to the list of reasons why to eat soundly and take care of your body and keep that medical certificate valid.
At any rate...I stumbled in here because I had not paid much attention to the Piper aircraft, not sure why I guess I just thought most people trained in a Cessna? I started searching for the differences between the Piper and Cessna trainers...and it seems there are fanatics in both camps. And talk about putting the cart way, way before the horse...I'm already trying to justify someday that I need a Cherokee 6 to restore new and make my own someday! I have 3 kids and my dream is to go from here in the greater Cincinnati-Dayton area to the gulf coast of Florida for trips whenever I damn well want to, (weather permitting of course)...to Destin, Sarasota, Naples etc and not just the $100 hamburger, or whatever the going rate is these days. For now, I need to somehow justify the expense of training as well as the time and balance that with everything else that is going on in life.
I am thankful I stumbled in here and look forward to learning from anyone who's a willing to share. Thanks for your time and consideration.
-Ryan
This was the first time I was in a general aviation aircraft/trainer and after fooling around with MSFS 2002/4 for many years with just a joystick/mouse, to be able to reach out go through the preflight, pushing buttons, switches and progressing through the startup checklist was simply just really cool to do. Using the rudder pedals was completely foreign to me and in retrospect, looking back on it, I would say it was not unlike the first time I drove a car having nothing to compare it to before, no muscle memory to call on and nothing too smooth about what I was doing. Actually being in the air was incredible as well as completely overwhelming at times. Although it was a beautiful morning, it was a bit bumpy throughout the entire flight and Pete even commented that it was not what he expected when we got up there. My favorite part of the entire trip was listening to Sophie's comments from the back seat through the headsets. She was in complete awe of the landscape below and how much open landscape there was below. She was also recording bits and pieces of the trip on her iphone which is great to have video of the event.
I'm in a great area with a rich aviation history. Just a few miles North of Lebanon is Dayton Wright Brother's Airport, WPAFB that has an incredible aviation museum and Lebanon was the home to Neil Armstrong for many years. I enlisted in the Navy in 1987 and spent 4 years on the USS Carl Vinson CVN 70 from 1989-1993. My grandpa and grandma met in WWII while they were both Navy medics and I'll neither confirm nor deny I watched Top Gun too many times. I did not work in aviation while in the Navy and was an electrician that worked in the nuclear power plants on the ship but any chance I had, I would go up and watch flight ops from the Crow's nest when we were underway. I can see some similarity with my military background with aviation. Operating nuclear/electrical power plants required a lengthy training process and getting qualified and signed off by my peers and superiors, constant scanning of the instruments, following procedures and protocols for everything and drilling/training for emergency situations, and the importance of good communications. So, I think what I'm getting at is that there is something about that feeling that I will welcome back in my life...the structure, the comaraderie etc.
I have been practicing as a physical therapist for the past 15+ years and I am fortunate to have such a wonderful profession. Doing something in aviation is about the only other thing I can think of that I'd rather be doing. Today I had another reason why I can think this would be a worthwhile endeavor to pursue. I am especially fond of and thankful to the WWII vets, well, all of them regardless of the era really. My grandparents have both passed on and my wife's grandpa who has 2 purple hearts from Battle of the Bulge is still with us...but many of them are leaving us at an exponential rate. Anyway, I had patient today (I am now primarily working in home health) and this gentleman who is an USAF veteran from the Korean area and he has had a rough few months with medical complications. He is used to keeping busy, wood working, building homes, remodeling etc and now, he's really depressed and in need of a hobby. I couldn't help but think about that all day. I think as we go through life, having things to work on, learn new things and keep the mind and body engaged is very important. So to me, I can see how aviation could be that thing for me possibly to do just that, keep engaged in life. Add that to the list of reasons why to eat soundly and take care of your body and keep that medical certificate valid.
At any rate...I stumbled in here because I had not paid much attention to the Piper aircraft, not sure why I guess I just thought most people trained in a Cessna? I started searching for the differences between the Piper and Cessna trainers...and it seems there are fanatics in both camps. And talk about putting the cart way, way before the horse...I'm already trying to justify someday that I need a Cherokee 6 to restore new and make my own someday! I have 3 kids and my dream is to go from here in the greater Cincinnati-Dayton area to the gulf coast of Florida for trips whenever I damn well want to, (weather permitting of course)...to Destin, Sarasota, Naples etc and not just the $100 hamburger, or whatever the going rate is these days. For now, I need to somehow justify the expense of training as well as the time and balance that with everything else that is going on in life.
I am thankful I stumbled in here and look forward to learning from anyone who's a willing to share. Thanks for your time and consideration.
-Ryan
