Let's dust this off a little

motormech1

motormech1

Kenny
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2023
Messages
239
Hi everyone. Just seeing if anyone's alive in here. New guy here. I'm an A&P currently building Engines for GE. I'm also a pilot and love tinkering around our flying club's grass strip on the weekends. I currently have a pretty sweet Cessna 120 that I keep the rust off with but have had a few others. Give me a shout out if there's any aviation nuts left in here. Cheers!
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Nice looking plane! Never got a chance to fly a taildragger when I was active.
 
Thanks! It's my favorite type of flying. Me and a buddy from work restore vintage aircraft so we get a fair amount of tailwheel time. Although, for cross country trips my 182 was pretty sweet when I had it. Plan getting another one down the road. I guess just different tools for different jobs, eh?
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Little different "weight class" than your Cessna:

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CH101 Cormorant, which is a variant of the EH101 (UK - Merlin). It's a big bird, but for a chopper it's only classed as a "medium lift", even though it takes a 30,000 lb hook (limited to 10,000 lbs by the airframe loading).

I flew the Ch113/A Labrador/Voyager before that, which is a SAR variant of the H46 Sea Knight.

I'm retired now though. 3 years since I've had daylight beneath my feet.....sometimes I miss it, other times you couldn't pay me to go back.

I used to say if I made it to retirement, I'd never fly again.

I lost several friends on the job (we're the nut jobs taking off while others are trying to drag their planes into a warm dry hangar). I figured if I made it to retirement, no more rolling the dice because "snake eye's" will eventually turn up.....and I've used up all my luck.

I've always found it an odd contradiction that flyers are men (and women) of science and physics, yet "superstition" still plays a roll in flying. Like "I'm not going because I just don't have that warm and fuzzy feel". Superstition shouldn't have a roll, but somehow, it does.

every now and then the boys do a flyover at my house. In fact, I hear the chopper thumping it's way past right now. Someday's it's comforting, others I just wish they would go away.....PTSD sucks.
 
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Once a rotor head...

I use to work on these very aircraft in the 80s. There's just something about helicopters!

Eric
 

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Yeah man, now we're talking! There's some life in this sub-forum afterall. Lol. At first glance I thought it was a H-53 and by the looks of it it's close in size. Wasn't aware of the 101, very cool. Been blown around on the flight deck by a few H-53's. You should try a cessna! So easy to fly they're almost boring, well the nose draggers anyway. Tailwheels are more fun. Thanks for sharing!
 
motormech1 said:
Yeah man, now we're talking! There's some life in this sub-forum afterall. Lol. At first glance I thought it was a H-53 and by the looks of it it's close in size. Wasn't aware of the 101, very cool. Been blown around on the flight deck by a few H-53's. You should try a cessna! So easy to fly they're almost boring, well the nose draggers anyway. Tailwheels are more fun. Thanks for sharing!
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I've been in bug smashers before. Fun for a little toot, but not my thing. I prefer my machine to beat the air into submission, not float on it.

General aviation was usually the guys that had us taking off in dog balls weather to go find them. Nothing as comforting as flying in "the ping pong ball" at 120-130 knots (101 is VNE limited to 149 kias, wil go faster but retreating blade stall starts to become and issue soemwhere around 180 KIAS).....
 
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I hear ya man. I though about getting my rotor wing add-on but I just think it would be hard to stay current. Choppers are expensive to rent.:oops: I need a rich buddy to buy one so I can fly it! Lol
 
Yep, there are some pilots here. I sold my Colemill Baron after 17 years of flying it all over the US, Canada and Mexico. Previous planes in reverse sequence were. Cessna 421B, Cessna 310R, Bonanza V35, Cessna 182P, Cessna 172, Piper TriPacer.

I hung it up in 2020, at the start of Covid, after 50 years of accident/incident free flying. It has certainly bern a great ride!

Attaced is the only handy shot of the Baron in Madras, Oregon, getting ready to see the total Solar eclipse.A97761DF-896F-4446-AD04-8D506FC5C007.jpeg
 
Awesome! I built an RV-12 (PP-ASEL) about 10 years ago with a group of folks, but we ended up selling it, and I haven't flown in a long while. Definitely miss it on sunny days!
 
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