mountainman

GMAIL is email through Google. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

If you want one, send your email to MY email address and I'll send you an invite: ohiopilot[REMOVETHISPART]@gmail.com http://www.brandonandlaura.com

I went through Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland when I got out of highschool in 1998. I stayed with friends the whole time, but the hostels seem like the way to go. If I were you, I would budget at LEAST $25 per day for food/booze. I found that stuff very expensive in all four countries. I also went down to Tallinn, Estonia. It was nice and cheap. A great break for the money after 5.5 weeks of expensive stuff. (The cities I stayed in were Trondheim, Roskilde, Lund, and Helsinki.) Have fun! http://www.brandonandlaura.com

That sounds like an awesome club! The only club around me is a "Piper club" with an Archer and an Arrow. For the price, I'll definetely NOT be joining. I have actually been pondering buying a Tiger. I just had lunch today with a guy who owns a Cheetah. I'm going to go up and safety pilot with him and then log some PIC so I can fly his plane. Well, good luck with flying! I hope to get my commercial before the end of 2005. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

You can't go wrong with black. Red sounds nice too, though. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Dave, what/where are you flying these days? http://www.brandonandlaura.com

I must admit that I could tell a pretty good difference between the ANR and passive, there were too many problems I found: - would get BAD feedback at times (deafening) - would sound different depending on my head position (probably a fit issue) - having to replace batteries and turn the headset ON - price tag of $550 (nothing compared to Bose) - Denali ANR is made of plastic - seperate volume knobs for each ear (why?) - mic didn't work on all intercoms with non-ANR headsets Oh well. Sending back today via UPS and the two 13.4's are en route. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Little shit? You're one of the few people who is bigger than me. LOL ;) http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Hey Dave! I never really left, I just haven't had a whole lot to say. Glad to see you're still around and kickin. ;) http://www.brandonandlaura.com

WARNING: Profanity http://www.brandonandlaura.com/atis.wav (Pretty funny what you can do with an artificial voice program.) http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Thanks for the info, guys! I figure that for $277 each, the 13.4 will be good for now. If/when I start flying a lot more, I'll probably replace them with some ANR headsets and move those to the backseats. I would LOVE the Bose headsets, but like you said, you need $1000 laying around. LOL I'm looking forward to getting them. I hear customer support is great for them (like most headsets). I hear of Lightspeeds breaking a lot (on a Mooney maillist), which would be good to have a great customer support system. As far as the music inputs, my Sigtronics intercom has that input feature too. I'm looking forward to using it! (I just took my checkride 8 days ago at 40.4 hrs TT, so I am just starting.) http://www.brandonandlaura.com

I just called and got an RA # for returning the Denali ANRs, but am having them send me some DC H10-13.4 headsets in replacement. I have used the DCs and they are just some rock solid headsets. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Thanks for the info, guys! The Denali is OK, but the ANR is just not too consistant. When I tip my head down to look at instruments or charts, the ANR really works great, but when I look back up, it isn't nearly as good. Not sure about that. I'm thinking the seal around my ears, but I can't adjust it any better. I was thinking going with DC headsets just cause everyone seems to have them, so they must be decent. I was thinking of some flavor of the 13 oz. jobs. They look nice. Also, the Denali ANR headsets are pretty much ALL plastic. They won't take any abuse, I don't think. Not good in the cramped Cessnas. Thanks again and more comments/thoughts are greatly appreciated! http://www.brandonandlaura.com

what kind of headsets do you fly with? I bought a Denali ANR headset and am not completely satisfied with it. I can't decide if I want to keep with the ANR theme or just go with a DC or the like. Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

I live 1 hr 45 min drive to Skydive Richmond, but now it will just be about 45 minutes via Cessna 172. I haven't been in awhile due to flight training. http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Here is a decent pic: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KRID and you can check out the happenings on their website: http://www.skydiverichmond.com http://www.brandonandlaura.com

It's my home DZ and I've been to the boogie twice. Here are my thoughts on it: Physical layout: It is on something like 600 acres with 2 runways (used to be 3). Outside of the airport, almost everywhere is an out. Watch out though, because the corn is HIGH this year. But there are not many trees around. Elevation: 1140' General attitude and feel: To me, it is a very layed back place. If you want to jump hard and heavy, you can definetely do that. My wife and I like to keep our weekends leisurely, so we don't jump hardcore, but than there are others who will make over 10 jumps per day at the boogie. It totally depends on what you want to do. Also, there are always locals that come out to watch, there are food carts (fair type) and then manufactorers in the hanger. It's a great place for pretty much everyone. Beer: I think the beer is included. Have a good time!!! Brandon http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Hey Napa... I am flying at Lima Allen County (AOH). It is a nice little airport with a 5000' runway and a well maintained grass strip as well. The folks are nice and helpful. Good luck on yours!!!

Thanks for all the Congrats!

Thanks all for the congrats!

Well, I finally did it. I had my first solo today flying. It was AWESOME!!! I don't think it's really set in yet. I have another lesson tomorrow too. Pics here: http://www.brandonandlaura.com/flying/ Here is the "flight log" from my website: --- Wednesday, May 19, 2004 MY FIRST SOLO - Today was my first solo. WOW!!! It was such a great feeling to be up there in the plane with no one sitting next to you. It is just a wonderful feeling of resonsibility and freedom when the plane lifts off the runway and you know at that moment that the outcome rests solely in your hands. After doing my first solo today, it just makes me want to work harder to finish my private pilot certificate and continue on with training. I am very lucky to have a patient and encouraging CFI in my training. He's been nothing but helpful throughout the past 4.5 weeks. Thanks, Jim! Today started off as a cold, cloudy, wet morning that made me stay in bed until 45 minutes until I had to be at work. What a great start. As the day wore on, the air warmed up and the clouds moved skyward until we had a ceiling about 2000AGL. It seems that someone felt I should fly today. I preflighted the 152 and we both got in. Apparently, Jim grabbed my logbook, because later on, it happened to be in the back. I didn't put it there. Very, very sneaky. We taxied over to runway 9 and took off. We stayed in the pattern for a couple of touch-and-go's. After about 30 minutes, we were abeam the runway numbers on downwind when Jim pulled power and had me bring us in. It went very well. We made it with plenty of altitude, put out full flaps and had a smooth landing. Once we were down, Jim told me to pull off the runway. We pulled off and he asked if I was ready to do a little solo flight. HECK YA!!! So, I dropped him off on the taxiway after he signed my medical to solo. I was off. I headed down the taxiway and tookoff from runway 9. I did three touch-and-go's and then a landing. The first landing was a squeaker. The other three were pretty good. The plane is still useable. I taxied up to the ramp, parked and did the shut down. After the flight, we went inside and filled out my logbook. While I was writing in my section of it for solo, Jim cut my shirt. I wrote the info on it and he pinned it up on the wall in the building. Laura came over with the camera and took some photos for the website. What a great day!

Wow! That one is a bit freakish. I can't seem to pick out the VASI. Where is that? http://www.brandonandlaura.com

Congrats, man!! I just started less than 4 weeks ago with my lessons. I hope to finish this summer. I have 9.6 hrs right now. I should be soloing on my next lesson or two. Now... get out there and start exploring ! http://www.brandonandlaura.com

One thing to note about FS2004 is that it does NOT take you directly into a flight like previous versions did. It takes you to a menu where you choose all aspects of your flight (plane, location, weather, etc) and then you hit FLY NOW. When I say it is the default flight, it is something called "default flight" that is in the menu of "saved flights". Either way... it's still there. AggieDave: There are about 24,000 worldwide airports. Yikes! src: http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/productinfo.asp http://www.brandonandlaura.com

First, here are some more shots of one of the original photos from Portugal. See how the runway/taxiway is built on a bridge? Wow! http://images.google.com/images?q=madeira%20airport&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wi Anyway, I play FS2004 everyday. Yesterday, I flew on it for well over 2 hours. Meigs is on there as the default flight. You can fly to pretty much any airport you want. They have Skydive Greene County on there (along with all 3 runways. There is a thread here somewhere where I posted a bunch of screen shots of favorite DZs around the country. Awesome pics of the plane! I think Skymedic flies/flew those for awhile for his in-laws. I always have wanted to ride in one. Would be sweet! http://www.brandonandlaura.com