TardisTraveler Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Hello all... I have been browsing around on this forum and finally decided to join. I recently finished college at Penn State (which has a great soaring club). I have my glider license and have taken lessons in single engine aircraft. I love anything that can fly... but have not gotten to do too much flying lately and am currently in a state of withdrawal . I did however get to fly a trike and spotted some whales in Kauai. :-). I live in Hawaii right now but have some interviews in the mainland for actuarial work (lots of math and risk analysis type stuff)... ...so as soon as I am moved I am going to continue working on my license for single engine aircraft. I don't have any real building experience, though one summer/fall a friend and I did make a crazy 30' wing span ultralight glider (wing in ground effect vehicle), which we personally flight tested by auto towing it town a taxi way. Anyhow, I came to this forum because it has been a goal of mine to one day spend a year flying around the world in my own airplane. I have been contemplating the idea in my head of putting extra fuel in a Cozy Mark IV to make such a trip. Anyhow, such a trip would be a long way off but I figured it couldn't hurt to join the forum... :-) Most non aviation people kind of think I am crazy when I tell them of this goal so I am hopping that maybe on this forum there will be a different reaction. Hehe. . Well... Cheers all! Margot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Matcho Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Hello Margot! I have been browsing around on this forum and finally decided to join.It's about time. I recently finished college at Penn State (which has a great soaring club). I have my glider license and have taken lessons in single engine aircraft.Congrats on that, and very cool that you got hooked up with soaring. I did however get to fly a trike and spotted some whales in Kauai. :-).Now that must not have been a boring time. I don't have any real building experience, though one summer/fall a friend and I did make a crazy 30' wing span ultralight glider (wing in ground effect vehicle), which we personally flight tested by auto towing it town a taxi way. Um, that sounds like fairly real building experience to me, including design and flight testing. If you've ever done arts and crafts, and are at all detail oriented, chances are you have what it takes (not counting money). Anyhow, I came to this forum because it has been a goal of mine to one day spend a year flying around the world in my own airplane. I have been contemplating the idea in my head of putting extra fuel in a Cozy Mark IV to make such a trip.That's quite an ambitious adventure, on the scale of climbing Mt. Everest. There have been a few Long-EZ pilots who have done this: http://www.earthrounders.com/hgs_story.html Dick Rutan, Mike Melvill, and Bill Allen (Bill "just" went across the Atlantic Ocean) also come to mind. Most non aviation people kind of think I am crazy when I tell them of this goal so I am hopping that maybe on this forum there will be a different reaction. Hehe. .I know of two ambitious flights (out of 3) since I joined this forum that ended badly. One was an attempt from Hawaii to the mainland in a Cozy, which crashed just 100 miles off the Hawaii coast. The pilot survived. The other was just a few weeks ago, with someone attempting to ferry a canard to Europe up through Maine. They never made it. The other is Bill Allen, who successfully flew a Long-EZ from the UK to Wisconsin a year or two ago. A 33% success rate is not good. A meticulous plan and aircraft are essential, but no guarantee of success. It's certainly an adventure we'd all like to follow to a safe outcome, and I'm sure you would receive ample amounts of advice -- good and bad -- to help you towards your goal. So get started... land that job, get a place w/a room where you can start building, and begin! Quote Jon Matcho Builder & Canard Zone Admin Now: Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E Next: Resume building a Cozy Mark IV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TardisTraveler Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 Hi Jon Matcho... The whales were pretty neat... I even saw some baby whales (Calves I think) with their mother. 33% success rate is indeed not good and it is unfortunate that that one pilot never made it. I suppose I should read up on such accidents though to learn from them. And try and learn from some of the successes as well. That trip by Hans Schmid is indeed rather amazing! (I guess sort of like climbing Mt. Everest and than doing it again backwards... hehe ) And anything that the Rutan brothers are involved with generally coincides with something amazing... Thanks for the reply! See you around the forum... Cheers, Margot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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