PFSG directory...

[PeTeR-]

Okay, okay! Since you guys (Tonet & Manny 2) insist.......
by Mænny 1

WANTED: Manny O.

Height & Weight: 5'10" & 205 lbs. (Striking resemblance to a Gorilla)

Status: Married with 2 kids (both boys)

Birthdate: 02 January 1969 (Darn, wrong era)

Birthplace: Makati, Metro Manila (It wasn't a City then)

College: University of Hawaii at Manoa (Journalism)

E-mail address: windwalker@pacific.net.ph

Personality profile: Absolute Psycho, obssesive compulsive, emotionless (according to my wife), perfectionist, extremely vicious (according to the Soriano employees union)

Suspected safehouse: #3 Lily St. Mapayapa 2 Village, Baranggay Holy Spirit, Quezon City

Known Aliases: M@nny, Mænny 1, Windwalker

Known Associates: Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, John "Johnny" Torrio, Francesco "Frankie" Yale, Dion "Deanie" O'Banion, Earl 'Hymie" Weiss, George "Bugs" Moran, Vito "Don Vitone" Genovese, Arthur "Dutch" Shulz, Tony "The Gentleman" Genna, Joe "The Boss" Masseria", Tonet "Hazelnut" Rivera, Jaime "Snapshot" Unson

Work: I don't work, I get paid to play - "Aerial Artist Extraordinaire" (in other words, a Professional Pilot). Oh-oh, Kebin Go's, beginning to say: "Shame on you Mænny!" Failed Rock Star - I can't sing or play musical instruments (this can be a problem)

Flight Sim Experience: Atari Combat (How many of you remember that one!), SubLogic "Jet" to Flight Simulator 2000 and everything in between.

Aviation Experience: Airline Transport Pilot License holder with 2,100+ hrs Total Time, 1,800+ hrs Multi-engine time, 1,700+ hrs Turbine Time, 650+ hrs Actual Instrument time, 500+ hrs Night flying time, 200+ hrs piston time, 185+ hrs Single Engine time. Chief of Flight Operations, A. Soriano Aviation, Inc. 1997 to 1999.

Aircraft flown: Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, Piper PA44-180 Seminole, NAMC YS-11A, DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, Beech Super King Air 300, Dornier 228-200, Mcdonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (I wish!).
Field of specialization: Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA), Basic & Advanced Instrument flying, Turbine engine theory.
If I wasn't a pilot I'd be: A gangster (love those suits!)

Hobbies: Flying, talking about flying, reading about flying, thinking about flying, dreaming about flying, listening to others talk about flying, Flight Simming (really ticks off my wife: "You just got back from a real flight and you're flying that %$#* simulator again!"), building scale model airplanes ( I used to fly R/C airplanes, but stopped sometime ago), Weight lifting, Martial Arts (but haven't done so in the past year because of an injury), fishing, pestering Peter Binamira & Elmer Guillermo, swapping Belgian Aircraft registry humor with Kebin Go, Discussing FDE's & Leia Petines with Kevin Sison, overdosing on caffeine with Tonet Rivera & Jaime Unson, re-working Michael Buenaventura's PAL B747-400, explaining ATC to Snappy Justo, trying to figure out Emil Batungbacal's winds aloft query, discussing FS projects with Sir Garry V. Cervantes (GVC to you guys), marvelling at Jeffrey Stæhli's scenery (you're a magician Jeff), reminiscing about old airplanes with Iñaki O' Sievert, & eating the hottest Jalapeños (my favorite).

Biggest break in life: When the doctors at my delivery room mixed the cement too thin, and I managed to swim to the surface.

Most embarrasing moment: When I said a lot of silly "lovey dovey" things to my girlfriend (now my wife) over the phone, only to find out I was talking to her sister. (You teenagers be careful not to make this mistake)

Best moment: Whenever I'm in a cockpit.

Something for everyone: "Good pilots use their average flying skills to avoid situations requiring above average (or extraordinary) flying skills to get out of." (that goes for real & simulated pilots)

Okay, That's about it. No fair - you guys come up with more detailed bios!

Tonet, when do we do coffee with GVC & the guys?

Mænny 1




tonet, this is overdue so.....
by iñaki sievert

NAME: Carlos Iñaki O. Sievert
EMAIL: cosievert@petron.com
EDUC: U.P. Cebu - Fine Arts 1996
BDAY: March 23, 1974
WORK: (what work?) SalesRep, Aftermarket Trade, Petron Corp., Pandacan (assignment: NWLuzon, from Bataan to Ilocos Norte)
FLIGHTSIMS: started with Falcon 1.0, FS95, at a neighbor's house (fell in love with the yoke), FS98 & 2K, guess what...i do my flying in my laptop

AVIATION: passion since birth, had an uncle who flew for Filipinas Airways in the early 60s and another who flew B-52s i dunno where, enjoyed Edwin Andrew's Airbase in Zambo. City especially the propwash from the Tora2. also in EAAirbase watched PAL planes take-off and land before calling it a day.

CURRENT PROJECT: I'm looking for the Ultralight club in Mabalacat, Pampanga. gonna get into the air the cheapest way possible!

PASTIMES: Golf, tennis....as long as they're near an airport.

Posted on Jul 13 2000, 01:08 PM




Here goes ...
by Manny2

Okay, Tonet's insisting so here goes … my directory entry.

NAME: Manny Tecson, married, 3 kids
EMAIL: mannytec@yahoo.com or (at work) manny.tecson@saatchisa.com
EDUC: Ateneo de Manila, 1986, AB Com Arts
BDAY: Too old to be playing games! Oh, okay, July 9, 1962

WORK: Assoc Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi MidEast. Before that, McCann-Erickson Phils

FLIGHTSIMS: (Macsims) A-10, F/A-18 (Persian Gulf/Korea), X-Plane (Winsims) ProPilot, Flight Unlimited II, Combat FS, FS98.

FS EXPERIENCE: FS98 was my first Microsoft FS, flying with Northwest Virtual Airlines since December 99 (check out their automated pirep and pilot management software, Jeff), FDE obsessive (never met an air file I didn't want to edit, to borrow a Kevin phrase)

AVIATION EXPERIENCE: Grew up around provincial airports with Dad who's a 30-year PAL veteran; used parked PAL DC3s, Fokkers and Avros as playgrounds while a little boy.

FIRST PLANE RIDE: PAL 8-seater single-engine Otter back in the 60s (any of you guys know exactly what Otter make this was so I can hunt it down on flightsim.com?). Kept floating up and down in the air like a horny bitch.

PASTIMES: Music, Electric guitar, tooling around on the Mac (this whole Windows experience is still new to me, was forced to try it because of--yup--FS98)

Now, Manny 1, it's your turn!




My Directory Info... continue here anyone who hasn't posted yet.
by Kevin Go

Name: Kevin Go
Date of Birth: December 31, 1969
Address: Molijon Cmpnd, Talamban, Cebu City
E-mail: jkgo@skyinet.net jkgo@yahoo.com
Office Address: 201 GCA Building, 13 Banilad Road, Cebu City 6000
Profession: Attempting to build a furniture manufacturing business

Education: Ateneo de Manila University 1991 AB Interdisciplinary Studies, minor in History
(InterWHAT? That's where the prettiest girls were)

Sim Background: Atari Combat (???) 1981, Atari 400/1200XL Jumbo Jet Pilot 1983, SubLogic/Microsoft Flight Simulator 1983 to present; CFS, Falcon 3.0, Sierra Pro Pilot, SubLogic ATP/AirNomiss AS2, Flight Unlimited III, X-Planes on the fringe.

Aviation Experience: Flying since 1984, soloed 1986, obtained PPL in 1994 and currently attending Commercial Pilot's License ground classes in the hopes of becoming a flight instructor someday. Doting owner of Cessna 182 RP-C1828 since August 1996.

Sim Widow: Yes, since May 26, 1999. No sim orphans yet

Abiding Passion: Aviation

Other Computer Games: You mean there are others besides FS?

Other Interests: Scuba diving, shooting, reading, building and flying R/C models, building plastic scale models, playing the piano (rusty, don't have space in our little house for one), Formula One fanatic (I hate Schumacher's guts but I am in awe of his talent), tennis, basketball

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 10:34 PM




Here's mine
by Jeffrey


Name: Jeffrey Staehli
Date of Birth: September 4, 1983
Address: Zuercherstrasse 99, 8730 Uznach, Switzerland
E-mail: dagat@bluewin.ch, el_jefe@gmx.ch, jeffrey@bluemail.ch, a_3xx@flugsimulation.ch (hehe)
Occupation: Student at the Kantonsschule Wattwil (high school)

Sim background: FS98 (1998, got on my birthday w/ my first computer ever); F-22 ADF (1998); ProPilot (1999); FS2000 (1999); CFS (2000)...

Aviation experience: only passenger

Passion: airplanes/airports
other computer games: GP2, R6, SWAT3
Other interest: Football (Goalkeeper), play the E-guitar, building plastic scale models, basketball, computers 'n' internet, and Formula one (Like Kevs, I hate Schumacher )

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 11:39 PM




Directory info
by Emil

Name: Emilio T. Batungbacal
Date of Birth: 17 May 1965
Address: 66 Telok Blangah Road, Harbourlights 02-13, Singapore 098830
E-mail: emilb@pacific.net.sg

Occupation: Senior Telecine Colorist @ Infinite Frameworks PTE LTD - Wanted to be a pilot but judging from the array of buttons and scopes at work I got pretty close

Sim background: Apple II Sublogic FS1 / Apple Mac MSFS4 / MSFS95 / MSFS98 / PS1 B744 simulator
Aviation experience: Took of and flew a Diamond Katana at KBUR for 30mins in one of those intro flights.

Passion: Aviation Photography, Building plastic models (Commercial Aircraft), Flying RC helicopters, Gadgets.... .

Racket: Trying to get my book about Philippine Airliners off the ground

Aspirations: Hope to have my PPL one day... or build an authentic B744 home cockpit (ooh my wife's going to kill me for that )

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 11:58 PM




heres mine
by jay

Name: Jomil Garma
Date of BIrth: October 5,1975
Addres: 17 Abadilla st. Laoag City 2900
E-mail: jayjaytopgone@hotmail.com,whydoyuwanaknow@hotmail.com
Occupation: Paramedic/Pararescue Department of Public Safety I.N.

Sim backround: FS/dos,FS95,FS98,FS2000,Pro pilot
Aviation Experience: passenger, heliroppel, Rope lader op.

Passion: Planes,Planes, and more Planes
Other games: Alot
Other Interest: Hicking,Hunting and still saving peoples lives




Directory info
by Snappy

Name: Napoleon Maria Casas Justo, Jr.
Birthday: 08 December 1977
Residence: Paranaque, Metro Manila GMT+8
School: De La Salle University Taft, 6th Year Philosophy

Racket: None (Doing my thesis hehehe)
Flightsimmer since grade 6 (around 1989...started with Falcon, then Flight Simulator 4.0)

Other flightsim related interest: Pro Controller ATC (SATCO), ATCC (Air Traffic Control Center) Simulator

Aviation experience: Flew once with my brother in a Marchetti SF-260 piston engine aircraft
Baguio-Lipa...MAGNIFICENT!!!, Got a chance to fly the Frasca simulator too

Other intense interest: AVIATION, Flying, flight, lipad, eroplano, airplanes, planes, aircraft, etc etc
Vacation plans this year: Baguio, etc

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 12:55 AM




Directory information
by Mikéß

Name: Michael Tan Buenaventura
Birthday: July 15, 1986
Residence: 653 East St. Mandaluyong, Metro Manila Philippines 1501 GMT +8
School: La Salle GreenHills 1st year HS

Racket: playing my cello
Flightsimmer since 1995 flying TIE fighter. Got FS98 in 1998 and just started reading manuals last year.

Other flightsim related interest: SATCO, Flightsim.com, Squawkbox, Roger Wilco. PAL planes.
Other intense interest: Star Wars, Submarines Rainbow Six, music, and the Boeing 747-400

Aviation Experience: Wala pa, Pero Next time I fly to SFO or LAX I'll get to set the flight plan. Other than that, I just visit the cockpit all the time like around 70% of the flight. First flew in a B747 when I was 2 to Paris.

Vacations: Nothing this year.(masyado kasing mahal ang dollar$ ngayon) Maybe Laoag in November.

E-mail: Michael8@Mydestiny.net

FS Aircraft Designs: Nothing much, Tinkering around with panels, sounds and planes. working on repainting a B744 into LSGH livery.
Personal website: wala pa, although I'm putting one up about a group I practice with as soon as I have the time.

gimmicks: Roller Coasters, theme parks, anything exciting.

Tonet, Did you find that Gevalia Coffee yet?

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 02:01 AM




Info
by Kevin Sison

Name: Kevin Sison
Email:Kevs737@yahoo.com, Kevs747@yahoo.com
Birthday: Sept. 9, 1980
Residence: Toronto Ontario Canada
School: Sheridan College On
Racket: Flying
Flight simmer since 1995 with FS5.1 and was making airplanes and scenery ever since

Aviation Experience: Private License with 71 hours flying time mostly on Cessna 172P and Cessna 172R. 1 hour experience on 152 and 15 minutes experience on Katana DA-20(not checked on DA-20 yet)

Other interest: FLYING FLYING FLYING... military buff, Military history, Warships

Vacation Plans This Year: there is but I won't tell

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 03:14 AM




Info
by Peter B


Name: Peter Binamira
email: downhill@i-next.net
dh_xbiker@hotmail.com
Birthday: Sept. 1, 1984
Residence: 24 Mapagkawanggawa St. Sikatuna Vill. Q.C. Metro Manila
School: Our Lord's Grace Montessori (OLGM)

Racket: flying
Flight simmer since FS5.1 (I got it from Hong Kong) and been flying flight simulators since then.

Aviation Experience: Flew Kevin Og's plane last summer. 50 mins flying time Jumpseated on an Avro HS-748, Boeing 737-300, and Airbus A330-301
Other interest: Formula 1 racing, Mt. biking.

Repaints in flightsim.com: 2 PAL A330's, PAL A340, PAL747-400 CPA DC-9, PAL A320,...
Vacation plans this year? Cebu and Bohol of course!

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 07:21 AM





Peter B
by Tonet rivera

Peter started this site in January this year and therefore is primarily responsible for bringing us all together. Peter also won one of flightsim.com's prestigious awards for a popular upload which has a 'moving' story behind it

Peter is working on a comprehensive Metro Manila scenery for FS2000 that should fit nicely around Jeffrey's RPLL2k definitive NAIA scenery.

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 09:32 AM


By the way...
by Peter

My main site is http://fspb.tripod.com just incase some of you don't know about it

Peter

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 12:20 PM




Kevin S
by Tonet rivera

Kevin has many popular sceneries published for FS already -- the original Manila, and detailed Clark, Baguio, Subic.... He also has a hangar full of Boeing and Airbus aircraft uploads.

Didn't you work with Alfred Grech, or with his pioneering Philippine scenery for FS5.1?

Want to put your website on here too? I'm sure folks would like to check out your work.

When your Philippine vacation plans finalize let me know the approx dates and we can organize a 'homecoming'!

Tonet

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 09:27 AM


Website
by Kevin Sison

http://members.tripod.com/~Kevs747/menu.html

I have many works most of which I forgot already..hehehe.... I started uploading stuff in AOL well before flightsim.com started.

As for Grech... Grech cannot be contacted so I pretty much worked on my own without asking his permision. He never really replied to anything so I guess its okay with him. He was really unreachable and never replied to any of my requests and emails.

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 11:36 AM




My Directory Info
by Elmer B. Guillermo Jr. / CYVR

Name : Elmer B. Guillermo Jr.
Birthday : August 2, 1983
Residence : Vancouver, BC, Canada GMT -8
School : Burnaby North Secondary
Racket : Flightsim and Flying, Plane Spotting, Aviation Photography, aircraft model collector
Flightsimmer Since : FS4 Flightsim Related
Interests : Virtual ATC (PC and ATCC), aircraft repaints, virtual airlines

Aviation Experience : Jumpseat a lot of airplanes (PAL A340, B744, B733, F50, Canadian B744, etc.), visited flight decks on airplanes parked at the airport, explored DC-10, B744, A320, B732 up close at Canadian's hangar, A320 full motiom simulator experience (I was only in the right seat that time and all I can remember is having fun just flying the aircraft without looking at the panel.. hehehe)

Other Interest : computers, website design, online chat, etc.

Vacation Plans : Pilipinas kong mahal not sure when

Regards,
EJ

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 08:21 AM




Elmerski
by Tonet rivera

Elmer is the CEO of Pilipinas Airways, the Virtual Airline that ties us together in our interest. He has championed the growth of its fleet, the establishment of its Manila and Cebu hubs (a KSFO hub is coming up soon, right?)

Elmer's picture has never been published here but I always imagine him to look like a velvet-suit clad Danny de Vito with an expensive cigar, almost completely covered in virtual paint as he single-handedly experiments with yet another livery design for Pinas Air.

Of course I could be totally wrong and he looks like Schwarzeneger

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 09:36 AM




And mine...
by Tonet rivera

Tonet Rivera
September 10, 1957
Makati, Philippines, GMT+8
Ateneo HS'74, UP BSIE'79
General Manager, Avon Products Mfg, Inc
Sublogic FS1.0 1982

Washed out AvSchool 20yrs ago due eyesight, 80+hrs dual/solo 'controlled crashes' at Plaridel, Canlubang in assorted (now historical) Tomahawks. Tested Vx of Kevin Go's Skylane last summer. Next: unusual attitudes....

Intense: running a plant, shooting (the breeze with) labor militants
Interests: Pecorino cheese , diving, anything with wings, Rainbow6StarcraftCloseCombat. hazelnut coffee.

b17fdam.zip Size: 236,384 Date: 08-27-1997 Downloads: 3479
FSFW95 Battle Damaged Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. They hit you over the target. Your controls are mushy, your fuel gone. Watch engine temps, and keep the ball turret pointed at the North Sea. Can you get her home, or do you hit the silk? B-17F with battle-damage textures and appropriate performance. By Tonet Rivera. (repaint for fs95, before they invented CFS )

tonet@info.com.ph
tonet.rivera@avon.com

Never realized there were so many Pinoy simmers. Wonder how many more are in the woodwork, like I used to be, closet pilots sneaking flights in the office PC, before the internet and Peter's website came along. And saw, as Kebin says, that it was good!

Flightsimming is really fun for you guys, but it's also health therapy for me. Please keep it up.

Posted on Jul 07 2000, 09:01 AM




directory info..
by gvc

Name: Garry V. Cervantes
Birthday: Jan. 25, 1969
Residence: Lot 28 Blk 13 Wellspring Village I Catalunan Pequeño, Davao City
School/Course: Ateneo de Davao '90 BS Chemistry
Office: San Miguel Corp. Beer Division
Flightsimmer since (year): 1997
Other flightsim-related interests: if16, Precision Pilot
Aviation experience: Avaiation Cadet Phil. Airforce Class 92
Other intense interests: Mountaineering, Water Tubing,Sax, violin...and planes. planes,
planes
Vacation Plans: Cross Country Flight passing Camp Abbubakar... but seriously I very
much welcome the idea of having convention..

[Jeremy Anderson]

NAME: JEREMY ANDERSON
LOCATION: FLORIDA
BIRTHDATE: 4-4-81
HOBBIES: WATCHING AIRPLANES TAKEOFF AND LAND ( LOL), READS ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH 747-400 AND AIRBUS 340, FS2000
BEGAN USING FS-2000 IN JAN OF 2001
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: NONE....JUST PASSENGER
AVIATION EXEPERIENCE: NONE...JUST "THE BEGINNER"...LOL

[hijo bonito]

NAME: Jose Miguel M. Erum
LOCATION: Tagum City, Philippines
BIRTHDATE: 12-07-72
HOBBIES: Assemble Airplane RC Kits and Fly them as well as watching Airplanes take off and landing, reading books as well as aviation related books and magazine
BEGAN USING FS-1998 in June 1999 on the following year I changed to PRO PILOT 99 until now
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: NONE, Just an observer
AVIATION EXEPERIENCE: NONE......"JUST BEGINNER"

[Stuka]

.

ok, so i’m really bored now.

i’ve just finished reading the entire forum. as of today, the forum is 238 pages big at 50 threads per page and an average of 5 replies per thread. that’s 59,500 posts. include another random 500 from the blue forum and i’ve just wallowed through roughly 60,000 posts over eight months.
i keep opening the forum and i find the replies are coming in too slow. whereas before even without new replies, i satiate my cravings by working my way down older posts i’ve never read before. but now i’m done.

what now. what to do.

post, i guess.

post one in this old thread.
i chose this thread because it was an original post from the blue forum.
it’s all about profiling.
the theme is aviation, which is our common bond.
it’s also not in the lounge but buried here. a challenge for others to find. (mathias exempted)

here goes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

first flight experience

my first flight was on a DC3. we were cruising at around 8,000 feet when my guts started to feel queasy from the bumpy ride. i was with my dad but he was not aware of my predicament nor was i about to tell him for i was afraid that he might not take me on a plane ride again thinking i’m still too young to handle it.

without warning, my head involuntarily cocked back and then lurched forward to hurl the projectile. as it was just about to launch out of my mouth, this steward appeared out of nowhere and shoved an open spewbag upon my face and saved the day, his day from having to clean up the mess of a four year old.

for many years i kept wondering how the heck did he appear at the right moment. the mystery was only solved when i had a four year old of my own. there were a lot of cues and telltale signs after all…… the watering of the eyes, the constant swallowing from excessive salivation, restlessness, the swaying of the body to tune-in the motion and cancel out the seasickness, to name a few.

i guess the steward has seen one too many nauseous-looking kids in his career.

luckily, because of that steward, my father was averted from embarrassment, and he has taken me on many more flights after that. F27s, Caravelles, YS-11s, BAC1-11s, all domestic flights. My first international flight was on a 707.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

flight simulation.

my first experience in flight simulation was on a full motion BAC 1-11 simulator. apart from the real-life cockpit, the visuals were bad, comparatively speaking of course, but it was already advance in it’s own time. i remember the main windscreens to be like a magnifying glass and the visuals or graphics were green dots lined up to shape the runway edges. it was very much like the ‘Night Driving’ game at the amusement in Harrison Plaza (geesh, i hope at least someone here would remember that). i also flew the HS748 simulator. that was worse, no motion. and i also flew IFR in a frasca, which has a canopy, so you’re in total darkness except for the instrument panel lighting. the frasca had full motion too.

in later years, i had a chance to try my hand on the 747 classic, 767 and the 747-400 simulators as well.

all of the above opportunities were work-related.

my first Microsoft FS was the 5.1 version. then i bought FS’98 when it first came out. and that was it, i’m still stuck with FS98.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


aviation love affair


i can not remember exactly at what point in my younger life when i realized i wanted to be involved in aviation. there was no one in the family or friends of the family who was connected in anyway with aviation that might have put some influence in me.

because my father was a businessman, he had to take domestic flights countless times in a year. i would be very upset and play up a big tantrum if i miss out on seeing him off or meeting him at the local airport, not because i love him dearly, though i do, but because i get excited seeing airplanes, hearing deafening rotary engines, smelling fumes and soaking up the general atmosphere, imprinting every detail of whatever ramp activity i can see, the memory of which can last me for days, until the next airport visit.

it was inevitable. later in life, i did the next step of course, take up flying lessons.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

influence in life

Mike was my apprentice. he was 17 yrs old and i was already 29 but we seem to click. i was his Leading Hand. one day, in one of our breaks, the conversation got around to flying and i mentioned that i have a PPL and i’m working towards a CPL. his face lit up and he told me about how he’s always wanted to be a pilot. he had lots of questions and i offered to take him up for a spin one weekend. the day came and he turned up with his older brother, Greg, who was 19, jobless, just bumming around, works occasionally as a waiter, saves enough money just to get by. he came along because he did not have anything better to do that day. so we went up for a local flight and i allowed them to fly the aircraft just on straight and level to experience the effects of controls.

to cut a long story short, they both got hooked and enrolled in flying. now there were three of us constantly out there at the airfield every chance we get.

much later, i was at a crossroads. a recession was raging and many hightime GA pilots, thousands of hours under their belt, could barely get any flying time. many left the country in search for work. i had two choices : continue pouring money in what seemed like a bottomless pit called CPL, or, go for my aircraft maintenance engineer’s license. well, you guessed it right. my circumstances determined the better choice at that time. i was already employed by a flag carrier as an AME and as soon as i get my license, i get an instant payrise and position. i turned my back and walked away from flying.

Mike in the meantime, finished his apprenticeship, became a full-fledged AME, and obtained his CPL. but with no prospect of fulltime flying and another five years at least to get an AME license, he too walked away by accepting a higher paying job entirely aviation-unrelated. today, he is now the manufacturing manager of a company that grinds reading glasses, optical lenses, among other things related to glass.

Greg. what can i say. the guy with long hair, daggy shirts and scungy denims. he was the one. the one who lived the dream. you see, greg had one thing going for him. the one thing mike and i did not have.

being unemployed, he had plenty of time in his hand to hang around in the genav area.
he did all kinds of odd jobs to finance his flying. he made himself available in the many hangars at the local airport. he was slowly building time and building contacts. being single with no commitments, he was always available even in the wee hours of the morning to replace a co-pilot that rang-in sick. this are all gratis flying of course, in lieu of those precious flying hours. it didn’t happen overnight, in fact it took him quite a long time, but it all paid off in the end. today, he is now permanently employed with the Department of Agriculture as one of their line pilots.

the few occasions i bumped into their mother at the local shopping centre, always without fail, she would thank me for the big influence i had on her eldest son’s direction in life.
now that, was enough compensation for me missing out.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

first love never dies

almost 2 years ago now, i had renal cell carcinoma and lost my otherwise perfectly healthy left kidney. this episode really forced me to think hard about life. my specialist adviced me against stress. i re-adjusted my lifestyle and i steer clear from any work-related stress. my 2 sons are having a field day to the consternation of their mother because i refuse to be drawn into any stressful disciplinary action towards them. then on weekends, i unwind by flying gliders, scaring myself to death with no go-around options.

ahhhh, my first love, sweeter the second time around.

glider.jpg (56.34 KiB) Viewed 4172 times

[Mathias]

what now. what to do.

post, i guess.

post one in this old thread.
...
it’s also not in the lounge but buried here. a challenge for others to find. (mathias exempted)

But what nice way to fill your boredom I just hope you feel REAL bored more often these days if this is what happens
Yes, gliding is the ultimate challenge - I assume you fly German-bred birds?

[Stuka]

.
hahahaha.
mathias, i knew you would find me.

I assume you fly German-bred birds?

well, what can i say.

otto lilienthal (May 23, 1848 – August 10, 1896) german pioneer in aviation . became known as the Glider King. the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights.

Wasserkuppe. many consider as the birthplace of modern-day gliding. virtually every german aeronautical engineer and test pilot of note during the 1920s and 30s spent time building, testing, and flying aircraft at wasserkuppe, including alexander schleicher.

there are many more sailplane manufacturers of note from poland and the eastern bloc but germany was the pioneer in design and manufacture.

well, i guess it goes without saying.




the following are some photos I took with my mobile phone so the quality is not that good and it can't do close ups so some of the photos are a bit far.

the photo below is the 1979-built Schleicher ASK-13 I first flew on my introductory flight. the ASK 13 is a two-seater glider that was built by alexander schleicher. it was and still is widely used for ab-initio training of glider pilots. the fuselage is a welded steel tube structure and fabric-covered overall, except for the nose, which is glassfibre and the tail unit which is plywood-covered. the controls are light and the response is quick almost to the point of being twitchy.

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the next photo is the ASK 21, a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) two-seater midwing glider aircraft with a T-tail. the ASK 21 is designed primarily for beginner instruction, but is also suitable for cross-country flying and aerobatic instruction. this is where I spent most of my training. very docile and stable and a bit of control lag.

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the next photo is the DG-303, designed by gerhard Glaser and wilhelm Dirks. manufactured by Glaser-Dirks Flugzeugbau GmbH's slovenian partner company Elan. this is my first single-seater. check out my shadow holding up my mobile phone.

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next photo is camden airport YSCN, just 14km away at the back of where i live. it’s paved runway is the main 06/24 and is 4800ft long. parallel to that at the foreground of the photo is glider 06/24, a grass strip 2300ft long. diagonal to the main 06/24 and glider06/24 is alternate 10/28 which is also a grasss trip and 2300ft long. at the left end of the runway are the glider hangars and at the right end is the genav area and tower.

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the next photo is over the township of camden. at the right wingtip you can just barely see the southern end of the 06 runway and the glider hangars. to the left of the oval field, can you see the ASK-13 directly below me?

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the ASK-13 about to be launched by aerotow. see the wingman holding the left wingtip to keep the glider straight and level. he is about to launch a big kite.

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PA-25 Piper Pawnee. the club’s aero-tug on it's return after releasing the ASK-13 at 3000ft. notice the slack tow rope.

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view from the DG-303.

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hope you enjoyed that.

[Mathias]

Wow, thanks for the pics!
Well, the main reason German glider manufacturers are top notch is that after WW II the allies prohibited the development of motorized aircraft in Germany for several years, so aircraft manufacturers had to either make do with other products (such as the Messerschmitt Cabin Scooter), temporarily set up workshop in other European countries or concentrate on gliders. Our local glider manufacturer is Schempp-Hirth, and they have always been on the forefront of new developments in aviation, such as composites, carbon fibers, winglets, laminar flow wing profiles, you-name-it. Their newest bird is the "Arcus". It's wing consists of 5 or so different profiles along it's span, each of them finely tuned to be ideally suited to it's location. Most of their planes now have either "range extenders" or even self-launch capability on board in the form of extendable and retractable propellers with small two or four-stroke engines driving them.
They spend as much time sanding and polishing the complete surface of their planes as it takes to build them in the first place. Even the registration number is not painted or stuck on but is rather laminated into the surface.
Most people in this forum with frown on gliding and look down on these "poor engine-less buggers", but in reality these gliders are by far the most efficient flying machines on planet Earth

Stuka, one question: around here it is customary for the tow plane to make a low pass and drop it's tow line before coming in to land, for safety reasons. But your guys land with tow line attached?

[Stuka]

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the Arcus-M.

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klaus ohlmann (german. of course.) did his record-breaking 3000km flight in a Nimbus-4DM glider manufactured by schempp-hirth. he took off from Chapelco and flew around the turning points at El Juncalito, El Maiten and Laguna Diamante and then back to Chapelco (argentina). the distance covered was an unbelievable 3,008.8 km, flown in a time of 14 hours and 58 min. averaging at an altitude of 21,000ft.

with the advancement in technology and design of current gliders, 1,000km flights are ordinarily achievable and is no longer a big deal. glide ratios of 40:1 are common now. and so are high-altitude flights, they have sophisticated oxygen systems nowadays.


shown in this photo is axel lange, preparing for a test flight, complete with oxygen mask and flight test information on his knee-board.

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the aircraft is the Antarres E, a glider with a deployable electric motor-driven propulsion produced by Lange Aviation GmbH.

question: around here it is customary for the tow plane to make a low pass and drop it's tow line before coming in to land, for safety reasons. But your guys land with tow line attached?

they’ve done away with that practice for a couple of reason :

1) the tug has to do a low-pass to drop the towline and then come around again and join the circuit (landing pattern) to land.
2) with powered aircraft also operating in the aerodrome, it becomes too busy for the tower to accommodate a request for a low pass and then a landing.
3) no low-pass dropping of the towline means no need for ground crew to run around on a ‘live’ air strip.
4) fuel. fuel conserved means less cost. (i think this is probably the main reason)

i’ve observed it countless times and it did not seem to pose any problem. the Tost ring at the end of the rope just bounces along on the grass strip as the tug rolls out after landing. it would probably pose a problem if there are any tall obstacles such as trees near the threshold and it can get snagged. but i’ve only experienced it once where on inspection of the towline prior to hooking-up to the glider, i found a knot, probably formed by the ring bouncing forward in advance of the rope and then coming back into a loop. a closed knot usually weakens the strength of the line by about half. but, that's what inspections are for, right?

Most people in this forum with frown on gliding and look down on these "poor engine-less buggers",

i was the same.
here's an excerpt in one of my emails to the supremo:

i was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma and they successfully removed my otherwise very healthy left kidney. this episode really made me re-assess and recognize how fragile life is. early this year, i was reading the "Australian Flying" magazine ( i saw your cap, you subscribe to the US edition) and i read an article about gliding, how the sports has evolved, and how they can do crosscountry, flying out of an aerodrome to distances of 500 miles or so and back. wow! i didn't know they can do this.

on one of my days off, i went to an airfield where a gliding club operates and went for an Air Experience Flight. the glider was a tandem seater, together with the instructor, we got towed by a pawnee tug to 3000ft and released. i was impressed. the first sensation i felt was the hushed whisper of the laminar flow over the canopy. very unnerving not hearing the comforting drone of an engine. the instructor did a couple of maneouvres to demonstrate some of the characteristics of gliders, like adverse yaw, more prominent compared to a powered aircaft. the aerial view was awesome with the perspex canopy. this is as close enough as i can get to sitting in an F16. the instructor trimmed to the best glide speed which is 1.5 times the stall speed, and in this instance, 55 knots. the glide ratio design of the glider we were flying is 27:1, we were losing altitude at roughly 90 ft per minute. wow! you won't feel falling back to terra firma, except for the altimeter reminding you. we were flying for 25 minutes now and was down to 1200ft preparing for landing when suddenly we encountered a thermal. a lift! the instructor circled in and the variometer started wailing, indicating a lift of 6 knots. the aural sound of the vario allows you to take your eyes off the instruments and keep a lookout for traffic, as you should.

as we spiralclimbed inside the thermal, we were doing as much as 60degree banks. in no time were at 5000ft before the lift waned. we managed to stay aloft for the next hour and a half like this, just chasing thermals. when we finally landed, that's when i felt my jaw aching, from the permanent grin plastered on my face in the last hour.

no prize for you tonet for guessing what comes next. that was it. i got hooked. seat of the pants flying. i kind of like the idea of getting only one shot in landing, zero option for a go-around in a glider. patrizia wasn't impressed when i came home and told her about it. not without an engine, she says. i took a 10hour package and after that, the committee gave me an invite to join the club. so that's where i am now with flying, and i'm enjoying it. my first love, sweeter the second time around.

.

[Mathias]

Antares E - when I saw that pic I instinctively thought: I saw that pylon not that long ago - must but be an Antares The main sound to be heard from the ground is the prop swishing past the double pylon. And once this electric bird has climbed a little higher you hear nothing at all on the ground. Awsome plane!
Interesting info on why not to drop the tow line before landing. Our local glider field is not that busy at all because the only motorized planes allowed there are the Aviat Husky and Scheibe SF25C motor glider that both serve as tow planes. Plus it is a grass field and has trees all along one side and bushes at the thresholds, which is why I assume they still do the low pass and tow line drop prior to landing.