Flying in the US

[NS]

I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown in
sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a bit
of fun and has a sense of humour.

I have around 300 hrs mostly on complex types

I would be grateful for your views

Regards

Nigel
Maidenhead, Berkshire UK

[BTIZ]

have you tried Tehachapi or Cal City... both in So California... or Minden?
BT

"NS" > wrote in message
...
>I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
>this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown in
>sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
>recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
>oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a bit
>of fun and has a sense of humour.
>
> I have around 300 hrs mostly on complex types
>
> I would be grateful for your views
>
> Regards
>
> Nigel
> Maidenhead, Berkshire UK
>

[Jay Honeck]

>I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
>this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown in
>sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
>recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
>oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a bit
>of fun and has a sense of humour.

Nigel, I humbly suggest visiting the heartland of America, the Midwest, and
using our lovely town of Iowa City, Iowa as your "base of operations."

We've got two very friendly flight schools, renting primarily Cessna
products, and we're only 90 minutes from Chicago, Milwaukee, or Oshkosh.
And we're just 60 minutes from Kansas City or St. Louis -- so you can cover
a very wide swath of America from here.

I also know a pretty nice place to stay while you're here, that gives pilots
a discount...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Steven Barnes]

Oooh. How shameless.... ;-D

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:eHyfe.67700$WI3.22260@attbi_s71...
> >I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
> >this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown
in
> >sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
> >recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
> >oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a
bit
> >of fun and has a sense of humour.
>
> Nigel, I humbly suggest visiting the heartland of America, the Midwest,
and
> using our lovely town of Iowa City, Iowa as your "base of operations."
>
> We've got two very friendly flight schools, renting primarily Cessna
> products, and we're only 90 minutes from Chicago, Milwaukee, or Oshkosh.
> And we're just 60 minutes from Kansas City or St. Louis -- so you can
cover
> a very wide swath of America from here.
>
> I also know a pretty nice place to stay while you're here, that gives
pilots
> a discount...
>
> ;-)
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[Jay Honeck]

> Oooh. How shameless.... ;-D

Me? Nah...

;-)

But I am dead serious about my recommendation to visit the Midwest, whether
he stays in Iowa City or not.

If you want to understand the U.S., and see where the real people live, come
to the heartland. There are many terrific things here, and you don't have
to lock your car doors while you check them out...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Bob Fry]

Consider Northern California. Flawless summertime weather, and you
can fly from the coast, over a large agricultural valley, to the
mountains, within 30-60 minutes. You can easily fly down to Southern
California or up to Oregon and Washington within a day. Great
weather, great scenery, and great people who aren't xenophobic; what
more could you want?? If this sounds interesting, post back and I'll
look into local clubs.

[Grumman-581]

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:C2Afe.67627$c24.42572@attbi_s72...
> If you want to understand the U.S., and see where the real people live,
come
> to the heartland.

I'm not sure that I would classify Iowa as "where the real people live"...
I've lived in various places around the country while in the Navy and while
contracting... Each has it's own advantages and disadvantages...

Went flying out of C17 today... Quite windy, but it was straight down the
runway and not *too* bad on the surface... It was pretty much directly out
of the south... Flew over west towards whatever that lake is to the NW of
the nuke plant, followed the river for awhile and then headed back... Just
flying kind of slow, checking out the scenery -- 100 kts... At one point, I
was heading north and I looked down at my LORAN and it showed a groundspeed
of 157 kts... Yee Haw!! A 57 kt tailwind! I've never seen that in Texas...
Probably because when the weather is bad enough to give you that, there's
other things like level 5 thunderstorms that deter you from getting in the
air...

> There are many terrific things here, and you don't have
> to lock your car doors while you check them out...

But you need to lock up your tanks of ammonium nitrate...

[Grumman-581]

"Bob Fry" wrote in message ...
> Consider Northern California. Flawless summertime weather, and you
> can fly from the coast, over a large agricultural valley, to the
> mountains, within 30-60 minutes. You can easily fly down to Southern
> California or up to Oregon and Washington within a day. Great
> weather, great scenery, and great people who aren't xenophobic; what
> more could you want??

Less Californians? <snicker>

[H.P.]

Try the Midwest. Wichita is the home of Cessna, Beechcraft & Hawker
(Raytheon). No pesky mountains, very warm and friendly people, and lots of
airports (sometimes, you can make your own airport). Some fun cities are
Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis.

http://www.familytravelguides.com/articles/midweststates/


"NS" > wrote in message
...
>I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
>this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown in
>sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
>recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
>oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a bit
>of fun and has a sense of humour.
>
> I have around 300 hrs mostly on complex types
>
> I would be grateful for your views
>
> Regards
>
> Nigel
> Maidenhead, Berkshire UK
>

[W P Dixon]

And home to some of the biggest dang tornados I have ever seen!!!!!!!

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech


"H.P." > wrote in message
. ..
> Try the Midwest. Wichita is the home of Cessna, Beechcraft & Hawker
> (Raytheon). No pesky mountains, very warm and friendly people, and lots
> of airports (sometimes, you can make your own airport). Some fun cities
> are Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis.
>
> http://www.familytravelguides.com/articles/midweststates/
>

[Jay Honeck]

> And home to some of the biggest dang tornados I have ever seen!!!!!!!

Hey -- people come from all over the world to see those danged things!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[[email protected]]

NS > wrote:
> I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
> this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown in
> sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona.

Nigel, come see Colorado!

Rocky Mountain National Park, mountain flying,
Pikes Peak (14,000+ mountain you can drive to the top of), mountain flying,
Mount Evans, (14,000+ mountain you can drive to the top of), mountain flying,
Leadville, Colorado Airport, (LXV, 9,927 MSL, pattern at 11,000 MSL), mountain flying,
Gliders at Boulder, Colorado, or Owl Canyon Gliderport, Colorado, mountain flying,
Steamboat Springs (Strawberry Park Hot Springs, get neekid with the hippies), mountain flying,
Aspen, Colorado (See the beautiful people and their airplanes), mountain flying,
did I mention Mountain Flying? :-)

> I have around 300 hrs mostly on complex types

Available for mountain flying, Cessna-172, Cessna-182, Piper Arrow.
See web site(s) in my .signature.

Colorado Pilots Association - Mountain Flying/High Elevation Ground School:
- Centennial Airport (APA), Tower Boardroom: June 18, 2005, Denver, Colorado
- Centennial Airport (APA), Tower Boardroom: August 13, 2005, Denver, Colorado

I teach the classroom and flying portions of this course.

> I would be grateful for your views.

Worth EXACTLY what you paid for them. :-)

Best regards,

Jer/ Eberhard, CFII: Airplane, Instrument, Glider, Taildragger
--
Poudre Aviation, 2200 Airway Ave, Ft Collins, CO, 80524, USA
WEB: http://poudreaviation.com/ "Online Services" "New User"
CELL/VM: 970 231-6325, EMAIL: jer'at'frii.com
WEB: http://users.frii.com/jer/ "MFAL: Mountain Flying Aviation"

[W P Dixon]

Just goes to show there are fools all over the world! ;) Something like 14
or so hit in one afternoon in a 50 mile radius of Wichita, I had my Bronco
packed my rollaway loaded and was headed to the coast of Georgia by noon the
next day, and I never went back to Kansas!

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:BnJfe.64418$r53.49901@attbi_s21...
>> And home to some of the biggest dang tornados I have ever seen!!!!!!!
>
> Hey -- people come from all over the world to see those danged things!
>
> :-)
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[A.Coleman]

It's where density altitude was invented!


> wrote in message ...
> NS > wrote:
> > I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
> > this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown
in
> > sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona.
>
> Nigel, come see Colorado!
>
> Rocky Mountain National Park, mountain flying,
> Pikes Peak (14,000+ mountain you can drive to the top of), mountain
flying,
> Mount Evans, (14,000+ mountain you can drive to the top of), mountain
flying,
> Leadville, Colorado Airport, (LXV, 9,927 MSL, pattern at 11,000 MSL),
mountain flying,
> Gliders at Boulder, Colorado, or Owl Canyon Gliderport, Colorado, mountain
flying,
> Steamboat Springs (Strawberry Park Hot Springs, get neekid with the
hippies), mountain flying,
> Aspen, Colorado (See the beautiful people and their airplanes), mountain
flying,
> did I mention Mountain Flying? :-)
>
> > I have around 300 hrs mostly on complex types
>
> Available for mountain flying, Cessna-172, Cessna-182, Piper Arrow.
> See web site(s) in my .signature.
>
> Colorado Pilots Association - Mountain Flying/High Elevation Ground
School:
> - Centennial Airport (APA), Tower Boardroom: June 18, 2005, Denver,
Colorado
> - Centennial Airport (APA), Tower Boardroom: August 13, 2005, Denver,
Colorado
>
> I teach the classroom and flying portions of this course.
>
> > I would be grateful for your views.
>
> Worth EXACTLY what you paid for them. :-)
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jer/ Eberhard, CFII: Airplane, Instrument, Glider, Taildragger
> --
> Poudre Aviation, 2200 Airway Ave, Ft Collins, CO, 80524, USA
> WEB: http://poudreaviation.com/ "Online Services" "New User"
> CELL/VM: 970 231-6325, EMAIL: jer'at'frii.com
> WEB: http://users.frii.com/jer/ "MFAL: Mountain Flying Aviation"
>
>

[R.L.]

You're giving the wrong impression to a visitor from across the pond. It's
not all-tornadoes, all-the-time.



"W P Dixon" > wrote in message
...
> Just goes to show there are fools all over the world! ;) Something like 14
> or so hit in one afternoon in a 50 mile radius of Wichita, I had my Bronco
> packed my rollaway loaded and was headed to the coast of Georgia by noon
the
> next day, and I never went back to Kansas!
>
> Patrick
> student SPL
> aircraft structural mech
>
> "Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
> news:BnJfe.64418$r53.49901@attbi_s21...
> >> And home to some of the biggest dang tornados I have ever seen!!!!!!!
> >
> > Hey -- people come from all over the world to see those danged things!
> >
> > :-)
> > --
> > Jay Honeck
> > Iowa City, IA
> > Pathfinder N56993
> > www.AlexisParkInn.com
> > "Your Aviation Destination"
> >
>

[W P Dixon]

It only takes one!!! ;) I'd rather not be there for it!

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"R.L." > wrote in message
om...
> You're giving the wrong impression to a visitor from across the pond.
> It's
> not all-tornadoes, all-the-time.
>
>
>
> "W P Dixon" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Just goes to show there are fools all over the world! ;) Something like
>> 14
>> or so hit in one afternoon in a 50 mile radius of Wichita, I had my
>> Bronco
>> packed my rollaway loaded and was headed to the coast of Georgia by noon
> the
>> next day, and I never went back to Kansas!
>>
>> Patrick
>> student SPL
>> aircraft structural mech
>>
>> "Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
>> news:BnJfe.64418$r53.49901@attbi_s21...
>> >> And home to some of the biggest dang tornados I have ever seen!!!!!!!
>> >
>> > Hey -- people come from all over the world to see those danged things!
>> >
>> > :-)
>> > --
>> > Jay Honeck
>> > Iowa City, IA
>> > Pathfinder N56993
>> > www.AlexisParkInn.com
>> > "Your Aviation Destination"
>> >
>>
>
>

[Jay Honeck]

R.L. wrote:
> You're giving the wrong impression to a visitor from across the pond.
It's
> not all-tornadoes, all-the-time.

Hey, it keeps the riff-raff out...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[George Patterson]

W P Dixon wrote:
> Just goes to show there are fools all over the world! ;) Something like
> 14 or so hit in one afternoon in a 50 mile radius of Wichita, I had my
> Bronco packed my rollaway loaded and was headed to the coast of Georgia
> by noon the next day, and I never went back to Kansas!

Well, 14 tornadoes is a bit much, but you aren't completely safe there either.
In Georgia and Tennessee, we call mobile homes "tornado bait." And if you're on
the coast, you get the occasional hurricane too.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

[W P Dixon]

HEE HEE,
Yep George we call them tornado magnets. And yep the tornadoes are bad
enough in TN and GA , but let me tell you the ones in Kansas are just
unreal. Miles wide some of them...really spooky. Hope I never see another
one.
Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:UpOfe.5062$Dn.1199@trndny02...
>W P Dixon wrote:
>> Just goes to show there are fools all over the world! ;) Something like
>> 14 or so hit in one afternoon in a 50 mile radius of Wichita, I had my
>> Bronco packed my rollaway loaded and was headed to the coast of Georgia
>> by noon the next day, and I never went back to Kansas!
>
> Well, 14 tornadoes is a bit much, but you aren't completely safe there
> either. In Georgia and Tennessee, we call mobile homes "tornado bait." And
> if you're on the coast, you get the occasional hurricane too.
>
> George Patterson
> There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
> mashed potatoes.

[Paul kgyy]

Another scenic choice is the Great Lakes area. Lots of people hate
Chicago because the mayor recently bulldozed Meigs field, but it's an
easy city to get to commercially. Local flight schools tend to be
expensive but then the current value of the Euro makes everything a
bargain in the U.S....

[John Galban]

George Patterson wrote:
>
> In Georgia and Tennessee, we call mobile homes "tornado bait."

Interesting. Some of my friends call me tornado bait. All I have to
do is fly across the midwest in May or early June, and one will find
me. I haven't tried it in a few years, but my record was unblemished
for '99, '00, '01 and '02. I saw at least one on every trip.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[Chris]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:eHyfe.67700$WI3.22260@attbi_s71...
> >I am looking for a friendly place to fly in the US when I go on vacation
> >this year - I have no particular destination in mind albeit I have flown
> >in sw Florida, Texas, New England and Arizona. Has anybody got any
> >recommendations for flight schools that aren't too commercial training
> >oriented and would welcome a keen limey ppl who only wants to fly for a
> >bit of fun and has a sense of humour.
>
> Nigel, I humbly suggest visiting the heartland of America, the Midwest,
> and using our lovely town of Iowa City, Iowa as your "base of operations."
>
> We've got two very friendly flight schools, renting primarily Cessna
> products, and we're only 90 minutes from Chicago, Milwaukee, or Oshkosh.
> And we're just 60 minutes from Kansas City or St. Louis -- so you can
> cover a very wide swath of America from here.
>
> I also know a pretty nice place to stay while you're here, that gives
> pilots a discount...

Nigel,

Before you get too swept away in the sheer freedom of flying in the US, make
sure that you go through the process to get your US private certificate if
you don't already have it.

This includes going through the licence validation process details from here

http://registry.faa.gov/airmen.asp#verify

This time of the year it can take up to 4 weeks to get through the process
so planning ahead is important.

You also need to alight near a FSDO so you can visit it in person to get the
US certificate issued.

If you want to do any training towards a rating then you may need to get a
student visa. This could seriously restrict your choice of flying school,
usually to Florida or California to one which has INS status. Then there is
also the issue of the TSA whose details are here
http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/.

However, to keep things simple, just rent a plane, do no training. Just get
the US certificate. The checkouts and BFRs are exempt from the TSA stuff.

Did I say freedom at the start of this well all things are relative.

[Thomas Borchert]

Grumman-581,

> > There are many terrific things here, and you don't have
> > to lock your car doors while you check them out...
>
> But you need to lock up your tanks of ammonium nitrate...
>

ROFL. The heartland, indeed. Nothing that beats a really simple view of
the world...

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[Thomas Borchert]

> Nothing that beats a really simple view of
> the world...
>

Just to clarify, I didn't mean yours, Grumman.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[john smith]

Not to mention that it makes the insurance companies real nervous when a
wall cloud passes over AirVenture, as it did 15 years ago.

Jay Honeck wrote:
> Hey, it keeps the riff-raff out...

[Antoñio]

NS wrote:

> I would be grateful for your views
>
> Regards
>
> Nigel
> Maidenhead, Berkshire UK
>

>
Nigel,

OK....I have to make a pitch for the "Great Northwest" part of the country:

Beautiful snow-capped montains, scenery, islands, the Pugent Sound,
clean air, the only legal place to land on the beach at the Pacific
Ocean (Copalis), Mt. St. Helen's volcano (active every day), right next
to Canada (Vancouver and Victoria are wonderful cities), lots of
touristy stuff to do in Seattle, and finally...a really good-humored guy
who can rent planes at cheap prices (club member) who is intelligent,
urbane, witty, handsome, knows all the girls, etc. (Call me and I'll see
if he is free to come along.)

Antonio

[Antoñio]

That's "Puget Sound"!

Antonio

[Peter Duniho]

"Antoñio" > wrote in message
...
> OK....I have to make a pitch for the "Great Northwest" part of the
> country:
>
> Beautiful snow-capped montains,

Not this year. It was sunny all winter, so we have no snow left.

> scenery,

There's scenery everywhere. Ours just happens to be here. :)

> islands,

Yup, can't dispute that.

> the Pugent Sound,

Heh...well, at least you didn't write "Pungent". (Yes, I saw your
correction...so what? :) )

> clean air,

Haven't been here in a couple of decades, huh? Well, I'll grant the air is
usually pretty clean right after it rains. Used to be that was almost every
day, except in the summer. Now, I'm starting to wonder.

> the only legal place to land on the beach at the Pacific Ocean (Copalis),

Hmmm...I believe what you mean is "the only official on-beach runway". I
would be surprised if there were not a single other beach on the US West
Coast (never mind the entire Pacific Ocean!) where one is permitted to land
an airplane. There sure are plenty of beaches where you can drive pickups
everywhere. :)

On a more serious note, there are many airports all along the US West Coast
where there are paved airports less than a five minute walk from the beach,
and even more within 15 minutes.

> Mt. St. Helen's volcano (active every day),

I suppose that depends on what you mean by "active". Technically, Rainier,
Baker, Hood, Adams, and other mountains in the area are also "active". St.
Helen's doesn't have flowing lava or constant eruptions or anything like
that. For me, the only active volcano in the US is in Hawaii. :p

But sure, if you're happy with a few wisps of steam, a bulging lava dome,
and the occasional geyser, St. Helens will do just fine, thank you very
much. :)

> right next to Canada (Vancouver and Victoria are wonderful cities),

Yes, they are. How about suggesting folks go visit THEM instead. :)

> lots of touristy stuff to do in Seattle,

"Lots"? No specifics? You ought to at least mention the Underground Tour.
http://www.undergroundtour.com/

> and finally...a really good-humored guy who can rent planes at cheap
> prices (club member) who is intelligent, urbane, witty, handsome, knows
> all the girls, etc.

Oh...I see. Your post was a JOKE! I know it must be, 'cause there aren't
any people like that around here. :)

> (Call me and I'll see if he is free to come along.)

Yeah, you do that. :p

Pete

[Antoñio]

Jeeeze Peter! You contradict me more than my wife does !

Oh. I see! I forgot first rule of the "northwest club" -- Don't tell
anyone about the beauty here. I see now that you were just covering for
me in case any Californians were watching.

OK...so I'll give it a shot--Seattle area tourist traps...

Ferries to the islands and to Victoria,BC
The Underground tour (A city underground!)
Pike Place Market
The Space Needle restaurant at the Seattle Center
Boeing Tours--the Museum of Flight, The Paine Field Boeing Factory
Tacoma Museum of glass (Chihuly stuff)
Seattle Art Museum
Kenmore Air float plane tours to the San Juan Islands (or by ferry)
Bruce Lee's grave
Experience Music Project (Jimmy Hendrix museum)
Seattle Arboretum
Ballard Locks and Ship Canal
Hiking in the Olympics where the mountain goats eat out of your hand
Mt.St. Helens ape caves ..about 6mi of underground caves to explore near
the infamous volcano
Seattle Homepage:
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/html/visitor/points.htm

Just over the border to the south--Howard Hughes famous "Spruce Goose"
(and you will never call it that again after you see the movie "The
Aviator") http://www.sprucegoose.org/aircraft_artifacts/exhibits.html


Antonio (waiting on Peter's review ;-) )

[Peter Duniho]

"Antoñio" > wrote in message
...
>
> Jeeeze Peter! You contradict me more than my wife does !

No I don't.

> Oh. I see! I forgot first rule of the "northwest club" -- Don't tell
> anyone about the beauty here. I see now that you were just covering for me
> in case any Californians were watching.

You know, it doesn't do any good if you go pulling the curtain back and
revealing the anti-immigrant strategies. :p

(And yes, public disclaimer, I'm an immigrant myself, though I've been here
as long as some of the folks had been who had been calling themselves
"locals" when I first moved here :) ).

> OK...so I'll give it a shot--Seattle area tourist traps... [...]

Not bad. Got most of the really obvious ones. However, due to my nature, I
must point out that the Museum of Flight does not belong categorized under
"Boeing Tours". The museum is not a Boeing operation.

A person going to Paine Field for the wide-body assembly plant tour would do
well to stop by the Museum of Flight's restoration center there.

One warning: unless the food's gotten a lot better in the last decade or so,
don't expect the Space Needle Restaurant to taste as good as it costs. You
are paying for the rotating view, not the cuisine.

Pete

[Antoñio]

Peter Duniho wrote:
> "Antoñio" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Jeeeze Peter! You contradict me more than my wife does !
>
>
> No I don't.

HA!

>>OK...so I'll give it a shot--Seattle area tourist traps... [...]

> Not bad. Got most of the really obvious ones. However, due to my nature, I
> must point out....

I just loved the way you complimented, took it back, and contradicted me
in one short sweep here! Are you a legislator down in Olympia? ;-)


Antonio