Hello from South Alabama

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waynejb
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:51 am

Hello from South Alabama

Post by waynejb »

Hi everybody. My name is Wayne. I'm 56 years old. I always had an interest in airplanes and aviation in general, but never as yet carried out my dreams. The closest I have gotten so far, is building and flying hundreds of RC planes. When I get into something I am the kind that likes to take it to extremes and that has me worried with this LSA bug that I happened to get a year or two ago.

Here's where my head is at, at the moment. My wife and I have been looking buy a bigger house with some land, so in our searches I can't help but search for something that would be the perfect place for an airstrip. One place we found, was the old Golden Pond Airport (28AL) in Ashville, Alabama that's for sale. Sounds like that should get us started in a hurry. The house isn't exactly what we wanted, so the search goes on. To find land that is over 2,000 ft long and 300 ft wide, flat grass, with a livable house in Alabama is a chore. Well, we just recently ran onto 75 acres and a nice house only 25 miles where we live now (still in our comfort zone) that is pretty much open field but the ends are cut out giving 2600 ft length and over 500 ft at the narrowest point and yep, it's flat grass. Yep, sure looks like it was used for flying at one time or another. Looking at the area on the sectional (New Orleans) I see quite a few private airstrips within a 40 mile radious, so this might be the ticket.

Our family is scattered all over the USA with my wife's being mostly in Sebring, FL (how convenient). Also we have kids in Western New York and Kentucky. This is where the plane choice come into play. I would like to have a Kitfox just to train in and something to just play with. It looks perfect for this rural piece of property. For the family visits, I can see where a Ch601/650 might fit that bill. I'm also a Sonex fan since I weigh 145 lbs and 5'8" that might work for me (wife is a little heavier, but I might be able to squeeze her in). I wanted to go E-LSA so when the time comes, take the 16 hr course and be able to do everything myself, but they aren't as readily available so I'll worry about that when the time comes.

Right now this may sound all far fetched, but I have my map (goals) laid out so we will see how it goes. First, sell everything I own. Purchase house and land first. I located an independent instructor nearby (I haven't contacted him yet, so he doesn't know what he's in for). About 5 miles from this property in mind is a fellow that has a private strip, so between the two, I might have some local guidance. Then I'll work on the type of plane(s) and see what's on the used with low time market.

Anyway, that's the basics of my plan. I have a lot more of the details in my head, in my computer and in stacks of notebooks on my desk. Hopefully, I won't be too old by the time I pull all this off, but I'm determined to give it a shot.

Thanks for letting be blab, and I hope you can see why I joined this forum. I have read and really learned a lot over the last few days from many of the great posts here. Taking what I would like to accomplish over a long period of time, I hope I will be able to contribute some valuable information to this group.

Thanks for listening...Wayne
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drseti
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Re: Hello from South Alabama

Post by drseti »

Welcome to the forums, Wayne. We're happy to have you aboard. Sounds like you have a dream, and a plan - that's great! The only advice I would offer is to be flexible. Plans that are changeable are more realizable than those that are rigid.

Best of luck to you.

Paul (your friendly neighborhood moderator)
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Jack Tyler
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Re: Hello from South Alabama

Post by Jack Tyler »

Wayne, let me welcome you as well. You'll find some very well informed contributors here and, by and large, the virtual feng shui here (of our virtual atmosphere) is positive & constructive.

Here are a couple of thoughts that came to mind while reading your post. It's unclear to me - but perhaps very clear to you two - to what extent the land & house you've found is what you are looking for *independent* of your interest in aviation. If it is independent, you can ignore what follows. But if that property has earned your attention to a significant degree because of its usefulness as a private airstrip, then I would suggest you put the horse in front of the cart and do some flying before some property purchasing. (And come to that, I'd suggest you do that anyway...). It is very easy to become enveloped in warm, fuzzy feelings about flying one's own plane (and for lots of good reasons) but, truth be told, after a lot of hard work and expense sticking with a flight curriculum (and later, flying itself) is not sustained by a *large majority* of those who started out with the same feelings you have. And without some meaningful exposure to flying, three other important considerations are all but impossible: to the extent your wife's involvement is important to you (as it very much is to me), how she will feel about flying in a small a/c, what kind of plane you *really* will want to own longer term, and which pilot license you should consider seeking.

I just happened to be flying across AL a few days ago, and this is a great time of year to get into the air there. (Brisk, sunny days make for a much better learning environment in a cockpit than soggy, sweaty ones where your performance sags along with that of your a/c). Do some networking, find some local folks who can give you some lessons (don't just plan to 'go flying', altho' there's nothing wrong with that as a supplement), spend a little money, spend some dedicated time on the front end of a structured flying curriculum, and start to build your own impressions of how you feel about becoming a pilot and an a/c owner (which are not synonymous). There's a ton of very credible resources available to you if you jump into this, and lots of folks here to help you find them. But the essential step is to set aside those reams of info you've been collecting, get off the 'puter, and get into the air. That's where the most fundamental answers to your questions lie.

Good luck to you and let us know how we can help.
Jack
Flying in/out KBZN, Bozeman MT in a Grumman Tiger
Do you fly for recreational purposes? Please visit http://www.theraf.org
waynejb
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:51 am

Re: Hello from South Alabama

Post by waynejb »

I just want to take a few minutes and thank you guys for the warm welcome. Jack...your spot on and in line with my thinking. I agree fully with what you said. I have a wide variety of interests from bus to RV conversions, vintage Harleys, street rods, amateur radio, etc. Been there and done that. With that said, you can see I need space and belong out in the country. My wife just wants a nice house with a built in pool. Bingo, this has it and the price is close to that of a house in a town or city with a small lot. In other words, all over this area are properties of our interest and some will fit the home/airstrip idea better than others, so with the aviation interest I have, it's like saying, lets get that one just in case. If I never did use it for the purpose of flying, I could fill it with cows, horses, or cars or something. I see planes in fields in this area everywhere I go. I just need to stop and do some talking like you mentioned getting hooked up with the locals. It's another adventure (page of my life) that I just haven't gotten to yet. I think once the starting gate opens, I'll have a pretty interesting story to share on how I went about it, the red tape etc. It should be fun. The reason for the delay, is because everyday something else comes on the market, to confuse my head more than it already is.

Anyway, I'm going to leave it there for now and I'll keep you posted on how all this goes, hopefully in the very near future.

Wayne
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