Waaaay OT- calling all fly boys

[b_va]

After seeing the Reno airshow pix I was wondering if there are any

pilots in the group? I always take the M and a 21 for the sunsets

over the stack shots and the "hey, look no hands!" reaction snap. Any

in- flight experiances to share?

[joshroot]

Oh how I wish I had a pilot's license. i just don't have the $4-6,000 it would cost me. Sigh......I guess it will have to go on the pile of "leter in life" things.

[paul_chefurka1]

I'm a glider pilot, though I've been inactive for a few years. I've never had any real luck doing in-flight pics, except for a bit of air-to-air of gliders from the back seat of our tug. Most of the aerial photos I've shot have been what are called "turnpoint" photos - these are record shots to act as proof that you covered a pre-declared cross-country course. Gliders themselves - especially the newer moulded composite fuselages - are things of wondrous beauty, and I have a number of photos that show them off to good advantage.

 

Most good pics taken from inside a glider cockpit seem to be done with hyper-wides, and I've never been that enthusiastic about those sorts of lenses, so I've had to content myself with recording the beauty with my Mk I eyeballs.

 

The best pic I never took was on a fall day with scattered rainshowers. I flew through a thin wall of cloud and popped out the other side into bright sunshine and a massive thermal (updraft). I immediately banked into a turn and started to soar up the side of the cloud. As I looked around me I realized that there were six hawks in the thermal with me. The closest was less than fifty feet away, turning in the same direction I was, and watching me. After I'd completed two circles the hawks were already hundreds of feet above me, and then they all buggered off to find something more interesting to do. A camera wouldn't have caught the scene, but the image in my mind still makes me smile.

[film rules]

I've had the same experience with birds while hang gliding. Some even closer than 50 feet. An M is too heavy to hangglide with though IMO. I have mounted a cheapo P&S (Olympus) with a wireless remote to my wingtip to get the self-portrait shot but you have to be very careful when landing. Even a half pound on one wing affects handling.

[film rules]

P.S. - Sorry about the crappy scan.

[paul_chefurka1]

> Even a half pound on one wing affects handling.

 

Now Ben, that's what you get for flying one of them toy airplanes :-)

Gliding in any kind of aircraft rules!

[albert knapp md]

My Dad was a lead navigator in the 486th Bombardment Group

(Heavy) in the 8th Air Force in England from 1943-45.

[olivier_reichenbach]

Well, I took my private license course many years ago, and logged a few hours solo aboard

Cessnas and Grumans. But flying and photo together, never.

 

That reminds me of the recent loss of Galen and Barbara Rowell, which I learned only recently.

Maybe that was the kind of death they would have wished on themselves, doing what they

liked most, flying, exploring and photographing.

[george_b1]

I'll confess to having been both a fighter pilot (for a short time) and a bomber pilot (B-29, B-50, B-47, B-52) and being checked out in the F-80, F-86, T-33, T-28, and the Mahogany Bomber (the desk <g>).I retired from the USAF in 1975. While in Thailand in '71 and '72, I got to fly T-28s from Udorn to Long Cheing (LS-28). I took my IIIc along on one flight and got a photo of the complex while circling to get permission for an overhead (360) approach and landing. The runway ended, somewhat abruptly, in an outcropping of karst that we affectionally named "bust-your-fanny-hill," and I got a "down the throat" photo of what it looked like when you were on final approach and staring at that piece of karst. That photo (B&W) hangs on the wall in our den as a reminder of more venturesome days.

[david_cuttler]

I�m the guy that took the Reno shots. I have a private license, and am working on my Instrument rating. I started to take lessons on my 61st birthday and passed my check ride on my 62nd birthday (I will be 65 in May). I have a tail wheel & high power endorsement and will be flying a Citabria as soon as it is out of annual. I have a cost sharing arraignment with the owner. Having an A&P license helps too.

 

I live in Oakland CA, so the drive to Reno is between 3-4 hours. I have a few photos in flight in a Cessna 152 but they were taken with a Minox IIIA. The Leica is new (to me). The Reno shots are the second roll I put through the used MP-4. I hope you liked them

[jesse_kramer]

Pilot for four years, 500 hrs. Own and fly a 1979 Cessna 182.

 

Two weeks ago I requested and received permission to overfly the golden gate bridge at 5000 ft just to the west over the pacific. I'll try to post the pics

 

Jesse Kramer, M.D.

[george_b1]

Jesse - Is that one of the pressurized 182's?

[_Alex_]

I'm a USAF Officer, and Navigator by trade. It's a great way to make a living.

[carey_russ]

Airplanes, now there's a hobby/avocation/profession that makes photography seem cheap! I'd love to learn, but time and money...not to mention gov't security trips these days. Still, you can get a good view from a commercial airliner if the windows are reasonably clean and unscratched. I fly a lot for business, and always go for a window seat. Attached was done with an M6TTL and 50 Elmar-M on Sensia 100.

(and totally, totally OT, the coolest private ride I've even seen was parked on the tarmac in front of Rutan Aviation in Mojave about 10 years ago - a light blue, privately-registered F104 Starfighter. You say your Lamborghini does 200mph? That's stall speed, pal...)<div></div>

[cabophoto]

I took this recently from the front seat of a 1941 Boeing Stearman, using an M6 with 21/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH.

 

Carsten

 

http://www.cabophoto.com/<div></div>

[preston_merchant]

I was injured in a skydiving accident two years ago. Does that count?

[phill kneen]

I got so high on acid a few weeks ago that I thought I was flying and sometimes I smoke too much bush and try to jump out of high speed cars........how about that, does that count as well?

 

YEAH BABY YEAH!!!!!! Do I make you horny?

[douglas k.]

Carsten--

 

That is a pretty cool shot! I'll bet the pilot loves it.

[jesse_kramer]

George,

 

The only single engine Cessna that comes in a pressurized version is the 210. The 182 comes fixed gear or retractable, normally aspirated or turbonormalized, carburated or fuel injected. My plane, N82XT

is a fixed gear, normally aspirated, carburated model. Great plane.

 

Jesse ( this is way,way off topic)

[msitaraman]

"- a light blue, privately-registered F104 Starfighter. You say your Lamborghini does 200mph? That's stall speed, pal...)"

 

I'm no aviator, but an avid planespotter in my childhood. I remember the F104 was known as a "flying coffin". Presumably the stall speed was greater than 200 mph in some conditions? The plane does have stubby 7 foot wings, if I recall correctly, after all these years.

[andy_piper2]

Mani: actually the F104 (and a lot of other early supersonic jets) ran into something called the "coffin corner" at high altitudes - their maximum Mach operating speed would reduce as the air got thinner until it equalled the stall speed (in indicated knots) - if they sped up the wings would rip off and if they didn't speed up the wings would stall and the plane would spin out of control.

 

A very ugly place to be...

 

B VA: I have a private license - but haven't flown for 6 years or so except in the computer - time and money going to photography instead. My only real combined photo/flying experience was as a news-shooter (and passenger) circling over a derailed propane tank car - waiting to get a picture if it blew and took out most of downtown Knoxville.

 

I've flown and shot my own pix a couple of times - but, frankly, I figure you get better pictures AND a longer life-expectancy if you have two people in the plane, each doing one thing well.

 

Although...

 

The newspaper I work for lost a picture editor 8 years ago - he was in the mountains shooting autumn color from a 182 - with a pilot - and they crashed. There was never a final determination as to the cause - but his last frames showed they were cruising quite low - 300-500 feet above the treetops. I suspect they were "low and slow" for taking pictures, and a sudden gust or turbulence or a downdraft over the rough terrain stalled them with not enough altitude for recovery.