My Plans!

K

kev415

Registered
Alright guys and gals, when you see my little green guy disappear, please dont think I have reverted to veing a lurker.

On January 12th, I am leaving just about everything I know to pursue my passion in flying. I am driving from New Hampshire to Florida for flight school in Jacksonville. I will be there until mid-May at the very least and will be at the airport every day im there. I wont have time to work or to do much of anything else besides fly,for that matter. I will have my computer, but I will not have access to the internet, or much of an expendable income which is the main reason for letting the membership slip. I am TOTALLY excited, this is something I have been dying to do for so long; get out of Smalltown NH and really purse my dream. I cannot pass up this opportunity. I will probably be down there for somewhere else in the country for an undetermined amount of time trying to rack up hours and getting some expereinces under my belt. I will more than likely be a flight instructor for a while, and the get a small job fling some fun airplanes, get some hours and settle into a nice cushy airlines job(they are hiring like crazy right now, believe it or not). This, of course is all merely guidelines and subsequnt to change, but thats what I would liek to happen. But I do not know when or where I will surface, but I will check in with you guys if I have the chance to jump on the net somewhere.

The '97 Mark (59k) is going to be my chariot for this trip and all of my subsequent travels. If anyone has any recomendations as far as service goes before the trip, i am all ears. I just changed the front brakes, the tranny is getting flushed and refilled on monday and the car will be aligned sometime prior to my departure. I just picked up an Escort Passport 7500S pig finder (aka radar detector), waht states to I have to take it off in?

Also taking recomendations or a good route to drive, if anyone has done this before. Im going to do it all with one rest stop, (besides a few for gas). I'll spend the night somewhere in North or South Carolina, depending on how far I make it. Thats about 12-14 hours of driving from NH. But I want to got as straight through as possible. Most of it will probably be on I-95. What cities do I avoid, and how? Any other obstacles you think of??

I want to thank everyone for a ll of the help and virtul friendship I have seen here, and I wish you all the best. I hope to be back as a member in good standing in a year or so, but beween now and then I dont know whats going to happen or where I'm going to be. Thanks again!
 
RE: My Plans!

All the best! It's really great to see people take action on their dreams, and I hope yours turns out to be all that you want it to be. :)
 
RE: My Plans!

The best of luck to you, and make a point of stopping by here once in a while to let us all know how it’s going.
 
RE: My Plans!

If I remember correctly, turn OFF your Escort in Ct, VA.& Wash DC. I think you are okay everywhere else.

On your way down I-95, take the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway, I-895 instead of traveling through downtown Baltimore. It will drop you back onto I-95 a few miles south of Baltimore. You will still have a toll. Not worth it to drive around the tolls.

Good luck to you and don't forget to drop in on us and give us updates.

Bud Pytko
'97 LSC Silver Frost
'92 F250 Banks TurboDiesel Bimini Blue
http://myfilelocker.comcast.net/charlespytko/Lincoln/BudPytko97LSC.JPG
 
RE: My Plans!

Tolls dont bug me, interstate grid-locks bug me.

Thanks for all the kind words. and of theres anything else that anyone thinks of, please let me know!
 
RE: My Plans!

Good luck with your dream. Glad to see you acting on it instead of, like many people, living on "Someday Isle (I'll) ....".
And a trip down I-95 is never a trip completed unless you stop at "South of The Border" in South Carolina. LOL.
 
RE: My Plans!

What flying school are you going to? Are you going straight through for an ATP rating, or taking it in stages? Have you ever though about flying for the military, for free training?

I would have liked to do what you're doing, but back in those days for me, there was a huge surplus of Vietnam Vet pilots. That, plus the fact my vision isn't 20/20 uncorrected, pretty much sunk it for me then. Now they're much more flexible in requirements because, like you said, pilots will soon be much in demand, due to the fact retirement is mandatory at age 60 and there are far fewer pilots coming out of the military.

I did go ahead and get my pilots license, mainly for sport flying. I'm just waiting for my lottery win to come through - I'd still love to have a small jet. :7

John
[link:mark8.org/lodnca|NorCal Chapter Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
 
RE: My Plans!

What flying school are you going to? Are you going straight through for an ATP rating, or taking it in stages? Have you ever though about flying for the military, for free training?

I would have liked to do what you're doing, but back in those days for me, there was a huge surplus of Vietnam Vet pilots. That, plus the fact my vision isn't 20/20 uncorrected, pretty much sunk it for me then. Now they're much more flexible in requirements because, like you said, pilots will soon be much in demand, due to the fact retirement is mandatory at age 60 and there are far fewer pilots coming out of the military.
Click to expand...

I am going to a school called ATP (Stands for Air Transport Professionals, the fact that it si the same as the rating, I dont know...) I will be at the Jacksonville Campus flying out of Craig field. Right now I have my Privates and most of my instrument training complete. I will get my Multi, Multi-Instrument, Multi Commercial, then do the SEL add-ons For the Instrument and Comm. them I will be getting my Jet transition, Type-Rating in a Citation I (C501), High-Alitude and High Performance twin sign-offs, My MEI, CFII and CFI.

I did consider going through the military, but none of them could give me a straight answer about whether or not I could be guaranteed a spot in flight school. Plus after they looked up my ASVAB scres and saw my previous schooling in the engineering field, they said that there were better jobs for me than being a pilot. WELL ALL I WANT TO DO IS FLY!! They still couldn't give me a definitive answer, so I left. And it is hardly free. After flight school, trainging and all of that Jazz, you owe them soo much time, it is hardly worth it to get out. Which is precisely why there are going to be a lot of airline jobs opening up in the next couple of years. Anyways, if it comes to that point, there is an Air National Guard base about 30 min from my house in NH, I wouls love to fly those KC-135s... Anyways, my vision is great (distance is 20/15 and close is 20/12).

But I will be happier this way. I leave in almost a week now, and I cant wait. I will be flying Piper Seminoles primarily and will log about 150 hrs of multi-engine time, and close to 200 hrs TT in under 90 days. Doesnt seem like a big deal until you look at the fact that I have 130 hrs now and it has taken me alsmot a year and a hlaf to get those! Hopefully I will get hired back as an instructor with the same school, as they like to hire back their own students. As a flight instructor with them, I would be able to log between 60 and 80 hrs a month, mostly multi-time. Anyways, I am really excited if you couldn't tell!!!
 
RE: My Plans!

If anyone has some good suggestions on how to get around New York City, Philly, Washington DC, Baltimore and Atlanta, I would appreciate it. Also what is the best time to hit these cities. I would rather drive way, WAY out of my way to avoid a lot of traffic.

John, let me know ;) I might be out your way over the summer, possible job openings, we'll see!
 
RE: My Plans!

leave at about 9 pm. Hit all the big cities in the middle of the night. I know driving through Atlanta at 3 am is kind of eerie. It's weird being the only one on a 6 lane highway.
 
RE: My Plans!

Hey everyone, just checking in. I finally found a computer here that is connected to the web, so I figured I would drop a line.
Things are ging pretty well here. My appartment is nice, my room mates are cool and flight school is going really well. I got my multi-engine rating last tuesday with only 7 hours in the plane. Right now we are diving head first into the instrument stuff and my check ride for that is within a month from now, )I think it is Feb. 19th...) so the rush is on. Finally got settled in, and psyched to be within an hour and a half of this great girl that I was seeing (Jacksonville to Daytona Beach was a lot better than NH to Daytona Beach...), yeah, so then we broke up.... Oh well, I guess we are still frinds or whatever, but it just kinda sucks.

On a more important note, the Lincoln made the the trip like a champ. About 1700 miles, after I got done adventuring and visiting people down here, averaged 24.7 mpg (calculated) and avereage speed was 79.2 (GPS). No problems what so ever.

Hope everyone else is doing well, I'll check back in when I get anoher chance!
 
RE: My Plans!

Have fun in flight school man! A little over 30 yrs ago I did exactly what you're doing and went to Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach. And the funny thing is I ended up in NH for a while flying DC3s of all things!
 
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