In an age where flight simulators get ever more realistic and actual flight schools become ever more scarce, Bill Whittle makes the case for doing thing In Real Life — in this case, taking up a hobby (and potentially lucrative vocation) that can make you feel like nothing less than the king of the air and a lord of creation.
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Well … I have a little experience with this stuff. Never been in a sail plane though. My Dad was a private pilot. He learned to fly because when he was a kid one of his neighbors was a barnstormer. Who my Dad struck up a friendship with and learned to fly in exchange for labor. That was before you had to have a license to drive a car or fly an airplane, I think. Dad flew a “putt-putt”, an Army observation airplane (don’t know the model, might have been a Piper or a Cessna) from Korea to Japan and… Read more »
This reply is not about flying, but about Marines, in particular, shooting. Dont know if you heard about this, but an exercise had Marines using the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M1014 shotgun, and M32A2 and M320 grenade launchers to shoot down small drones going over 90 mph and as close as 65 ft operated by experts. Even using ammo specific for drones using 5.56mm ammo that fragments as it flies down range so it functions similar to a shot shell. The words used at the end were, “they developed the basic skillset.” Bet that was an understatement. Doesn’t surprise me… Read more »
“God bless the US Marines” LOL, from your and Elanor Roosevelt’s lips to God’s ears … 🙂 To be fair and accurate, most of my post was about flying experience I’ve had in my life. What it was not about is the passion for flying that Bill has. To me an airplane is just another ride to get where I need to go. Not very often a comfortable or pleasant experience either. Just something to be endured for an end result. Leaning out of the door of what amounts to a paper airplane with a lawnmower engine shooting furbearers I… Read more »