The International Cessna^® 170 Association

It's been quite a journey - and it still is.
But even after all these years, it’s still a mystery to me: how did I get into flying?
How did I get there, for example:


Well, no matter how, I don’t regret a single minute of it.

https://youtu.be/nvvfu4oAlug

Fantastic! (I still love that pitot tube installation)

Round tail – straight tail, this topic often sparks a lively discussion between Cessna tailwheel pilots.



When I stopped in Escalante, UT, on my trip out west, those two tails were nothing more than a visual backdrop for a nice conversation and a reminder that I’ve sometimes used them as a metaphor for parallel worlds (or lives I could have imagined living…)

That’s one very pretty aircraft . Looks a million dollars .

From silent to powered flight.

I came to gliding by chance and to powered flight by an irresistible offer.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was and still is a mystery to me why and how I caught the aviation bug.
There I also told the story of why and how I became a glider pilot. At the time, getting a PPL for powered aircraft was completely out of my reach financially.


But when I moved to the US for a post-doc position, the universe must have decided it was time for me to take the next step in flying.

https://youtu.be/9nxkdLgg49Q

As expensive as Flying is…. I believe the U.S. is the Least-Expensive place in the World to Learn or Enjoy Flying. There are reasons flying-schools here have such high levels of foreign student enrollments.

Beside the monetary costs, and despite common perceptions, the U.S. has some of the least intrusive and least regulated airspace among developed countries.

We just need to Keep it that way.

GAHorn wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 1:35 pm ... despite common perceptions, the U.S. has some of the least intrusive and least regulated airspace among developed countries.

We just need to Keep it that way.

From my limited experience, I can only agree - and will add that the U.S. also has an unsurpassed infrastructure for my kind of flying adventures.

Flying gliders or airplanes involves different mental states.



Is it the same whether you land a glider or an airplane with the engine off?

Not really.
Because not having a throttle is not the only thing that distinguishes flying a glider from flying an airplane.

And it's not just the landings that are different.

https://youtu.be/ahqELAjFABI

When work and passion came together.


It took some time until a Skywagon appeared in my life.
And when it did it was during one of those rare moments when work and passion come together: during a sabbatical at NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, where we studied how thunderstorm clouds became lightning generators (using an instrumented glider towed up by the mighty C185).



For him, it was a gigantic adrenaline rush in the service of science when he flew the Explorer into those towering cumulus clouds. (see also the IMAX movie “Stormchasers”).

The power of dreams



Dreams can be persistent and powerful.
Some never give up when it comes to addressing an issue.

Take my boyhood dream, for example. It lay dormant for more than fifty years, and when it finally resurfaced, it still had enough power to propel me into action.


https://youtu.be/CWHuolhiaww

LOOK at all that HAIR!

When I started to take my dream seriously



And then came the moment when I convinced myself that there was actually a chance of realizing my dream - which meant convincing myself to sacrifice a little nest egg - and I gave myself permission to do something about it and jumped on the internet to search for a used Cessna 170.


https://youtu.be/0opt5Teg_mo

How I found my 170


“It seems like everyone wants a 170″ I was told, and ” the nice ones are snatched up very quickly”.

This made my search much more complicated. After all, I didn't live in the USA and I didn't live in a "suitable" time zone. So I had to find one before it officially came onto the market , and I used every avenue available to me to do so.

And in the end I lucked out.


https://youtu.be/OmQXQRKtc6A

Your videos are great! Thanks for posting. Is that atmospheric research glider a Blanik?

voorheesh wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 2:19 pm Your videos are great! Thanks for posting. Is that atmospheric research glider a Blanik?

Thanks.
The research glider is a Schweitzer 2-32 - a model mostly used to give rides as it can accomodate two passengers (provided the like being close together...LOL)