K
Kludge
Guest
BillH said:
Not a worry, Bill. I might check in over there someday. Dunno yet.
I'm a used to wuz grounded on a medical while I was working on commercial, multi and instrument simultaniously in a seriously undernourished Piper Apache. Critical engine out missed approach in that beastie was "amusing". I had much, much lots of instrument time under instruction in - hood and actual - but that was while I was waiting for ther FAA to pass my medical waivers and, in some rather odd way, didn't count toward an instrument ticket. Before they yanked my medical I flew tail draggers & trikes, flat & round engines, monoplanes & biplanes, and some off-the-books time in a variety of things up to and including a KC-135. Now I can't afford to even consider the merest thought of flying again. Well, not the real ones.
And you're not the only person I've heard say "Screw ATC" and move on to more rewarding careers.
When I moved to Pittsburgh, I was surrounded by steam - railroads, rivers, donkey engines ... everything. And, like every right thinking male (and a few females), I fell in love immediately. I was also surrounded by old oil wells powered by a wide variety of engines that made nights delightful to listen to. I knew where most of the wells were so could identify each one by sound. (Kids today have absolutely no clue what they're missing.)
The reason I said "real ones" is because I've been planning out a fun project, a 101" wingspan B-25 using Nick Zirolli's plans. (I may opt for the larger 118" plane instead.) I'm redesigning it as a civilian camera ship with one each still and video camera in the bomb bay in a turret that can rotate 45o to each side of the flight path. It requires a bunch of radio to fly but it also has feedback sensors to monitor pretty much anything I want to monitor and autopilots that can fly under GPS control. (Off the shelf, folks - both the monitors and the autopilot - and not all the expensive.)
Since I'm not up for juggling two 8-channel radios and an assortment of other goodies, the plan is to create a glass cockpit to handle the outputs from the feedback equipment & autopilots plus cameras in the cockpit & bombardier's nose with a control group set up to match a B-25 including a quadrant less prop pitch controls. (Fixed pitch props.) The end result will be kind of like what you're doing for Flight Simulator but with a model airplane at the other end.
The odds favor my never completing this project though I will build parts of it for testing. I can't afford it and I need some R/C "stick time" to bring me back up to speed ... electric and preferably twin. That I can do (I hope) which should allow me to test a few other bits, including flying with a cockpit view camera.
Okay, before anyone wonders why this is relevent, some of the bits will have to be machined, some in metal and some in plastics, including a few experiments with the engines which were covered in another thread. (Memo to me: thrust and torque indicating mount.)
As far as the therapy goes, you're not alone. More than just us are the same way. As to airplanes, I can't fly the real ones anymore but models would be a pleasant substitute. Hmmm ... I wonder if restricted airspace includes models. ;D
Nice to meet you as well, Bill. And, as I said, welcome to the asylum.
BEst regards,
Kludge
