Fantasy Air Allegro 2000F:: My first Cross Country

The day has come. I'm sitting here in a hotel room in Sansford, North Carolina. I had the chance to fly a very neat aircraft that most of you have never heard of (yeah, even you Mike).

Fantasy Air is a Czech Republic built LSA (light sport aircraft). When I think of flight sport I think of a little wanna-be aircraft that can go about 60 KIAS. I was wrong. This sucker can cruise at about 115 KIAS. The cabin width is wider than a 172, and even better, My uncle bought the first one in the US that's amphibious!

The ampib adds alot of drag, cruise is only about 80 KIAS.

I went up with one of Fantasy Air USA's instructors. My uncle was building his 10 horus for insurance, so Ed let me take a wheeled version up. The controls feel a bit different, the control stick is in the middle, with a bicycle like break on the handle. Rudder effectivness is VERY strong, more than likley do to the composite like feuselage that lets all the prop wash hit the veftical stabilizer.

Anyways, I flew the thing fine, I think Ed was impressed, even though my landing wasn't my best (that sucker is alto different than a C172!)

I'll have more on my journey later.

Ross

Things are going great!

I've been so busy with flying and getting done with school, along with the other average things in life, that I haven't had a chance to update by Blog each flight...sorry, I know it's a real pitty for yall. Because I'm about 4 flights behind, I'll catch up in one blog. I'll also do it in a Chris Berman "Two Minute Drill" fashon

Let's see here....Stalls went great. I felt like I really got the hang of them. Next flight. my Brother, Blake, came along with me. He had a blast while I did some IFR hood work and show a couple landings. The next flight we did Ground Refecne Manuvers...they were FUN! Shot a great landing to close the day with a smile....Flight Training couldn't be better as of now.

I'm happy to say that life as a whole is about the same way. Tomorrow is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! And Friday (along with another flight) I'll be heading down to the lake for some relaxing time with the Humphreys family....should be a blast.

I also now have sitting in my E-mail box a plane ticket for Orlando, FL. As well as Raleigh Durham. Why? Because I'm going with my Unlce to pick up his new Fantasy Air Allegro 2000F. I'll have to details on this when I'm not quite as tired!

Talk to you guys next week when I get back from the lake.

RF

Flight Log: 13 May and 16 May 06

My last two flights were great. Good weather, nice and easy stuff....but I'm still learning a ton! I'm really working on getting the real feel of the aircraft. I also made my first landing on the 16th!

My next flight is on the 18th, time for stalls!

TOTAL PERSONAL FLIGHT TIME: 3.2 HOURS

On a side note, I went up with my uncle Kirk in his Bonanza V35B. We headed over to El Reno (yes...the tornado damage was still there, I saw a busted up Siminole) and did some T&G's and headed back for PWA. What a great spur of the moment flight for me to relax while up in the air instead of worrying about flying the aircraft. Not to mention it was in a real classic! I also saw my instructor holding short for us to land. I waved....but he didn't see me...;-)

Have I mentioned how fun this is?!? I'll get a personal update on my life here pretty soon....life is busy!

-Ross

Flight Log: Flight 1: 9 May 06

The day finally came. Tuesday, May 9th. School was normal, besides me wondering about wether the weather would hold me back yet another time, or let me fly. It let me fly.

4:45 was all of the sudden on the clock, the lesson was scheduled for 5:00....time to grab my flight bag and go. I hopped in my truck, cranked the iPod for some pump-up music, and headed north-west for PWA. I pulled in to the old Commander Aircraft Company parking lot, checked the sky one more time, and hopped out.

My instructor, Rob, led me into a classroom where we took care of minor paperwork and such, and then breifed ourselves for the flight. We would pre-flight together, and then follow a rather normal procedure to the west. I would then do some turns and climbs, basically to familiarize myself with aircraft.

We did our thing and took a pretty long pre-flight inspection, Covering all the bases before hopping into the aircraft and starting her up. Man! What an amazing feeling to be in the left seat of an aircraft! We did our pre-taxi checklist, called for taxi, and proceeded to runway 35R (long taxi from the Oklahoma Aviation ramp!)

After our run-up, Rob called for take-off. I taxiied us out and lined us up. Rob reminded me of what a normal takeoff consisted of and followed with a "just tell me whenever you're ready". I was more than ready by that point, Rob told me to throttle up and go for it, and I did!

Once airborn I had a very wierd feeling. It was almost like it wasn't really happening. I would look at my instrument panel and things would be just like The Sim, but when I looked to the side and down it was a very eerie feeling, that's when it hit me. I'm actually in control of an airplane!

There was almost no horizon, which was a little different considering I knew I would have to break myself from fixating on the instruments. Instead, on this flight I needed a little bit more reference from the instruments, though it was obviously not IMC. I found this not as a nuesance but almost as a nice little comfort blanket, saying that I don't have to really break myself up to accomplish anything in this aircraft, but rather just feel what you want to do and be in control of it. I could sit here all night trying to explain what I'm trying to say, but I wont!

Overall it was a great flight! One rather large cut on my hand from the baggage door was the only injury, and I'm starting to really get the feel of the aircraft. My next flight is Saturday, and we'll be covering just about the same stuff, Which is really great. I really need to get the feel of flying an airplane. I can't do that by reading a book, I have to actually fly the airplane....It will come with time and practice.

Whew!

Whew! Am I finally sitting down? These past few weeks have been nuts, and I'm ready for school to get out. Only 13 more days!!!!

Let's start with the bad news in my life- Last Tuesday, we put my precious dog, Mack, down due to health problems. He was an 11 year old Yellow Lab that I will miss very much. He was a great dog and you can't ask for more than that. At least he went fast.

The good news- I just saved a bunch of money of my car insurance by switching to GEICO! Just kidding! I still do have great news though. Last Tuesday I went to my flight school and picked up my CBI kit, as well as met my instructor. I also met a very important piece of equiptment that will be with me through my training. It's name is N9710A.




10A is a 2006 Cessna 172SP Skyhawk NAV III. Yes, that means is Garmin G1000 equippted. I can't wait to start training on this aircraft, and feel pretty lucky that I get to do it on this aircraft. My first flight was scheduled for last Friday, but due to those horrible clouds, we cancelled. My first flight is now Tomorrow, Tuesday the 9th, at 1700 Local. Let's just say school tomorrow might seem to string out a bit while I sit there and dream about getting to meet 10A again!

What's going on.....

What all is on my plate, real world and sim world? Well....since you asked!

-VERTatc- My ATC program for VERTva is picking back up and getting some help from fellow VERT members, You won't want to miss some of the next activities that VERT is putting on. They're gunna be great!

-Video Production- I just put out my HC412 video, as you may know. It's had over 300 hits in one week over at Hovercontrol in the video section. I consider this a pretty cool deal to get that many hits on a video....I'm pretty proud and it makes me want to keep making them...Ironically the soundtrack for my next video just came on my iPod! It will be featuring Eaglesoft's Cirrus SR20. I'm trying to think of some good shots to get on this video, but I really just want to capture the full amount of features that this aircraft has to offer.

I'm also maybe looking into expanding my little "Senior Last Summer Video Productions" to something bigger, with a couple of team members and a full web-site, some parters with payware companies, things like that. If I got financial backing for it it might kick off, but until I get financial backing (Yea right) then it will just be me and wherever I can upload it!

On the more real world side of things...though still sim related. My next computer will be an iMac G5! Apple released Bootcamp, a program that allows an intel based Mac to run Windows (no, it's not a emulator...it's actually two partitions with two operating systems). I wanted to make sure FS would run well on it before I considered it. Thankfully, I ran across a picture of someone with FS running on an iMac! With 85FPS in Seattle! I'll take two please!!!

I love Mac's (I know....don't hit me please!) everyone in my family has one besides me! And I feel left out!! hehe! They really are great machines, easy to work with, has great performance, less hassle, looks badass!....did I mention it will run Flight Simulator?

Flight Training should start up pretty soon now, just a couple more weeks! May is going to be a great month for me, I actually might be going to South Carolina with my uncle and pick up his new Czeck Republic built Fantasy Air Allegro
that looks much like this (yes...floats!) This isn't a for sure thing yet, I might be too busy with school, but if all goes well I'll be flying it back....maybe.

That's all for now! Be looking for my new video soon.

What more can I say?