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Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:05 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
Hi all,

I've been reading the forum for a while now, and decided to step out of the shadows to say Hi.

I live and work in the DFW area, the north Dallas/Richardson, specifically. I've taken a couple discovery flights with US Sport Aircraft out of KADS - Addison Airport, flying the SportCruiser/PiperSport. From where I live and work, you can't beat the location of KADS.

When I was a kid, I had many relatives and friends of the family that were pilots, so I've had a lifelong interest in aviation. Now, at age 35, I feel like I'm in a position to actually act upon it.

I haven't been in any other LSAs to compare it against, but the SportCruiser has been a lot of fun. As you can see, I've had a blast on the discovery flights!

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:16 pm
by Scooper
Welcome, Grant. As I'm sure you've concluded from your lurking, there's lots of helpful friendly advice here.

With ADS nearby and US Sport Aircraft on the field it sounds like you've got the perfect situation to jump in and join the fun.

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:10 pm
by drseti
Welcome aboatd, Grant. Please do keep us informed as your adventure unfolds.

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:25 pm
by Wm.Ince
Welcome to the forum, Grant!
Who's that chump to your left? . . . :mrgreen:

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:46 am
by ShawnM
Welcome Grant, enjoy the adventure.

I own a legacy 2007 SportCruiser and love the plane, now the company, that's another story.

She's a lot of fun to fly. Enjoy!

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:37 pm
by foresterpoole
Welcome!

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:36 am
by HornedFrogGrant
Hi All, thanks for the warm welcome!
Scooper wrote:Welcome, Grant. As I'm sure you've concluded from your lurking, there's lots of helpful friendly advice here..
Absolutely, this website is great, especially for those of us just getting our feet wet. It gives us something against which we can compare our own learning experience and expectations, instead of going in blind.
drseti wrote:Welcome aboatd, Grant. Please do keep us informed as your adventure unfolds.
I've been following your AvSport website for some time now. The instructional materials are helpful; thank you for making such a great resource available. Maybe someday I'll have the pleasure of visiting your flight school facility.
Wm.Ince wrote:Who's that chump to your left? . . . :mrgreen:
Haha, that was the CFI, TIm. He seems like a cool, easy-going guy, but just-in-case, I erred on the side of caution. You know, since some people are touchy about having themselves posted online without explicit consent.
ShawnM wrote:... I own a legacy 2007 SportCruiser and love the plane...
They're definitely sleek and sexy, that's for sure. When I've shown a picture of a SportCruiser to my friends/family that ask, their first impression ass always been "Wow, that looks fast!".

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:55 pm
by Izzy
Welcome to the forum. You have been bitten by the aviation bug so you're done.
Enjoy the ride.

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:23 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
Hi everyone, I wanted to post an update. I'll apologize in advance for writing a novel. :lol:

After the pair of lessons I took in early 2018, life got in the way... Then about a year ago, I made up my mind, and decided to make time to fly. I reached out again to US Sport Aircraft at KADS, and found that they had changed their name to Thrust Flight. And when I went out to visit with them, it seemed like a lot had changed beyond just their name. From what I saw, it looked like they had shifted focus toward airline-path students, and I got the impression that Sport Pilot had become a bit of an afterthought. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, I don't fault them at all, it's their prerogative to run their flight school as they see fit.

So I started looking around at other options, and came across In The Pattern at KDTO. They have a beautiful Jabiru J230-SP in their rental fleet. Originally they were not a flight school so-to-speak, intending to focus primarily on aircraft rentals, with only a few student pilots working with their resident CFIs. While they had no previous experience training a student toward a Sport Pilot certificate, they was very excited for the opportunity.

Over the past year, I've racked up quite a few flight hours, well beyond the Sport Pilot minimums: I'm at 60 hours total time right now. I know what you're thinking... but I assure you that I was NOT being fleeced.

It took me this long for a number of reasons:

#1 - I told my flight instructor, Amanda, that I did NOT want to be trained "just good enough for the checkride", no matter how many hours that entails. While I know she would never let anyone go that isn't ready, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and want to be more-than-ready and then some.

#2 - Flying only on weekends is done only on weekends. Work during the week coupled with bad weather on weekends resulted in a couple 3-4 week stretches of not flying, and the associated skill erosion.

#3 (and probably the biggest reason) - is that I struggled with landing. Despite being an awesome airplane, the Jabiru is particularly slippery, so landings took a while to grasp. My instructor suggested flying their C150 a few times to help me get a better handle on it, and my landings in the Jabiru were considerably better thereafter. After landings "clicked" for me, it wasn't long until I was ready to solo.

#4 and lastly - DPE availability. My instructor's preferred DPE is authorized for Sport Pilot checkrides, but has been booked up for months. I explored using a different DPE, but going with someone known and recommended by the instructor seems like a good idea. So I've racked up many hours in the meantime, some dual-instruction, some solo, to keep my skills sharp until the checkride.

With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th. I hope this doesn't jinx it. 8)

I'll follow up with another post, with pics from my journey over the past year. :mrgreen:

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:46 pm
by drseti
HornedFrogGrant wrote: With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th
I certainly hope that works for you, Frog. In case it doesn't, be advised that I am empowered to give Sport Pilot practical exams anywhere in the country, and am happy to travel (at the applicant's expense, of course).

Whether you choose to fly with me or not, I invite you to study the extensive free material on my Examiner website, which will help you to prepare:

http://SportPilotExaminer.US

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 10:30 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
drseti wrote:
HornedFrogGrant wrote: With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th
I certainly hope that works for you, Frog. In case it doesn't, be advised that I am empowered to give Sport Pilot practical exams anywhere in the country, and am happy to travel (at the applicant's expense, of course).

Whether you choose to fly with me or not, I invite you to study the extensive free material on my Examiner website, which will help you to prepare:

http://SportPilotExaminer.US
Thanks Dr. Shuch. I’ll keep that in mind, but hopefully it isn’t necessary. I’ll definitely take a look at the materials. Many thanks for making it available!

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:26 pm
by designrs
HornedFrogGrant wrote:So I've racked up many hours in the meantime, some dual-instruction, some solo, to keep my skills sharp until the checkride.

With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th. I hope this doesn't jinx it. 8)

I'll follow up with another post, with pics from my journey over the past year. :mrgreen:
No harm in extended student flying time both solo and dual-instruction. I did the same.

Welcome and good luck on your checkride!

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 3:42 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
Some of the fleet at In The Pattern (with the Jabiru lined up prominently):

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 3:48 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
Heading out for my first solo:

Re: Hello from Dallas TX

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 3:49 pm
by HornedFrogGrant
In-flight on my first solo: