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!
Hello from Dallas TX
Moderator: drseti
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Hello from Dallas TX
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- GrantFlying1.jpg (83.32 KiB) Viewed 28548 times
Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
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.
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.
Stan Cooper (K4DRD)
Private Pilot ASEL LSRI
Experimental AMD CH601XLi-B Zodiac LSA N601KE (KSTS)
Private Pilot ASEL LSRI
Experimental AMD CH601XLi-B Zodiac LSA N601KE (KSTS)
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Welcome aboatd, Grant. Please do keep us informed as your adventure unfolds.
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Welcome to the forum, Grant!
Who's that chump to your left? . . .
Who's that chump to your left? . . .
Bill Ince
LSRI
Retired Heavy Equipment Operator
LSRI
Retired Heavy Equipment Operator
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
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!
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!
- foresterpoole
- Posts: 307
- Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2016 12:28 pm
- Location: Alexandria, LA
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Hi All, thanks for the warm welcome!
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.Scooper wrote:Welcome, Grant. As I'm sure you've concluded from your lurking, there's lots of helpful friendly advice here..
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.drseti wrote:Welcome aboatd, Grant. Please do keep us informed as your adventure unfolds.
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.Wm.Ince wrote:Who's that chump to your left? . . .
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!".ShawnM wrote:... I own a legacy 2007 SportCruiser and love the plane...
Last edited by HornedFrogGrant on Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Welcome to the forum. You have been bitten by the aviation bug so you're done.
Enjoy the ride.
Enjoy the ride.
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Hi everyone, I wanted to post an update. I'll apologize in advance for writing a novel.
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.
I'll follow up with another post, with pics from my journey over the past year.
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.
I'll follow up with another post, with pics from my journey over the past year.
Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
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).HornedFrogGrant wrote: With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th
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
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
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!drseti wrote: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).HornedFrogGrant wrote: With all that said, I'm scheduled for the checkride on January 30th
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
Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
No harm in extended student flying time both solo and dual-instruction. I did the same.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.
I'll follow up with another post, with pics from my journey over the past year.
Welcome and good luck on your checkride!
- Richard
Sport Pilot / Ground Instructor
Previous Owner: 2011 SportCruiser
Sport Pilot / Ground Instructor
Previous Owner: 2011 SportCruiser
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Some of the fleet at In The Pattern (with the Jabiru lined up prominently):
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Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
Heading out for my first solo:
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Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL
- HornedFrogGrant
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 pm
- Location: Grapevine, TX
Re: Hello from Dallas TX
In-flight on my first solo:
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- IMG_8988.jpg (33.69 KiB) Viewed 12691 times
Grant
Sport Pilot - ASEL
Sport Pilot - ASEL