Location: Hamilton (Cincinnati), Ohio, USA ID: KHAO
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Rick, I have NO problems believing that at all. You would think you would know that you were inverted, but trust me, or any other pilot that has done some major instrument flying, especially in nasty weather where you get knocked around a lot, you don't always know.
Especially if you shave your head like me, or are follically challenged, also like me, you may not have your hair as a reference point.
We had the opportunity in flight school to do quite a bit of acrobatic flying. If you ever ever get a chance, and especially if you are a pilot, you MUST do this... It is the GREATEST learning that you could ever imagine. Because you can get into all the funky "never will happen" attitudes and learn what to do to fix the situation without being smeared into the landscape. You get to learn how things 'feel' and practice understanding them. It had to be the most FUN added cost to my education and also in my oppinion, the absolute BEST added cost to my education.
re:reflections; I've seen some pretty weird things happen when it comes to optics, especially reflections. They are usually, as Spectropro said, just a flash, but certain atmospheric conditions can cause a longer term effect. One refraction illusion in the flash catagory is just as the sun is setting over the ocean, you will sometimes see a very bright green flash that will have you swearing that the sun just blew up. I saw an explanation to this years ago, but I wasn't educated enough at the time to understand the phenomen and associated physics.
re:aerobatics. The best money you can spend if you ever have any inclination to go pro as a pilot. It will help make you a more precise pilot as well as force you to start believing your instruments. It is a real blast too.
Have you ever jumped from a plane? I have 141 jumps from 14,000 ft, and 1 from 31,000 and 1 from 33,000. Soon as I get 3 of my vertabrae fused together, I'm looking to return to Somerville, Tennessee for another HALO jump. I'm always looking for someone to go with me, (for some reason my wife thinks it is insane to jump out of a perfectly good airplane) Be warned. It is EXPENSIVE!! The ground school training and 1 jump is $3500.00 + airfare, hotels..... This is the biggest reason I only have 2 under my belt. There is NOTHING like it in this world!
Location: Hamilton (Cincinnati), Ohio, USA ID: KHAO
Age: 41
Gender: Male
That's a bit expensive for a jump. Can't justify that, however, I bet that is a blast. I will have my 50th jump this summer, and hopefully get my 75th as well. My older sister has close to 200. She got me hooked. Maybe if I win the lottery someday, I'll hook up a few of those jumps... but until then, with a wife and 5 kids, that aint happenin.
Feel free to shoot a video and share it with us!!!!
5 kids!!!! Don't you ever watch TV. I'm really impressed with your sister. 200 jumps is a lot. I thought I was doing pretty good at 143, but your sister puts me to shame. I agree that it is a little on the expensive side, (It usually runs me about $3,900-$4,000 for the jump, airfare,hotels, food...) but since you know what it is like leaving a plane @ 14,000 ft., the extra 17,000+ ft. you add onto a HALO jump is as different as night and day. First off when you exit the plane, it's around -20 degrees below zero. Plus there isn't a whole lot of oxygen up there, (you breathe pure oxygen before and during the flight up to jump level, and the BEST part is you get to freefall for 2 minutes! Some guy in 1960 jumped from 102,800 ft. and lived to tell about it. Now there is a woman named Cheryl Stearns that is going to jump from the top of the stratosphere (only 130,000 ft.!) Those 2 certainly make me look like a girlie-man You and your sister should really, really try a HALO before you go to the Great Airport in the sky. You can check it out at www.incredibleadventures.com
Location: Virginia Beach, Virgina USA (KNTU, KORF)
Age: 41
Gender: Male
For those prices I guess I should thank Uncle Sam for allowing me to do it for free all these years.
Free jumps, free airfare courtesy of the U.S. Air Force (C130, C141, C17), free lodging (a sleeping bag and poncho in the woods), and free food (MRE's).
I have a little problem. I'm more than sure that Uncle Sam doesn't let 45 year old guys join the paratroopers! I didn't even make my first jump until I was 39. Any chance you could put in a good word for me and see if I could be accepted in that elite corp? Free jumps..........Gotta love it!
very good discussion here.
I want to share something as well.
I used to fly all kinds of different planes, that did nothing good to my skills.
Now i try to stick with one aircraft and practise this one over and over again.
Put yourself in a flying position 40 miles or so from an airport, save the game and start practising those landings.
It can be a handful though. Lots of things to consider, airspeed, altitude, heading.
At first all i could do is keep the heading good, but i didnt pay good attention to my speed or altitude.
In time you will learn to do all these things simultaneously.
But as mentioned by other people, steady does it. No hardbanking, gentle on the throttle.
I think I'll go with flyrcoyle's second possibility, you're upside down.
I'm gonna fire up FS right now and try that. I might have to slew it to get it upside down or at least get it to a high altitude and go crazy with the trim...
I find it so interesting how some planes are so much different to land than others. I got used to landing bigger airliners as well as Cessnas and smaller aircraft quite nicely (You know, so your passengers barely feel the bump) and then I tried to do everything right all at once when landing that BIG Antonov 225-A. Flaps are good, airspeed's good, gear's down, glide slope's reasonable....but she's funny to line up, you think it's just right, then you're overcorrecting, compensating, over compensating, forgot about that throttle.....oh Man that's a lot of metal, fuel and cargo to drop onto that little neighbourhood just before the runway!
I've never thought about that, being inverted in a fog and trying to land. I guess flying in a plane really does something to your sences, no wonder they have all those instruments.
WOW,,After reading all this,,, I think I'll go practice some of these techniques,,,,,,,, on,,,,, my MOTORCYCLE,,,,,,, Evil Knivel did it,,, so can I !!!!!
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I'm really impressed with your sister. 200 jumps is a lot. I thought I was doing pretty good at 143, but your sister puts me to shame. I agree that it is a little on the expensive side, (It usually runs me about $3,900-$4,000 for the jump, airfare,hotels, food...) but since you know what it is like leaving a plane @ 14,000 ft., the extra 17,000+ ft. you add onto a HALO jump is as different as night and day. First off when you exit the plane, it's around -20 degrees below zero. Plus there isn't a whole lot of oxygen up there, (you breathe pure oxygen before and during the flight up to jump level, and the BEST part is you get to freefall for 2 minutes! Some guy in 1960 jumped from 102,800 ft. and lived to tell about it. Now there is a woman named Cheryl Stearns that is going to jump from the top of the stratosphere (only 130,000 ft.!) Those 2 certainly make me look like a girlie-man 
You and your sister should really, really try a HALO before you go to the Great Airport in the sky. You can check it out at 
