Fly July Challenge

rwellner98

rwellner98

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
1,259
Display Name
Display name:
rw2
I decided to challenge myself to fly every single day in July. A friend raised the stakes, a lot, by challenging me to vlog it. Here is the play list for the challenge...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy-XJwLhyKqQb-d7ewF4dPh8Mr6SWvswh

I have two major obstacles to success.

1) I have to go into the shop later this week. Which might leave a day or two in which I don't have a plane to fly myself. So I will need to recruit someone to take me flying.

2) I will be at Oshkosh, probably for the entire week, and doing quick flights there is a major hassle. So I'll have to find creative ways to try and fly. I've done the Bell and Tri-Motor rides. They are options again, if needed. A friend flew me around at the ultralight field last year. I'm sure I could fill at least one day that way. But even if I do all three of those, that still leaves half a week to fill. And I'd rather make new adventures than repeat old ones. Anyone have other ideas?
 
steingar said:
I've barely flown this month. Too damn many storms.
Click to expand...

So far, I've been extremely lucky. We've gotten a lot of rain, of course, but there have always been multi-hour windows in which to do some flying.
 
I am going to challenge myself to fly some time between now and the middle of August. :). But, I am purd near done fabricating my second replacement fuel tank - if I can find time to TIG weld it, then I can put it in before the end of the month, get the condition inspection (What kind of idiot lets the annual slip into July or August?) and be good to go.
 
You guys could modify your challenge to make it a bit more flexible. For example, you could make it fly X hours and visit Y number of airports besides your home base. Harley Davidson has a similar monthly ride challenge, except it's miles and dealer visits.
 
rwellner98 said:
2) I will be at Oshkosh, probably for the entire week, and doing quick flights there is a major hassle. So I'll have to find creative ways to try and fly. I've done the Bell and Tri-Motor rides. They are options again, if needed. A friend flew me around at the ultralight field last year. I'm sure I could fill at least one day that way. But even if I do all three of those, that still leaves half a week to fill. And I'd rather make new adventures than repeat old ones. Anyone have other ideas?
Click to expand...

Do a demo flight in a Velocity.
 
EdFred said:
I don't have enough spare time or $$ to fly every day of the month.
Click to expand...

Yeah, during the summer my plane is parked outside my house, so there is no time penalty. Very easy to do a 15 minute flight, like I did today to test the stall speed while empty.

And 15 minute flights don't cost much either!
 
Yea I’ve been down all month from what was supposed to be a few night undertaking, foolishly optimistic estimating on my part.

Removed all the interior upholstery (20lbs) and am simply painting the interior and replacing skylights. But anxious to fire her up again! Too many good pancakes not getting eaten by me at all the fly ins!
 
It's too hot, page me again in September; currently 97 with a "feels like" of 112...yuck.
 
Just be careful you do end it on July 31st and don't try to keep going to see how many days you can keep flying for.

I read an article in one of the flying mags where a guy had started out doing basically what you're doing, then got on a roll and kept going, ending up flying every day for over a year, if I remember. He just couldn't stop adding to his record. Even if it was bad weather, he'd find a decent window and just get in a lap around the pattern if he had to.

Now, he was upbeat about it, but when I was reading it, I thought "wow, what a way to turn the fun of flying into pure drudgery, forcing yourself to fly when you may not really want to, just to keep the streak alive." And the longer you go, the harder it is to stop.
 
RussR said:
Now, he was upbeat about it, but when I was reading it, I thought "wow, what a way to turn the fun of flying into pure drudgery, forcing yourself to fly when you may not really want to, just to keep the streak alive." And the longer you go, the harder it is to stop.
Click to expand...
I found the same to be true of drinking. No end in sight, though. :)
 
Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) said:
@Huckster79 by removing the interior will the noise go way up? Or that doesn’t matter with ANC headsets?
Click to expand...

We will see, I’ll let you know. I’ve heard it’s not as great as ppl think (been told same thing with being cold) I’m a cheapskate so fly with off brand passives... if it gets real noisy I’ll get ANR. If it’s chilly I’ll grab long Johns In winter...

But on a 2 place underpowered bird I figured every pound counts. Mine is kinda heavy but I’ve dropped about 50lbs off her and working on more... horse hair seat cushions (circa 1947) going next... then gunna work on helium filled bladders in the wing ;)
 
rwellner98 said:
Got a hookup for that? That would be great!
Click to expand...

It's small text and hard to find, but they list it as an option on their contact page. You have to schedule it ahead of time, but just give them a call (772.589.1860): http://www.velocityaircraft.com/contact.html

I've done it 2 or 3 times and had a blast. They also let other passengers join, so take a friend (or 2) along for the ride. I think it was an XLRG last time I did it.

I believe some of the other homebuilt manufacturers also do demo flights at Oshkosh, but I've only done the one with Velocity.
 
tsts4 said:
You guys could modify your challenge to make it a bit more flexible. For example, you could make it fly X hours and visit Y number of airports besides your home base. Harley Davidson has a similar monthly ride challenge, except it's miles and dealer visits.
Click to expand...

Dealer visits? Are Harleys that unreliable?
 
EdFred said:
Well, when you aren't flying it, the engine noise is pretty minimal. ;)
Click to expand...

Yup she’s real quiet lately:( almost done w first coat of gray. Quick coat tomorrow and put her back together... want to do one light coat in the daylight to see missed spots better...it’s looking good... I’ll do a thread on it when done...
 
My July challenge is to complete my PPL checkride!
 
RussR said:
Just be careful you do end it on July 31st and don't try to keep going to see how many days you can keep flying for.
Click to expand...

Yeah, could be! I will have some breaks, for sure, but it's tempting to keep going...

Here's today's episode...

 
After a few flights that weren't notable enough to make a video, we return with a fun one where we flour bomb with a gopro...

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top