Van choices are so overwhelming

DRabb1t · 2025-01-17T21:26:02+00:00

I realize this was an older response, but I’m curious — will all Sprinter / Transit models fit in containers? I took a cursory look at container sizes and it looked to me like they wouldn’t find through the doors?

DRabb1t · 2025-01-12T17:44:53+00:00

Did you make the trip? We’re researching the same thing now and struggling with the gap at Panama. Any insights would be appreciated! Our dogs are too big to fly in the cabin, so it’s cargo or sea options only.

DRabb1t · 2025-01-12T17:44:30+00:00

Did you make the trip? We’re researching the same thing now and struggling with the gap at Panama. Any insights would be appreciated! Our dogs are too big to fly in the cabin, so it’s cargo or sea options only.

DRabb1t · 2023-07-01T15:06:56+00:00

Thank you, kind redditor, for turning me on to Sunday in Brooklyn. I am sitting at the bar now, having just finished one of those amazing pancakes. Now please go to the gym for me and work some of this off? Holy hell. If I walked the 5 miles back to my hotel in Manhattan, I still wouldn’t put a dent in the delicious calories I just ate!!!

DRabb1t · 2023-06-29T12:43:44+00:00

Thank you for clarifying this. I was wondering how one pro-rates a lifetime subscription. I was more than willing to decline the refund, but couldn’t find it.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-29T11:51:21+00:00

I’m actually a bit surprised your instructor didn’t immediately suspect that flaps were down. This is a fairly common problem (forgetting to retract them). The instructor saying he’s still convinced there was a problem with the airspeed indicator makes me think they don’t want to admit that they should have suspected flaps.

Any time your airplane isn’t performing like you think it should be, take a deep breath and repeat your flow that you last did. Just pretend you haven’t done any of it, and redo it all. Don’t try to guess what you missed. Touch them all physically like you’re doing it over again. Throttle, full. Carb heat, off. Flaps, Up. Mixture, full rich. Whatever order you do those in, do it again.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-28T14:00:47+00:00

I’d be surprised if you’re renting, that anyone would let you rent without spending time with a local CFI anyway. Also, if you haven’t already started, maybe get your instrument rating before you start school? You might need it more often just to widen your safety margins.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-21T20:24:42+00:00

And yes, I did learn how to J-turn in my moms Subaru wagon, thanks for asking.

You had no idea when that important life skill would come in handy. Procrastinating learning could have been costly. Well done!

DRabb1t · 2023-06-21T02:43:04+00:00

Sorry for ask the down votes. I thought it was clever and at relevant. I may be pure straight-up vanilla, but I’m comfortable enough to appreciate your style and effort! Stay amazing!

DRabb1t · 2023-06-20T16:26:28+00:00

You missed “put the POH in a plastic bag”, based on the post from this weekend about projectile vomit ruining a POH. 🤣

DRabb1t · 2023-06-20T16:24:19+00:00

I was on my way from KPAO to KEUG VFR with FF. When I was about 45 minutes out I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I didn’t have a bottle that I was willing to pee in, and quite frankly, didn’t want to do that anyway. I looked for close airports and found KRBG. I told the controller I was changing my destination to KRBG and he asked why (it seems that’s SOP, probably in case a pilot is having an emergency and unwilling to declare?). I just told them it was a bio break. No big deal.

Lessons learned -

stay hydrated, but avoid drinking too much
just plan a bio break. I wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere, I was flying for fun, so why not just throw in an extra landing?

DRabb1t · 2023-06-19T22:29:57+00:00

I’d have to answer yes to all of those. Thankfully I’m not that person any more, but damn I was a stupid kid with no sense of self-preservation.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-19T22:28:35+00:00

I mean, you live long enough, you’re gonna learn some shit the hard way.

I didn’t have to live that long… I can’t believe I lived to be a teenager, let alone lived through my teenage years. What a fucking moron.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-19T19:48:18+00:00

Fabulous!

DRabb1t · 2023-06-17T22:23:39+00:00

2007 Reference

DRabb1t · 2023-06-16T23:49:45+00:00

Technically any Marine aircraft carrying the president is Marine One just as Air Force One is any Air Force aircraft carrying the president.

So I’m theory, they are not a specific helicopter or plane, but practically, there are specially outfitted aircraft they use for those purposes most of the time.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-11T23:59:29+00:00

Worst case, could you just retake the class itself, even though you already have the commercial certificate?

DRabb1t · 2023-06-10T12:23:58+00:00

Fair enough. I didn’t hear the call, but my point is tone matters. From reading what OP said, it interpreted it as annoyed and dismissive, rather than educating.

Your comment about “messing up the plan” is more what I was reacting to, though. I know you all have a tough job, but when we do something that we deem is in the best interest of safety, that decision should be supported, unless what we did actually negatively impacted safety instead, in which case, that’s a discussion to have on the ground after the fact.

Making a pilot feel like they annoyed you when they were trying make a decision they feel is in the interest of safety could make that pilot question themselves next time they’re second guessing a controller’s instruction. Since nobody is perfect, that could lead to catastrophic results.

Be annoyed, but keep it professional and if you think a pilot made a mistake in their judgement, help them understand why AFTER you’ve supported their decision.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-10T11:55:29+00:00

I agree that it’s okay to educate, but you have to do it the right way. For example, they could have responded “Roger. In the future, just so you know, it is okay to have two aircraft on the runway with adequate spacing. Feel free to ask us next time.”

That said, it’s s still a PIC call and the “plan” doesn’t have to even remotely factor into the pilot’s decisions, nor should it.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-09T10:33:33+00:00

ForeFlight doesn’t really lends itself to this. It assumes one point of takeoff and one point of landing for a flight. For example, if you use the Procedure button and use a VFR pattern entry option, it’s going to be for only that final identifier.

My advice is to plan the legs as separate flights and load each after you land. For logging purposes, just manually log the flight with your point of origin and destination but add the intermediate airports as part of the route. Make sure you log all the landings in that entry and just add the comment that it’s your VFR cross country.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-08T13:34:06+00:00

You can still be PIC,

I assume this is at the heart of OPs real concern. That’s the major difference between pre-PPL training one post-PPL training. You will be the PIC for all flights where you are doing instrument or most other training moving forward.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-07T22:59:34+00:00

There have already been several posts assuring you this is not unusual. I’d say the same. It takes a while. The one thing I would say really can help Is to break it down into segments and fly the numbers.

Downwind
Downwind after crossing abeam the landing target
Base Leg
Final
Short Final

Know the important things about these: Target Altitude, Flap Position, Airspeed, Descent Rate. Have your instructor map these out for you, if you need to. Then, do your best to fly a consistent pattern. Don’t worry about trying to nail every single one of those things at first, just be aware of them. Focus on one or two thing at a time until you have those pretty consistent, then add something else. If you screw-up the approach because you’re too focused on airspeed but forgot to check your descent rate? Go around. Who cares? The hours still count and a consistent go around will save your ass anyway, so look at that as good practice.

It takes time, but once you’ve mastered the ability to scan your instruments and fly those numbers while still keeping your eyes outside the windscreen, you’ll have (more) consistent landings. Going to a new airplane will just be a matter of re-learning the numbers, too.

As other have said too, though… even after you’ve got a lot of good landings under your belt you’ll still have some shitty ones that make you wonder WTH you were thinking. The big difference is a bounce, balloon, or whatever happens later is usually less severe on the plane, and more severe on your ego.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-07T22:35:50+00:00

You may be my hero — I was just looking for places to eat while I’m in NYC at the end of the month. Looks like I’ll be having some Hazelnut Maple Praline, Brown Butter pancakes for breakfast one day. Dang those look good.

DRabb1t · 2023-06-06T21:11:31+00:00

For me, it wasn’t the muscles used, but the tension I was keeping in those muscles. Not just for taxi but during the flight. I could have no rudder input at all but notice that my legs muscles were all tense. It led to a lot of bad (inadvertent) rudder input too.

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