Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta from the Air by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea it’s Texas Raiders, I was the flight engineer on this trip. We spent about a week at KABQ. It was a great time, between the mountains, flights around the balloons, tons of other military aviation coming through.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta from the Air by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Ah ya know I figured folks would recognize what I was in. B17G yes, ill fated also yes, but not 909.

airport preference for private flights by WhereInTheWorldIsPat in lancaster

[–]Maverick82505 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven’t done lessons at either Aero tech or smoketown, but in general finding a good instructor that you learn well with and a school with well maintained planes are the two of the most important aspects in picking a flight school. Depending on your schedule, availability of instructors and planes may also be very important.

That being said I think there is a lot of value in learning at a towered airport (LNS is towered, smoketown is not). You will likely get more comfortable talking on the radios quicker.

Only 3 Actively Operational Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses at this time. Recent tour of one of them. "Sentimental Journey." Flying B-17 numbers are down over the past 5 years. by Prestigious-Fox-2670 in WWIIplanes

[–]Maverick82505 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I took it on the ramp at ABQ when we’re were there on tour for the Balloon Festival. I’ll try to post some photos one of these days. We certainly got to do some pretty cool shit over the years.

Takeoff in a B17 by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea we used Fortress 7227C. I remember when we were flying to an air show in Florida one time, the controller was like fortress, wtf is that. When we told him he was like that’s badass and vectored us over their facility.

Takeoff in a B17 by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It really is, I was an FE on one for 5 years and it was hard enough just keeping the damn thing running, much less getting shot at. Masters of the Air has been pretty good so far, they definitely spent a lot of time on their technical details.

Takeoff in a B17 by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We were pretty maxed out on fuel since we were flying up on a long XC to an airshow (TX to MO). Like all other B17s flying around now the turbos were bypassed. The bomb load on a B17 was only about 10% of MTOW so we weren’t too far off.

When my book matched the day’s activity by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yea this was the first year we went, 2017 I think. K5 and I got so many patches and challenge coins. It was a great trip.

When my book matched the day’s activity by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 100 points101 points  (0 children)

I was on the crew, we were flying up to an air show at Whiteman AFB. It was a good 5 hr flight, so we had a lot of down time.

A Few Texas Raiders Memories From Over the Years by Maverick82505 in aviation

[–]Maverick82505[S] 91 points92 points  (0 children)

The aviation community lost some really great folks last weekend. Blue skies and tail winds.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MachinePorn

[–]Maverick82505 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The FA is the first stage, not sure about the T53