ron@hpfcla.UUCP (01/04/86)
Well, since the idea of posting auto-biographies seems to be finding
acceptance here is mine:
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Name: Ron Miller Age: 29
General Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado
Occupation: Hardware Support Engineer , Hewlett-Packard Co.
Ratings: CFI-G (since 1977); Private Pilot,Single Engine Land (since 2/85)
Experience: About 210 hours total. Around 150 hours in gliders.
Why Started Flying: Father is Naval Aviator & wanted to teach me. I wanted
to learn :-)
Chronology:
Started learning to fly and learning to drive at the same time.
Sweat driving the stick shift car to the airport, relax a minute, then
sweat in a Cherokee 140, relax a minute and then drive home. Got about
11 hours that way.
THEN my Dad and I discovered soaring. We found that the two of us could
work for flight credit more easily than we could work for credit in
lightplanes. I worked as line crew- hustling towropes, running wingtips etc.
He worked as towpilot and instructor and taught me to fly gliders.
At 17 I got my Private Glider rating. At 18 I got my Commercial Glider rating
and began taking passengers on introductory rides. At 19 I got my CFI-G and
did teaching and ride-hopping. This was all at Warrenton Soaring Center in
Warrenton Virginia (45 min. west of Wash. D.C.).
One summer between college semesters my Dad and I earned our Silver C badges
by flying single seat ships (me in a 1-26, he in a 1-34) to Orange Va.
We both got all 3 legs (altitude gain, time aloft, and distance traveled) in
the same flight. I didn't think Virginia conditions like that existed. We
actually got up to 7,000 AGL for awhile where the norm in July is about 1500.
At graduation I became the property of Uncle Sam when I was commissioned in
the US Navy. I had orders to US Naval Nuclear Power School and so began a
5 year layoff. (Submariners don't see much land, let alone much PIC time :-)
Following that adventure I moved to Colorado and feel like a kid in a candy
store. I work "normal working hours" and even get every weekend off !
There are so many fun things to do here that even flying has to compete !
I renewed my CFI-G last December in the Grob 109B motorglider and have been
instructing a bit in it. It's a bit on the pricey side and there isn't
a flood of business so I mostly wind up doing the flight test recommendations
for the owner who is also the examiner and cannot recommend his own students.
Last winter I decided that since I was flying the motorglider alright,and it
was a taildragger and I was having no trouble with that so I should get my
Single Engine Land rating, after all, I already KNOW how to fly !
I learned some things by getting that rating. I learned more about radios,
cross-country planning (Downwind is not the ONLY direction on the compass )
and that night flying is really something different.
Most of my flying since getting the SEL rating has still been in gliders
but I find that mixing with the airplane traffic is much easier since I
understand both sides. I have been staying current in Cessna 152 and 182.
I've been debating the merits of the IFR rating but have come to no
conclusions.
OTHER INTERESTS (competing) are:
4 wheel drive camping
metal detecting
gold panning when the opportunity arises
X-C skiing (in winter)
Ham radio
Ron Miller
{ihnp4}hpfcla!ronnotes@ucf-cs.UUCP (01/12/86)
yes if your ifr is rusty (even if it is still legal) you need the time to tranissition into the discipline of flying instruments. So take your time on checklist and take-off and get into the clouds gradually and as close to straight and level as you can. A few minutes (20 say ) will bring back your skills and then you can tackle the more demanding stuff like approaches. .