I was visiting with a three time tour of duty F-16 Viper driver the other day and, feeling massively inferior, kinda threw myself under the bus as a pilot — he wasn’t having it. And came back, “Dude, you’re an aviator. I don’t care what you fly — you do what so many others can’t, won’t or only talk about. Be proud of that, you’re in a very special club.”
I like that. And as I return to the Cirrus platform I started thinking about the other Cirrus pilots that, like me, believe it is the single best platform for us to fly. I’d love to see a collection of your favorite photos — including selfies (yeah, we all do it), because a picture really is worth a thousand words.
So let’s see your best pics that tell your story as an aviator.
I like it! Getting aviator respect from an F16 pilot is cool. I will take the compliment by proxy! Thanks for sharing.
I recently got to take two close friends and colleagues to play golf at Erin Hills, next years US Open venue, they loved the ride, not so much the beating they took on the course [:$]
Sir Paul,
Thanks for sharing that sobering observation from a veteran pilot, and for your request for pictures. Here’s one of me preparing to take a close and trusting niece for a short flight in “my” rental SR20…
Lou Outlaw
That’s a great story.
I just took a buddy of mine up last week who flew F-18’s in the Navy. He hasn’t flown much since he got out in the 90’s and it was a real treat for both of us. I of course let him fly most of it and his precision was off the charts better than mine. I was a little embarrassed at the SR20 climb rate when he was trying to do climbing turns.
The climb rate was just slightly slower then the 8000+/fpm rate he was used to. hah
You can virtually always outpace a storm. They move at an average of 25-50 MPH. The fastest storms are at 60 MPH. Your airplane cruises at 2.5 times that rate. So if you and a storm are on a race to get to the same spot; unless you are coming in opposite direction to the storm’s direction, the airplane wins the race every time! Not true of boats!
