Dylan's Flying Page

Dylan's Flying Experiences

   Welcome to my aviation site! If you've got any aviation links you'd like me to add, then please let me know (mail me at dyls@alioth.net and I'll do my best to add it. Scroll down this page for my experiences with different GA aircraft, further for my pilot journals and links to other journals, and some more for links of interest to all who enjoy aviation.

I've just moved back across the Atlantic from the US, so in due course, there'll be some photos/writeups of flying here. I'm currently doing all my flying out of Manx Flyers based at Ronaldsway, Isle of Man.

What's New? This page was last updated on the 28th May, 2002.

-- General Aviation Aircraft --

   This section covers aircraft that I've been privileged to fly, and checkout journals of aircraft that have required a signoff (taildraggers, complex and high performance). It is my opinions on how these aircraft are to fly, and what I like about them. Aircraft will be added as I get to fly them. Click on the aircraft you're interested in, and you'll see what I found when I flew them.


Cessna 140

At last, I'm in an airplane partnership!
Here's my 1946 Cessna 140.

Beech Bonanza

Hurtling along in
the Bonanza. A fast,
high performance machine.

Cessna 150

Why fly a C150...
Aren't they slow?
Find out why here.

Piper Arrow

In the summer of 1998,
I got my complex signoff
in this one.

Cessna 172

I learned to fly in this Cessna 172, a successful GA aircraft.

Piper Warrior

The Ubiquitous Warrior, found in FBO's all around the world.

Cessna 170

In early 1999, I got my tailwheel endorsement here.

Beechcraft Musketeer

The Mighty Mouse.
I wish our club still had this one!

Grumman AA5A Cheetah

The Grumman AA5 series
is a cut above many others.

Nangchang CJ6A

A friend let me fly his
Chinese Air Force trainer.


GA Photo Gallery General Aviation Photo Gallery - Photographs of the above aircraft and more.

-- Logbook: Trips --

  When I make an interesting trip, or something fun happens, this is where I'll record it. If you have some interesting flying stories, let me know so I can put in a link under my Links section on this page.

The Rec.Aviation Fly-In.
Rec.Aviation 2k2 - The Attack of the Shirts The 2002 rec.aviation flyin saw some unusually bright shirts, some unusually checkered airplanes, a memorial to Tony Pucillo and even an outbreak of flying!
Rec.Aviation 2K - Can I Get An STC for Muzzleloader Power? The Y2K fly-in saw lots of stuff going on in the hangar, including an impromptu band, a lot of flying, plus a new batch of Muzzleloader to fuel Saturday night's festivities...
Rec.Aviation Flyin - The Gathering of the Ilk At the Rec.Aviation Flyin at Pinckneyville Du Quoin airport, many Ilk were spotted roaming John Johnson's hangar. Some were even caught on camera with experimental devices like Portable Starch Redeployment Systems and Propane Jet Engines...
The Aircraft Pictures of many of the aircraft that came to the fly-in.
Trip Logs.
The Big Trip 1 Part One of the Big Trip. A long distance Cessna 140 experience - 50 hours and several thousand miles of flying on a tour of the south west.
Manx Flying Flying in the Isle of Man. What a superb place to fly! See my trip report and photographs.
XCOR - Mojave, CA Our trip to Mojave, California, to attend the Xcor Rocket-Ez unveiling. Photographs and video clips of the Rocket-Ez. This was also my first long trip as a multiengine/instrument rated pilot.
Salt Lake City A long cross country for my first mountain flying. From Houston Gulf to Salt Lake City Muni #2 and back in a Grumman Tiger.
Going to Pinckneyville In 1999, I did my first halfway-across-the-country cross country, from Houston Hobby, one of Houston's primary Class B airports to rural southern Illinois.
Gliding in North Carolina In December 1998, an unexpected business trip took me to North Carolina, where I just happen to know a glider pilot. So I got my first glider ride, and a bit of stick time in a Blanik.
Flying In England In September 1998, I had 3 weeks time off work in England. I got checked out to fly at the Lancashire Aero Club near Manchester. Here's my experiences and a guide for US PPL's wanting to fly in the UK.
My original England trip In October 1997, I flew once at Barton, but unfortunately didn't get enough time to check out. This page contains some first impressions.
San Marcos and Canyon Lake In May 1998, I had a fun day trip to the San Antonio Hill Country after being starved of cross country flights for far too long. It was good...it had been a long time since I'd seen a hill!

-- Aviation Rants --

One of the things I enjoy doing is reading in participating in groups like rec.aviation.student and rec.aviation.piloting. Every so often a thread comes up that gets me thinking about the way we do things. Some of these threads really get me thinking...so I write a purely In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) rant about the whole affair. This is all my personal opinion here; it's not advice, and you don't have to agree. If you have any comments, just email me at dyls@alioth.net.

Stow that GPS! I feel that lots of people are just getting too reliant on those electronic navaids, particularly GPS. GPS is nice; but some have expressed an opinion that it's like suicide to take on a VFR cross country without one. I just don't agree with this!

-- Learning To Fly --

   I learned to fly with the Bay Area Aero Club, an excellent not-for-profit flying club based at Houston Gulf Airport in south east Texas. I kept my student pilot journal online. It's a qualitative view of my flight training, my hopes, fears, screw-ups etc. I'm just about to embark on my instrument rating. I'll keep the log here too, plus links to other student pilot flight logs and resources.

My flight journals.
My Student Pilot Days Of course any pilot is a student for life. However, the FAA calls us student pilots until we have that magical license to learn called the Private Pilot Certificate. This is my experience learning to fly with my instructor, Lee Simmons, at the BAAC. Includes my spin training session!
Instrument Training My instrument rating journal is here, along with interesting IFR experiences I've had since the checkride.
Wot No Engine! NEW! I'm now working on my glider rating. Follow my progress here...

-- Aviation Links --

   Not enough stuff here? Well find other flying stuff on the Web with my links directory. Do you have a good link that I don't have? Well, you can also add it to my Links Directory, too. (Note, this is experimental, I adapted this from one of my other sites and the categories may need refinement. Please email me if you have suggestions for categories to add)

Aviation links Use the search form to find specific links, or just view them all at once.
Add links Do you have a link that you want to add? Use this form to add links to the database.


This website is a member of The Aero Ring, a linked list of aviation websites. To visit other sites in the ring, click on one of these links.
[ Next Site | Skip Next | Next 5 | Previous | Skip Prev | Random ]
Click Here for information on how to join the ring or look at a complete list of Aero Ring members.

For lots of other aviation/flight sim links see Best Aviation Sites

-- Acknowledgements --

Thanks to Damien Burke and his superb site Thunders and Lightnings from which my font use and title layout was strongly influenced. This site is the best aviation site I've come across yet. Well worth visiting.

Big cheers to the Lancashire Aero Club for checking me out in their aircraft, hassle-free. I didn't expect that!

And of course...the Bay Area Aero Club for providing a great atmosphere for learning to fly, and fostering something that will last a lifetime.

No html editors here!

since Feburary 1999


Content on this site (c) 1996-present Dylan Smith. unless otherwise stated.

In loving memory of my mother, Susan Smith, who passed away on Christmas Eve 1998.

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