I talked to a British paratrooper and asked him "Why in hell would you jump out of a perfectly good flying airplane?" His response "Because my commanding officer told me to"

When I was Director of Financial and Information Systems at Verizon I gave a speech to my employees. Some submitted questions prior to the speech. This is an excerpt from my speech answering a question. It sums up how I have lived my life and why I free fall skydive. I have lived a very unordinary and exciting life, for which I am grateful.


4. If you could give one piece of advice to yourself at age 17, what would it be?

Work hard, provide for your family while at the same time pursue your dreams unabashedly, unafraid and uncompromising, with knowledge and foresight. Always travel the path less trodden, even though you might be thought a fool. Experience the incomparable adrenalin rush of challenging, soul satisfying and daring endeavors, despite the inherent risks that prevent most from achieving true Nirvana. Overcome fear and remember that longevity has its place, but not if it is purchased at the price of unrealized ambitions and dreams.

Quick question for Richard....Are most bush pilots in Alaska IFR pilots?

I'm not sure but I don't think so. You'd have to put too much electronic rubbish into a Cub to fly IFR.... legally, of course. They certainly do fly IFR enough though, as have I, and I'm not IFR rated.

Ahhh....I didn't think of that. No better pilots than most of those that fly in Alaska. I've always admired them. We have only a couple of IFR pilots that fly out of our airstrip and both of those flew commercial. Back in the East, most accidents occur with VFR pilots flying in IFR conditions. Most have a relatively low number of hours. Spatial disorientation sets in and they die. I've never flown in IFR conditions. I carefully check weather reports before I fly long distance. I don't have the skill or savvy of an Alaskan pilot.

When I was flying a lot I practiced IFR flying on a regular basis even though I was not IFR rated. I routinely practiced shooting the IFR approach to my home airport - just in case. You never know when it might come in handy.

Another thing that sometimes fools VFR pilots are sucker holes. They can give a false sense of security if you fly into them and the clouds move to cover up the hole.

I've flown in more IFR than I deserved to get away with. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes not. I climbed to 14,500ft to get over thick towering wildfire smoke over the Brooks Range once and fell asleep due to oxygen deprivation.... not for long....and woke up in hvy clouds and zero viz. I knew I was way above all the peaks and just nudged the stick into a slow 180deg turn with a finger while watching the compass and the VSI. Once I had it headed south I set it up to descend at 50fpm and just let it fly itself out of the clouds hands off and tapping the rudder to keep it on course of 180. That was a good learning experience; now I know how to do it if it ever happens again, which is very unlikely. And this was nowhere near the worst I have flown in. Wouldn't even make the top 10.

Great discussion. I had no idea you were flying Alaska VFR. A feller from Ohio could broadly expand his bird hunting options with a Cherokee or a Skyhawk.

My wife would forbid me from visiting this forum if she only knew.

-Victor

I hate to keep asking youi questions Richard, but do you see many Glasair Sportsmen in Alaska. Looks like a great airplane to me.