BeechTalk - BT - P51C @ Camarillo, is $2200 for 1/2 hour worth it?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 10 May 2010, 22:20

Username Protected wrote:

I am all over this... I started a branch of my company in Texas, so I am flying Baby Doll back and forth nearly every month.

Oops! Sorry Kelly but I meant really travel... up to the boys I used to work for in Alaska! PM me if you want me to try and work something out for you.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 00:27

Kelly-

Maybe this will help you make up your mind (it's only 2 minutes).

I think the maneuver is called a figure 8. I kept dropping my video camera so this is the only good one I got.

Never will forget it.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Ww_LpWzIUw0[/youtube]

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 08:26

Keith.
Nice video; thanks for sharing.

Also, really interesting drifting propeller illusion...

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 08:43

Username Protected wrote:

I fly the "Betty Jane" for Collings occasionally, most recently in Tuscon AZ a few weeks ago. $2200 is alot of money, but i can honestly say that I have never had a single solitary rider get out and say that is was not worth every penny.

If flying in a P-51 is on your LSTD (List of "Stuff" To Do) then do it!

Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal

Doug -

Do you have a schedule of times that ~you~ fly with Collings? It would be fun to fly in the P-51, but even more fun to do it with someone you "know", at least virtually.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 08:45

Username Protected wrote:

Doug gave me a few pointers in a PM, ....

Did he tell you to eat bananas? :pilot:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:08

Don't do that.

Bananas on a ship are bad luck. :eek:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:09

Username Protected wrote:

Doug -

Do you have a schedule of times that ~you~ fly with Collings? It would be fun to fly in the P-51, but even more fun to do it with someone you "know", at least virtually.

I don't sign up, they have lots of guys who want the time, so I let them have it. When they are in a pinch they call and I help out. I will probably take a turn when the tour comes across the midwest later this summer....

I fly a couple other mustangs that are on rides programs, some have a stick only, some a stick, rudders, and throttle, but Betty Jane is the only one I fly with a full up rear cockpit.

If you want to go for a virtual ride, here is a link to an airshow performance I did at Offutt. It gives a feel for how smooth the airplane is... I dont like the music, but the copyright police deleted the music I chose and so I just grabbed some of the youtube tunes for filler....

[youtube]http://youtu.be/UUMUsxSFa20[/youtube]

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:16

Bucket List! :pilot:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:18

I believe Betty Jane will be at Thunder over Mich in August.... get out your Visa card and check the square!!!! If I am there in another airplane, (possibly) I could give you the ride.....

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:22

Username Protected wrote:

Bucket List! :pilot:

you can say that again.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:25

Doug-

That's EXACTLY what I tried to capture from the back seat of Huffstutler's plane with my sh*tty cell phone video. Do you know him?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:33

Username Protected wrote:

I believe Betty Jane will be at Thunder over Mich in August.... get out your Visa card and check the square!!!! If I am there in another airplane, (possibly) I could give you the ride.....

PM sent with questions.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:36

Username Protected wrote:

Doug-

That's EXACTLY what I tried to capture from the back seat of Huffstutler's plane with my sh*tty cell phone video. Do you know him?

Yes, I know mark, I flew the Super-II with him for a story for Twin & Turbine.....

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:37

Doug is living the life! :bow:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 11 May 2010, 10:55

Username Protected wrote:

Doug is living the life! :bow:

The airshow business is Hot tar, flat beer, and rare bratwurst....

We need pilots! Stop by your local CAF hangar and sign up.

I started hauling freight in a DC-3 and then a Twin-Beech. Then I joined the CAF and 20 years later, you can be doing what I am... That equals thousands of hours of standing on the hot asphalt, thousands of gallons of warm beer poured out of a keg that was rolled to the party and is all foam, and the best part of any airshow BBQ, a burnt brat with a nice cool pink center!!! Yippee!!!!

I am not complaining, but people ask me all the time, how do you get to fly all these cool airplanes? Well that is how. I don't play golf, I don't have kids, my wife likes it when I am gone, and if I had put the time and effort into my business that I have to chasing airplanes for the last 25 years, I would be very rich....

Instead, I am richly blessed, and if I had it to do over again, to quote Jimmy Doolittle, "I could never be so lucky again."

Most of the great experiences in my life and most of my friends are a result of my involvement with flying Warbirds... To be fair, I have lost a too many friends in this business too.... It is a high risk activity.