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Congratulations on your certification. (And we pilots know how that's pronounced). All I've flown is a 152, a 172 and a Piper Archer. Of those I disliked the 172 because the thing won't land...it just hangs in the air like a kite. The Archer was a lot of fun.

I've let my flying go by the wayside as 9/11 took a lot of the fun out of it. It's on my short list of things I have to get back into.



Thanks. It is funny, I hadn't flown since 2004 until just a few weeks ago. I had always intended to get back into flying, but for some reason I suddenly got the urge to get serious and stop procrastinating. I got my medical up to date and set up appointments at 3 different airports with flight instructors and have been flying every day when I'm not working ever since.

I have always thought that the 172 doesn't get as much respect as it deserves and never quite understood why. I love it. If only it went faster and could carry a bit more, I think it would be the perfect plane for me. It is so familiar and forgiving that getting in one for me is like putting on a comfortable old pair of jeans.

I have been flying in the Arrow and a 182RG II for my high performance/complex. The Arrow is OK, but the 182RG really likes to get up and go. Talk about not wanting to land! It is still a plane I am getting used to and still feel like I'm continually wrestling with it to get it to slow down and land.

When I want to go somewhere, I'll rent the 182RG, but when I want to introduce somebody new to flying or just go out sightseeing, I'll get the 172.

I've never even been inside of a 152!

It is really surprising to me to see the variability of how much some airports have changed since 9/11 and gone overboard with the homeland security paranoia with gates and fences and locks and cameras all around and how much others have not changed at all and still feel wide open and friendly like an old country store run by a friend of the family with nice lounges, comfortable chairs, free food and drinks, and a free car to take into town.



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--Some of us look for The Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.