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Paul Rix

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February 12, 2008 at 11:49 pm in reply to: General Discussion #350883

Paul Rix
Participant

I was browsing through some old posts of mine and came across this thread. Time does indeed fly by when you are having fun. I now have the telescope permanently set up in a roll off roof, back yard observatory. I now live out of town in a fairly dark rural setting which helps too. Here is a selection from the past year or so.

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion…

Thor’s Helmet (NGC2359)

The ISS

Space Shuttle Discovery the day before landing last November.

M16 The Eagle Nebula (again)..

NGC6946

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

M20 The Trifid Nebula

February 12, 2008 at 11:49 pm in reply to: Some more astronomy images #1916526

Paul Rix
Participant

I was browsing through some old posts of mine and came across this thread. Time does indeed fly by when you are having fun. I now have the telescope permanently set up in a roll off roof, back yard observatory. I now live out of town in a fairly dark rural setting which helps too. Here is a selection from the past year or so.

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion…

Thor’s Helmet (NGC2359)

The ISS

Space Shuttle Discovery the day before landing last November.

M16 The Eagle Nebula (again)..

NGC6946

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

M20 The Trifid Nebula

January 12, 2008 at 3:15 pm in reply to: What's Your Most Ridiculous Aviation Fantasy? #1308012

Paul Rix
Participant

I’d travel back in time to the morning of 12th July 2003 and tell my brother to stop working on a coolant problem that the Firefly had developed. If he hadn’t fixed it the aircraft would not have been able to fly that afternoon.

As for a flying experience… Mosquito low level in the fjords of Norway would rate pretty highly.

January 12, 2008 at 3:06 pm in reply to: looking for some modern combat "sims", any recommendations? #222201

Paul Rix
Participant

If you go with Falcon 4 then I would recommend the Allied Force version as it works nicely right out of the box (although there are patches available). It is not a beginners sim though.

September 5, 2007 at 3:29 am in reply to: Two aircraft collide in Polish airshow crash. #434630

Paul Rix
Participant

IMHO the images and video should not be aired until at least the families have been informed properly (and some extra time for the families to pass the word to close relatives and friends). I know for a fact that the footage of the Firefly crash was aired well before my father had been informed. He found out from a friend who saw it on TV. It’s just common decency to hold back that kind of footage and imagery – something the News media seems to lack these days it seems.

August 16, 2007 at 3:05 pm in reply to: Trip to France (Piccies) #434757

Paul Rix
Participant

Looks like you had a great flight! Excellent photo’s too. Nicely done 🙂 .

July 29, 2007 at 1:37 pm in reply to: First Solo (well kind of) #434922

Paul Rix
Participant

Thanks guys, it was quite a feeling. The flight was almost an hour and a half but it went by very quickly.
Getting to this point has been quite a journey. I moved over here almost five years ago with Cypriot PPL that had expired a couple of years before (I learned to fly at RAF Akrotiri’s flying club in 1995). So, it was easier to just retrain and get my FAA PPL (no hours building was necessary though so that didn’t take long at all). My break came when I got the job as a line service guy working for the company that I now fly for. I handed back most of my pay every two weeks and continued to train towards the Instrument Rating and Commercial license. A week before my Instrument Checkride was when we lost Neil. That was the hardest checkride I have taken so far. I got through it successfully but in hind sight I probably should have delayed it a while. Almost exactly four years later I have reached the point where I am now allowed (by the insurance company) to fly part 91 flights (non revenue) on my own, or as PIC with passengers (Part 135) as long as there is another Captain flying along as my Co-Pilot. It is a nice step forward without completely pushing me out of the nest when passengers are onboard. A year of that and I should be in good shape to upgrade to Captain. It is an exciting time for me. 😀

July 24, 2007 at 7:44 pm in reply to: Cost #222812

Paul Rix
Participant

The prices soon rack up, but, if you take a look at other hobbies the price is probably comparable if not cheaper. Whatever hobby you get into will require the purchase of equipment in some shape or form.

As an example, a few years ago I cancelled my subscription to an online WW2 sim because I couldn’t justify spending that much on a game, plus the occasional upgrade to keep the game running well. I bought a cheap telescope instead with the intention of doing some amateur astronomy. Three years later and that hobby has cost me far more than I ever would have spent on flight sims. I guess these things just suck us in 😮 . There are far worse things out there that people could spend their money on. I guess it comes down to how far you are willing and able to take it.

July 6, 2007 at 6:47 pm in reply to: Some photo's from work… #435078

Paul Rix
Participant

The despite our slight frustration with ATC the flight was for the most part visually stunning…

To top it all off I was also told that I am now cleared to fly the King Air’s solo (Pt91 flights only with no passengers on board). That’s a step in the right direction
:).

April 12, 2007 at 4:58 pm in reply to: RNHF Website Update – 4 April 2007 #1248510

Paul Rix
Participant

Thanks Lee. I guessed it would be something like that. It seems that there has been a lot of change at the RNHF since the accident (from what I can tell, the changes are for the better).
Personally I do think Neil and Bill should be remembered on the website in some way. However, I also appreciate the fact that the main focus of the site should be on the present and future.

Here is a photo of Neil and Tony at an RNAS Yeovilton Airshow (2002 I think). A friend (John Evans) took the photo.. Happy Times.

April 12, 2007 at 3:45 am in reply to: RNHF Website Update – 4 April 2007 #1248789

Paul Rix
Participant

Glad to see that things are going well for the RNHF. I really like the new website too. I do have to ask though if there was a decision made to not mention Bill and Neil in any shape or form?

March 18, 2007 at 4:32 pm in reply to: Those with a PPL #435897

Paul Rix
Participant

Congratulations! I hate to say it, but we told you so 😀 . Fly safe and enjoy yourself. Any plans to go further ?

March 9, 2007 at 5:02 am in reply to: Those with a PPL #435960

Paul Rix
Participant

Is the checkride already booked? If an examiner has not already been selected then it seems that this is all still in the air. You need to remember that should you fail the test then it goes on your CFI’s record with the FAA. If he has too many students who fail then they will start asking questions. It is not in his interest to sign you off if he perceives you are not ready. As for getting together to go over likely Oral questions, well, that seems like a very good idea to me. I know my CFI did exactly that with me for the PPL, IR and Commercial checkrides.

As for putting the money down and possibly failing.. well, that is always a risk (and one you will have to take for every checkride you take). That is just the way of it I am afraid. If you don’t feel ready then postpone the checkride. If you do feel ready and your CFI thinks otherwise then ask him what areas he thinks you need to work on. If the CFI does think you are ready then you most likely are, and you should go ahead with the checkride.
One last thing… military guys are human too. The main thing is to be straight with them. The guy who took me for my IR and Commercial checkrides was an Ex-military Navigator. He was very friendly and put me at ease right away. Having said that, I was very well prepared on each occasion. There were two of us getting Commercial checkrides with him that day and the other guy was failed 10 minutes into the Oral because he was totally unprepared (Cross country wasn’t planned, he hadn’t checked the weather or NOTAMS etc etc)… so make sure you are well prepared. They will not expect you to know every answer (but you should know most if you studied hard enough). The worst thing you can do is try and pull the wool over their eyes. If you don’t know, just say so rather than digging a deeper hole for yourself. BTW, did you score well on the ‘written’ test?

March 8, 2007 at 3:32 pm in reply to: Those with a PPL #435968

Paul Rix
Participant

Very cool WD :). I fly King Air’s (Pt 135 as a Co-Pilot/FO – which ever you prefer) out of KZZV.

March 7, 2007 at 11:23 pm in reply to: Those with a PPL #435974

Paul Rix
Participant

WD, where do you fly from in Ohio, and what do you fly? We could be neighbors :).
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