Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Pictures and Such

OK, I’ll start this thread off by posting some pictures of flying and plane related stuff. I’ve got lots but please feel free to post anything flying related for those interested. If there’s an interest here, I can post more if you like.

Great pictures, Jack, keep em coming!
jim

Nice pics, Jack! Looks like you get around. Crater Lake is pretty far away isn’t it?

— Begin quote from "ldpayton"

Nice pics, Jack! Looks like you get around. Crater Lake is pretty far away isn’t it?

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We took that picture when we went on a 10 day tour of the Pacific North West a few years back. Dropped into some pretty off beat fields and got to see things the average guy doesn’t get to when traveling by car. What an adventure it was I am truely blessed to have had the opportunity to do it.
Here’s a few more

I’m jealous Ben. :mrgreen: I’d LOVE to fly that Citabria. What a blast that must have been.

I am a pilot in the Air Force. I have thousands of pics. I’ll find some of my more memorable ones and post them here.

Below is my Christmas card picture from 2006. Included is my lovely and gracious wife Carolyn. I don’t know that I ever gave my aviation background on the old forums, so here it is: I love aviation. I live on an airpark (50f) southwest of Fort Worth. I fly single engine land and sea, multi-engine, and gliders. I like instructing and I’d be happy to give a free BFR or IPC (or whatever) to any banjoBenner who wants one. My wife flies for American Airlines. If anyone is ever this way, let me know. We’d love to have you visit.

Anytime you are headed this way, just let me know. I think you’d get a kick out of where we live. There are a bunch of neat aircraft and people here.
You might prefer to fly with my wife though… she’s alot easier to look at.

I wish I was closer to you. My BFR is due now. BTW, I can see that you and your wife are holding a cat each. What is the one in the center (black & white one) holding onto?

Here’s a few from my C-17 days.

Stich, good catch. The cat in the middle was photoshopped in. I tried to make it look like she was hanging on to Carolyn’s posterior. Carolyn loved the picture and wanted to use it for our Christmas card, but the one cat wasn’t in the picture. I “fixed” it. I also did one where the cat was sitting on the plane, but liked the oddity of the floating cat. It became a controversial subject as I kept mum while people speculated if we somehow had a ledge behind Carolyn. The reality was much less entertaining than what people were imagining.

CitadelPilot, I love that throttle quadrant. That’s a handful.

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That C-17 is a BEAST!

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Oooooo and hold LOTS of stuff. Lets see, Jeep, Quadrunner. Fishing boat, Motorhome, oh yeah and MY airplane too. :astonished:

I came across this one and thought it might interest you fellow pilots. This is Georgetown CA. About 2500 ft strip, which wouldn’t be so bad except if you notice on the right side there’s a canyon which you fly over on final. As you go over the canyon the plane naturally sinks a hundred feet or so. Most pilots have a tendency to add power at that point. Wrong! You have to keep your power setting and the end of the runway actually disappears for just a minute, but as you get closer the uplift from the edge of the canyon lifts you back to normal height for a standard approach and landing. The guys at the FBO actually have a shirt that say’s “I survived the carrier landing at Georgetown” They used to give you one on your first landing. Oh yeah, and just to add excitement to the mix, someone put snow on the field too. :laughing:

That’s neat looking field Jack. In Eastern KY, there were some airports put on top of old strip mine sites, and when the wind was blowing, you’d get some scary up and down drafts as well. Thankfully, they were long enough that one could generally stay above the really nasty stuff on final. I remember enjoying staying low after taking off and then dropping down below field level when the earth fell away… what an odd but cool sensation.

Here’s a picture of one of my neighbors in a Legend Cub he built. It’s a fantastic little airplane.
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What a great little plane the Cub is. It’s potential is limitless. I’ve seen them on ski’s, floats. tundra tires. You name it they seam to do it. I want to get (or build) a little Light Sport plane next. It’s the low and slow that I have come to really enjoy. I’d love to go up to Idaho and land on a 100’ sandbar and do some fishing.

I’ve been to that strip in Sewanee. It is cool. My ex girlfriend was a professor at the University there.

You want a challenging airfield… I flew a Beechjet into Narsarsuaq, Greenland (BGBW) last month. Listed as one of the ten most dangerous airfields in the world to fly into. Surrounded by mountains on all sides. Most closer than others, but only one way in… and one way out.

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This was the ramp. Solid ice.
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Greenland looks like fun… how many places can you ski into the FBO and skate out to your airplane :slight_smile:

My wife flew to Sewanee some too. Bill Kirshner the super instructor, aerobatics guru and all around great guy was based there. She took his aerobatics course and they became buddies.

We had some friends in overnight from Louisville. Today for lunch we flew out to eat. We flew to Hard 8 in Stephenville (KSEP). It’s nothing earth shattering, but it’s the kind of thing that keeps me loving aviation. Greg got his first unassisted landing today.

Greg flew us there. He’s not a pilot, but if he keeps flying with us as regularly as he does, he should have his rating by 2082. Left to right, that’s me, Michelle, my wife Carolyn (who is patiently sitting in the back seat with no controls at her command) and Greg.
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Carolyn drove us in the golf cart from the airport to Hard 8. She might scare me driving the golf cart more than Greg scares me flying… she missed her calling (Sprint Racing).
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We arrived at hard 8.
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Jack, you mentioned all the fun you can have in a Cub. I have to agree. The most fun I ever had getting a rating was in a Cub. Carolyn’s Dad, Larry is a CFI and he taught her to fly. In our never-ending quest to do something to thank him for all he has done, a few years ago the three of us went to Jack Brown’s in Winter Haven, FL to get our Seaplane ratings. It was a blast.

Here’s the three of us in front of one of the victims of our newbie seaplane skills.
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Carolyn coming in from a flight.
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Winter Haven has a bazillion little lakes, and we would just hop from one to the other.
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I would try to describe how much fun it was, but Carolyn’s expression says it all.
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I’m soooo jealous. The only time I have in a seaplane was in a Searay? I think that’s what it was. A 2 place homebuilt amphib that I did the upholstery on a few years back ( I do aircraft upholstery for my day job) What a blast that was skimming across the water. I do have some time granted to me on the local seaplane that I did for an instructor on their Twin Apache. Yeah that’s the ticket. A guy can get his twin, seaplane, complex, and retract rating all in one plane.
What I’d really like to fly is this one