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Very smart looking indeed...

I've been up in a CAP 172! Very nice planes!

Hi Rottty

I am afraid so buddy...flying in a straight line up and down a beach for several hours would bel like playing Bingo or watching paint dry on a picket fence to me. LOL

The best part of the flight would be the pick-up of the banner.

When I was in the Royal Canadian Air Force we used DeHavilland DHC-3s "Otters" with the PW radial 1340 engine...the same one that is in the Harvards to pick up messages in fields the army would put out.

They would string a line between two poles with a message attached to it and we had to pick it up with a crewman hanging out the port dutch doors trailing a line with a rubber ball on the end of it.  The purpose behind the exercise was not to break radio silence.

The area was no larger than a tractor trailer sometimes and as far as I can remember the Otter was the only STOL Aircraft that could do it.  I do not believe we had Beavers in the Royal Canadian Air Force but the Otter would and still does out perform any other STOL aeroplane in the world to-day...bar none and on amphibious floats as well.

It is a pity there is not a radial engined Otter in FS2004 yet.  There are several in FS98.

I can remember one such spot the mud monkeys (Army) set up was on the side of a hill near Wawa Ontario and we had to fly along the side of the hill in a STOL approach and do the pick-up.  The area was just big enough to land a Twin Huey in.  We did it though...all three aircraft and we did it three times.

If I might add the DHC-2 Beaver was the only aircraft manufactured outside of the United States of America that won Battle Honours.  The type won Battle Honours serving with the United States Army in Korea.  The United States Military did operate DHC-3 Otters but to what capacity I am not sure.

The Otter was a larger aeroplane than the Beaver and could actually outperform it.  I am not knocking the Beaver they are a great aeroplane.

I can remember several RCAF Squadron Leaders on several occasions after phoning the tower and talking to the Chief Controller who placed an air traffic controller in training on the spot.  The Otter would taxi to a position and take off across the runway and be airborne before the center line.  The pilot would report on heading and "My God you fellas have wide runways here" LOL.
It would be silent for a bit until the training controller realized the Otter was not on runway heading and there was the Chief Controller standing beside him with a big grin.

Well I have rambled on long enough buddy...have fun

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

How could flying ever be boring?? ???
And shouldn't this be in the photo's forum?
Nice pics rotty 

LOL... I know it's confusing the way I post these, but I guess my current rule is: Photos section for aircraft shots that don't involve me flying personally, and Real Aviation for those that do, or aircraft photos that I didn't take. I went flying that day at Central Jersey, so...
Everybody got that? Good. 
I'll bet what was really confusing was the "takeoff roll" caption with no photo initially...didn't notice it hadn't uploaded due to oversize.
("why's he taking off from the ramp...?")

Good Morning Rotty

Like I said I never ever towed a banner so it is hard to say.  I do not think a banner would effect a tow plane like a glider but again I never towed a glider

I am sure there must be some pilots around that have done both and if I think of it I will ask about at the club the next time I pop in.

Sorry to bust your bubble Pigeon but flying becomes boring when it stops becoming a profession and becomes a job.

Your right again Doug (the other Doug...no not me...the good looking one....yeah that one)  and you thought you were confused .

A lot of military pilots fly for the major airlines, instruct aerobatics, fly bush or commuter, etc; as well as many airline pilots fly for the Air Force Reserve.

I know quite a few military and airline pilots that have as many hours on float/ski equipped Otters, Beavers, Norseman, Cessna 185s as they do on Hercs, Airliners, Helicopters and Fighters.

I have always found it is your personal mental attitude towards flight in general and not what you fly that will make you a good pilot.
It is no different flying a Piper Cub than an Airbus.  Sure it takes longer to get checked out in the Airbus, but...push the stick to the left...both aircraft go left, push the stick to the right and both aircraft will go right, push the stick forward and the buildings get larger, pull the stick back and the buildings get smaller.
Yes I will agree you will get paid more to fly the Airbus for a major but flying is flying.
Want me to prove it...next time you are at an airshow, ask the fighter jock what he liked best, his Chipmunk time or his suck and blow time and I will bet he will talk about the trainer first.

And Yes Doug I think that Rotty is trying to confuse us

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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Good luck with that! Never looked into the CAP thing; always assumed I wouldn't have time for it. I'm sure they'd love to get you into the orginaization: you own an aircraft!
Funny; i just passed 180 hrs and haven't even  started IFR training yet. Maybe next year, if and when I think i can afford the training and the required flights for currency... for now, though, it's gonna be all about flying VFR, with friends chipping in whenever possible.
  Hey, if you ever need a safety pilot for some IFR practice, let me know...

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Don't do anything on my account... ; I love crappy old instruments (I'm used to them; I rent)!! Tapping those
"steam gauges" to make sure they work is a pleasant diversion on long, boring flights...also fun for scaring newbie pax before takeoff...
Seriously- good idea. If you're ever going to fly in IMC for real in that bird, make sure you're good to go. Sell the back seats if you have to... I'm sure it's not cheap to do it  right, with backups, etc.   
And I'd guess even just for practicing, not having a solid set of instruments would not help any.

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Good idea... you should post those pix here; plenty of interested parties.

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Hmmm, I'm ashamed to say I missed that. Must be losing my marbles.

I actually only have one marble left & that goes AWOL on a regular basis. My dear old Mum always used to say I would lose my head if it wasn't screwed on. Things don't change much.

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One or two of the regulars here tow gliders. I forget who they are now. From my experience of one solitary aero-tow (in the glider not the tug) I know it's easy enough to drag the tug out of the sky or overrun the tug with obvious results. Imagine what it's like for the poor old tug pilot to see the glider he's supposed to be towing alongside or above him.

I don't know how my tug pilot coped with my amateur efforts. He was obviously very experienced. Coping with that sort of thing is all part of the training before they're allowed to do it solo. An instructor in the glider does his best to drag him out of the sky.

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Good luck getting time in it. First you'll have to go through a rigerous 25 hour check out, followed by "checkrides" every few months, and more paper work every time you go flying than you'd ever imagine. Then you'll have to fight nearly every other pilot in your wing just have the chance to sit in it. CAP has never really realized that they need the pilots more than the pilots need them and have lost many, many good pilots due to it. Sorry to discouage you, I just want to warn you in advance!