On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:59:38 -0400, Alex wrote:

Justan Ohlphart wrote:
On 6/27/20 1:16 PM, wrote:
Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.
To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well.* About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing.* I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones.* My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com.* Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data.* We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them.* Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC.* All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon.* Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart.* With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized.* We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going.* It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on.* If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW


https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2


https://www.liveatc.net/

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

Is there an app for monitoring Fat Harry's ankle bracelet?


I missed the first post so this might have been mentioned but
https://www.flightradar24.com is my go-to.

===

I didn't mention them but they are a good site if you don't have your
own ADS-B receiver and tracking software. In addition to getting
real-time data, I kind of enjoyed the challenge of getting my own site
operational. At some point in the future I may decide to contribute
my data to them the way I do with www.marinetraffic.com.

On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.



--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On Sun, 28 Jun 2020 07:48:56 -0400, RCE wrote:

On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

===

I took a few lessons many years ago but never got my license for a
variety of reasons. Watching my flight tracker displays, listening to
the tower traffic and watching all the YouTube videos has kind of
given me the itch to take some more lessons. It looks like the going
rate around here is $180/hour which would start running a big tab
rather quickly considering it would probably take 30 to 50 hours to
get a license. It might be fun to take a few lessons just for grins
however. Any thoughts?

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 7:49:02 AM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed..
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

The founder of the company I work for was a pilot, and went through a few airplanes. He started with a Cessna 182, then a Bonanza, then a Baron, and somewhere in there a Zlin fully aerobatic airplane. I've been up in all of them except the Baron.

Back when he had the 182, he wanted to fly into Atlanta to visit a prospective customer, Delta Airlines. He filed his flight plan and took off. When he got into the ATL airspace, he radio'd the tower for landing clearance. They were not happy. A 182 landing in between MD80's, L-1011's and various 7xx's? Heh. They told him to keep his speed up to max on approach and fly it down to the runway. He did, had the meeting and flew home. But that was the last time he ever flew into ATL in his private plane.

On 6/28/2020 1:23 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 28 Jun 2020 07:48:56 -0400, RCE wrote:

On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

===

I took a few lessons many years ago but never got my license for a
variety of reasons. Watching my flight tracker displays, listening to
the tower traffic and watching all the YouTube videos has kind of
given me the itch to take some more lessons. It looks like the going
rate around here is $180/hour which would start running a big tab
rather quickly considering it would probably take 30 to 50 hours to
get a license. It might be fun to take a few lessons just for grins
however. Any thoughts?


The full curriculum includes instruction with CFI until you
solo and then the second half (cross country). 30 to 50 hours might be
a bit ambitious. It's been done though. You also attend ground school
which is usually free if you are actively taking flight instruction.

Prices have certainly gone up. I think when I first started instruction
back in the mid 90's the plane was $50 per hour and the instructor
another $30 or $50 IIRC. Once you solo and you just want to practice
you only have to pay for the plane.

I forget if there was a fee for the final checkout ride and test.
There may have been but I had a lot of stuff going on at the time
and I simply don't remember.



--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On 6/28/2020 2:06 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 7:49:02 AM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

The founder of the company I work for was a pilot, and went through a few airplanes. He started with a Cessna 182, then a Bonanza, then a Baron, and somewhere in there a Zlin fully aerobatic airplane. I've been up in all of them except the Baron.

Back when he had the 182, he wanted to fly into Atlanta to visit a prospective customer, Delta Airlines. He filed his flight plan and took off. When he got into the ATL airspace, he radio'd the tower for landing clearance. They were not happy. A 182 landing in between MD80's, L-1011's and various 7xx's? Heh. They told him to keep his speed up to max on approach and fly it down to the runway. He did, had the meeting and flew home. But that was the last time he ever flew into ATL in his private plane.



One of the reasons I sorta lost interest in flying is because I never
found it to be "relaxing" as others do. Flying into a controlled
airport can be nerve wracking for small planes and sometimes flying
at an uncontrolled airport (like Plymouth) can be just as bad.
You really have to keep a keen eye on what's going on around you and
an ear to the radio.

Boating is a lot more relaxing. :-)


--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 3:19:46 PM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 2:06 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 7:49:02 AM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid.. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

The founder of the company I work for was a pilot, and went through a few airplanes. He started with a Cessna 182, then a Bonanza, then a Baron, and somewhere in there a Zlin fully aerobatic airplane. I've been up in all of them except the Baron.

Back when he had the 182, he wanted to fly into Atlanta to visit a prospective customer, Delta Airlines. He filed his flight plan and took off. When he got into the ATL airspace, he radio'd the tower for landing clearance. They were not happy. A 182 landing in between MD80's, L-1011's and various 7xx's? Heh. They told him to keep his speed up to max on approach and fly it down to the runway. He did, had the meeting and flew home. But that was the last time he ever flew into ATL in his private plane.



One of the reasons I sorta lost interest in flying is because I never
found it to be "relaxing" as others do. Flying into a controlled
airport can be nerve wracking for small planes and sometimes flying
at an uncontrolled airport (like Plymouth) can be just as bad.
You really have to keep a keen eye on what's going on around you and
an ear to the radio.

Boating is a lot more relaxing. :-)


I agree. I love airplanes, and like to fly in small, private craft, but I never wanted to get my ticket. Too much responsibility, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it wouldn't be fun for me.

On Sun, 28 Jun 2020 15:15:07 -0400, RCE wrote:

On 6/28/2020 1:23 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 28 Jun 2020 07:48:56 -0400, RCE wrote:

On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

===

I took a few lessons many years ago but never got my license for a
variety of reasons. Watching my flight tracker displays, listening to
the tower traffic and watching all the YouTube videos has kind of
given me the itch to take some more lessons. It looks like the going
rate around here is $180/hour which would start running a big tab
rather quickly considering it would probably take 30 to 50 hours to
get a license. It might be fun to take a few lessons just for grins
however. Any thoughts?


The full curriculum includes instruction with CFI until you
solo and then the second half (cross country). 30 to 50 hours might be
a bit ambitious. It's been done though. You also attend ground school
which is usually free if you are actively taking flight instruction.

Prices have certainly gone up. I think when I first started instruction
back in the mid 90's the plane was $50 per hour and the instructor
another $30 or $50 IIRC. Once you solo and you just want to practice
you only have to pay for the plane.

I forget if there was a fee for the final checkout ride and test.
There may have been but I had a lot of stuff going on at the time
and I simply don't remember.

===

For the very popular Cessna 172 I'm seeing hourly rates of $120/hour
(including fuel), with another $60/hr for the CFI. Maybe there's a
small country airport around here with lower rates but I haven't yet
gotten serious enough to check around. The cost of small planes seems
to have gone up astronomically, mostly because of insurance from what
I understand. When I was taking lessons back in the late 60s it was
possible to rent a 172 for less that $20/hour. One of my army buddies
was a CFI and he'd teach me for free.

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On 6/28/2020 4:54 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 3:19:46 PM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 2:06 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 7:49:02 AM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/28/2020 12:48 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:50:23 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:53:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:42:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:32:12 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:16:24 -0400,
wrote:

Things have been a little slow here so thought I'd post something a
bit out of the ordinary and get some discussion going about what we
are all doing to spend time during the Covid crisis.

To set the stage, I've had a long time interest in electronics, ham
radio, short wave radio reception, etc., ever since I was a kid. Those
interests eventually morphed into a career of programming, designing
and managing computer systems, so the skills I learned early on served
me well. About 5 years ago I started another hobby which combined my
interest in boats and boating with my interest in electronics and
computing. I set up a receiving station for the AIS position report
transmissions that all large boats transmit, as well as many smaller
ones. My equipment decodes position reports and boat data, logs it to
my chart plotting software, and forwards it to a web site called
www.marinetraffic.com. Anyone can log onto that site and see the
position of boats all over the world thanks to a network of volunteers
like myself who share their data via the internet.

Recently I learned that there is a similar network of hobbyists who
track the position of aircraft by decoding what is called their ADS-B
transponder data. We live near two fairly active airports, and have a
steady stream of planes and hellicopters flying around so I thought it
would be cool to know more about them. Thanks to some recent advances
in electronics it is now possible to buy a minature USB device which
not only receives radio signals but decodes their data and makes it
available for processing on your PC. All that, with an antenna, for
about $30 or so on Amazon. Now when I hear an airplane fly over, with
a few mouse clicks, I can get all of their flight data and plot the
position of the plane on a chart. With a few more clicks the tail
number, registration data and a picture of the plane is displayed.
From there you can see their flight plan if any, know where they came
from, and where they are going.

I have quickly learned that there is a lot more going on up there than
I'd ever realized. We've got a huge number of private jets zooming
around, lots of small aircraft, flight school planes practicing,
mosquito control hellicopters spraying, sheriff's hellicopters
patrolling, med evac aircraft doing their thing, and the usual number
of commercial flights coming and going. It can be a bit addictive to
watch all of this going on. If you're a real junky you can also
monitor control tower transmissions on various web sites.

https://www.amazon.com/FlightAware-FA-PROSTICKPLUS-1-Receiver-Built-Filter/dp/B01M7REJJW

https://discussions.flightaware.com/t/how-to-install-pro-stick-dvb-t-on-windows/25070/2

https://www.liveatc.net/

You can also listen to RSW here

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...rsw&mount=krsw

===

Yes, and FMY is he

https://www.liveatc.net/hlisten.php?...kfmy&icao=kfmy

OK, so what's ESW and FMY?
--

Freedom Isn't Free!


Airport codes.

RSW is the new airport, FMY was built for bi planes in the 20s and
upgraded as a training field in WWII. It was out in the country in
those days, Now it is downtown. They were still landing commercial
727s there when I moved here tho. It was pretty exciting when one
rotated and climbed out about 40' over you on US41.

They all moved over to RSW as their gate leases expired but even in
86, you could go out there and only see a handful of flights an hour
in the middle of the day. At night it pretty much closed. The military
used to play there, flying in from all over.

FMY is all private aviation or charter now.

===

FMY is right across the river from us and surprisingly active for a
small airport. A bunch of corporate and charter jets are based there
as well as a substantial fleet of single and twin engine prop planes.
On a busy day when the flight schools are active there are frequently
two or three planes in the landing pattern at the same time. It's fun
watching them on my tracking screen at the same time they're getting
radio instructions from the tower.



We live very near Plymouth Airport (where I got my ticket years ago) and
we are also on the southerly final to Boston's Logan airport.
Sometimes when bored I listen on my scanner to all
the traffic at both. You can easily distinguish who is a student pilot
at Plymouth and the seasoned, commercial pilots landing at Boston.
Some of those conversations get funny sometimes.

The founder of the company I work for was a pilot, and went through a few airplanes. He started with a Cessna 182, then a Bonanza, then a Baron, and somewhere in there a Zlin fully aerobatic airplane. I've been up in all of them except the Baron.

Back when he had the 182, he wanted to fly into Atlanta to visit a prospective customer, Delta Airlines. He filed his flight plan and took off. When he got into the ATL airspace, he radio'd the tower for landing clearance. They were not happy. A 182 landing in between MD80's, L-1011's and various 7xx's? Heh. They told him to keep his speed up to max on approach and fly it down to the runway. He did, had the meeting and flew home. But that was the last time he ever flew into ATL in his private plane.



One of the reasons I sorta lost interest in flying is because I never
found it to be "relaxing" as others do. Flying into a controlled
airport can be nerve wracking for small planes and sometimes flying
at an uncontrolled airport (like Plymouth) can be just as bad.
You really have to keep a keen eye on what's going on around you and
an ear to the radio.

Boating is a lot more relaxing. :-)




I agree. I love airplanes, and like to fly in small, private craft, but I never wanted to get my ticket. Too much responsibility, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it wouldn't be fun for me.


My CFI once told me that technical types are the worst students they teach.


--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com