Planes I have piloted

•  All the following planes I have flown in at one time or another since 1956. I have piloted all the planes listed below. However, I have only taken off and landed the Grumman, Cessna 152s and Cessna 172s. But I have piloted in the air all these planes at one point or another. I have also piloted Gliders in the deserts of Southern California and have flown Hang gliders.
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• Grumman Cheetah Airplane
• Piper Tri-pacer 1956 airplane
• 1949 Stinson airplane

My Dad's best friend who owned an organic Grain Milling company in Southern California owned a Stinson that looked exactly like this one in the word button above. We flew to his 2nd house near Palm Springs over Lake Arrowhead to see the snow and landed at the Yucca Valley Airport

Yucca Valley Airport

 there near where his house is. My father eventually bought land within  mile of his friend's and he and I and other friends helped my father build his house on weekends from 1968 to 1980 when Dad and Mom retired.
When we flew back to Van Nuys Airport

Welcome to Van Nuys Airport Official Website

 we flew passed Palm Springs and up the Valley following Interstate 10 between San Jacinto Mountain and San Gorgonio Mountain which is over 11,000 feet high and San Jacinto is over 9000 feet high. We had to fight a heavy cross wind so I had to learn to "crab into the wind" so we wouldn't be blown into one of the mountains. So, I basically had to fly almost sideways to keep the plane moving forward and not flying into a mountain. I was only 12 and pretty surprised how hard I had to work on the peddles to keep the plane at the right angle during the gusts of wind. I also had to keep a constant altitude which was also hard. It was more like sailing a boat which I could also do by 12 on Super Sabots in Newport Harbor. But I had never imagined flying to be so much like sailing until that day in 1960.

• Cessna 152 
• Cessna 152 has had well over 8000 hits so people seem to like to learn about the fact that the Cessna 152 is usually the safest and easiest and least expensive plane to learn to fly in. Like the Cessna 172 which is the least likely to crash during a stall of any plane I know of if you let go of the yoke, the  152 also has exceedingly good handling characteristics for a plane with a novice pilot on board. The 172 and the 150 to 152 Cessnas are likely the most survivable for new pilots that I know of. But remember you can still do stupid things and be no more. This saying says it all, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no Old Bold Pilots!"  Planes are not forgiving like cars tend to be!
•   The cockpit below is a Cessna 172 with an image of a 172 below that. I have also flown around Mt. Shasta in a Cessna 182. It is good to have more power at altitude so you aren't blown into mountains during extreme up and downdrafts around mountains. Otherwise it is better to keep your distance from mountains unless you are a real pro or a bush pilot or something like that.
•   Cessna 172