[simpits-tech] Memory Lane....

[Brian Sikkema]

Well Chris, I'm FROM Grand Rapids, Michigan, a couple hours north of the 
indiana border and a couple hours east of Lake Michigan. But I spend most of 
my time going to school at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, 
Michigan.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&addtohistory=&address=&city=Houghton&state=MI&zipcode=49931&homesubmit=Get+Map

Mapquest, in all its infinite wisdom, has decided that Houghton must reside 
in Lake Superior, but ignore it. If you zoom out a bit and look to the 
southeast of the red star you should see Houghton. Waaaay up there. The 
canal I spoke about goes across the Keeweenaw peninsula, and is just on the 
north side of MTU.

The Bell 47 ride was in the Wisconsin Dells, one of those aerial tours, me 
and my dad did that on a family vacation. Lot of fun.

As for what I've flown on, here's about as close as I can remember:
Cessna 172 Skyhawk - Most of my flight training, including an alternator 
failure on my first solo cross country!
C-130 - Only a few flights, but a couple of them were fairly long
Cessna 150 - Only a few flights, but a few too many!
Cessna 177RG - The Strutless Gutless Wonder, also known as the Cardinal. I 
actually did a bit of work on this plane, helping the dentist my mom worked 
for restore it. He gave me my first Airplane ride, in his Cessna 150. I 
still remember it clearly... the duct tape on the wings, his door coming 
open on takeoff... fun stuff ;)
T-1A Jayhawk - High speed low level in a corporate jet! Heheheh.
DC-3 - Won as a raffle prize this past Memorial day.
Bell 47 - already covered
B-1B and T-38 sims - try flying a B-1B low-level using nothing but the trim 
in REAL life, hehehe.
I think that's about it, I may have missed something, though, I can never 
remember. Unfortunately a lot of this isn't LOGGABLE, I think I've only 
logged hours in 172s, 150s, and the 38 sim.

As for the T-6A, I'll be sure to give the group a complete rundown on ALL 
the aircraft I end up in ;) Actually, though I might still end up in the 
Tweet. I don't remember the entire phase-in schedual, but I do know that 
Columbus is the last to get the T-6 (seeing as they are first to get the 
T-38C, they've already got a few, even), and they dont get them until 2006, 
I *think*. Seeing as I'll be graduating in 2005, its entirely possible that 
I might end up being one of the last to fly the -37. Doubtful, though, my 
casual status would probably be long enough that I would still end up with 
the T-6. But its possible.

So thats my sorry life so far.
Brian

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