Experience with Activesky Next....

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

 

 

but I'm very familiar with the Barstow / Victorville area. I was stationed at what was then George AFB for three years. Did some flying at Apple Valley, and also started working on a sailplane rating at El Mirage, though I never finished it.

Small world Jim. I graduated from Victor Valley HS in '90, was in the Civil Air Patrol and our squadron was based out at George AFB, and did the majority of my flight training out at Apple Valley. I used Mid-Field Aviation (wonder if that old German lady named Ans is still there?) for all my rental and instruction. Funny enough that one of my instructors at Mid-Field was rooming with an F-4 pilot and his wife and he got me about 3 hours of F-4 sim time out at George. 

 

What years where you out there at George and Apple Valley? I wonder if we ever crossed paths out at KAPV.

[mjrhealth 820]

Got it today, first Weather purchase for me. SHort flight from Gove to Elco island in the nT seems the weather hasnt changed since I was there friday. Temps about the same. Will do flight in syedney in morning see how it goes.

[777 340]

not tested it yet still on the free trial out of all the WX addons I beleive activesky has the best depiction...

[JRBarrett 3,049]

Small world Jim. I graduated from Victor Valley HS in '90, was in the Civil Air Patrol and our squadron was based out at George AFB, and did the majority of my flight training out at Apple Valley. I used Mid-Field Aviation (wonder if that old German lady named Ans is still there?) for all my rental and instruction. Funny enough that one of my instructors at Mid-Field was rooming with an F-4 pilot and his wife and he got me about 3 hours of F-4 sim time out at George.

 

What years where you out there at George and Apple Valley? I wonder if we ever crossed paths out at KAPV.

Small world indeed! I was there several years before your era... from 1974 to 1977. At that time they still had two squadrons of F105-G Wild Weasels, and were in the process of transitioning to the F4-G WW. I was an avionics tech in Electronic Warfare, so I had my hands on both models. There were also several squadrons of F4-E models, being used to train German Air Force pilots. They were even training pilots from the IRANIAN Air Force, which goes to show you how long ago it was!

 

A lot of the German pilots came out to APV to get US commercial/instrument ratings in their spare time. I'll bet a lot of them went on to fly for Lufthansa after their military service,

 

I signed up to start PPL training at APV, but the flight school was so overloaded with students, that I could never get time to log any hours of dual. My instructor at that time was Cindy Rucker, who was a championship aerobatic pilot, and owned a Decathalon with a special inverted oil system. She had flown inverted from APV to to Phoenix, which was a world record at the time. She went on to become one if the first female pilots for Continental Airlines.

 

Tragically, she was killed in a crash while practicing for an airshow sometime in the 80's.

 

My AF roommate already had his PPL, and went on to get his commercial / instrument / ME and flight instructor ratings at APV under the GI Bill, which paid 80% of all costs! I flew with him in the school's Arrow all over California while he was building cross country hours. One time we flew out to Catalina, which was a blast, and another time took a trip to the Grand Canyon, and flew IN the canyon, below the rim! Can't legally do that anymore!

 

Finally got my PPL in San Diego after I left the AF.

Small world Jim. I graduated from Victor Valley HS in '90, was in the Civil Air Patrol and our squadron was based out at George AFB, and did the majority of my flight training out at Apple Valley. I used Mid-Field Aviation (wonder if that old German lady named Ans is still there?) for all my rental and instruction. Funny enough that one of my instructors at Mid-Field was rooming with an F-4 pilot and his wife and he got me about 3 hours of F-4 sim time out at George.

 

What years where you out there at George and Apple Valley? I wonder if we ever crossed paths out at KAPV.

Small world indeed! I was there several years before your era... from 1974 to 1977. At that time they still had two squadrons of F105-G Wild Weasels, and were in the process of transitioning to the F4-G WW. I was an avionics tech in Electronic Warfare, so I had my hands on both models. There were also several squadrons of F4-E models, being used to train German Air Force pilots. They were even training pilots from the IRANIAN Air Force, which goes to show you how long ago it was!

 

A lot of the German pilots came out to APV to get US commercial/instrument ratings in their spare time. I'll bet a lot of them went on to fly for Lufthansa after their military service,

 

I signed up to start PPL training at APV, but the flight school was so overloaded with students, that I could never get time to log any hours of dual. My instructor at that time was Cindy Rucker, who was a championship aerobatic pilot, and owned a Decathalon with a special inverted oil system. She had flown inverted from APV to to Phoenix, which was a world record at the time. She went on to become one if the first female pilots for Continental Airlines.

 

Tragically, she was killed in a crash while practicing for an airshow sometime in the 80's.

 

My AF roommate already had his PPL, and went on to get his commercial / instrument / ME and flight instructor ratings at APV under the GI Bill, which paid 80% of all costs! I flew with him in the school's Arrow all over California while he was building cross country hours. One time we flew out to Catalina, which was a blast, and another time took a trip to the Grand Canyon, and flew IN the canyon, below the rim! Can't legally do that anymore!

 

Finally got my PPL in San Diego after I left the AF.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Pretty interesting stuff there Jim.

 

Yeah, you were there a bit earlier than me. I didn't move there until 1986 (born in '72) and lived there until 1990. Between '90 and '92 I was their a lot but maintained residency in Az, but drove back a few times a month to visit friends and family.

 

It was a neat place to spend time if you were interested in aviation with George AFB and Edwards being so close. I used to love going out to Edwards every Oct for the Open House and airshow.

 

One time my brother were at Edwards just to drive and look around, we got in with my Civil Air Patrol ID (this was back when my CAP ID would let you enter most AF bases prior to 9/11 security was increased), and I was on a mission to locate the old Happy Bottom Riding Club that was owned by Pancho Barnes.

 

Being interested in test flying at the time, I was really into the history of Edwards and all the pilots from the X-1 to X-15 era, especially Yeager. Knowing that Pancho's was the hang out for a lot of those guys I just had to find the ruins. After about an hour of searching and asking around, we found the old place. Of course there was not much left of the ruins, but to walk around on the slab were some of the greatest pilots of that era and maybe some of the greatest pilots ever, just about gave me goose bumps. I kept thinking about all those guys that used to be there at night and the stories they told. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me at the time, but I got a few little pieces of the place as souvenirs.

 

As far as KAPV goes, it was a neat little place to do flight training. With the winds there in the high desert it really made for some interesting and challenging flying at times in a light a/c. I remember so many crosswind landings I did on 18 where I would be crabbing so much into the wind that I almost felt like I was flying sideways on approach, lol. The good part though was that it made you that much better of a pilot once you got used to it.

 

I also did my first solo x-country and solo four leg x-country from there. My first was to Fox Field and then the 3 leg was from Apple Valley to Palm Springs, Palm Springs to Blyth, Blyth to Needles, and Needles back to Apple Valley. I remember being so excited that I would be in the plane for the better part of the day since 1 hour every Sat was not enough, but after cruising for 7 hours in a C-152 at 95kts over desert scenery, I was never more happy to land at KAPV and get out of that little plane.