Ken's Esoteric Hobby Pages
Flying
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Any list of my interests wouldn't be complete without including aviation, since I've been flying for longer than anything else. 
 
To get started:

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In memory of Ed Minnick and the COA A&P Program

I fly both in real life and in simulators.  The official Pelican Air fleet (as painted by Glaze Aeronautics) for Flight Simulator 2004 is below.  All are re-paints of existing airplanes, and all are availible for download from Flightsim.com and Avsim.com

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This is G-ACDC, the world's oldest flying Tiger Moth.

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MAAM-SIM's TBM Avenger in the colors of #309, currently operated by the CAF in Colorado.

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Caranedo's Cessna 206 in Civil Air Patrol colors.

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MAAM-SIM's Avenger (again) in the colors of ConAir, a Canadian aviation contractor that operating the TBM's as fire bombers in the 1970's.

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The LT-6 operated by the CAF's Dixie Wing.  This paint job was based on a magazine article about the airplane that released at the same time the simulated airplane was.

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MAAM-SIM's DC-3 in the colors of Pacific Southwest Airlines original DC-3.

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After completing the first PSA paint job, I couldn't resist doing another in the PSA's colors from the 1980's.

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This is Bellanca Decathlon 714RV, the plane in which I learned to fly aerobatics in real life.  This is a simulated version.

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Tim Conrad's OV-10 in fictitious CAP colors.

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The same OV-10 in the colors of the California Dept. of Forestry fire observation plane.  This plane worked the California firestorms.

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MAAM-SIM's B-25 in the colors of Pacific Princess, the first "photo real" paint job I've done.  The graphics are directly copied from photos of the real airplane that I took at Chino's Planes of Fame air show in 2009.

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This is a Sea Fury painted as it appeared when operated in the 1980's and 1990's in Canada.

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This is a T-6 Texan that appeared in a series of advanced flight training films made by the US Air Force in 1953.

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MAAM-SIM's Avenger painted as a TBM owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage museum.  The real aircraft was lost in a hanger fire.

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And my first project, the SNJ that is operated by Barnstormer's of San Diego.  I flew a very happy hour in the rear seat of this plane.

Real-world flying!

Eastern San Diego as seen from 2500 feet, climbing out from Montgomery Field.  This is El Cajon mountain, aka El Capitan.

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And below is why pilots get instrument ratings.  This is the same mountain as above, with an extra thick marine layer obscuring all but the peak, at 5,000 feet above sea level. 

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New airplane time!  Below is a LSA Hornet.  LSA stands for Light Sport Aircraft and this one was manufactured at Ramona, CA, inside the hanger that's in the background of this photo.  Sadly, the company has moved away from Ramona, driven away by California's strict environmental laws. 
 
This aircraft is a lot of fun.  100 HP, 85 knots airspeed and all the visibility anyone could ask for.  And it doesn't burn a lot of gas.

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