When I first started thinking about flying I was motivated by the idea of getting from point A to point B without having to crawl along on a super highway at 50 - 60 MPH in heavy traffic when the posted speed limit was 70 or 75. I had long commutes between Austin and Fort Worth and after trying the "drive" in Microsoft Flight Simulator I realized that, with a fast enough plane, flying would turn a 3 hour high stress very boring drive into an hour or so of very cool adventure.
If I learned to be a pilot, I could kiss traffic jams, high speed jostles with hostile SUVs and menacing tractor trailers goodbye.
The more I played with the simulator, the more convinced I became, and one day I picked up the phone and called a flying club I'd tracked down in Austin with what seemed like acceptable training costs.
That day set me on the track of finding out I was completely wrong about using a plane to shave travel time off of what was a 3 hour commute between cities by car. It turned out I loved to fly, and I still would like to give some commuter flying a shot sometimes, but the reality and the flight simulator just ain't the same. No one, after all, just walks out to the parking lot where they work, jump in their Cessna, fire it up, and head off to the next city at 135 mph (faster, with a tailwind).
But during the process of finding out all the reasons why I had been mistaken, I learned that I really dug flying about 2000 to 3000 feet up, kinda slow, kinda low, gazing at the landscape and the life gliding by below me.
What kind of airplane would let me do that, and still get me places faster than a car on occasion?
Here's the answer: ZenithAir STOL Aircraft
That is a Short TakeOff and Landing plane that simply blows my mind. Here's some more links to videos on YouTube of these kinds of planes:
Canyon Surfing
CH750
There's a field near the building where I work; I used to walk out there and pace it out. About 800 feet long. Hmmm ... definitely could land on it, park the CH750 there in the morning and take off after work. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the FAA to let me do it ...
