Its hard to limit my wasted time on the intergoogle web. You tube shorts are like crack. But I have really learnt a lot here, on the 170 site and on Supercub.org. Aviation has been an introduction to some great friends for me, and I value them way above any content or posts.

Facebook does nothing for me, I think the entry effort is too low.

I have never been into videoing my flying, it is just too much effort and too distracting, but photos are important. When I look back at the most rewarding adventures a photo or two is magical.

But the best thing for me is the people that I have met, the laughs we have had together and the problems overcome.The generosity of the aviation community constantly humbles me. I try hard to pay it forward in small ways.

I have been coming here for at least 20 years, and am grateful for it. BCP provides relief from the grind and a reminder of the best times and adventures. One of my favorite things about backcountry flying is camaraderie in camp with other like-minded adventurers. There's no substitute for actually going and doing, but BCP reminds me of that life and keeps me motivated to get out there and live it in the flesh.

For me, social media lacks the positives but amplifies the negatives of the internet that preceded it. I'm not good at interacting online to begin with--something lacking in my digital EQ. So I don't post much and completely avoid social media. I do enjoy the contributions of knowledgeable and experienced folks who are good at posting, though. Thanks to the stalwarts here who keep at it.

CAVU

I agree with nearly all of the postings previous to this, I too find that You Tube and the like are rabbit holes that just suck up time and don't do much for you. On occasion, like today, I had a problem with some welding and a you tube video gave me the info I needed in just a moment.

As for this site, it is one of only a very few that I look at regularly, I don't fly anywhere near as much as I should, expense, time. effort other things needing done and all of that means that the plane just sits and i do something else.

This site allows me to vicariously take parts in other people's experiences and enjoy them.

I realize that this site takes a lot of time and effort and I thank you for creating and maintaining it. I couldn't do it, hell, I can't remember from one time to the next even how to post pictures. So thank you again.

The friendliness and generosity of this community is awesome! Have a problem? Post it on BCP and someone will have a solution.
Need a hangar somewhere far from home to repair a breakdown? Odds are that someone on here can and will offer up some space for you and most likely help with the greasy parts too.

I very seldom if ever have heard a nasty remark or unkind word and that is very refreshing to me.

I commend each and every one of you.

Social media has absolutely been a double edged sword for me the past few years while rebuilding my plane. Youtube has kept me motivated, but also been a time suck. FB has been the same- 10% useful info, 90% doom scrolling. That's probably being too generous, tbh.

I got my plane back in the air last June, and a month later closed on a property that I tried to work a deal on the year before. So between working on the property, and trying to fix squawks on the plane, I feel like I've been getting cock teased for at least the last 6 months. It's been hard to get someone to work on the plane, but progress is being made. Lately, it's been oil leaks, and every time I order a part on Monday, expecting to get it by Friday so work can be done over the weekend, it shows up the following Monday.

Same thing today. I'm looking out the window at clear skies, coming to grips that the flight(s) I've been looking forward to all week will be delayed yet another week. I feel like I'm slowly dying inside. At least the weather is on the upswing.

And as far as forums vs. FB, Forums are a FAR better resource, IMO. Way easier to search for old discussions, but I don't think I've posted a picture to one since Photobucket closed/limited their free accounts. Because I'm a cheap, lazy ass

Hey, Kelly. Fancy meeting you here.

1:1 Scale wrote:Because I'm a cheap, lazy ass

It doesn't get much cheaper than posting here. It's pretty much unlimited space, if used for the purposes of the forum.

https://youtu.be/F9Fa1Io-pxQ

Zzz wrote:Hey, Kelly. Fancy meeting you here.

1:1 Scale wrote:Because I'm a cheap, lazy ass

It doesn't get much cheaper than posting here. It's pretty much unlimited space, if used for the purposes of the forum.

https://youtu.be/F9Fa1Io-pxQ

Strange coincidence! Thanks for the tutorial!

The slides my brother took of my face as I flew us in to Taylor Ranch in Idaho for the first time at 17 in my own cheap rag wing Piper.

It was surreal to be flying to the same field I had my first flight instruction in three years earlier while working with him, or flying over the same surreal terrain we had spent years hiking and skiing and chasing big cats up trees together to collar them for the study we were there for. There is too much behind the grin in the photos and the glassy eyes on short final to bother with trying to share or explain, as is the case with most pictures.

Those older Fujichrome slides, taken over decades, have seen better days, but no color correction is needed. They are, after all, just the table of contents for the library of smells, sights, and sounds in the quiet hours and days after turning off the engine at hundreds of other airstrip gateways to the wild places on our continent. The flies tied to match the hatch for dinner, the storms, the sounds of animals and the quiet flow of everything else. And the growing up, the changes with life, and plenty of them. It was sometimes an experience by itself to come back to the plane from a few days or a couple of weeks of relative solitude and silence of trekking to suddenly take to the sky again with speed and scale, over the tops of trees and ridges I had been embedded in just moments before. I could never decide back then which was a better way to spend those early years. Now that my days are also numbered to the same ten thousand days at most, it's comforting to know my table of contents has grown, but the real deal is under it all.

Social media is to life what a school book report based on the table of contents of the book is to understanding the book itself.

Nice to hear from you, Lee. Elegantly painted, as usual!

Showing my friend Hugh, an Avid Flyer owner, how I can make a 360 degree turn in my well rigged Kitfox without touching the stick.


One year later. The last time I saw my Kitfox. The new owner leaving my driveway with it on the trailer.