She flies again..

[RollerBall]

G-ARIK, who I was privileged to own in the late 1970's







I had goosepimples the first time I saw her again in the sim. She's still around, according to the UK register she's back in East Anglia on a farm close to where I bought her. Changed a bit now - the present owner has painted her all white. Looks good, but shame to have lost the original vintage paintjob.

When I had her she was totally original - front bench seat and all. I've recoloured Bill Lyons's interior and panel to make her very like she was in my day and it was a strange but good feeling to take off for the first time from Sherburn where the real pics were taken on the day I sold her and where I had her hangared for most of the time I owned her.

Took me back to a very happy time of my life. This sim has some amazing powers and I really am typing this with tears in my eyes.

[erp001]

It's a beautifull aircraft, Rollerball. It must be something special to be able to fly your own (previous) aircraft in the sim.

Easy Flyer.

[Fozzer]

Hi Roger...!

Beautiful shots...!

...any chance of borrowing her for a very careful nostalgic flight around Caiifornia...!

I will take very good care of her, if you can tell me where she is hangared at the moment....
...please...!

Paul...Low and Slow Pillock Pilot... ...!

[Tweek]

Nice Must be good to have it back, eh?

[Mr.Mugel]

I can think of what you feel, there

[BFMF]

I should do a repaint of my old trainer I primarily flew for almost two years before someone crashed it

[bm]

Thanks for sharing this with us Roller

Great shots  :)

[RollerBall]

Thanks for looking guys and for your comments.

Yeah, it's my own repaint and I think there are a few little bits to do before it's really finished. I'm also gonna look at the panel to make it a bit more 'basic' the way mine was. Won't make it exactly as it was - just one old Narco 12 COM/VOR (even that was more than you need for REAL VFR flying ie non-radio) - but there's no way a bloomin CD player is staying in my plane. Maybe OK for the US but in the UK any cross-country flight in real life involves a lot of radio work and there's no way you'd EVER get to listen to a CD!

Just looked at my old Logbook. My first flight in G-ARIK was on 13th September 1977, 19.10 - 19.30 with my old CFI at Swanton Morley for an initial handling check. The next was on 15th September 18.10 - 18.40 for my checkout on the plane and then the fun began with me checking out the flight envelope including stalls etc solo over Norfolk.

Remember how when you just got your driving licence and you went over 100 mph for the first time? I didn't record it in my Log unfortunately but it was on a glorious day in that September when I put G-ARIK into a lazy climbing turn and took her up to 10,000 ft. The view was incredible from that little cockpit and I guess I could see for hundreds of miles with the curve of the earth disappearing in the distance in a deep blue haze. Very very special and I'll never forget it.

Took her to Sherburn on 30th October 1977 and kept her there until I flew her down to meet her new owner at Booker on 9th July 1978.

I put in 52hrs 10mins with her in the time I had her. There were one or two minor gremlins while I had her but what do you expect from a lady of a 'certain age' (she came into the world in 1961). All in all we had a beautiful relationship and I was sorry to see her go, but as a young man starting off in a new direction in mid-career and needing to buy into the housing market again, the parting was unfortunately inevitable.

[Omag 2.0]

Amazing to see how long these planes fly around! Shows that these classics are more than just means of transportation! And who knows Rollerball, perhaps you'll own her again some day, or another vintage beauty!

[ozzy72]

Fantastic stuff Roger

[JBaymore]

Roger,

The second shot is stunning!

best,

.................john

[krigl]

It was really great reading this, Rollerball, very interesting...and I'm glad you had this good moment. I'll be keen to try flying her when you've finished the modification - she's a beauty!

With my eyes and other things that's the closest I'm going to get to the joy of flying such a machine

I often wondered too about the CD player some people put in their planes, a nice gimmick but...

[yancovitch]

wow thats real clean.

[Jakemaster]

This is what flightsim is all about.  Being able to fly the planes you want without dealing with all the problems of real life.  Whether it is a Piper Tripacer you used to own, a Cessna 152 that you train in, or a Lockheed P-38 that you wish you could fly, all can be flon in flightsimulator.

BTW, nice paint  ;D

[Marlin]

Roller

That was too cool.

I don't care what YOU think of your repaint, it is fantastic!!!!!