Went Flying 2022

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went out for my first acro flight of the season today and met a new airport tenant, Marc, and his 2001 7GCBC!

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Doing my tailwheel endorsement and EMT/UPRT training at Santa Paula. Got to fly in their 7-ECA yesterday, and have flown their 7-GCBC and 7-KCAB as well. What a great airport and flight school (CP Aviation)!
 
How lucky you are to be near a fleet of 7-series aircraft and all available for rent!

Welcome and thanks for the pic, always nice to wake up to a 7ECA photo :yesss:

Did CP used to be at Santa Ana?
 
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I think they were two different outfits - cannot remember the original names of them, but I think Michael Church ran the SNA operation.
I flew in and out of SNA when it was one runway uncontrolled. It is a very complex place now, and far too expensive a place for an aerobatics school. Flying jets in and out is easy; lightplanes not so much.
Santa Paula is very busy and very friendly.
 
Forgot - based my Cub at SBA for a very short time in 1971, while attending UCSB. No radio, so touch and goes were before the tower opened. Airport mgr did not like that, but couldn't find any rule I was breaking.
 
Judy Phelps runs CP Aviation, she’s married to Clay Phelps, the outfit’s namesake if I’m not mistaken. To my knowledge, they have always been at Santa Paula.

I’m doing my EMT/UPRT training with Mark King, who is probably known to those involved in aerobatics in SoCal (and maybe beyond). He’s been great so far - quite a character, and I say that with admiration and appreciation.

Santa Paula itself is like no place I’ve been or flown before. I worked as a fueler for Bob Grant at Great American Aviation at KTOA back in the early 90s, and I saw a lot of cool warbirds and similar thanks to that (Hoover’s Ole Yeller lived in our main hangar in those days). But Santa Paula is a whole other level, both in terms of the airport layout (what’s a runway safety area?), the kind of aircraft based there, and the type and quality of the pilots who call it home. I feel very grateful to get to fly there and learn from some of the very best.
 
It might have been “Screaming Eagle” a while back - or maybe they were an ACA dealership.
 
Screaming Eagle was an aircraft sales operation. I remember Screaming Eagle had the Decathalon from the movie Always for sale for a while. He finally had it recovered as I think it was pink and said On a Wing and a Prayer in lettering on the side.
CP has been there a long time, I went up for some dual in a Pitts there in the late 80's or 1990. I think it was CP's Pitts that was in the midair collision there in 1991.
Beautiful airport to visit and fun on open house day when many hangars are open.
 
Crossing the Hudson in my 7ECA a week ago, with view of Bear Mountain bridge - on one of my many commuting flights between the Philly area (KOQN) and Boston area (6B6). Easy to catch tailwinds on the way up - and really hard to avoid strong headwinds on the way down this time of the year. UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1862.webp
 
Bartman said:
were you heading east in that photo? that area is beautiful for hiking and stuff.
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Yes, heading east. I've hiked Bear Mt. as a kid - but haven't really visited the area since - other than regularly either flying or driving through. Planning to hike Greylock, a bit further north - otherwise, my partner and I do a lot of hiking mainly in ADK and the whites.
 
volvo164 said:
Yes, heading east. I've hiked Bear Mt. as a kid - but haven't really visited the area since - other than regularly either flying or driving through. Planning to hike Greylock, a bit further north - otherwise, my partner and I do a lot of hiking mainly in ADK and the whites.
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Can see my alma mater in that photo, next bend to the north. Hudson School for Boys.
 
Big Ed said:
Can see my alma mater in that photo, next bend to the north. Hudson School for Boys.
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Really? West Point? I didn't know we have such a distinguished individual amongst us. 😁

That would be the ridge on the west side of the river just north of Bear Mtn, didn't you guys hike and shoot mortars and stuff up there?
 
Bartman said:
That would be the ridge on the west side of the river just north of Bear Mtn, didn't you guys hike and shoot mortars and stuff up there?
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The campus is directly on the point jutting out on the west bank of the river, hence the name. There is a field training area about 5 miles southwest of campus with weapons ranges, which shows up on the sectional as a restricted area. No training at Bear Mountain State Park, but a common place for cadets to go to escape. West Point is the kind of place you escape when you can. As we said when I was a cadet, a $200,000 education shoved up your ass a nickle at a time.
 
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