You are wise, make no mistake 😊.

Hey, starting my journey into aviation and loved your words of encouragement. Thanks for sharing, Jim

I think making the right decisions is the hardest part of flying. It usually takes many wrong decisions to learn how to make good decisions! It sounds like you made the right call and I salute you! Personally, I try not to put myself in a situation where I "have to" fly. I don't work as a commercial pilot so that helps.

Hey! Loved your video on flying a Cessna 150 on a budget. Really cool stuff! Quick question though: how do you check the daily fuel prices? Do you have any favorite websites or apps, or do you just give the FBO a ring? Curious to hear your tricks! Keep the awesome content coming!

Yes flying is so much fun! Truly a gift!

When you called ATC you did not specify type Cessna 150 ….so ATC was not able to decide closing speed difference so had no alternative than to instruct tanker go around …

Man I totally feel ya flying to a new airport!

So you're telling me a gal of jet fuel only weighs around 1 lb? A gal. of water weighs 8 lb. Your calculations have to be wrong.

Catastrophe

I calculated $592 based on $5 per gal which is probably high. I fly thru there a lot! Never had any other traffic there. I was flying to Whitted one time up Tampa Bay and a B1 went by. I wiggled my wings, and so did he! That was cool.

Well one could argue you evaluated the risk involved. The runway was dry and you had plenty of stopping margin based on the performance of your aircraft demonstration. You just didn’t leave yourself an out. I think most pilots have done something like this once. You can always get away with gambling risk involved but eventually the law of averages will come calling. Your life isn’t the price to pay losing on a bet.

Is it possible to modify a 150 to fly 600 NM?

P r o m o s m 💐

I'm not sure why your decision to "not" do a go-around was such a big deal for you. It wasn't even dark out yet, you had plenty of altitude and airspeed, and I'm sure you have done crosswind landings before, but it is what it is I suppose. It's good to know one's limitations but once you're airborne all that goes out the window. But did you make some mistakes, sure you did but is every landing always perfect, of course not, and that's why we spend so much time in the pattern under all conditions. However, what's important here is that "any landing you can walk away from is a good landing". I would recommend flying with a CFI a little more just to regain some confidence because a lack of confidence in the air can kill you.

The really fun low approach is at the Shuttle Landing Facility (KTTS). They are very accommodating as long as they have no other activity.

At affut Air Force they leave the plane running 247 for emergency flights. You can hear it just idling all the time. They have enough money stolen from us

You're fine believe me if that controller didn't want to mess with you he would have just said remain outside of the Delta airspace. We used to do low approaches all the time at WPAFB. Most of the time the controller actually enjoyed it he said because it gave him something a little different to do. I sure got a lot of great C17 footage from it too

In my flight training I was taught to fuel my trainer. CFI didn't play that.

I’m probably one of the very few people that actually look to fly in bad weather. Once you obtain an instrument rating, it’s very expensive to keep having to get an IPC or instrument proficiency check. It’s a case for me of trying to keep my currency up. Thank goodness my FBO has a Redbird simulator, so I can complete that monthly. It helps from the time that I am able to file IFR and punch through the clouds and fly above them. My friends wonder in amazement how I know where I’m going when they can’t see the ground. I tell them look carefully. Each cloud has an exit sign. You just have to look for it.

I never learned how to fuel an airplane when I learned how to fly. I knew how to fuel a car, so I thought it was not as difficult. I went over one day when the fuel truck driver was on lunch, and I played around with his tanker and figured it out. I was happy that I accomplished this task. Obviously, he was not.

Prior planning and avoidance of wind and various other elements of the terrain and rivers of air we fly in can certainly prevent a lot of problems. We humans, however, tend to find ourselves in uncomfortable situations however. With wind management, the wind is our friend. It gives us enough relative wind to fly earlier on takeoff, it reduces the radius or our into the wind rather than downwind turns, it reduces ground speed when we land. You were not comfortable with it, but you did mostly exactly as I would have done. You used full flaps and landed . That, along with a strong headwind component, reduced your ground speed. Less damage to tin and skin occurs at slow ground speed. There are other wind management considerations. Why left traffic with a downwind base when you were the only airplane in the pattern? Right traffic would have reduced your ground speed on base and would have reduced the radius, given the same bank angle, of the turn to final. There is more. Rather than repeat no wind and light crosswind circuits, work on crosswind and learn the power/pitch approach that will further reduce airspeed coming into ground effect. When we slow enough with full flaps to get a good sink, we have to add power to control glide angle and rate of descent. This brings the throttle into dynamic control rather than just a set rpm. This is accurate enough to exactly control touchdown spot. With full flaps and power/pitch deceleration on short final coming into ground effect, we can safely angle across from the downwind corner to the upwind bigh airplane touchdown zone marking in the one thousand feet available. Carefully avoiding wind will poorly work to prevent crosswind problems throughout a recreational flying career. Ask your instructor to work on more efficient technique on your flight review. Things like this and the basic low ground effect takeoff to take advantage of the thousands of feet of free ground effect acceleration energy on takeoff. As a default takeoff technique, it will save pilots who miss calculate weight or are less familiar with high DA takeoff. Tell your instructor you want to exercise your license to learn. ACS maneuvers are some of the most energy inefficient techniques in aviation.

Still a nice landing

Why not grow up?

Military bases in the US have golf courses?

In another comment you said you took additional dual instruction after this, seeking days with strong gusts, to build crosswind skills. I think an event like this one, where a very dangerous flight ends with zero injuries or damage, provides just about enough of "instruction" to avoid ever getting oneself into the similar situation ever again. People easily forget how powerful the external mental pressure (to get there as planned) can be. Even professionals with thousands of flight hours make these mistakes under the such mental pressure. The thing is, very few pilots will make the same mistake twice. There are generally only two possible outcomes: either you die from it, or you live and learn to never do it again. Learning from such an experience is probably the most powerful, effective way, as it will never ever leave you.

It was good of you to put those KC135 pilots through a variation in their routine. Complacency is the enemy of good piloting and circling the pattern the same way each time is just one more thing breeding complacency.

Who cares?! You pay taxes. You PAID for the tanker fuel anyway. Take all the time you like. I flew in the military and always gave wide deference to civilian traffic because they're paying for their fuel....I wasn't.

It is part of training for both of you. You are making yourself a better pilot and they are learning how to adapt to small traffic. Expensive yes but it may have helped everyone from the tower to the yoke.

If the KC did TWO 360’s to follow the 152 it is clear the KC should have gone first and the 152 would have easily follow led with appropriate wake turbulence separation

Good on ya man for posting this. I’m not a pilot but weirdly love watching GA KZbin vids and learning the ins and outs. Each time I’ve watched someone’s “I’m embarrassed to show this” vid I’m glad they posted because if the admission costs a little embarrassment or a ding to one’s pride but saves lives, it was more than worth it. 👍🏻

I liked this video. I once flew through Nellis AFB Bravo. Not sure if it cost as much as your trip did but I have no guilt. It's my tax money too.

If the Air Force had thought the expense of a go-around (or 2) for the KC-135 was an issue, they would have had YOU loop back to the downwind and put you behind the KC-135. And as others have said, training, training, training. I experienced a minor fire in a machine shop, and the local fire department deployed everything (it seemed like). They told me the reason was twofold: a) in case the fire was actually larger than indicated in the original call or in case it expanded; and b) they always deploy greatly, as much as for a "training op" as anything else. I don't recall the order in which the points were made!

I know all you care about is clicks, and you have that right, but general aviation is getting more and more restrictive and expensive the more we present ourselves as an anomaly to the airspace system. I foresee a not too distant future where we no longer have VFR flight privileges. How long will it be before some politician will propose that the FAA can reduce the cost of operating the airspace if general aviation is eliminated?

I always enjoyed keeping speed up, then big crab at the last. Apparently you haven't found the wing-sweep & afterburner switches yet.😅

Your Tax dollars....

I flew my plane out of Albert witted for several years. I never bothered McDill. Always just stayed low over the bay away from any problems. If it caused me a little extra fuel to go north or north east out of McDill so be it.

It’s good training for their pilots. Don’t worry about it.

Largo Florida resident here working on my PPL

I overfly McGuire AFB class D all of the time while staying clear of PHL class B, but I never thought of even asking to enter, let alone do a low approach. Perhaps next time I'll make the request and see what the controller says.

A friend, flying VFR, was forced, by an unexpected snow squall, to land at a (now closed) Navy field. They put his 172 in a hanger for the night. The next day, they loaded him up with charts out of date for the Navy but current for civilian use, stood by with a fireman while he started up. What did he do right? "You called us, told us what was going on, and did what we told you to do." That was a while back, and I'm sure the rules are tighter now, but bottom line is "/communicate,/ navigate, aviate", and all will be well. Worry about sending the KC-135 on two 360's? It's all part of Air Force aviation; not to worry. ADDED: Great thumbnail graphic!

I fly the same old planes, 172, 152, 150. All rentals. I really appreciate your video's , down to earth and not the "Instagram vibe" type of video's. Keep them coming ! And save sky's, all the way from the Netherlands.

Wow! Where to start? As soon as I saw you lifting off I knew it was Pilot Country. Being based at BKV, I’ve flown in and out of there many times. I actually bought a Cessna 150 to learn to fly in and owned it for 5 years. After selling it to the FBO at Vandenberg (now Tampa Executive) for one of their training aircraft, I bought a 1971 Cessna 172. Had it for about 30 years and enjoyed every single minute flying it. I’ve actually flown into McDill for a pilot awareness seminar for pilots to get information on the F16 activities in the area. This was when McDill was an F16 training base. I was based at Vandenberg where I learned to fly from my partner in the 150 who was a colonel in the Air Force training pilots in the F16. We had gone in together on the plane, me to learn to fly and him to teach his son to fly. His son was accepted into the Air Force Academy where he flew the F15 and then the F22. When my wife and I moved to Brooksville about 30 years ago was when my 172 was based there. Unfortunately because of medical reasons, I had to sell it. Of course that was just before Covid and the crazy increase in aircraft prices! My wife and I are both motorcycle riders and have both done our share of scuba diving also. Well, you have a new subscriber and I’ll vicariously go with you on these flights! As I miss flying terribly! Blue skies!

You might receive an invoice from the DoD for $829.63... 😁

Remove toilet water valve

I was doing touch and goes at my home field KBED which is also Hanscom AFB. While on a left downwind I was cleared number 1 to land. A C5-A on a right base was cleared number 2 after the Cessna 150, me. I told the tower that I’d be happy to extend my downwind and do a couple of 360’s. The C5 landed first and the pilot said a quick thanks to me over the radio. I figured that I saved Uncle Sam som gas money.

Yay!!!🎉

I always use flight following. Out here, you want somebody watching you. , Albuquerque Center is always accommodating . If the MOA is hot, they’ll give you all the info they have. Most of the time all it takes is a few minutes of extra time to fly around or stick to the edges.

I soloed in a Cessna 150 in 1967 at Greenville Downtown Airport, Greenville SC. I joined the Air Force in 1970 and spent the last part of my enlistment at MacDill AFB, although I could not afford to fly at that time. One evening a commercial airliner landed on an old unused runway at MacDill causing quite a stir. That was the most police blue lights that I have ever seen in on place in my life. Doh! I very much enjoyed Tampa. My barracks was so close to the radar station that "beep beep" would be recorded on my cassette tapes as I was recording them. I served with USAF Regional Hospital MacDill under 1st TAC Fighter Wing. The last time that I flew was in 1995, a Cessna 172. All the best! Mack

We have dozens of MOAs in the southwest. I found out that flying through an MOA is legal, but not always a good idea, where fighters are involved. ATC mostly can’t track fighters because of their speed and maneuvering. If one of the fighter pilots sites a GA airplane, they have to knock off the fight until the GA is out of the MOA. That usually means all the expense incurred up to that point was wasted. My info is a retired ANG Colonel.

Well, my view is that the KC-135 pilots got valuable experience accommodating non-military aircraft. The pilots were obviously training, the fuel used would be burned regardless of whether you were there or not. I think the Kc-135 pilots were happy to break up the boring routine of around and around the pattern! You should enjoy your accomplishment without the guilt.