This is for the pilots and others out there who can “drive” or operate other interesting vehicles or machines. My list is not very impressive, but I’ll start this off:
Motorcycles (instructor for 3 years)
Took one fixed wing flying lesson
One glider ride (with unicyclist Fred from Germany) in Nevada, where he let me operate the controls some
Another unicyclist, on Long Island in 1986, tried to teach me to hang glide by running down a hill. I declined and then watched him crash it (no injury).
Pretty much any type of unicycle including world’s smallest (11/16" wheel), largest at the time (63.5" wheel), walking machine, giraffe with pedals that go different speeds, half wheel, one and a half wheel, etc., though I still kind of suck at the ultimate wheel…
tried flying a helicopter once…pretty close to impossible. my friend who is also 16 just got his drivers license and flying license the same week. he’s pretty cool, but he doesn’t unicycle, so he couldn’t be that cool… im trying to get him interested
I am a former hang gliding pilot. I have flown in New Hampshire, Vermont, Cape Cod- MA. New York, and Florida USA. Longest distance flight that I had was at Mount Ascutney in Vermont. I launched, then thermaled up 1,000 feet over the top of the mountain, then flew down wind for 11 miles. Soared around there for awhile then landed. My longest time in the air was just over 2 and 1/4 hours. I gave up hang gliding when I had children. Didn’t want to risk not being a father because of an accident while flying. Which bought me to unicycling last Christmas. A relatively safe, new challenge.
It was very cool, the way it detects where you are and stays underneath you. The forward-backward part of driving it is almost completely intuative. Unfortunately the steering is a lot less intuitive, with a twist of the handle. Twist one way for right and the other for left. You’re dangerous until you can turn without having to remember which is which…
Jacquie and I tried them in Mission Beach, CA, just north of San Diego. It was a display/demo/ride there. Looks like they were out to sell rides, not Segways, but they probably had brochures. It was well worth the $5 for a few minutes’ play, though they kept us in a very small roped off area.
The other day we saw police or security on Segways at the Phoenix Airport. They had saddlebags on the sides, and the cops wore helmets but no other safety gear. It looked like a scene from some old science fiction movie to see them glide around, stop and “hover,” then continue.
About a year and a half ago, I was laid off from a management job and spent a unemployment year driving a school bus then a truck. The school bus was fun especially the special class trips to exotic places like the state capital and Navy Pier. Even better was driving the teams to athletic events. I love relating to kids and kids seem to like me. Maybe I missed my calling in life. Enough of this pansy-schmanzy working with adults, they’re too sofisticated and boring. Kids are great! Of course, I’m the biggest kid of them all.
Any kind of car
Bicycle, boat, unicycle, single engine complex aircraft (not current, but could prolly land anything with wings no prob… been flying since before I was born ;)… it’s the regulations I don’t remember ;))
Blenders full of ice and organic chemicals, too! I’ve even driven the big porcelain bus a few times in college.
Oh, right - vehicles…
Powerboats and sailboats of all kinds. Bicycles and cars too, of course.
Kayaks and canoes, including flatwater sprint kayaks, whitewater slalom kayaks, C1 and C2 slalom boats, and I used to be able to power a standard canoe by gunnlel-jumping.
Skis. Alpine and X-country.
A dogsled with 8 hyperactive mini-wolves.
Skyship 600B blimp, once airborne. (I’m not qualified to takeoff or land one.)
When I was around 7 years old, my aunt that worked at Goodyear Tires was able to arrange for me and 4 cousins a 1 hour ride on the Goodyear blimp.
I obviously do not know how to fly one, but thought that I would tell about this cool experience. I can recall it like it was yesterday. Even though it was almost 40 years ago.
Until I was about 15, I was heavily in to flying. I have about 15 hours logged on small Cessna aircraft, including a few landings where the instructor never touched the controls. I let it drop because I wasn’t passionate about it anymore, and because it was really expensive. I may start doing it again someday though, who knows.
When I was hanging around the airport doing odd jobs in exchange for flight time, I made friends with a guy who eventually let me try flying his helicopter. Now that was an experience. Flying at speed high above the ground is pretty much like flying a small plane, but hovering is a completely different story. You have three independent controls that all interact with each other. When you change one, you have to react with the other two. And the whole system is so unstable you have to be constantly reacting to something. Very cool stuff.
I mess around with bike trials, but I’m not very good.
im trying to get him interested
