I played most types of football at school, but even there I discovered horses, where all the power is supplied, & you only have to supply the finesse to control & guide the power. That was it, no more running around getting all sweaty & smelly for me.

Talking about power, I then discovered jet flying machines, they take a fair bit of finesse to get them back to earth in one piece, but it is fun. Racing cars like my Brabham Repco was great fun, & it requires a fair bit of Finesse to break Bathurst lap records, but the ultimate is a good yacht surfing down a wave at 20 knots.

It will be hard for many to believe, but 20 knots in a yacht is a damn sight faster than 180 MPH in a car, or the sound barrier in a jet.

With all these great things to actually do, I can't imagine why anyone would go to some field with 90,000 others & shout them selves silly watching 20 to 30 dills kick a ball around.

Hell, flying my little toy planes around the bottom paddock has got to be more fun than that.

Hi there HASBEEN...

Point taken. However to be honest I couldn't be more amazed at flying a military aircraft off the deck of an A/C Carrier, and then doing a few circuits and putting it down again, all in one piece. I understand the Navy do get a bit upset if you bang-up their aeroplanes? Sure car racing is great, and I suppose Yachting has it's own set of thrills as well.

My only really unforgettable experience is scooting along at tree top height in a Huey, going flat out about 110 - 120 KTAS, over dense jungle terrain. You can almost reach out and touch the tree top foliage, you're so close to the trees. When we were in Malaysia (1964 - 65) operating along the Malay/Thai Border, the densest part of the entire peninsular, we actual saw an Elephant drinking and showing itself in a stream. Another time we saw a tiger in another stream drinking. That's by far the most exciting thing I ever took part in, only as a passenger of course. Still not a lot of people have seen nature up close and personal as that?

The only other thing which I no longer have, nor participate in, I (had) an unrestricted (fixed wing) PPL endorsed on PA-28's C-172 C-180's and the Piper tail-wheel. I Was keen to obtain a IFR rating and perhaps venture onto twins. However cost's were prohibitive even back in the mid 1960's - and early 1970's.

enjoy Hasbeen still in my garden until death ealy life saw me still paying for it but get around ok are you still growing daylilies? frost this year murdered mine back on thread my game is NRL and not my team but Bulldogs are in the gun, they let a drunken party be photoed naked men who have head butted once too often now NSW front page

Don't worry about your daylilies Belly, in cold climates they frost off at ground level every winter. If left undisturbed, they will come back in the spring. In the very near future in fact. It is only in warmer climates they are evergreen. You can dig them up & store them, but they don't seem to need that.

I'm not doing much these days, I'm waiting to be made a bionic man, with titanium knees. I need one of those little cranes they used to lift knights up onto their horses to get me back up, if I get down on my knees.

Don't like those chopper things o sung wu, in fact they scare the living daylights out of me. When I joined the navy we had a dozen of those Wessex things. We lost 5 in about 4 years, & some took their crew with them. It sounds to me that you liked living much more dangerously than you have led us to believe previously.

You're right about the navy getting crabby if people don't bring the planes back. We were a bit short of Venoms toward the end there. However quite often the blokes who don't bring them back, don't come back either. A bit hard for commander air to rouse on them in that case.

Yep private flying is ridiculously expensive. I had a lady friend once who bought herself a tiger moth, then kept her self broke trying to keep it in the air.

I must thank you & other taxpayers for paying for my flying. Kind of you I'm sure.

Speaking on my own behalf, it's been my absolute pleasure to assist in some modest way in keeping you in the Air, HASBEEN as you've so accustomed to have become. It's all good mate.

One thing in conclusion, when I was Loadmaster in the HUEY I'd often sit left hand seat, with the Pilot always sitting in RH seat in rotary wing. Occasionally when flying straight and level he'd hand me the Yoke, mate I'm hear to tell you, they're not easy to fly the bugger's.

Thanks Hasbeen look forward to spring,[it can not read calendars] hope you get much better, my legs and back are not good took a few bad falls before understanding I am not a kid any more cheers