Flying recommendations in Lakeland, FL area?

fiveoboy01

fiveoboy01

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Dirty B
I got here(Winter Haven) yesterday afternoon and will be here until next Wednesday morning.

I didn't bring my certificate but I did bring my log book. Thinking about maybe renting an airplane and a CFI and bombing around for an hour or so.

Recommendations? Anything at the Lakeland airport? I see there are a few others in the area. Prefer to rent an Archer...

On a side note, I had my friend drive me to Zephyrhills and I got a tour of Zephyr Aircraft Engines where my engine was just overhauled. Bunch of nice guys there, clean and organized facility.
 
Yup. Tailwheels is located at KLAL and is great. They are geared more towards accelerated program students but they do also do rentals with dual instruction and have a ton of CFIs on staff.

http://www.tailwheelsetc.com/

Don't remember if they have an Archer.

PilotMall.com is also based at KLAL with a great retail store...leave your wallet in your car!
 
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fiveoboy01 said:
I got here(Winter Haven) yesterday afternoon and will be here until next Wednesday morning.

I didn't bring my certificate but I did bring my log book. Thinking about maybe renting an airplane and a CFI and bombing around for an hour or so.

Recommendations? Anything at the Lakeland airport? I see there are a few others in the area. Prefer to rent an Archer...

On a side note, I had my friend drive me to Zephyrhills and I got a tour of Zephyr Aircraft Engines where my engine was just overhauled. Bunch of nice guys there, clean and organized facility.
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If you are in Winter Haven pop over to the airfield and see Tim Preston in the FBO treat yourself to a ride in his Stearman or Super Cub or go to the south side of the field and see Bill at Propeller Heads, great little repair shop and he also has a 172 for rental with or without a CFI
 
As for things to see, pop over to the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC. (KTTS is the identifier). They'll usually clear you to do a low pass and its an impressive way to see the space center. Cedar Key (KCDK) is a nice lunch trip from Lakeland as well. But I guess you'll have to buy the CFI's lunch too...

John
 
KVNC (Venice) has a nice little cafe right on the field. A lot of local pilots (myself included) often hitup that place for lunch on the weekends.

KCDK (Cedar Key) is nice, bring a bike or you'll have to call the lady in the golf cart on unicom and have her shuttle you back and forth to the main area.

KSPG (albert whitted) nice little field on the bay, good food, hangar restaurant.

Sebring, Okeechobee and a few others in the middle of the state are good too (can you tell I fly to a lot of places for food??? heh).
 
I had thought about that. I might call them and see if they do some sort of intro flight for seaplanes. I come here once a year usually, next time I might take 2 extra days and get the rating.

Thanks for all the helpful replies so far. I haven't decided what to do yet but I'll think it over. I want to visit the retail pilot store, but that might be dangerous:)
 
Many times I have flown with Browns for an hour flight in the cub with an instructor. It is a real lesson and you will do a lot / most of the flying, it is worth every penny.. Ask for a sticker for your log book and you will be able to log the dual.

The chances are excellent that you can fly with them this weekend..

Let us know how it was..



fiveoboy01 said:
I had thought about that. I might call them and see if they do some sort of intro flight for seaplanes. I come here once a year usually, next time I might take 2 extra days and get the rating.

Thanks for all the helpful replies so far. I haven't decided what to do yet but I'll think it over. I want to visit the retail pilot store, but that might be dangerous:)
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iflyatiger said:
Many times I have flown with Browns for an hour flight in the cub with an instructor. It is a real lesson and you will do a lot / most of the flying, it is worth every penny.. Ask for a sticker for your log book and you will be able to log the dual.

The chances are excellent that you can fly with them this weekend..

Let us know how it was..
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I drove over there today and flew 1.5 in one of the Cub floatplanes. We did 15 landings on probably 8-9 different lakes... What a blast! Really cool facility and all around friendly and nice people. The CFI's brother actually works in Madison so that was a neat thing to talk about.

We did all the different types of take-offs and landings. I didn't find it overly difficult, dropped it in a couple times from a few feet too high... But nothing that broke the airplane:)

Highly recommended! Just me, an open-door cub, no radio, no GPS... Definitely a different experience. Most fun I have had in a while! I appreciate the suggestion.

Tomorrow I might drive to Lakeland and check out the Pilotmall retail store. Not sure if I should bring my wallet...
 
Excellent.. Very happy it worked out for you! This sounds just like the flights I took with them that's why I go every time I am nearby..

Maybe next time try a little loose formation..



fiveoboy01 said:
I drove over there today and flew 1.5 in one of the Cub floatplanes. We did 15 landings on probably 8-9 different lakes... What a blast! Really cool facility and all around friendly and nice people. The CFI's brother actually works in Madison so that was a neat thing to talk about.

We did all the different types of take-offs and landings. I didn't find it overly difficult, dropped it in a couple times from a few feet too high... But nothing that broke the airplane:)

Highly recommended! Just me, an open-door cub, no radio, no GPS... Definitely a different experience. Most fun I have had in a while! I appreciate the suggestion.

Tomorrow I might drive to Lakeland and check out the Pilotmall retail store. Not sure if I should bring my wallet...
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fiveoboy01 said:
I drove over there today and flew 1.5 in one of the Cub floatplanes. We did 15 landings on probably 8-9 different lakes... What a blast! Really cool facility and all around friendly and nice people. The CFI's brother actually works in Madison so that was a neat thing to talk about.
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What did your cost come to for that? sounds awesome!
 
The J3 on floats is $185 an hour including the CFI.

I think the total was $277. I also bought a super cool sweatshirt embroidered with their logo for maybe $40.

Money very well spent.

BTW.... The Maule is $350/hr... :eek:

I will post up a few pics when I get home on Wednesday.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
The J3 on floats is $185 an hour including the CFI.

I think the total was $277. I also bought a super cool sweatshirt embroidered with their logo for maybe $40.

Money very well spent.

BTW.... The Maule is $350/hr... :eek:

I will post up a few pics when I get home on Wednesday.
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Thanks! I may have to copy your deal--that just sounds pretty sweet
 
I highly recommend it.

Now I'm looking for a cub on floats. I had better stop that nonsense immediately.
 
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