Samuel117

Frank ,

Thank you very much for a great gift.

Awesome pictures!

It is incredible that the best camera can not compare to the Human eye. I know there are many beautiful details that do not get recorded in our pictures.

Thank you for your correction. I will keep trying to keep equal numbers of take offs and landings.

Frank,

I could not agree more with your point of view. It is up to everyone to try to see the positive side of every situation and even when crashing,try to fly it down as long as possible into the crash. when confronted with a very difficult situation in my life, it is when I stop feeling a victim and start thinking and pushing hard against the problem that things tend to somehow start aligning to a better outcome than expected. These days, I find myself trying to change from feeling a victim to feeling a part of the solution as soon as possible every time.

Today it is my 43th birthday and I went flying with an old friend from my years flying remote controlled models of airplanes. His name is Rafael. He recently celebrated his 70th birthday. He wanted to fly to celebrate and that we did.

Good landings to every one!

Wow!

Frank, every time you post pictures like those, I can not resist and I have to go flying. Thank you.

The superDrifter it is a great float plane. The first Drifter I flew as a passenger was on floats with a rotax 912. It was amazing. This new model with 100 hp rotax only make sense on floats as it is otherwise overpowered. I could go to VNE in level flight with 80 hp on mine. A climbing prop takes you up higher fast and the increased size of the tail helps to improve handling at slow speed. The price of a new Superdrifter it is about 50ks. The price kills what otherwise could be a great option. I have a friend who keeps one in a hangar brand new with only about 30 hours and flew it last time a year ago. That is a crime. Hangar queens are a shame!

One thing I do try these days is to mentor those I know that are learning to fly and I really enjoy that.

Hi Frank,

You for sure have done your part for aviation. "A good instructor is priceless, for everything else you have your credit card"

Sad students some time do not know how to tell the good from the bad ones. Instructing has always interested me but time it is one thing I don't have these days. I work 6 days a week and only have a couple of hours one evening during the week and a couple of hours every Sunday morning to fly. Sundays mid morning my family wake up and start requesting my attention. Maybe when my kids finish going through college I could slow down and devote myself to instructing. My youngest son is only six now!

It looks worse than it was up close. It went to the north with the wind and after it left a beautiful evening to flight. I'll try to post a small video of one of the landings at Homestead general airport, close to my base.

The storm was to the west. I pointed the camera to the storm and the nose of the Drifter 180 degrees to the other side. That is the key to go back home with the airplane still in one piece. Here the approach view of runway 18.

It is sad to hear that. I am pretty sure someone will take the torch and revive the Drifter factory somehow. Here we have Lockwood that support the Drifter flyers. Even when they have a new modification they call Superdrifter, they are focused in producing and advertising the Aircam. It is a shame they don't even take the drifter to the airshows here in Florida. I questioned one of the sellers for Lockwood and they say they are a small company and are unable to take people out of the Aircam line to build Drifters. At least we can find parts. I just came back about two hours ago from flying after work. This pictures all were taken today. Still fresh from my phone.

Eric Salado is a well known Orthopedic surgeon in Miami and an expert at spear fishing. He will make a great pilot. He showed a Steady hand and good coordination.

Hi Frank,

You are doing great keeping the Drifter's legacy alive and well. For every twenty passengers we take maybe one will decide to go into flying and that it is good. I can tell you you will change the perception about aviation of every one of them you take up. It is up to us to change that perception to a positive one. I just took flying a friend that have been tinkering around pilots friends and had flying in his bucket list. He has a simulator at home and plays often. I took the time to explain basic theory of flight. We talked about flight controls and procedures like checklists and preflight inspection as well as basic maneuvers. After our flight, he decided to start ground school to get his private ticket. One passenger at the time! That is our mission to bring light sport aviation to the general public. I am very happy about this. Will post pictures soon.

Hi Frank, nice pictures. Here one of the recent addition to the Drifter's passenger club. Roshan Gyawali. Originally from Nepal. He took on my offer to fly the Drifter and so far have being the happiest passenger.

Well, I can see you did not have your head in the clouds when you did that mod. It is simple but effective. I would not enclose the whole airplane but I like your solution to the problem. If it gets out the buffeting that will be enough for me. I think you should write about your 5 months adventure flying the Drifter. That will make a nice book .

That is a great picture!

When I mount on my drifter, the back of the seat flex back considerably. I would have to fix the seat to the tubing before I attempt to make a modification like that. The one who rides on the back of our airplanes definitely gets a beating from the wind and the noise. I will try this mod to see if that helps making it a more enjoyable experience. If I could replicate at least half of the nice sensation you get when you fly from the front seat, I will be satisfied. Thank you.

Those Heineken cameras are awesome!

Hi Maj,

It is sad how the history ended up for a beautiful airplane. Three questions:

1- Was the modification to the passenger Cockpit a factory made mod?

2-Any one has the drawings for it?

3- how this mod affected the flight characteristics of the airplane?

Thank you,

Frank, I have seen the videos, pictures and comments from your friends about your hospitality. I really appreciate and at the same time would like to invite you to fly the drifter anytime if you ever come to Miami, Florida. I know it is a long way but who knows!

Frank, thank you very much for your offer! The world is not really such a big place after all. Australia have being always a dream and one day it will be a reality for me. That day will not be complete if Drifter flying and the friends who fly them are not involved. I said it before and I mean it again now, every drifter flyer and any pilot from Australia has a Drifter available at no cost if they venture to come to Miami Florida. It will be an honor to share what we all love to do. Yesterday, I got my friend Joe in the captain chair and now he wants more. He owns a Cessna 172 but loved to play with the Drifter. The airplane played with him also at some point during the flight

My friend Jorge was my last victim. First time on a GA airplane. His own words" this is one of the most exciting and fun experience ever". He got some stick time and now wants more. I can not blame him for that, right?

Frank, I will join you in the conspiracy to get every one I can in to the Drifter. This is so fun It can become illegal at any moment. So, we have to rush!

Wow!

Frank You are in heaven. Make sure you return back to earth every time. Remember you should keep equal numbers of take off and landings.