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private pilot geocachers


pvtplt172

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Hi there I am a private pilot trying to reach out to other private pilot Geocachers. Are there any geocachers that are also private pilots? If yes i wanted to know if you have flown to other airports that have a geocache near by. If yes could you tell me 2 things.

First tell me about your flight to the airport in the area were you went geocaching. second tell me about the cache. Geocaching and Aviation are a big part of my life now and i am so glad. I also wanted to see how many other people are lucky enough to experience this.

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I am not a pilot, but I have found geocaches near small general-aviation airports. Some have been simple "there was no cache here" PNG caches. Some have been near interesting locations (e.g., artwork, aviation history displays/museums). Some have been puzzle caches (sometimes even aviation-related puzzles).

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I have my pilot's license although I haven't flown with any regularity in 20 years -- career and family just make it too hard -- but I'd love to do more. I think my favorite caching pilot must be btracy62 -- never met the guy, but he lands on rural roads and grabs caches away from airports! Perfectly legal, by the way, to land on a rural road. What a way to do this thing of ours.

 

See, e.g., http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=57d18123-7c22-4ee9-8b5d-d6caa99c3289&IID=87130581-1e32-434a-9a6c-87a7b928cd0d

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I'm a commercial pilot, flying a corporate aircraft. I just started caching a few months ago, but I was instantly addicted! Geocaching has been a great way to keep myself active and a perfect inspiration to get out to visit new sights while I'm waiting for my passengers to finish their business at our various destinations. Sometimes I only have time to grab one or two, other times I have several hours to go on the hunt. In December, we had an overnight trip to the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee, which gave me enough free time to grab 24 finds in a day - many of those finds weren't too far from the airport, and one in particular was extremely memorable (GC4DVJN).

 

Anyway, I highly recommend getting your commercial and instrument certificates - you get the double benefit of enjoying aviation while someone else pays for the fuel and maintenance bills while also having the opportunity to visit a far wider variety of caches! :D

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Not a pilot, but if you ever get to Reading, PA you might want to do my puzzle cache. link

 

I worked out the coordinates (or apparently close enough, anyway :)) a little bit ago - thanks for pointing out your cache! I don't know how soon I'll get to the Reading area to make the find, but I had fun figuring out the puzzle on this ridiculously cold, windy and snowy day in Ohio. Even if I never get out there to grab the smiley, I gives me some great ideas for an aviation related puzzle cache of my own as I begin to contemplate making my first hides. Thanks for the fun, and the inspiration!

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There's a cacher in our neck of the woods who has been in the game since about day 1. He routinely went/goes to small local airports, borrowed the loaner car for a couple of hours, and hid caches all over the state. Can't go anywhere without stumbling across one of his caches; and for several years, couldn't complete the DeLorme or County Challenge without finding at least a handful of his caches.

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As you may be able to tell, I'm a licensed pilot. And I love to go geocaching too! I actually have gone quite a bit past just my private license and now have an ATP rating and fly for American Eagle Airlines. I still love to fly GA though. My wife and I have done a few trips in the plane where we stopped to cache and refuel. We live in Texas, so most of our caching happens there. We did fly into Waco Regional once and walked across the street to grab several caches within a mile or less. Another time we flew out to Big Bend State Park in west Texas to go camping/caching. It took about six hours each way but we had a blast. Our dog rode along in the back of the plane and slept or looked out the window the whole time. That was definitely our favorite caching flight trip. Now most of the time I use geocaching to pass the time and explore the city on my longer overnights while on trips for work. It's like the next best thing when I have to be away from home; flying and geocaching in the same day. Doesn't get much better.

 

Here's a few pictures from the Big Bend trip.

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I carry a commercial license with a instrument and float plane rating in my billfold. But, since I am now 89 and can't pass the physical, I no longer fly. My son just retired from being a Captain on a 747-400 for Atlas but will being flying next summer for Talkeetna Air Taxi hauling Denali climbers. Our granddaughter also flys out of Talkeetna. I got my first training as a Naval Air Cadet in Steermans. My wife got her private license after she was 50. We had two planes, a Piper 140 and a Piper Archer and made five round trips from Bremerton, Wa to Fairbanks and beyond. We really enjoyed camping out at small airports. This was before geocaching. About the only thing we can do anymore is geocaching. Not as much fun as flying or fly fishing but we do what we can do. Dick & Arlene

Edited by W7WT
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Forgot to mention, but when we started geocaching in August of 2001 I was considering using either Tail Spin Tommy or Rodger Windsock. We have always been interested in Aviation. During my life time dirigibles flew over our farm in Southern Illinois and

Lindburg made his solo flight to Paris. Comic books were names like Tail Spin Tommy who I named my First Son Tom who just retired as a Captain of Atlas 747-400s air freighters My second son was named Rodger as it was my wife's maiden name and Rodger Windsock. But I used my Ham call of W7WT,

for my geocaching name. Glad I did because it is short.

Edited by W7WT
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Only private pilots? What about us Commercial/ATPs? :P

 

Commericial - ASEL, ASES, AMES

ATP - AMEL

 

Being a pilot is good for the caching map. The company I fly for gives us rental cars during overnights, so that helps with caching quite a bit.

 

W7WT, are you still in So Ill? I lived in Carbondale for a while, flew for Cape Air out of MWA from 2009-2011.

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Only private pilots? What about us Commercial/ATPs? :P

 

Commericial - ASEL, ASES, AMES

ATP - AMEL

 

Being a pilot is good for the caching map. The company I fly for gives us rental cars during overnights, so that helps with caching quite a bit.

 

W7WT, are you still in So Ill? I lived in Carbondale for a while, flew for Cape Air out of MWA from 2009-2011.

No. I was born in Bible Grove, Ill. over 88 years ago. Just East of the Bible Grove VOR I have lived in Bremerton, Wa since 1959.

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I am a corporate pilot and fly a Falcon 20 and 50. I learned about Geocaching from my simulator partner (BDWicks)during recurrent training in 2007. I always carry my geocaching gear when I fly a trip and always go caching when I'm on stand-by, whether it's a few hours or a few days. Considering how much of my "work" time is spent geocaching, I really appreciate caches on or very near airports. Manchester, NH, is an excellent example with a few caches on the field, as is Kingman, AZ (KIGM). I've placed one outside of my hangar at the Henderson NV (KHND) airport and there is a power trail a sort walk from the terminal. Fly in and visit!

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I used my Skylane for many caching trips. Being based near PIT, I was able to find caches in several different states on day trips with the old 182. The most memoriable was "Starve Island" in Lake Erie. Had to fly into Put In Bay airport and carry my Stearns inflatable kayak down to the beach and paddle over to it. Could not have done it without the plane.

Another great cache was "BWT,s Phobia Series - Acrophobia" I did it for my #1,000. I had flown up to check it out, but the day I needed to do it. The plane was down with a prop leak, so I drove 400 miles to get it. I would have rather flown!!!

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Only private pilots? What about us Commercial/ATPs? :P

 

Commericial - ASEL, ASES, AMES

ATP - AMEL

 

Being a pilot is good for the caching map. The company I fly for gives us rental cars during overnights, so that helps with caching quite a bit.

 

W7WT, are you still in So Ill? I lived in Carbondale for a while, flew for Cape Air out of MWA from 2009-2011.

yes any pilot can comment :) it is nice to see other geocachers who are also pilots.

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I carry a commercial license with a instrument and float plane rating in my billfold. But, since I am now 89 and can't pass the physical, I no longer fly. My son just retired from being a Captain on a 747-400 for Atlas but will being flying next summer for Talkeetna Air Taxi hauling Denali climbers. Our granddaughter also flys out of Talkeetna. I got my first training as a Naval Air Cadet in Steermans. My wife got her private license after she was 50. We had two planes, a Piper 140 and a Piper Archer and made five round trips from Bremerton, Wa to Fairbanks and beyond. We really enjoyed camping out at small airports. This was before geocaching. About the only thing we can do anymore is geocaching. Not as much fun as flying or fly fishing but we do what we can do. Dick & Arlene

Well, as they say, "It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, rather than up there wishing you were down here."

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