Flying

[Highway6]

I've been working on my first piano composition off and on for the past year, finally finishing it and adding a strings arrangement to go along with it in the past 2 weeks.

Since I wanted to post it to youtube, I needed a music video to go along with it. Opportunity knocked yesterday. Went up flying with my mom and recorded the entire trip.

Flight includes:

Takeoff from Wiser Airfield at 290 & Telge

Down the 290 corridor

Over 290 @ 8 interchange

Over 610 - 610 @ 10 interchange and Uptown to the south

I10 corridor past Memorial Park towards Downtown

Downtown

San Jacinto State Park, San Jacinto Memorial, Battleship Texas

Galveston Island

Rain in Brazoria county north of Angleton

Crossing the Brazos River

Sugarland / First Colony

Over 59, 59 @ 8 Interchange to the NE

Over I10 and Addickes Resevoir, I10 @ 8 Interchange to the W

Approaching 290 and landing at Wiser Airfield

One note from a music standpoint.. ya need a little bass. If your pc speakers suck, iphone quality headphones work quite sufficient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjdUHOb5Qk

[JLWM8609]

Y'know, I was driving along S. Main toward town between BW8 and Fondren and spied a low flying Cessna yesterday flying SE of my position around 4:30pm. I also spotted a low flying Cessna flying north while driving north along FM 1092 south of S. Main around 4:25pm. I wonder if it was you and your mom that I spotted in one of those instances? That 59 @ BW8 interchange flyover sounds like what I saw from FM 1092.

[Highway6]

Nah, not us... We were up in the morning and down by lunch.

[Highway6]

Original link broke... Fixed now, so reposting.

[brian0123]

Original link broke... Fixed now, so reposting.

I had the chance to take a flight lesson over the weekend and added a couple pics of the downtown approach to InnerLooped http://innerlooped.com/410/downtown-houston-at-1100ft/ So it you (or your mom) that has the pilots license? I am thinking about going for mine after the experience and was wondering if you (or she) enjoys it. I'm also curious about if you own or rent a plane.

[Highway6]

I had the chance to take a flight lesson over the weekend and added a couple pics of the downtown approach to InnerLooped http://innerlooped.c...ston-at-1100ft/ So it you (or your mom) that has the pilots license? I am thinking about going for mine after the experience and was wondering if you (or she) enjoys it. I'm also curious about if you own or rent a plane.

She has the license, she rents, and goes up maybe once a week now. I wanna say it costs under 200 each time she goes up. She loves it. I love going up too, but only as a passenger. She got her license 30+ years ago.. between flight schools and gas prices, I'm guessing its a lot more expensive to get your license today. It's something I'd think about doing if I had several thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

Nice photos.. looks like you picked a pretty clear day to go up.

[brian0123]

She has the license, she rents, and goes up maybe once a week now. I wanna say it costs under 200 each time she goes up. She loves it. I love going up too, but only as a passenger. She got her license 30+ years ago.. between flight schools and gas prices, I'm guessing its a lot more expensive to get your license today. It's something I'd think about doing if I had several thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

Nice photos.. looks like you picked a pretty clear day to go up.

Yeah, cost is the one thing I wasn't pleased about. They told me it would be about $5100 to get the license, but once you have it you have it. Did she fly a lot over the years... or is it something she just started to pick up again? I figured I'd at least start on the path because I want to do it more and might as well start logging my hours w/ an instructor. Also, does she ever rent it for a weekend (and if so, what does that normally cost if you want to go somewhere like Austin)? I'm trying to figure out if the economics of it and if it makes sense at all. My wife has family in Texarkana and I was thinking a pilot's license might make the trip a lot better than the long drive on the highway.

[Fringe]

First off, nice composition Highway6. You're really talented. I'm not sure if the music fits the video though. To many jerky camera shots that distract from the music. Maybe just a fixed video on clouds or something?

[Highway6]

Yeah, cost is the one thing I wasn't pleased about. They told me it would be about $5100 to get the license, but once you have it you have it. Did she fly a lot over the years... or is it something she just started to pick up again? I figured I'd at least start on the path because I want to do it more and might as well start logging my hours w/ an instructor. Also, does she ever rent it for a weekend (and if so, what does that normally cost if you want to go somewhere like Austin)? I'm trying to figure out if the economics of it and if it makes sense at all. My wife has family in Texarkana and I was thinking a pilot's license might make the trip a lot better than the long drive on the highway.

I don't think she's ever rented it for a weekend, but we have gone as far as Brehnam on day trips.

How big is your family is the question? Looks like you went up in a Cessna 172 which is one of the most common planes out there. As you saw, they have passenger # and comfort limitations. They also have serious passenger weight limitations which decreases greatly depending on how much fuel you need.

This is for one specific model of Cessna 172, but it's pretty typical of small planes.

After a full load of fuel, you have about 550 lbs for people and luggage. 3 avg 180 lb guys would be stretching it on a full tank. Plus., this isn't driving a car, you can't stretch stopping at a gas station till the last 16th of a tank.. you have to calculate reserve fuel in case you get lost. Based on my limited experience, my gut tells me a family vacation in a plane that small is not going to happen and that even if it were just you flying that far and you had favorable winds, you'd still be stopping at least once to refuel that approx 50 gallon tank.

Ground speeds arent that great either.. with a head wind you might be as low as 45 mph ground speed , with a good head wind, up to 90 mph ground speed.. in favorable conditions you might get a few hundred miles with just you flying.

I'm basing this all off a back and forth email with my mom..

[brian0123]

I don't think she's ever rented it for a weekend, but we have gone as far as Brehnam on day trips.

How big is your family is the question? Looks like you went up in a Cessna 172 which is one of the most common planes out there. As you saw, they have passenger # and comfort limitations. They also have serious passenger weight limitations which decreases greatly depending on how much fuel you need.

This is for one specific model of Cessna 172, but it's pretty typical of small planes.

After a full load of fuel, you have about 550 lbs for people and luggage. 3 avg 180 lb guys would be stretching it on a full tank. Plus., this isn't driving a car, you can't stretch stopping at a gas station till the last 16th of a tank.. you have to calculate reserve fuel in case you get lost. Based on my limited experience, my gut tells me a family vacation in a plane that small is not going to happen and that even if it were just you flying that far and you had favorable winds, you'd still be stopping at least once to refuel that approx 50 gallon tank.

Ground speeds arent that great either.. with a head wind you might be as low as 45 mph ground speed , with a good head wind, up to 90 mph ground speed.. in favorable conditions you might get a few hundred miles with just you flying.

I'm basing this all off a back and forth email with my mom..

I appreciate the info! This is just what I was trying to figure out. Family is only wife and I (with baby on the way)... so no crazy passenger requirements right now. You are correct that we were in a 172 (I know I'd need something larger down the road if we ever were to travel by plane). I had no clue that the ground speed was like that though. 45mph is very discouraging.

[Highway6]

45mph is very discouraging.

That's worst case.. and yeah, that does seem pretty slow. Maybe another pilot can chime in if that's realistic with a head wind for a small plane.

[Highway6]

First off, nice composition Highway6. You're really talented. I'm not sure if the music fits the video though. To many jerky camera shots that distract from the music. Maybe just a fixed video on clouds or something?

Thank you Fringe. I somewhat agree with your thoughts on the jerkiness fitting the mood. Unfortunately we were up for so long and I had so much footage I wanted to include that I had to speed up the video x6 to get it to a workable duration.. that is the reason for all the jerkiness.

At this point though, I'm not going to throw away my meager few hundred youtube hits to put it with another video. Plus, I've moved on.. working on another composition now, and once i eventually get past composer's block, I already have some new video ideas I'm eager to try out.

[Gary]

Really enjoyed the song, 6... Nice flowing transitions, and the string work was good as well. How did you record it? What piano? I'm assuming electric?

[Highway6]

Really enjoyed the song, 6... Nice flowing transitions, and the string work was good as well. How did you record it? What piano? I'm assuming electric?

Thank you, appreciate it.

My setup is quite primitive and pathetic.

Yamaha CLP230, my baby, hooked up with a direct USB-midi cable to my wholly inadequate laptop running mixcraft4 for the piano part.

The strings were done all on computer, either note by note or copying and manipulating my piano midi data.

Eventually I want to get a Presonus Firebox interface and some mics to record audio as well... that and a baby grand.

[brian0123]

Thank you, appreciate it.

My setup is quite primitive and pathetic.

Yamaha CLP230, my baby, hooked up with a direct USB-midi cable to my wholly inadequate laptop running mixcraft4 for the piano part.

The strings were done all on computer, either note by note or copying and manipulating my piano midi data.

Eventually I want to get a Presonus Firebox interface and some mics to record audio as well... that and a baby grand.

I use a MAudio Keystation 88 usb/midi into Firebox Mobile and can't say enough great things about Presonus. I use Presonus Studio One for my main recording (recording guitars/drums/bass/vocals), but like to do midi work within Propellerhead Reason and export into Studio One. Studio One also has good midi support, but I really like the samples and options that come with Reason.

[Highway6]

I use a MAudio Keystation 88 usb/midi into Firebox Mobile and can't say enough great things about Presonus. I use Presonus Studio One for my main recording (recording guitars/drums/bass/vocals), but like to do midi work within Propellerhead Reason and export into Studio One. Studio One also has good midi support, but I really like the samples and options that come with Reason.

Glad to hear more positive feed back on the Presonus, not that I wasn't already sold on their stuff. Unfortunately though, I just don't have the computing power to take advantage of it yet. I have so many ram and latency issues that there's no way I'd be able to record live with an existing track. Not to mention buying a quality mic and monitor.. lots of mulah that i don't have right now.

Can you give me your thoughts on some of the various software out there? I've messed with a Fruityloops demo, then Mixcraft.. but I'm not really familiar with some of the big boy options out there.

[brian0123]

Glad to hear more positive feed back on the Presonus, not that I wasn't already sold on their stuff. Unfortunately though, I just don't have the computing power to take advantage of it yet. I have so many ram and latency issues that there's no way I'd be able to record live with an existing track. Not to mention buying a quality mic and monitor.. lots of mulah that i don't have right now.

Can you give me your thoughts on some of the various software out there? I've messed with a Fruityloops demo, then Mixcraft.. but I'm not really familiar with some of the big boy options out there.

Your latency issues could be the result of your sound card (and not necessarily RAM or laptop issues) and getting a Firestudio might help with latency problems. As far as software, I'm more of a guitarist/vocalist as opposed to keyboardist (use keyboard mainly for composing songs, then translating to a full band later... and SOME live parts for piano). Because I'm not a true keyboardist, I only tried a couple programs for the keyboard (FruityLoops, Reason, Ableton, Studio One). I ended up using Reason for concerts and recording because of the ease of use and sounds. FruityLoops is great for beginners or someone that wants to make a beat. Studio One is great for everything, professional, and cheaper than Pro Tools, Sony Vegas, etc. and the midi sounds are good (piano sounds especially). I wish I had more info about other synth software... but I just happened to stumble across a program I understood and is professional... so I just stuck with it.

[Highway6]

Your latency issues could be the result of your sound card (and not necessarily RAM or laptop issues) and getting a Firestudio might help with latency problems. As far as software, I'm more of a guitarist/vocalist as opposed to keyboardist (use keyboard mainly for composing songs, then translating to a full band later... and SOME live parts for piano). Because I'm not a true keyboardist, I only tried a couple programs for the keyboard (FruityLoops, Reason, Ableton, Studio One). I ended up using Reason for concerts and recording because of the ease of use and sounds. FruityLoops is great for beginners or someone that wants to make a beat. Studio One is great for everything, professional, and cheaper than Pro Tools, Sony Vegas, etc. and the midi sounds are good (piano sounds especially). I wish I had more info about other synth software... but I just happened to stumble across a program I understood and is professional... so I just stuck with it.

My understanding is, the presonus acts as your sound card, so yes, that should solve most latency.. but the old laptop i'm running off of is only 512 Ram and needs to be rebooted several times a day. I just don't wanna buy a several hundred $ toy then have nowhere to play with it.

I have Vegas 5 that I use for my movie editing and i really like its interface. I didn't know that newer versions had the functionality of Reason or PT . I'll have to look into it. I'm guessing I'll eventually learn how to use Studio One since it comes with the Presonus, but it's always reassuring to hear others like it.

[brian0123]

I have Vegas 5 that I use for my movie editing and i really like its interface. I didn't know that newer versions had the functionality of Reason or PT . I'll have to look into it. I'm guessing I'll eventually learn how to use Studio One since it comes with the Presonus, but it's always reassuring to hear others like it.

Sorry for the confusion, Vegas is not like Reason. Reason is for midi/keyboard work, Vegas Pro is more like PT/S1 if you are doing strictly analog multitrack recording. It does not have built in functionality like PT or S1 though. Some people use Vegas as a way to multi track record, but import the audio from Reason/etc. PT/S1/Cakewalk are similar. There is Reason Record now that acts like a PT or S1, but I haven't played with it.

[Gary]

I've used Reason for years with my Pro Tools setup, and it's a great tool. Having said that, have you considered a sequencer or a keyboard with a sequencer? I've got the Yamaha QY100 sequencer in my studio that has a plethora of great strings and piano plugins, and it also acts as a 16 track recorder, although I don't use that part of it. I mention it because it sounds like your basically doing piano compositions with strings and a decent sequencer would completely cover those needs, and then some.

[Highway6]

I've used Reason for years with my Pro Tools setup, and it's a great tool. Having said that, have you considered a sequencer or a keyboard with a sequencer? I've got the Yamaha QY100 sequencer in my studio that has a plethora of great strings and piano plugins, and it also acts as a 16 track recorder, although I don't use that part of it. I mention it because it sounds like your basically doing piano compositions with strings and a decent sequencer would completely cover those needs, and then some.

I always thought sequencers were more advanced hardware you get after you have your basic setup. I admit, i don't know much about them. Are you saying they could replace the software (PT, Reason, whatever) and you can assemble tracks and do all the mastering and output to various formats independent of a computer ?

You are correct on what I'm doing now.. but eventually I'd like that to evolve.... I'm eventually going to be recording acoustic instruments and will eventually need better software. Though, in the Probably-don't-know-what-I'm-missing Department, I have no complaints about Mixcraft.

[dalparadise]

I appreciate the info! This is just what I was trying to figure out. Family is only wife and I (with baby on the way)... so no crazy passenger requirements right now. You are correct that we were in a 172 (I know I'd need something larger down the road if we ever were to travel by plane). I had no clue that the ground speed was like that though. 45mph is very discouraging.

The info about the limitations of the 172 is pretty accurate. It's best as a trainer -- 2 person plane for local use. Great aircraft for that purpose and it can travel for 2 people + bags, when necessary. Most 4-seat single-engine planes are for 2-3 people, once FAA-required fuel reserves and weight and balance calculations are figured in.

The speed info was very conservative. It's possible to fly into a headwind and have short periods of flight that slow (45mph), but more typically, your ground speed is in the 90-100mph range -- and you aren't bound by roads (unless you're having to use them for navigation).With a tailwind, I've seen airspeeds of 130kt + (around 150 mph). In a plane like a 172 (granted, I have mostly flown the 180hp version -- the lesser models fly and climb a bit slower) I usually cut a similar car trip in 1/2. So, a 4-hour trip to Tyler, for instance, is about 2 hours by plane. A 180hp Cessna burns about 10 gallons per hour (conservatively speaking) and has about 50 gallons usable fuel capacity, if memory serves. So,you flight plan accordingly. to stay in regulations. As you can see, you can easily fly north, well into Oklahoma on a single tank and still meet minimums.

[Highway6]

I'm just a semi-frequent passenger. Thanks for the clarification on the attainable speeds and distances.