Being in the air, being around aircraft

I don't know why, but I like aircraft, being around them, being in the air, designing them, and possibly other areas surrounding them. I like military and civilian helicopters, airplanes, balloons and other types of experimental and non-experimental aircraft. I like to science behind flight, the art of design, the organization of it, and the practicality of it all.

I recently purchased an ICOM Q7A scanner/hand held amateur radio transceiver so I can listen to my local airports and to the controllers in the middle. I especially liked the movie Tin Can.

Also related to flying, I watched intently two very interesting programs on one of the Discovery Channels, one the secret world of air transport, the other the secret world of the airport. Great documentaries! I also love documentaries on military aircraft and especially Air Force One.

I have been flying since my parents took me on an Ozark Airlines flight. I like collecting different airlines wings, like looking in the cockpit before a flight to see the gauges, and especially liked the flight on a jumbo United Airlines jet that allowed me to listen to the cockpit before I got my current scanner.

Since then, I've flown many times on my own. I¼ve flown on a puddle jumper via Cincinnati to Richmond, VA, one flight where I sat way in the back and could hear the engines badly, and, since August, 1995 when I left Denver, CO after my AmeriCorps term of service ended, I¼ve flown 11 times to Denver, CO. My heart is now in Denver.

The activities I still want to partake in include:

flying in a 747
flying on another United and Northwest Airlines plane
flying in First Class one more time
flying in a 737 just behind the engine in a window seat so I can see the inside of the engine when the plane lands and the pilot turns on the brakes and the engines go on reverse thrust, exposing the engine. If that's not the right kind of plane, then its the kind where that affect takes place.
I would also like to get within several feet away of another corporate aircraft, hopefully touching one this time.

I'm about to take ground school at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, towards fixed wing private certification towards rotary wing certification towards giving the public, in addition to a handheld scanner, TIMELY traffic reports to the general public. MetroNetworks seems to be reliably 15-30 minutes behind what is actually going on. I want to do it in the spirit of the Barklage brothers, Alan and (I forgot the other brother's name), and the legendary Don Miller.

Also, directing a plane to where it is supposed to be at the gate is something I've trained for while watching planes arrive my whole life.

I'm also interested in designing airplanes, including vertical takeoff and landing jet planes. I am permitted to think on my own about how to create the ideal aircraft, a heavy lifting vertical takeoff aircraft that can fly at around Mach 1. I have an idea that I need a model made for, if anyone is interested.

As far as conventional designs, I can't understand (have never asked) why American manufacturers don't add winglets to the main wing to lessen wake vortices, like Airbus aircraft do. I like the idea of using canards reduce the necessary size of the main horizontal wing.