Thursday
Jan102008
Del Conte Family Plane!
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 02:55PM
When my dad dropped me off at the airport on Saturday to come to CES, he broke the news that his bid to buy an airplane was accepted and that he would soon be the proud owner of a Piper Comanche 260 C. My pops is a baller!
It is so great to see your parents live out their dreams. As adults, we don't always make our dreams a priority like we should. Last year I got to see my dad live out his dream of playing baseball on a major league field last year when he was selected to play in the All Star Fantasy League during the All Star Game in San Francisco. I made a movie of his experience, which you can find here. It is a little cheesy but I'm proud of it. This year, I get to watch my dad pilot his very own plane, which has been a dream of his since before I was born!
I am excited to have a family plane, although it is too small for my dad to pop over to New York to see me so my time in it will be limited. Nevertheless, it is a pretty sweet ride. Here are the deets: It has a variable pitch prop that allows adjustment to the pitch or bite of air while in flight like changing gears in a car. It has retractable landing gear and 260 horse power, many of the latest instrument avionics to get the aircraft within 250 feet of a programmed runway on auto pilot, a cruising speed of 185 piles per hour, a new one-piece windshield, storm radar scope, 6 seats, and a new engine with only 650 hours on it. My dad is notorious for taking forever to make decisions about big purchases so I know this is a good plane if he pulled the trigger.
I have to go pack up my room and get ready to leave CES. It has been fun but I feel like I ran a marathon. Working with Cnet here was amazing. I'm so glad I took this job, I can't wait to get settled in New York and start making more great news shows! But I'll blog about that later. This post is for my pops. I'm proud of you, Daddy!
It is so great to see your parents live out their dreams. As adults, we don't always make our dreams a priority like we should. Last year I got to see my dad live out his dream of playing baseball on a major league field last year when he was selected to play in the All Star Fantasy League during the All Star Game in San Francisco. I made a movie of his experience, which you can find here. It is a little cheesy but I'm proud of it. This year, I get to watch my dad pilot his very own plane, which has been a dream of his since before I was born!
I am excited to have a family plane, although it is too small for my dad to pop over to New York to see me so my time in it will be limited. Nevertheless, it is a pretty sweet ride. Here are the deets: It has a variable pitch prop that allows adjustment to the pitch or bite of air while in flight like changing gears in a car. It has retractable landing gear and 260 horse power, many of the latest instrument avionics to get the aircraft within 250 feet of a programmed runway on auto pilot, a cruising speed of 185 piles per hour, a new one-piece windshield, storm radar scope, 6 seats, and a new engine with only 650 hours on it. My dad is notorious for taking forever to make decisions about big purchases so I know this is a good plane if he pulled the trigger.
I have to go pack up my room and get ready to leave CES. It has been fun but I feel like I ran a marathon. Working with Cnet here was amazing. I'm so glad I took this job, I can't wait to get settled in New York and start making more great news shows! But I'll blog about that later. This post is for my pops. I'm proud of you, Daddy!
Reader Comments (13)
WOW! That's amazing. Your family must be loaded! Congrats!
I saw you on G4TV. I loved it. Best part of Day2!
Keep up the good work!
~Ryan
Hi natali or whoever reads this, i tried the link to the baseball game and it seems to be down.
Just letting you know.
Love your blog by the way.
Dave
That is a sweet ride. I remember my grandfather buying his own plane when I was a teenager. It was an old beat up Cessna that he restored before he flew it. He was an auto mechanic, who was always tinkering, and decided to teach himself how to work on airplanes. He restored the plane, took flying lessons, and during my junior year in high school he took us up every Sunday. The best part was seeing him smile like a little kid at his actually flying. I remember him handing the plane over to me, and letting my take off, ascend, fly, descend, and land. I had no idea what I was doing, I just followed his direction. That was one of the few moments we really bonded. Those are the moments you'll cherish. The look on their faces when they're up there "flying" the plane. Gramps got down right giddy. :)
I'm glad your dad gets his chance in the cockpit, and I hope you get to fly with him often. Take care.
Wow that's very cool, congrats to your father!
did you get all emo writing this one?
Dang! Girl who know tech. Dad who fly planes. The del Conte crew seems to do everything I like!
Are you going to tell us that some other family member likes fast cars?
On the serious side, if you dad blogs about flying, can you share?
Congrats again on your CNET job!
wow.....that would be one flyt.....
u just rock at CES 2008...love to watch ur videos
My pops is a baller - Now that is a turn of phrase you don’t often see. That said the Comanche 260 C at from 60-100K depending on condition is a heck of a first airplane. As you pointed out it is not quite the LA to NY range for a visit every week but that type of airplane is more like a few million.
I am sure pop is quite proud of you to.
Maybe next year when you get your big break into technology news for CNN or one of the other major networks you can buy dad a longer range turboprop.
Sorry guys, the baseball movie link works now. :) Enjoy.
I just saw you on the BBC tech show >Click, they were covering CES and you mentioned the IOGear portable media player.
Very cool :)
I love when I hear someone following his dreams. Sometimes I feel like I lost the path of my dreams. But I guess someday I will realized them.
Congrats to your Father. Soon it will be "Del Conte Airlines" in the air :-)
I love your dads plane its really nice!
I wonder if we are related? My Dad was Richard Arthur DelConte from the Pennsylvania area?
Please email me your family origin!
Glenn DelConte
rcplan@bellsouth.net