Tag: Aviation

Our Flying Family

by  on  in Blogging in Formation • 29 Comments

Once bound together by the glue of our airborne passion, we must look out for the other members of our family. David Ogden Stiers once said, “Family means no one gets left behind, no one is forgotten.” That is the exact approach we must take with our flying family. The more experienced pilots need to take an interest in the “care and feeding” of newer, less experienced flyers. Those of us holding positions of authority within the aviation industry – be you a regulator or an economic engine – must work to ensure the sustainment of the entire family. Read more →

The Red Rocket

by  on  in Aviation • 29 Comments

I suppose every pilot has a catalog of “dream aircraft” they’d like to fly before their gravity-defying days are over. My bucket list includes a quirky looking homebuilt called the Questair Venture.

The Venture conjures up a unique set of images: blistering speed, eggs, air racing, and more than a crash or two. Many folks deride the airplane for it’s unusual fuselage shape. I’ll grant that she’s undoubtedly unique, but I happen to love the compact, curving visage of this zippy little ship. Read more →

Solo: The Abandoned Column

by  on  in Blogging in Formation • 26 Comments

No matter how dog-eared and scuffed it may get, an aviator’s logbook is invariably one of his or her most prized possessions, the decimal-based journal of a life lived in the clouds. Yet in this venerated document, there’s one quirky column which lacks appreciation and respect even among pilots; every logbook on the market has a space for this data, yet virtually no one uses it beyond primary training. It’s a shame, because it records one of the purest forms of flying. Read more →

Battling the Hydra

by  on  in Politics • 13 Comments

General aviation desperately needs stability. Instead, we are faced with a governmental Lernaean Hydra, an organism essentially at war with itself. One part of this mythic creature offers us reduced regulation and cost, while the other threatens to smash whole segments of the GA ecosystem into oblivion. This is NOT government of, by, or for the people. Read more →

Preventing Stall/Spin Accidents

by  on  in Instructing, Safety • 26 Comments

Angle-of-bank limitations have been suggested by flight instructors, alphabet groups, pundits, and most recently by Richard Collins of all people. I’ve touched on this subject before (see Aviation Myth #14), but for some reason the idea keeps rearing it’s ugly head that arbitrary bank limits make flying safer. They don’t. What they WILL do is make a stall/spin more likely. Here’s why. Read more →

Stockholm

by  on  in Travel • 8 Comments

Saint Augustine once declared that the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. While I’m fairly familiar with the tome, one glaring omission in my scholarship had been the the chapter on Scandinavia. Thankfully, the wonderful world of on-demand jet charter provided a northerly flight opportunity last month, so I packed my bag and headed for LAX. The assignment? Airline to Stockholm, hang out for a couple of days, and then fly a Gulfstream to New York. Read more →

Passengers: Keeping Things Interesting

by  on  in Blogging in Formation, Humor • 13 Comments

When it comes to cataloging the intriguing travelers one has encountered over the years, few people can rival the improbably tall tales spun by pilots. Obviously it’s important to maintain confidentiality in this business, but by removing all identifying information and changing some details, a few entertaining stories can be related. Here are a few of my favorite passenger interactions. Read more →

Follow

Get the latest posts delivered to your mailbox: