When you fly you don’t really think about energy management so much. As long as the fan out front is turning, you don’t have to waste a lot of brain cells on the topic. But what about folks who fly without engines, like glider pilots? They are constantly considering the relationship between the potential energy…
Does flying lack value? In talking to a pilot friend I hadn’t seen in a while, the topic of flying came up, of course. He mentioned he wasn’t flying and wanted to buy an airplane, but didn’t want anything he could afford. His tastes were beyond his budget and he would rather go without than comprise….
How To Be a Pilot ebook: update #1 I’m still cranking away at the ebook on how to be a pilot. It has been fun so far. Because it’s an ebook there’s an immense amount of flexibility, which really allows you to be as creative as you want. Plus it will let me distribute it…
What would I buy….Beechcraft Bonanza This is the fourth installment in a series of articles based on a hypothetical set of airplane ownership criteria. Note: This information is strictly the opinion of the author. Your mileage may vary. Previous Installments: Kolb Luscombe 8A Globe Swift The goal this time will be to spend $40,000 for a…
Safety vs. Risk Management I am starting to loath the word safety. This term has been carelessly bandied around for years. Talk long enough to a fellow pilot or group of pilots and inevitably it will come up. The Internet is particularly riff with declarations of safety. Even I admit to hippocratic overuse of the word…
Each month I will feature an aviation book that I would recommend you add to your collection. This month I’m featuring Fire and Air A Life on the Edge by Patty Wagstaff. This book is one of my favorites, and not just because it’s about aerobatics. The reason I love this book is that you can…
One of my favorite airplanes and one that I will almost certainly never get to fly, is the De Havilland DH88 Comet. Actually there is only two flying examples, one being a replica that was commissioned and built in the U.S., the other is in a museum in England. The Comet is a gorgeous design,…
False Start You might have read in a previous entry <link here> about how I replaced the spark plugs due to a bad magneto check. Last Saturday was my first opportunity to test fly it since then and I was excited to go. Arriving at the airport with temps in the mid 30s I plugged…
Last week I decided that a free ebook on how to be a pilot was something I wanted to tackle. I realized that we often lament on the many barriers to becoming a pilot, but we ignore one of the most fundamental challenges – just figuring out how to get started. The ebook, which I…
I felt compelled to write down my top 3 reasons I love flying. Certainly there are more reasons to love this amazing endeavor, but I thought I’d take a stab at it the week of Valentines day. The Sensations Visual overload : nothing compares to the view afforded to pilots. It’s almost ethereal. Seeing the…