Flying Stories

December 27, 2012

What brought you here? Your journey to General Aviation

[sc:Top-of-Post ] What brought you here? Your journey to General Aviation All of us have a different story of how we came to be involved in general aviation. For some, you are just starting this journey, for others, it has been a life’s quest. Being involved doesn’t mean you have to be a licensed pilot…

December 25, 2012

A Christmas story from WWII

[sc:Top-of-Post ]   A Christmas story from WWII Four days before Christmas 1943, in the darkest hours of WWII, a miracle took place. Two enemies—an American bomber pilot and a German fighter ace—met in combat over Germany and did the unexpected: They decided not to kill one another. Even more incredibly, as old men, they…

December 24, 2012

Twas the night before Christmas…mustang style

[sc:Top-of-Post ] Twas the night before Christmas all over the place, When we were suddenly confronted by an old flying ace. There was icing reported and turbulent air, He said “File me a flight plan, I gotta get there.”

December 22, 2012

It’s the end of the world. What did you do?

[sc:Top-of-Post ] It’s the end of the world. What did you do? Yesterday marked the end of the Mayan calendar, 12/21/12. I hope everyone got out and flew, just incase! Unfortunately, the weather across Ohio was bad all day and I had to work, so I was left to fantasize about the whole thing. What…

December 19, 2012

Christmas light rides for fun or profit

[sc:Top-of-Post ] Christmas light rides for fun or profit As a starving flight instructor working for a start-up FBO in a small town of 25,000 people, we were always looking for ways to drum up new business. The Christmas of 1992 we concocted a great plan; we advertised Christmas Light Rides all over town. Ads…

December 14, 2012

Spartan Days: Failed Flight Training

[sc:Top-of-Post ] Spartan Days I was a student at Spartan School of Aeronautics (their new name is Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology) back in 1990. At the time Spartan had a boom of pilots coming through with dreams of airline cockpits in their heads. First, I want to say that Spartan is a great…

December 4, 2012

The airport social scene

[sc:Top-of-Post ] The airport social scene I was lucky to get to work for the FBO in my hometown after flight school to build hours. It was one of the most memorable times of my life. To set the stage, Duncan (KDUC), is a small town of 25,000 located 50nm south of Oklahoma City. Due…

December 3, 2012

RV-10 In Progress

[sc:Top-of-Post ] RV-10 In Progress A good friend of mine, Bob Leffler, is nearing completion of his beautiful RV-10. I have seen this airplane materialize over the years and it is really going to be a nice ship. As he is starting to get into the firewall forward parts of the build  he asked for…

November 25, 2012

Old Flight Bag: A glimpse into a flying life

[sc:Top-of-Post ] Old Flight Bag: A glimpse into a flying life My aunt was good friends with a Doctor in Alaska during her days living up there. He passed away a few years ago and the family wanted me to have his old flight bag. It was in storage at my parent’s house for a…

November 21, 2012

Reflections of a flight: Flying with a camera under my wing

[sc:Top-of-Post ] Reflections of a flight Short Flight from iflyblog.com on Vimeo. For fun I mounted my camera under the wing of the RV-8 and shot this footage on a short flight from Buckeye Executive airport to The Ohio State Airport last week. Most of the flight is sped up 800x to shorten the video….