Pilots are not unique when it comes to the state of euphoria that accompanies getting something new. Recently, fellow builder and close friend, Greg Schroeder, had the experience of having a brand new Lycoming IO-375 show up on his doorstep. Greg is building a Sportsman 2+2 so this engine was a welcome sight indeed. He…
Flying As Art I sometimes like to refer to flying as a form of art. In fact, I’m not alone in the sentiment; many have written beautifully about our craft. Frankly I love the analogy. It allows your imagination to take over. You might visualize the sky as a canvas and your airplane as the…
Many of your will remember the anti-narcotics campaign launched in the late 1980s (If you haven’t seen it, click this link – it’s a classic). This popular ad really reminds me of how my brain seems to change when I’m under the influence of flying. Not sure how this happens, but when I fly there is…
One my favorite things to do is land on a nice grass runway. There is something about it that almost makes it seem like a guilty pleasure. No TSA, no metal detectors, no sequestration-impacted-control-towers, and rarely any fences, and certainly no barbed wire! It is flying in the most organic sense of the word. My…
Ok, many of you may not be familiar with this curious phenomenon. Jet Jock is my pet name for professional pilots that not only don’t fly outside of their day job, they are actually repulsed by the idea. I first encountered this species of aviator in my youth. The local airport was home base for…
Timing is everything When it comes to aviation, timing is certainly everything. I pondered this as my friend Bob and I worked on timing the magnetos on his yet to be born, RV-10. [br] You see, the mags have to be aligned and adjusted to precisely fire the spark plugs at just the right time…
Why do people stop flying? Why do normal, well-adjusted, intelligent people drop flying like a bad habit? Unfortunately for our industry there are more than a few legitimate reasons: Expense Time Lack of interest Bad experience Accessibility Life circumstances These can actually overlap to some extent, but let us look at each in detail and…
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Today marks the sixth month anniversary of this fine aviation blog. Here’s some fun facts: There have been over 40,324 page views, 198 posts, 200+ comments, and 196 subscribers since I began the blog last September (2012). Hey, if you aren’t a subscriber, press here to get signed up. All along the goal of this…
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…