Crossfired Over the summer a gaggle of around 30 RVs converged on a beautiful grass strip near Akron, OH. The destination – Crossfire’s, a veritable ‘field of dreams’ grass strip owned by John Fury. Once, or more times, a year John opens up his home to a bunch of RV-drivers and anyone else who wants…
B-17 Gas Station A friend sent me this story and I couldn’t resist posting it here. I tried to determine who the original author was, but to no avail. My best guess is from this website by a guy named Blair Shorney. Some of the claims in the story are pretty far-fetched, but the images…
My First Flight My first time to slip the surly bonds of earth occurred at Lawton, Oklahoma. I was 14 years old. The vehicle, a Piper Arrow IV. The pilot, Jim Huddleston. In my early teens I made the decision that I would be a pilot. The only nuance was I had never flow in…
Aviation Book List: ebooks A friend of the blog asked on our Facebook page about a list of recommended aviation books. He was specifically interested in books that could be downloaded, since he lives overseas. Although we have the Book of the Month Club where we feature a book each month, I am going to…
A horse of a different color One of things I enjoy, outside of flying, is horseback riding. After a recent ride it occurred to me that there are some fascinating parallels between these two very different disciplines. Starting with the basics; the flight controls are similar in that you use both your hands and your…
Short Sortie: A Normal Flight in the RV-8 Since the last time I flew the -8 was four weeks ago, I was looking for any excuse to go flying yesterday. My home airport doesn’t have fuel so I have to go to other airports to top-off. So the mission today was to top-off the fuel…
As a contributor for Air Facts Journal I penned an article for them on mentorship as it relates to aviation. You can find it here: http://airfactsjournal.com/2012/11/aviation-mentorship Hopefully you will find it useful, whether you are a potential or current mentor or a mentoree. If you have experience or ideas in this area, I’d love to hear…
Handling an Aircraft Emergency Few of us really know how we’ll react in a true emergency. Thankfully, they are extremely rare in our modern GA airplanes. But will you be prepared when that day comes? The day that something goes terribly wrong and it’s completely up to you to save yourself and your passengers. Having…
My Ride in a T-34 In High School I pumped gas to pay for my flying. It turned out to be a great opportunity to be a paid airport bum; I met all sorts of people and learned a ton. One of the neat things that happened was meeting Col J. Paul Tidwell, a retired…
If you don’t already know about the FAA’s free publication that comes out 6 times a year, you owe it to yourself to check it out. FAA Safety Briefing is a very well done full-color glossy periodical that covers a wide variety of topics. The Nov/Dec edition’s theme is on Small Airplane, Big World, so the…