By: EDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC 4 hours ago United Airlines took ownership of its first Boeing 787-8 on 22 September, the carrier announced today. It says that it will fly the aircraft, which is registered N20904, to its Houston Intercontinental hub later this week. “As the North American launch customer, we are delighted to be getting our first 787…
The Tale of an Almost Glider Pilot When I was working for Jim at Brewer Aviation, he decided it would be fun to buy a glider so we could give lessons and rides. This was pretty typical of Jim, we always looking for ways to get people excited about flying. So not long after that…
Antique and Classic Airplanes are GAs Best Kept Secret These are a class of airplanes that I believe are under recognized and certainly under utilized by the average GA flyer. If you are already an antique/classic enthusiast please hold the hate mail and bear with me. This genre of airplane was primarily the product of…
Stall/Spin Awareness The industry has not done a good job keeping people from spinning into the ground. In this short article I will distill down the essence of the problem and hopefully provide another perspective that might keep you out of trouble. History Lesson Although we have failed to eliminate stall/spin accidents, it is not…
Space: The Final Frontier Editorial With the recent passing of Neil Armstrong, I find myself lamenting about where we are in the history of manned space exploration. I am a disciple of all things related to outer-space. I actually found myself in love with flying as a result of wanting to be an astronaut. Growing…
This is episode #3 of the iFLYblog.com Audiocast. To be fair, this isn’t a podcast in the traditional sense. The audiocast will simply be an audio version of posts that are here on the blog. The truth is, lots of folks like to listen to content rather than read it. Especially people who are on-the-go….
How to fly as inexpensively as possible Below I outline some things I have learned over the years, plus brought in some new ideas on how to fly without breaking the bank. This will be centered around the basic requirement of the $100 hamburger mission (2 seats, with several hundred mile range, day VFR) Before…
Editorial Our Unfriendly Airports When it comes to customer service there seems to be a universal constant among airports – they stink! It slays me that FBOs, Flight Schools, and other airport-based businesses are so unapproachable. “What do I mean? They are nice to me.” “I come in and they know me by name and…
Annual Condition Inspection: Wow a year went by fast! August 2nd, 2011 marked a year since I signed off the inspection on my newly minted RV-8. Nine days later I would fly her for the first time (another story for another day). Having flown the airplane a paltry 66 hours in the preceding year I…
This story starts out innocently enough, my dad and I were looking for a good used airplane. Nothing fancy, just something that carried two people and it didn’t have to be fast or flashy – our mission was low-cost! Our 1946 Ercoupe – N3466H with partners. If you know my dad, he is consummate…