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 year and…
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving means something different to everyone. I think for pilots it has a special meaning. As aviators we get to experience something few mortals will ever know; the patchwork of our fragile Earth from above, the beauty of a sunrise from altitude, the playfulness of fair-weather cumulus clouds – all from…
Jerrie Mock and the Spirit of Columbus I wrote an article for Air Facts Journal on one of the least known, but probably most interesting aviatrix of the last century. She was the first woman to fly around the world solo. One of the fun things about doing this story was that Jerrie lived in…
First Flight: Flight Testing your Experimental Aircraft Flight testing your homebuilt aircraft for the first time is statistically proven to be a riskier proposition than normal flight operations. Of course this makes sense; the first time a bundle of parts are assembled into an airplane and take flight there are going to be opportunities for…
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…
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…
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…
My Last Piston Twin Trip My last paying trip in a piston twin was emotional, but not for the reasons you might think. First I should quantify, at the time I didn’t realize this was to be my last round trip. I was flying for a great little FBO in my home town. We did…
Cory Bird’s Symmetry One of the most beautiful light airplanes I have ever seen is Cory Bird’s one-of-a-kind homebuilt called Symmetry. Cory designed and built this aircraft over 14 years and 15,000 man-hours. Powered by a 200hp, IO-360. It first flew in April 2003 and everywhere it goes, it draws a crowd.