Naming Contrary Mary How did my RV-8 come to be called ‘Contrary Mary’? Early in the construction of my RV-8 I needed to decide on a paint scheme. I wanted something that would pop, the traditional white base with some kind of accent strip(s) wasn’t going to cut it. Lots of RV-8 has pseudo-military paint schemes so…
I’m a Barnstormers.com addict… If you aren’t familiar with the website Barnstormers.com then hopefully you can run now and be spared from the addiction. Barnstormers.com is an aviation classified site that is chocked full of used airplanes and parts for sale. I was first introduced to Barnerstormers.com back in 2004 when I was researching the…
We now have a dedicated Facebook page for iflyblog.com Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/iFLYblog This will allow me to provide some additional functionality for folks who like to use social media. Let us know what you think by commenting below or posted on our Facebook page!
How To Fly a Taildragger: 201 We pick up where we left off in 101 and venture into more of the nuances of conventional gear aircraft. If you haven’t read How To Fly a Taildragger: 101 go there first. One area not mentioned in 101 was how gyroscope precession, spiraling slipstream, p-factor and torque effect a…
Hawker Beechcraft to emerge from Bankruptcy as Beechcraft If you own a propellor-driven Beechcraft hopefully this is a spot of good news. The idea of having the tooling that makes our precious parts being shipped halfway around the world in China (if that’s how it would have went down), had to be a foreboding thought….
NAIA Days: My Flight School Experience Dateline: 1991 With my private license in my pocket I set out to obtain my ratings at the tender age of 20. The plan was to leave my hometown and go to a big school to get all the ratings I would need to start flying for a living…
In the spirit of the article published here today on formation flying, I thought I would share this simple video with you. It was a mid-day flight and rough down low so forgive the camera shake. The video was shot at Port Columbus (KCMH) in Columbus, Oh. Rick was flying lead in his RV-4 and…
Complacency: The Silent Killer Let’s face facts, flying can be risky. In spite of statistics that say flying is safer than driving – which are arguable, there are elements of flying that are swiftly unforgiving. We have done well in recent decades to enhance accident rates in general aviation, but one theme remains; people are…
Are experimental airplanes really that “experimental?” Editorial This article may seemed biased toward experimental airplanes, but I want to provide some perspective for folks that have otherwise never considered an experimental as a viable option. For the record, I am not anti-Cessna or Piper. I love all airplanes! One of the things that have helped…
Misadventures of a C-172 Flight As a starving flight instructor working my tail off to make ends meet, I did some ‘interesting’ flying. (Editors note: no specific dates, locations, or names are used in this story to protect me from any bad-guys that were on the receiving end of this operation)