Author Jon Vitt had done an extraordinary thing. He has written a book that literally takes you through every step of his journey to becoming a Private Pilot. You might read a lot of very clinic explanations of how you learn to fly, but this account takes you inside the process in a step-by-step walk…
As a pilot I have an irresistible tendency to look up when I see an airplane over head. For some reason I don’t think this instinct exists in the non-aviation oriented population. This has been demonstrated to me dozens of times when I’m in public. I reflexively strain my neck to place my gaze upon…
Ok we say we want to grow the industry, but do we really? I feel like there are plenty among us who could care less. Maybe if you stopped and asked them directly they wouldn’t be so callous, but their actions elucidate their mentality. If you are the ones among us that are active in…
This is my humble contribution to the blogging in formation series. If you had one wish for aviation what would it be? Make it: safer, more mainstream, less expensive, more accessible, increasingly social, more desirable, etc.? In a nutshell, my one wish would be to make it less expensive, of course many of your would…
I enjoyed the opportunity on Saturday evening to attend Youth Aviation Adventure’s annual Hangarfest fundraiser at my home airport of KCMH. This is the national headquarters for YAA and Spirit Avionics graciously opened up their facility to host the event. Rick Ochs and the guys at Spirit are very involved with YAA and it shows, they pulled…
Like many, I have been waiting patiently the last several months for the opening of Disney’s latest offering. This movie is a spin-off of the wildly successful animated movie Cars, but since the theme was airplanes, what self-respecting pilot could resist? The wife wasn’t over enthused about going, but my youngest daughter, who’s 8, couldn’t wait. …
Pilots don’t agree on much, but if you were to ask what are the scariest things that could potentially occur in an airplane you will almost universally get this answer: Fire, Structural Failure, and Midair (in no particular order). Not that we sit around trembling in fear of such things, but when the thought wafts…
This post may sound like it is targeted at folks in training, but it really applies to all of us. It assumes that we are all “students” in some form or fashion. Let me explain. You see it doesn’t matter if you are a 787 driver with decades of experience and you flew F-15s prior…
When the group was deciding on a theme for this month’s Blogging in Formation series (#blogformation), we agreed to anchor it around July 4th (U.S. Independence Day). We settled on The Future of Aviation in the U.S., but we encouraged each other to explore the edges, good or bad, as we saw fit. We Are The…
I wrote a recent article for AirFactsJournal.com that highlights what I feel is the larger issue around light aircraft safety. It has very little to do with inadequate training or marginal equipment or antiquated regulations. I think the current training programs are fine (could always be better), the equipment very safe, and our FARs exist…