[sc:Top-of-Post ] 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,…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] Having flown some formation in my youth, I was familiar with the addictive nature of this kind of flying. Back then I was a mixture of self-trained (read: SCARY and NOT RECOMMENDED) and loosely instructed. My “training” was from a grizzled Vietnam-era F-4 jock. He was in a Pitts and I was in…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] 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…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] On the heels of the FAA’s certification of the first commercial drones, I’m compelled to take you down the rabbit hole with me regarding the implications of our skies littered with faceless, nameless machines. Like almost all powerful technology that has been developed in history, it can be used for good, and it…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] This post is my contribution to the #blogformation series on the topic of “truth is stranger than fiction.” One of us among the group selected this topic to torment the other authors! The good news is, there is no shortage of incredible stories in aviation that defy logic and turn fiction onto its…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] Recency of experience is one of the major safety challenges that we face in general aviation. Although it doesn’t seem to get a lot of direct press, it’s lurking just under the surface in many accidents. It’s one of the less tangible causations which push investigators to dig deep for answers that almost…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] Disclaimer: the inspiration for this post comes from my minor obsession with coffee. It real doesn’t matter where you are in the spectrum of aviation, sometimes we just need a little jolt to remind us why we have embarked on this journey. Indulge me as I draw parallels between my other vice, Starbucks, and different ways…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] My philosophy is to try to learn from everyone I come in contact with and I highly recommend this approach to life. I had occasion to learn something really cool last weekend. It was a lesson I have experienced before, but I will likely need to relearn it over and over again. The…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] 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…
[sc:Top-of-Post ] In this environment of security theatre, many folks are very attune to all of the surveillance we are under, but you might need to consider the equipment you have on the airplane you fly that is also watching you. All of the popular glass cockpit EFIS systems that I’m familiar with keep data…