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Category Archives: Flying
The Souls of Airplanes
I remember the first time I realized an airplane could seem as though it were a living being. I was out at the Zephyrhills airport near Tampa, where I met a young man who owned a Republic Seabee amphibious aircraft. … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessna 170, Cessna 182, Cessnas, discipline, engine failures, first solo, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, for the sake of flying, friends, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, memories, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, Piper Cubs, professional pilots, Republic Seabee, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft, Zephyrhills airport
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6 Comments
Night Charter
I’m on the drive home going north along Interstate 95. The storms have just passed and they remind of a night long ago in the charter business. There is lightning cloud to cloud and cloud to ground off to the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessna 182, Cessna 210, Cessnas, dodging cells, Florida, flying, flying alone in the dark, instrument flying, Interstate 95, judgment, massive thunderstorms, memories, MIA VORTAC, pilots, professional pilots, somewhere near V-3 at 5500 feet, the charter business, the size of the universe, the soft lights of the instrument panel
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2 Comments
Engine Failures Are Louder at Night
I have written about engine failures in the past (Engine Failures, “Go ahead, punk, make my day!”, Running on Empty, and Dinner Conversations About Fear). The one thing I have not addressed is engine failure at night, which is, without question, the worst thing … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, discipline, engine failures, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers
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8 Comments
A Quiet, Nerdy Engineer
Neil Armstrong has passed at the age of 82. Yesterday, Fox News reported Armstrong regarded himself as, “a quiet, nerdy engineer.” Well, he may have considered himself in those terms, but for many of us, he was the nation’s hero, … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged airplanes, Apollo 11, Cape Kennedy, discipline, flight test, Florida, flying, Gemini 8, instrument flying, judgment, Korean War, learning to fly, Lunar Landing, memories, military service, NAS Pensacola, Navy, Pad 39A, pilots, President Kennedy, professional pilots, sailors, Sea of Tranquility, the moon, USS Essex
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2 Comments
Happy Birthday Orville
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared this day, August 19, as the first National Aviation Day. Why August 19? Well, it is the anniversary of Orville Wright’s birthday. For most of us who fly airplanes, today is a special … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged airplanes, First Flight, Happy Birthday Orville, Kill Devil Hills, National Aviation Day, Orville Wright's birthday, pilots, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft, wing warping, Wright Brothers National Memorial
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Dinner Conversations About Fear
We were sitting with friends at a great restaurant on the beach. The temperature was just right, the humidity relatively low, and the wind was light, but refreshing. It was a great evening and since we were aviators, our conversation … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, being ready, control the fear, Conversations About Fear, discipline, emergencies, engine failure, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, flying careers, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, survival, survival training, training
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1 Comment
The Cub Versus the Champ
One of the on-going debates in general aviation pertains to the merits of two of the most classic airplanes that flew in the formative years of aviation. The airplanes are the Piper Cub and the Aeronca Champ. I have written … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, discipline, first solo, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, professional pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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Seeing the Sun
We were driving across Florida through the Ocala National Forest. It was one of those afternoons good for driving, not so much for flying, unless you held an instrument rating and had filed. We were passing near R-2910 and I … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged 200-1/4, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, clouds, discipline, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, GCA, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, instrument training, judgment, learning to fly, memories, military service, Navy, PAR, pilots, professional pilots, sailors, student pilots, TA-4J Skyhawk, training aircraft
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2 Comments
Leftovers
Leftovers. You have to love ’em. Especially if they have been hanging around the ’fridge for a while and they age appropriately—mixing in flavors in on top of flavors. Sometimes the leftovers are wonderfully tasty and you might think it cannot … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged 100-LL, 100-octane, 150-hp Lycoming, 80-octane, airplanes, alternate destinations, an unsafe practice, Cessna 172, critical thinking skills, day VFR fuel reserves, destinations, discipline, engine problems, excess fuel, flight planning, flying, flying instruments, general aviation airplanes, holding patterns, holding time, how many approaches, judgment, Leftovers, minimum fuel, night and IFR fuel reserves, options, pilots, pilots can never have too much fuel, Piper Cherokee, professional pilots, the ATC environment, useable fuel, weather below minimums
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2 Comments
Seventy Years
Seventy years ago this morning, 80 brave men took off from the USS Hornet on what would later become known as the Doolittle Raid. It is hard to imagine babies were born, lived their entire lives, and died having lived … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History
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Tagged 500-pound high explosive bombs, 500-pound incendiary bombs, 80 brave men, Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, Admiral Yamamoto, Afghanistan, American history, an extraordinary display of airmanship, April 18 1942, B-25B Mitchell, bailing out, Beirut, China, Grenada, Hawaii, Iraq, James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle, Japan, Kobe, Lexington to Gettysburg, Nagoya, Normandy, Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt, Purple Hearts, Russia, sacrifice, secret mission, Seventy Years, sneak attack, the Air Force Museum in Dayton OH, the Ardennes, the Chosin Valley, the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Doolittle Raid, The Eighth Air Force, the Ia Drang, the Japanese army, the sleeping giant, the Twin Towers, the USS Hornet, Tokyo, volunteers, World War II, Yokohama, Yokosuka, “Toujours Au Danger!”
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2 Comments
