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Category Archives: Aviation
Teaching Stalls, Part II
Yesterday, we hit the basics of teaching stalls. Today, let’s go a little more in depth. First, some important questions. Why should we learn how to stall? Why should we learn how to recover from a stall? What is the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
Teaching Stalls, Part I
One maneuver scary to many student pilots is The Stall. This maneuver comes in a variety of flavors—there is the power off stall, the power on stall, the approach to landing stall, the accelerated stall. It is no surprise this … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
Canceled Flights on the Horizon
Today’s technology is amazing. I can sit in my living room here in Florida and read papers from all around the world. You have to like that. There is nothing more satisfying than acquiring more knowledge, regardless of where the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a shortage of pilots, actual combat, airline careers, airplanes, Canceled Flights on the Horizon, Cessnas, culture, disturbed sleep, flight training, flights canceled, flying, Ft. Rucker, helicopter training, inexperienced pilots, jobs, learning to fly, letters to the editor, military service, nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight operations, noise complaints, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, the Army, the economy, the War Between the States, the Wiregrass area of Alabama, Times were hard, Today’s technology, training aircraft, “Fight like you train—train like you fight”
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1 Comment
The USS Langley, CV-1
This day in 1922 was a very important day in the records of Naval Aviation. Eighty-nine years ago, the United States Navy launched their first aircraft carrier. (Found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SSd_zPTYFQ.) The USS Langley, also known as CV-1, first served as … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged aircraft carrier, Commander Joseph Reeves, Commander Kenneth Whiting, Eugene Ely, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, LT Virgil Griffin, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, military service, naval aviation, Navy Yard Norfolk, professional pilots, Samuel P. Langley, the United States Navy, The USS Langley CV-1, USS Birmingham, USS Jupiter AC-3, Vought VE-7, “flight deck”, “seaborne aviation”
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1 Comment
Teaching Straight and Level
One of the first things a student pilot needs to learn is the task of merely flying straight and level. Sounds simple enough, right? It is, to a degree. Still, there are elements of performing the maneuver (can straight and … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a flight instructor, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, angle-of-attack (AoA), Cessnas, CFI, climbing or descending while flying straight ahead, climbs, descents, different visual aspect, flight training, flying, flying straight and level, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, sitting height, student pilots, Teaching Straight and Level, the four fundamentals, the simplest elements, training aircraft, turns, “sight picture”
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2 Comments
Able Dogs and Spads
Today, in 1945, the XBT2D-1 flew for the first time. It was another of the great designs by Ed Heinemann, the designer of many aircraft produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. As with many of the aircraft Heinemann created, … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged A-1E, A-1H, A-1J, Air Force, airplanes, Bernie Fisher, big four-bladed props, carrier-borne aircraft, discipline, Douglas Aircraft Company, Ed Heinemann, feet dry, feet wet, flying, ground troops, Helldiver, judgment, Korea, military service, Navy, Navy pilots, pilots, professional pilots, Spad pilots, taildraggers, TBM Avenger, the A-1 Skyraider, The Able Dogs and Spads, the cold war, the Congressional Medal of Honor, the deck of a carrier, the Sandy, the XBT2D-1, Vietnam, World War II, Wright R-3350, “sand blower” route
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6 Comments
Dave, You’re Working Too Hard!
I read with interest the insights learned by an Australian friend, Dave, a middle-aged (as he refers to himself) young person as he is learning how to fly. For his insight #13, he wrote, “Watch the airspeed on late finals! I … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Australia, Cessnas, correct airspeed, Dave, discipline, falling out of the sky, fear of stalls, first solo, flight training, flying, flying close to the ground, flying the airplane, friends, glideslope, inexperienced pilots, insights, judgment, landing, learning how to fly, learning to fly, on late final, pilots, professional pilots, relax, runway threshold, slow flight, stall speed, student pilots, Trim the airplane, working too hard, You’re Working Too Hard!
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5 Comments
Happy Birthday, Pan Am
Today in 1927, Key West birthed Pan American World Airways out of a small maintenance hangar near Duval Street in Key West. Kelly McGillis, the actress who co-starred with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, presently owns the building purportedly to be the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General
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Tagged 2001 A Space Odyssey, airplanes, Boeing 747, Clipper flying boats, Clipper Juan T. Trippe, Duval Street, flying, Fokker monoplanes, Happy Birthday Pan Am, Havana Cuba, Juan Trippe, Kelly McGillis, Key West, Lockerbie Scotland, Pan Am, Pan Am 103, Pan Am 73, Pan American Airways, Pan American World Airways, pilots, professional pilots, SCADTA, Stanley Kubric, Tenerife, the first Boeing 747 to carry passengers, the unofficial flagship airlines of the United States, the worst aviation accident in history, Top Gun, William Allen, World War II
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1 Comment
Fighting FIVE Takes the US Navy into the Jet Age
Sixty-three years ago today, Fighter Squadron FIVE became the first Navy squadron to land jet fighters aboard an aircraft carrier. On March 10, 1948, they took their brand new North American FJ-1 Fury jets to sea to land aboard the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History
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Tagged aircraft carriers, Curtis F6C-4 Hawk, F-14A Tomcats, F-8 Crusader, Fighting FIVE Takes the US Navy into the Jet Age, Grumman F9F–2 Panther, jet fighters, last of the true gunfighters, McDonnell-Douglas F-4 five Phantom, military service, naval aviation, Navy, Neil Armstrong, North American FJ-1 Fury, open cockpit biplanes, sailors, Sundowners, The Korean War, The Screaming Eagles, Top Gun, USS Boxer, USS Essex, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Ticonderoga, USS Vinson, VF-1, VF-111, VF-3S The Striking Eagles, VF-5, VF-51, Vietnam, World War II
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2 Comments
The Lost Promises
So, Reveille sounds at 0530 this morning as it always does for me. Only I know longer hear the bugler or the voice over the 1MC calling, “Reveille, Reveille, Reveille, all hands turn…” After years of hearing the calls, I … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged A plane in every garage!, airplanes, all hands, and Piper, aviation news, Beech, Cessna, Cessnas, flight training, flying, increasing insurance premiums, learning to fly, little grass airstrips, LSA Dream, Mom and Pop flying schools, new LSA airplanes, pilots, product liability, Reveille, student pilots, taildraggers, the 1MC, the American Dream, The Lost Promises, training aircraft
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