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Tag Archives: pilots
Automation
One thing which tends to strike fear into the heart of a young student pilot working on a career in aviation is the word, automation. Young people hate to hear that word because they think it might keep them from getting … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying
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Tagged airline crews, airline pilots, airplanes, Airplanista online magazine, Automation, Charles Lindbergh, FedEx, first officer, flight engineer, flying across the Atlantic, Fred Smith, fully automated cockpits, life support systems, navigator, passenger flights, pilot, pilots, professional pilots, radio operator, student pilots, unmanned aerial vehicles, Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), young student pilots
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Making the Ship Go Faster
As with any organization, pilots can have a rather active, funny, ingenious, and sometimes sophisticated sense of humor. Most times, however, we can just be juvenile, according to our wives. A tale told during my Navy days probably has an … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying
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Tagged 1-wire, airplanes, breach of discipline, catshot, discipline, glideslope, immediate action procedures, LSOs (Landing Signal Officers), military service, Navy, Pilot Humor on a Dark and Stormy Night, pilots, radar intercept officer (RIO), rounddown, sense of humor, shipboard humor, single-engine operations, sophisticated sense of humor, spud locker, The Air Boss, the marshal stack, the proverbial dark and stormy night, the quickness of a naval aviator's mind, Tomcat, Zone 5 afterburner
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1 Comment
The Mighty Eighth
If you are driving down to Florida along Interstate 95, you might see something amazing near Savannah, GA. As long as you are not sleeping, it is hard to miss the Boeing B-47 Stratojet parked next to the highway. The … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Life in General
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Tagged aviation memorabilia, aviation museum, Boeing B-47 Stratojet, bombardiers, Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker, Bull Street, clerks, cooks, England, Florida, gunners, Hunter Field, Interstate 95, mechanics, National Guard Armory, navigators, Pearl Harbor, pilots, prisoners of war, Savannah GA, stories, The Eighth Bomber Command, The Medal of Honor, The Mighty Eighth, The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum
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1 Comment
Which do you prefer?
Which do you prefer? Would you rather have naked photography or groping? Many Americans are opting for neither and choosing not to fly and there is a real sense this is going to boil over on November 24, the busiest … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Life in General
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Tagged Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT), American Airlines, busiest travel day of the year, cabin attendants, ExpressJet, full body scan, groping, Homeland Security, Michael Roberts, naked photography, passengers, pilot unions, pilots, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), TSA screeners, U.S. Travel Association, US Airways, Which do you prefer?, “pat down” search
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3 Comments
Any Attitude, Any Airspeed
I am sure you have heard old flight instructors or pilots say, “An airplane can stall in any attitude or any airspeed.” Come on, admit it. You really didn’t believe them did you? I mean, how is it possible an … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Personal
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Tagged 2 v 3 dogfight, A-4, Any Airspeed, Any Attitude, Challenger, critical angle-of-attack, DACM, dissimilar air combat maneuvering, F-14, Guantanamo, gunsight, old flight instructors, pilots, pointed straight down, rolling scissors, Skyhawk, slow flight, stall, throttle wide open, Tomcats
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1 Comment
A Very Pleasant Surprise
One wonderful thing about airplanes is that each has a lesson to teach. All a new or old pilot has to do to learn the lessons of an airplane is keep his or her eyes and ears open. The airplane … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a lot of fun, A Very Pleasant Surprise, airplanes, Cessnas, especially delightful, flying around the patch, lessons to teach, Phantom II ultra-light, phenomenal climb rate, pilots, power loading, regrets, selling airplanes, shockingly short takeoffs, the wind on my face, warping wings, weight shift, what flying is all about, wing loading
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1 Comment
The Front Side and the Backside!
One of the more complex concepts for students or inexperienced pilots to grasp involves flying on the “front side” or the “backside” of the power curve. On the front side, everything seems to be working normally while on the backside, … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Teaching
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Tagged aerodynamic control, flight instructor, flying, helping your students “get it”, inexperienced pilots, maximum endurance speed, motorists, mountains, pilots, region of normal command, region of reversed command, stall speed, steep hills, student pilots, Teaching Speed, the backside of the power curve, the front side of the power curve, the gas pedal, total aircraft control, young flight instructor
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5 Comments
Teaching Speed – The Basics
Yesterday, I wrote about the extremes – flying high or low, fast or slow. I like the extremes and feel as if the heart of the envelope could be, well, somewhat boring from the standpoint of flying. The main thing … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Teaching
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Tagged aerodynamic control, flight instructor, flying, helping your students “get it”, inexperienced pilots, motorists, mountains, pilots, stall speed, steep hills, student pilots, Teaching Speed, the gas pedal, total aircraft control, young flight instructor
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1 Comment
Landings
There are some things magical and mystical about coming back to earth after flying. I can still hear Charlie saying, “Any monkey can fly, you can train a monkey to takeoff and fly. The first astronauts were monkeys. The person … Continue reading →
Why I Fly?
Why do I fly? Sometimes, something like that is hard to explain, especially to those who do not fly. They say a photograph is worth a thousand words; if that is so, a video is probably worth somewhere upwards of 500,000 paragraphs. … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged airport bums, barnstormers, Cessna 182, Charles Lindbergh, control over my life, enthusiasm, favorite students, first solo, flying checks, flying machines, flying single-engine at night, homebuilders, I knew I could do it, IFR clearance, instrument flying, instrument pilots, it was time, late afternoon Florida skies, life lessons, little country FBO, mechanics, Navy, Night flight, open cockpit biplanes, parachute, perfecting landings, picking a good place to land, pilots, Piper J 3, predicaments, professional pilots, safe landing, Tampa International, the barnstorming era, what was there to be afraid of?, You’re on your own
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1 Comment
