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Tag Archives: professional pilots
On Buying An Airplane, Part II
When it comes to operating your own airplane, you have to keep a few things in mind. First, airplanes are not cheap, but if you are going to do more flying than usual, which is to say more than seven … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, Cessna 170, Cessna 182, Cessnas, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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On Buying An Airplane, Part I
Once you make the decision to buy an airplane, it is one of the most exciting times of your life. It can also be one of the most frustrating. Oh, and let me also say there is a little stress … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, Cessna 170, Cessna 182, Cessnas, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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High Flight
My last blog was about the men who saved England, no, indeed the world. The documentary I watched about the pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain moved me. Their story overwhelmingly impressed me because of my realization of … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History
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Tagged airplanes, Canada, discipline, England, fighter pilots, flight training, flying, friends, High Flight, inexperienced pilots, John Gillespie Magee, Jr., judgment, learning to fly, military service, No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, professional pilots, RAF, RCAF, student pilots, taildraggers, the Battle of Britain, the Fleet Finch, training aircraft, Winston Churchill, World War II
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1 Comment
The Battle of Britain
This week, I had the opportunity to watch a very well done documentary on the Battle of Britain. Hosted by Ewan McGregor and his brother Colin, they told of how they grew up in England studying about the fighter pilots … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, British pilots, Colin McGregor, discipline, Ewan McGregor, flight training, flying, friends, Harvard, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, military service, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, professional pilots, Stampe trainer, student pilots, T-6 Texan, taildraggers, training aircraft, World War II
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1 Comment
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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The Problem with Time
Forty-three years ago today, the United States put man on the moon. It is amazing to think that much time has passed. Even more astonishing is the rate at which time is now flying. I stood in the passageway at … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation History, History, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged aviation and space, dreams of flying, life, man on the moon, memories, Neil Armstrong, our leadership in aviation, pilots, professional pilots, We Chose to Go to the Moon, World War II
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