Editor’s Log

Over the water, in the clouds and flying partial panel – was this nuts or what?

Just for the fun of it, I decided to learn to fly my taildragger from the back seat. Theres a stick. PTT, throttle and carb heat in the back, but from there you cant change the radio frequency, adjust the mixture, hit the start button or manipulate any of the panel controls. Because there has to be a person in the front, you cant see much, either.

Nonetheless, I wanted the challenge, so I enlisted the help of one of my favorite instructors and off we went. Taxiing was more Pitts or P-51 or Stearman than Citabria, with S-turns a requirement for seeing whats in front of you. Suddenly the taxiways seemed much narrower.

The runup and mag check were normal. I dictated a pre-takeoff flow…

High ceilings early in the day had, by mid-afternoon, given way to a 3,500-foot overcast and declining visibility. Below the clouds it was still decent VFR, and would remain so for several hours when some storms in advance of a cold front would hit the Florida peninsula. But a haze had settled that cut visibility to about seven miles.

I was flying the Citabria from a meeting in Venice, Fla., back home to Orlando at 2,000 feet and I had tuned in the Lakeland Tower frequency in advance of transitioning that airspace. Things were pretty quiet until an uncertain voice came on the radio.

Uh, Lakeland. This is Bonanza 12Z calling for Lakeland. Lakeland Tower.

Bonanza 12Z, Lakeland Towe…

About the time this issue comes out, millions of people will be traipsing off to the homes of friends and relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday. Lots of them will fly. Some of them will fly themselves.

In our case, a customary trip is Orlando to Atlanta, where one grandpa and at least one grandma is usually waiting to scoop up the kids with raucous greetings.

The perennial question is how to get there.

By airliner, the trip is slightly more attractive than in times past because the airlines woes have kept the lid on fares to some extent this year. Checking reservations late in October, I can get five tickets on either of two airlines for a couple hundred apiece. Total cost for the…

When I traded my traveling airplane for my sport plane a year and a half ago, I knew life was going to be different. For years I had filed an IFR flight plan for virtually all flights out of the local area – even on trips of 150 miles in severe clear weather. I was very comfortable in the ATC system and had learned how to work it as well as how to work in it.

Having the Citabria has been a blast. Ive used it for some light cross-country duties during fair weather and relied on borrowed or rented airplanes when the clouds were low. Then the FAA went and changed all that.

The AD on Lycoming TIO-540 crankshafts has dramatically changed my local environment, and suddenly its not as easy…

We all know of someone who started out as an aviation enthusiast but fell by the wayside somewhere along the way.

For some, the cost of flying became either unaffordable or too much to justify to a spouse or oneself. For others, the time it takes to remain a safe pilot was too much to ask. For others, the novelty simply wore off.

One person I know had just traded up from a Bonanza to a Baron when I met her. She was very proud of her new bird and liked to boast of its performance, especially when compared to the Mooney M20J I owned at the time.

Over time, however, her boasting lost its enthusiasm and eventually turned into sour references about the cost of maintenance and engine ov…

In flying, like in any endeavor, you get out of it what you put into it. Some people consider flying a hobby, and theyre perfectly happy tooling around in a Cub or a Husky or a Skyhawk. To them, the world up there is one of peaceful vistas and three-dimensional freedom.

Some people find flying a lifestyle. They make their living at it, flying in all sorts of weather, sticking to a schedule and dealing with minor adversity before it becomes major.

Still others are consumed by the passion of flying. To them, flying is a challenge to be met, a task to be mastered and an adventure.

Many people, of course, share all of these traits to some degree. Their task is to balance the challenge…

Theres a couple of maneuvers youll never use again, a friend told me recently.

We had been discussing various maneuvers required on practical tests, and this reaction referred to the chandelle and lazy eights required for the commercial test. My friend, who flew briefly for American Airlines until concluding that flying for an airline wasnt her cup of tea, expressed disdain for the hoops all levels of pilots must jump through for no apparent reason other than to improve the standard of living for flight instructors.

I had to differ on this one. Besides the fact that I think chandelles and lazy eights are fun, they also serve a useful purpose. By learning to handle an airplane at th…

More than 14 months after the crash of singer John Denver in a Long-EZ off the California coast, the NTSB at press time released its final report on the accident.

The investigation of the last flight of N555JD is noteworthy because Denvers high profile ensured a more thorough investigation than otherwise would have occurred. The final result of the investigation has become well known, that Denver likely lost control while turning around to switch fuel tanks using the selector that was mounted behind him.

But the lessons that can be learned from Denvers crash are more lasting than the no-brainer opinion that you shouldnt mount your fuel selector where you cant reach it.

Though De…

Pilots feel pretty smug about themselves sometimes. When theyre masters of their machines and their sense of proficiency meshes perfectly with the proper caution, flying seems far from dangerous. It seems … ordinary.

But there are times when even the best pilots in the most familiar environments can find unexpected challenges when they least expect it.

Recently I was on board a single being flown by two very experienced pilots. Through a bit of test flying, some practice approaches and some touch and goes, it was obvious to me that these two veterans had the technique down cold. That thought, like sitting down while waiting for an elevator, only served to invite trouble.

The tower…