FLYING Magazine | FLYING Magazine

I Learned About Flying From That: It Couldn’t Happen to Me

My family has owned a 1931 Buhl Bull Pup single-place, open-cockpit “flying bathtub” since 1969. I was 16 when I won the youngest-pilot award at Merced’s Antique Fly-In in 1970. I’ve been flying this little antique airplane all my life. A few weekends ago, I came as close as you can to rolling it (and […]

I Learned About Flying From That: When an Engine Explodes

A number of years ago, I attended an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association flight-instructor refresher class as a newly licensed CFI-I. The instructor asked a roomful of about 60 CFIs if anyone had lost an engine and made a forced landing. I have never forgotten that day, when almost half the people in the room […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Back to Basics

“You need more right rudder,” Bill Martin scolded as I sloppily put the Cessna 172 into a climbing right turn. My recollection of P-factor and torque effect, it seemed, had gone the way of the dodo bird. “I guess I’m used to yaw dampers in the jets,” I mumbled. “It’s been 10 years since I’ve […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Seizing Control

I keep my Cherokee at Ramona Airport (KRNM) in Southern California and am actively involved with other pilots there in an organization that offers introductory flights to youngsters through a program called Young Eagles. It is a very worthwhile program that offers kids ages 8 to 17 the opportunity of a free introductory flight along […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Lady Luck

How did I get myself into this position? Here I was in a $6 million helicopter, just minutes from running out of fuel, at night, over the swamps of the Florida panhandle. I was beginning to imagine the headlines that would greet my wife and children. “Sir, we’ve got about 10 minutes of gas,” my […]

I Learned About Flying From That: 18,300 Feet in a Cessna 150

The cloud were building beautifully over the California coast range. I was back from college for the weekend and itching to fly, so I grabbed my camera and hopped into one of the Fresno Sky Riders Club Cessna 150s. It was a 1963 model with the standard Continental O-200 engine, producing 100 galloping horsepower — […]

I Learned About Flying From That: When Something Goes ‘Thwack!’

Several years ago my uncle and I flew up to Boston to pick up our new company airplane and fly it back to Georgia after the installation of an ice-protection system. We had dropped the airplane off two weeks earlier — a milestone for me as a pilot and my uncle as a student pilot, […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Stuck Throttle Approach

Some events in flying aren’t covered by our instruction, the reading of popular or safety-specific magazines, or the emergency checklists. During these events, the pilot is left to his or her own devices, perhaps assisted by controllers and even passengers. But in the end, the pilot in command has the ultimate authority. I was presented […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Bayou Ditching

The morning of June 25, 1994, was exceptionally clear and pleasant in central Arkansas and found me sitting at the end of a very scarce asphalt runway in my robust, aerodynamic Ag Cat. It was 85 degrees F and the winds were calm. I was ready to roll with half a tank of gas and […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Blinded by Experience

I earned my private pilot certificate in October 2006 at the age of 35. A few months later, in July 2007, a pilot friend of the family heard I was a new pilot and invited me along to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Even though I had just met Steve, I thought it was an awesome opportunity, […]