General

For all the fuss made about California’s huge population, almost two-thirds of its 36.5 million people are squeezed into just 8 percent of the land. That leaves an awful lot of open spaces in between, as anyone who’s ever flown — or driven — between San Francisco and Los Angeles can attest. But my friend […]

It is a common aviation axiom that every accident is always a result of a succession of errors, rather than due to one single error. Well, I have learned that a successful rescue follows the same rules: It requires a chain of correct actions, altruism and fortunate coincidences. I departed Madrid (Cuatro Vientos LECU) on […]

Once I’ve landed, my assessment of a flight switches from the “how-goz-it” while airborne to the “how-went-it” when I’m safely on the ground. When I did my self-debrief following the last leg of my flight home after attending AirVenture in Oshkosh in August, two quotes seemed apropos of my efforts to successfully negotiate my way […]

That year winter arrived on the heels of a cold front that marked the end of an interminably long and hot Ohio Valley summer, one that lasted nearly to Thanksgiving. Arriving at the ‘drome for a flight check I got a brutal reminder that airports are the coldest places on the planet. Back to the […]

I have visited a certain old house on the south coast of Massachusetts almost every summer for the past 20 years, and have known Sam, its owner, for almost half a century now. He is an excellent fellow — thoughtful, erudite, articulate, earthily funny, worldly wise, impatient of pretension, as apt to quote Cummings as […]

There is no greater concern among pilots and airplane owners today than the cost of fuel. Prices vary widely from airport to airport, but $5 is often on the low end and $7 a gallon is not the top. And in many instances jet fuel costs more than avgas, a reversal of traditional pricing. Fuel […]

Wedged into a middle seat of coach, I attempted to concentrate. A 767 operating manual sat on my lap. It was as good a time as any to review again. I was deadheading to DFW for my nine-month recurrent training. It would be the first recurrent training I would attend as a check airman. And […]

I was excited about buying a 1966 Piper Cherokee 140, discovered in Trade-A-Plane. I negotiated with a gentleman in Owensboro, Kentucky, who finally accepted my offer for $10,000 after several conversations on the phone. I never saw the airplane but made a deal that if it was not as advertised, I would not take it. […]

The future of training seems to be with complete online courses you can access from anywhere, and if that’s the case, for Sporty’s the future begins right now. Already one of the leading providers of flight training materials, Sporty’s has pushed the envelope once again with its launch of four impressive online training courses: the […]

Every once in a while life intrudes on this love affair I have with airplanes, and I feel like that bewildered soldier at Little Big Horn: “Mr. Custer, what are we doing here?” How often did I gaze out the window of some FAA office (when they were still on airports), angry, frustrated or scared […]