Perusing Some Old Logbooks

Memories from the past elicit lots of laughter and plenty of tears.

Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 09:03 AM ET

Verified

On a whim, FLYING contributor Martha Luniken dug into some old logbooks, as well as some diaries from the years between the mid-1960s and mid-’70s. [Courtesy: Martha Lunken]

Key Takeaways:

The author reflects on her extensive career as a flight instructor from the mid-1960s to mid-’70s, detailing how she built "Miss Martha's Flying School" and logged nearly 6,000 hours of dual instruction.
Her journey included personal challenges, such as a complex marriage to Ebby Lunken, alongside her unwavering dedication to aviation instruction.
The article shares vivid and often humorous anecdotes from her time teaching, highlighting the diverse personalities of her students and memorable interactions with air traffic control.
The success of her flight school was partly fueled by changing aviation regulations that required many existing recreational pilots to get certified.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Grounded too often this winter by weather and a head cold that morphed into pneumonia, I was stuck in the house, casting around for stories to tell you.

On a whim, I dug into some old logbooks, as well as some diaries from the years between the mid-1960s and mid-’70s, and have been alternately convulsed with laughter, drowned in tears, and flat-out amazed at the number of people I taught (or tried to teach) to fly. As far as I know, none have hurt themselves, their passengers, or their airplanes (well, except me).

Martha Lunken

Martha Lunken is a lifelong pilot, former FAA inspector and defrocked pilot examiner. She flies a Cessna 180 and anything with a tailwheel, from Cubs to DC-3s.