Pilot Proficiency

My dad was the one who led me to combine my dual interests in flying and writing—and as a talented pilot and storyteller, he taught me a great deal about both, particularly when I was a teenager working as a lineboy at Teterboro Airport and writing part time for a few local community newspapers. In […]

When I was recently asked to fly from my home in Los Angeles to Paso Robles, I experienced an unfamiliar nervousness. Flying used to be second nature. It didn’t feel much more challenging than stepping into my car to drive to the grocery store. But I gave birth to a son in the summer of […]

I didn’t think it was such a crazy idea. My boyfriend’s 17-year-old son, Connor, had been expressing an interest in flying for the past couple of years. I’d promised him I’d take him up one day so he could get a better idea of what it was like, but Connor and his dad lived in […]

There’s a discount store, called the Dollar Store, where everything in the establishment goes for a dollar or less. This is not strictly true, for some items may reach two or even three dollars, but you get the point. This retailer suggests a metaphor for flying short distances. A lot of satisfaction can be had […]

It’s not that I was so unlike the typical teenager—counting down the days until I took my driver’s test at 17—but there was no denying I looked forward to an earlier birthday even more eagerly: my 15th, when finally I was allowed to start taking flying lessons. I first began pestering my parents to let […]

The flight school where I completed most of my flight training and where I instructed for nearly two years is called Justice Aviation. Every year, Justice and a few other businesses at Santa Monica Airport host a Christmas party – an event I always attend to catch up with friends and former coworkers. This year, […]

The FAA’s aircraft re-registration initiative has caught the attention of headline writers in the general media. “FAA loses track of 190,000 planes” was one. Naturally, the emphasis in the stories was on the potential threat to security. In fact, the larger concern is one of administrative housekeeping. Under the new rules, aircraft owners will have […]

I’ve carried several varieties of portable GPS navigators over the years, and of course none are approved as sole means of navigation for IFR operations. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that portable navigators don’t incorporate the necessary RAIM (receiver autonomous integrity monitoring) technology for IFR certification. RAIM raises a […]

I’m essentially a little airplane pilot, and only rarely have I “flown far out across the prairies of the sky to lands my fathers never knew and shores my kindred never trod,” but I think any pilot understands Gill Robb Wilson’s feelings about flying home for Christmas: I’ve blessed my wings a thousand times For […]

Research has shown that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is no joke. When the days get shorter and it’s colder outside, people are more prone to depression, anxiety and a variety of other symptoms we used to call simply, the “winter blues.” A lot of the recommended remedies involve maximizing our exposure to natural light and […]