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Unusual Attitudes: A Lockheed Lodestar Love Affair

** Flying the Lodestar always made me feel like
Katharine Hepburn, Amelia Earhart and
Jacqueline Cochran, all rolled into one.**
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The author expresses a profound love for the Lockheed 18 Lodestar, finding it the most exotic and glamorous aircraft they've flown, evoking a vintage persona and superior performance compared to a DC-3.
  • The article details the acquisition of their specific Lodestar, named "Frazier," and recounts the author's experiences flying it, including a humorous anecdote about fabricating a grocery run to Cleveland.
  • A chaotic incident occurred during a trip to Louisiana when the author, annoyed by a noisy drag racer at their motel, threw an ice bucket, leading to a tense confrontation with local "ragin' Cajuns."
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The following article is from Flying’s May 2013 issue.

My pilot certificate has some eclectic type ratings — a Lockheed 18 Lodestar, the Fairchild Swearingen SA-227 (Metroliner or San Antonio Stovepipe), the Douglas DC-3 and then there’s that commercial hot air balloon thing. But I gotta tell you, the most exotic flying machine, the one that makes me feel most like an aviator, is the Lockheed Lodestar. And, hands-down, it’s the one I’d most love to fly again.

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.

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