Video: Pilot Songwriter Shares Joys of Flight

Aviation enthusiasts have been opening the video link of "Lainey's First Airplane Ride" like it was money from home. While it's tough to match the infectious enthusiasm of a six-year-old, try this one on for size. Born a few years before Lainey — in 1950 — Livingston Taylor is an accomplished singer-songwriter and professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He is also an instrument-rated private pilot and owner of a Cessna 205 named “Bertha.” Livingston (you may be better acquainted with his famous older brother James) shares Lainey’s fascination with the miracle of flight, but unlike most other adults, he has the gift of music and lyric poetry to express his love of flying. Here’s a short video, with some of his music, recalling a summer day’s flight to Martha’s Vineyard; it helps capture his fascination with flight.

Mark Phelps is a senior editor at AVweb. He is an instrument rated private pilot and former owner of a Grumman American AA1B and a V-tail Bonanza.

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