Search Results for: DC-3

“Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.” This is from a colorful, abstract picture on my wall, a gift from a friend who knows I passionately believe that’s the way to live. And for me — since I’m not good at anything else — that usually involves airplanes […]

Ron Alexander was born in 1942 in Bloomington, Indiana. At the age of 14, he took his first airplane ride in a military C-119 as a member of the Civil Air Patrol. Shortly after that flight he began flying with other CAP members in a PA.-18. When Ron was 16 years old, he soloed an […]

At first glance, the title of this column might suggest that the subject ­matter involves airline code sharing. The phrase “metal neutral” has been a buzzword used by airline management to indicate passenger revenue obtained through fare agreements with other carriers. The concept implies that it is immaterial whose logo is painted on the aluminum. […]

Not all that long ago, flying in thunderstorm weather was more of an art than a science. Weather radar hadn’t been invented; the only real technology available was to use the ADF and avoid areas to which its needle pointed. Grizzled veterans with years of experience flogging DC-3s across the Great Plains had developed their personal methods for dealing with them. Too often, those methods allowed penetration—sometimes at low levels, maybe at higher ones—and didn’t stress avoidance. These days, a pilot with a fraction of the experience those captains had is favored with many more tools with which to locate and avoid convective weather. In heavy-iron operations—and even smaller ones—extremely capable airborne weather radar is the norm. Even flivver drivers can access satellite- or ground-based Nexrad weather radar imagery for not much in the way of expensive hardware or subscriptions. The Nexrad option also affords pilots the ability to scroll well beyond an airborne radar’s range to look at conditions they won’t encounter for hours, if ever, in near-real-time.

North Dakota warbird restorer and pilot extraordinaire Bob Odegaard was killed on Friday evening when his Goodyear F2G Super Corsair crashed at Barnes County Airport in Valley City, North Dakota, while Odegaard was practicing for an upcoming airshow. No one on the ground was injured in the crash, and Odegaard died at the scene in […]

With the possible exception of a hot-air balloon, no matter what kind of aircraft you fly—airplane, glider, helicopter or blimp—it has an undercarriage of some sort, used when it’s on the ground. The component(s) actually resting on the ground can be tires, skids, floats or skis, but they’re attached to the airframe via the undercarriage. In turn, the undercarriage can be fixed, retractable or a mix (e.g., the main gear retracts while the tailwheel doesn’t). And just as there are a seemingly endless number of airframe configurations, undercarriages come in many different flavors.

Read Once I Built an Airline (Part I) here. Every summer weekend through most of the ’60s, Midwest Airways flew its original northern Michigan route from Cincinnati to Traverse City and Harbor Springs as well as the weekday Cleveland and Detroit schedule. So on Friday evenings from June through August at least one Lockheed 10 […]

In the wake of our publication of the Top 100 Airplanes of all time, a number of Flying readers have shared their thoughts on which aircraft top their best-of-all-time list. Take a look at the overall most popular Top 10 aircraft reader picks, and check out some of the interesting lists we recently received below. […]

On this January morning in Ohio, I pulled on the “heat” knob in the J-3, which is as effective as pulling “cabin air” in a Piper Warrior in July. … You can hope but you know nothing’s going to happen. We were holding short of the grass runway and my Sport Pilot applicant in the […]

Visit this storied airport for a chance to enjoy some good grub while relishing the site’s rich GA history.