Airline Pilot

I’ve been reading this magazine for two-thirds of my life, ever since I was an eager-eyed lad of 12. Back then, the arrival of Flying‘s newest issue was a highlight of my month. I’d read Len Morgan first, then Gordon Baxter, then Mac McClellan, Dick Collins and Peter Garrison, and then everything else. I had […]

There are days in every pilot’s life that are destined to be remembered forever: first solo, the Private Pilot check ride, the first time landing a taildragger or seaplane. Those of us who fly for the airlines don’t have many memorable flights, which is by design. Airline flying, done properly, is a mildly enjoyable experience, […]

Among the various fascinating denizens of the air sharing our friendly skies, there are a great many creatures of habit — but perhaps none quite to the degree of the common airline pilot. This species, to which I belong, takes great pride and comfort in its everyday routines, the highly scripted rituals of flight and […]

Tonight I am nestled in a cozy corner of Windbird’s enclosed cockpit, feet propped on her helm and a rum drink in my hands as I watch her dance to and fro across the anchor chain in the faint light of a milky half-moon. We are in the Bahamas’ Berry Islands and have tucked into […]

Airplanes, pilots and airports: Where you find two, you’ll find the third. In my airplane-obsessed childhood, this indisputable fact led to an early acquaintance with every airfield within a 20-mile radius. These were quiet country fields, mind you, but every so often a Cessna would drop in to do a couple of touch-and-goes, or maybe […]

The master mechanic, the inveterate tinkerer, the skilled craftsman who works magic in wood and metal and fiberglass: I am, sadly, none of these things. I know many people who are naturally handy, and I envy them. My own father, a carpenter and then a general contractor for 25 years, is one of these folks, […]

The last time I flew my flying club’s 1940 J-3 Cub, it really should have been with the door open and warm breezes wafting through the cabin, passing low over rolling pastures and smelling the verdant earthiness of a rural Minnesota summer. This is the way every pilot should experience flying at least once in […]

An inescapable part of flying the line as a junior pilot is working on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays — Christmas above all. Most everyone wants it off, especially those with young children, and many resort to tactics such as bidding a reserve line to get it. Under the old rules, Part 121 pilots were limited […]

I’ll admit it: I’m a fiend for change. I thoroughly agree that variety is the spice of life, and when things get too stagnant, I tend to shake them up whether they really need it or not. Perhaps you sensed this in my September column: My wife and I had a really nice, comfortable life […]

Nearly as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a pilot — nothing more, nothing less. I said as much in a second-grade project that my mother saved for posterity. Over time I developed additional interests and even dabbled with the idea of becoming an architect or practicing law, but I never seriously […]