I Learned About Flying From That

Several years ago my uncle and I flew up to Boston to pick up our new company airplane and fly it back to Georgia after the installation of an ice-protection system. We had dropped the airplane off two weeks earlier — a milestone for me as a pilot and my uncle as a student pilot, […]

Some events in flying aren’t covered by our instruction, the reading of popular or safety-specific magazines, or the emergency checklists. During these events, the pilot is left to his or her own devices, perhaps assisted by controllers and even passengers. But in the end, the pilot in command has the ultimate authority. I was presented […]

The morning of June 25, 1994, was exceptionally clear and pleasant in central Arkansas and found me sitting at the end of a very scarce asphalt runway in my robust, aerodynamic Ag Cat. It was 85 degrees F and the winds were calm. I was ready to roll with half a tank of gas and […]

I earned my private pilot certificate in October 2006 at the age of 35. A few months later, in July 2007, a pilot friend of the family heard I was a new pilot and invited me along to EAA AirVenture ­Oshkosh. Even though I had just met Steve, I thought it was an awesome opportunity, […]

It’s really weird how certain memories stick like fish in a hot iron skillet. So it is with a memory from my past, early in my flying career. “Miserable” is the only description that fits for that Gulf Coast summer morning in July 1985. Don’t get me wrong: The sun was shining brightly, but the […]

It was June 1974, and I had taken a respite from the summer session at the University of Mississippi Law School to come home for the weekend. I couldn’t think of a better way to shake off some academic cobwebs than to take my father’s 1967 Cherokee Six 300 up for some lazy Saturday afternoon […]

The story is a cliché: Pilot moves from “those who will” to “those who have” landed gear-up, despite his protestations in the past. Different day, airplane, pilot — actually two pilots, but the story is, in so many ways, always the same, but different too, and so worth telling — and there’s another lesson for […]

It was a picture-perfect early February day in Michigan — clear blue sky, calm wind, 30 degrees Fahrenheit. It was even better because there was no snow on the grass strip. But a storm was forecast to bring 12 inches of snow the next day. That much snow would shut down my flying for days […]

(March 2012) A couple of years ago, I started flying a Piper Cub, and I have accumulated a good number of tailwheel hours in various types of antique taildraggers. As my time built, I had the opportunity to get some time in some pretty unusual aircraft, which is neat for a 23-year-old kid who is […]

(February 2012) This story is not only about an aviation experience, but it is also about a man who went out of his way to help a young pilot he didn’t even know. It is also a story about meeting some really great people in this country. It all happened back in 1964 when I […]