I Learned About Flying From That Archives | Page 15 of 15

I Learned About Flying From That: Lucky Drop

During the most intense of the Vietnam War years, I had a strong sense that I was the luckiest young sailor in the Navy, as I luxuriated in a serendipitous assignment as an air rescue swimmer and H-34 crew chief stationed in Hawaii. Operating workhorse Sikorsky S-58 helicopters out of Pearl Harbor and Barbers Point […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Ignorance Is Bliss

In the mid-1980s, I was working on the line at a small Minnesota FBO/flight school and flying when my meager income would allow. Early on in my training, my instructor was fortunate enough to find a second job flying right-seat in a North American Sabreliner Series 60. The chief pilot for this small corporate flight […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Day of the Daffodils

As I think back over my life, I can come up with only one day I remember. Really remember. Oh, I remember graduating from high school, but I don’t remember anything else about the day. I remember watching the birth of my daughter, but I have no idea what I had for breakfast on that […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Engine Failure With an “Eye in the Sky”

This engine failure did not occur in my airplane, and I wasn’t the pilot. Nevertheless, I was personally and embarrassingly involved in the process that led to the incident. It all started when I, as an aviation journalist, embarked on a series titled “Careers in Aviation” and arranged to write about a day in the […]

I Learned About Flying From That: Snatched by a Vortex

I was at the tail end of three months of training for my CFI reinstatement check ride. My instructor Kevin and I were flying into a deepening Pacific Northwest twilight as we descended westbound over Lake Washington toward Boeing Field/King County International Airport (BFI). We began maneuvering to enter right traffic for Runway 31R in […]