Pilots

In 1973, the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War signaled the end of the draft. A few months prior to leaving for college in 1975, the Selective Service System no longer required me to register. It wasn’t long thereafter that the Air Force dramatically reduced its demand for pilots. My secondary alternate status […]

To say that electrical systems are not my strong point is something of an understatement. The reality is I don’t actually believe in electricity, and although I’ve spent a lifetime regurgitating answers to questions on oral and written tests about amps and volts and ohms and AC and DC current and inverters and buses and […]

Spoiler alert: The following story reveals one of the top ten airplanes in our Top 100 Airplanes: Platinum Edition list. As the kids sing on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others,” a number of readers have been taken aback by the inclusion of an odd bird in Flying Magazine’s Top […]

The aftermath of the tragic accident during the 2011 Reno Air Races, when 11 people died as a result of a P-51 Mustang crashing into the box-seat area in front of the grandstands, is still having negative effects for organizers of the half-century old event. The accident has skyrocketed insurance costs for the competition, and, […]

Once upon a time, I lusted after owning a jet. I played the lottery in the hopes of winning enough money to own and support one. One time, I even put a down payment on a Cessna Citation Mustang. This was before I checked my net worth or calculated any realistic hopes for my net […]

Every pilot knows (or should know) that New Zealand is one of the most, if not the most, beautiful places to fly on the planet. But is it really fair that even their instrument approaches, which in our neck of the woods are typically grey and dismal affairs, should be spectacularly beautiful as well? We […]

We approach the takeoff end of the runway. I go through the preflight checks — ailerons go up and down, rudder moves freely, elevators the same. It’s 7:30 a.m. as we depart St. John’s Airport in Reserve, Louisiana. I have seven hours in the airplane. I am 68 years old and a beginner at ultralight […]

(Photos courtesy of Hoot Gibson)| For the millions who drive to work every day, the mindless process of traveling endless highways and negotiating bumper-to-bumper traffic is typically something to be endured and rarely something to enjoy. Studies show that lengthy car commutes subtract from an individual’s overall sense of happiness more than just about any […]

As the airplane rose to prominence as a viable means of transportation in the early 1900s, so too did the idea of a future where individuals would commute everywhere via personal aircraft. But a century later, the lack of the necessary infrastructure and the high cost of flying continue to make commuting by airplane an […]

Sam Weigel| Life takes some pretty interesting turns now and then. Most of us have at least some idea of what we want and how to get there, but it’s not always where we end up, and the path is seldom straight. The choices we make, the people we meet, forces out of our control […]