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Pilot Stories

Enjoy pilot stories? Our Pilot Talk section is full of informative and entertaining flying tales from accomplished pilot authors.

What Recession?


Oshkosh shows that passion trumps depression every time



What Recession?Is Oshkosh ever really over? It’ll be weeks, maybe months, before my mind catches up with my body.

From The Editor: Three Classics


From The Editor: Three ClassicsIt was a dark 3 a.m. when the alarm clock went off last Sunday morning. A glance outside revealed a starlit sky; finally, the June gloom had given way to our photo flight plans.

Flight I'll Never Forget: A Sentimental Journey


Same place, different time...



Flight I'll Never Forget: A Sentimental JourneyI took a short flight recently, one not normally worth mentioning around the hangar. But ’twas important to me—an attempt to relive the good old days of flying, that is, the ’60s and ’70s.

Knowing When To Cancel


Don’t fly with a known equipment deficiency



Knowing When To CancelThe other evening, I got a call from a friend who operates a Piper Navajo for his business. He filled me in on what had happened with a flight from his home airport in the Northeast to Miami, Fla.

Profiles In Vision: Dan Johnson


Deconstructing the heart and mind of a prime LSA trailblazer



Profiles In Vision: Dan JohnsonHe’s the kind of guy you feel chummy with the first time you meet him.

Life Begins At 40


A lot of words have flowed across this page in the past four decades



Life Begins At 40As of June of this year, I’ve been cranking out this column for 40 years! These are words I never thought I’d hear coming out of my mouth.

From Hero To Bum—Almost


You can learn from your mistakes…if you can just survive them



From Hero To Bum—AlmostIt was January 1989, and I had just delivered a new Grand Caravan to Comair in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A Tale Of Three Air Shows—Not


Or how to have your column derailed by big news from Over There



A Tale Of Three Air Shows—NotIt was the best of times; it was the most confusing of times. Half an hour or so into our virtual gum flap, courtesy of matching Gucci headsets and Skype’s Internet-based telephony, my head began to hurt.

Dodging The Tornados


“Oh, by the way, could you drive a new T182 back from Lakeland, Fla., to Long Beach, Calif.?”



Dodging The TornadosThere are worse jobs in aviation. It was during the last two days of Sun ’n Fun 2009 that I got the call from Tom Jacobson of Tom’s Aircraft in Long Beach.

Fixing Flutter Is Nothing New


Investigating violent oscillations that led to structural failure



Fixing Flutter Is Nothing NewIn April, the NTSB advised the FAA to ground all Zodiac CH 601XL S-LSA and E-LSA until the FAA determines they have adequate protection from aerodynamic flutter, which occurs when airplane structures vibrate back and forth in increasingly violent oscillations, eventually reaching a point where the structure breaks apart.
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