Grassroots

Browse Grassroots, a collection of flying-related articles by Budd Davisson. An accomplished aviation journalist, Budd shares his perspective on  all kinds of flight-related subjects.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 It’s More Than Just An N-Number Renaming our kids and our airplanes doesn’t always work The other day at the hangar, we were talking about how many times I've rebuilt my airplane: twice for the engine, twice for the fuselage and once for the rest of the airframe, which included re-cover and painting.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 Aviation In The Key Of Gee Whiz Getting a buzz out of life is easy The other day, we were discussing magazines, writing, flying and other major food groups of life, and I referred to the kind of wordsmithing I've always done as "Gee-Whiz Journalism."

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 Mechanical Addiction Don’t even try to explain it I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but a couple of months ago, I hit 5,000 hours of Pitts dual-given (most of it in the pattern).

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 On Getting Short Gravity is the universal enemy in more ways than one Getting short" is a familiar old military term: You're coming to the end of your deployment or enlistment, and you don't have much time left before your life will be drastically altered.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Unplanned Obsolescence Antiquity is strictly a point of view Every so often, something will happen that reaches out and raps you in the noggin, and makes you realize how fast time is ripping past. And how quickly something that's familiar and simply secondhand to you becomes exotic and antique to a new generation.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Of Knowledge, Experience And Regulations Going to school doesn’t necessarily make you smarter At the time this was being written, word was circulating within the aviation community that as the result of the Colgan airline crash in 2009, the FAA is probably going to place new experience requirements on airline copilot new hires.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Instructing The Instructor Ten things every instructor learns, whether he wants to or not When you're a flight instructor, you're a combination shrink, drill sergeant, mother confessor and cheerleader; and, if you're a good instructor, you quickly realize that the act of instructing is teaching you more than you're teaching the student.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 A Personal Journey This thank-you was a long time coming The green fields, most looking as if you could land a 747 on them, stretched off into the distance, where they became low, gently rolling hills.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Oshkosh By Any Other Name Of damp dogs, wet aviators and rained-on cowboy hats Yeah, I know: It’s officially AirVenture. But to a lot of folks, the name just hasn’t clicked.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 Critter Delays No matter what man thinks, Ma Nature still calls the shots Gulfstream Eight Charlie Charlie, go around. The airport is temporarily closed.

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