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, August 3, 2010 The Good Old Boys Club...NOT! Sometimes becoming one of the guys is easier than it looks Do you remember when life was slow enough that we used to sit around in front of the hangar, the sun making us feel like reptiles soaking up the warmth, before bundling ourselves into our respective flying machines to go test fate?

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 The Courtesy Attitude No one owns the sky, although some people think they do I don’t normally rant. But this might be an exception. Or at least I’ll clamber onto my ever-present soapbox to make a point.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Of Baby Girls & Aeroplanes­ Eventually, they all grow up, but you can still share the memories­ Does your mind ever wander, unable to think about any one thing in particular? Instead, your thoughts are unfocused, and your mind is mentally channel-surfing, leafing through memories, lingering for a few seconds and then flipping to a new memory, a new thought.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Plastic Pilot License They may be more practical, but some of us miss the paper ones My new plastic pilot license showed up in the mail the other day, and this is what I think: I don’t like it.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Favorite Aviation Moments The air up there The other day, I made one of those “out in the morning/back in the afternoon drives” to Los Angeles for lunch with my daughter.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Fear & Preparedness Being concerned is only logical, but we can’t let that rule our lives As he sat in my office and we prepared to leave for the airport after three hours of ground school, he hesitated for a moment, locked eyes with me and said, “Look, I have to tell you something.”

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 The Science, The Art, The Realities Perfect airplanes usually exist only in the eye of the beholder Anyone who has flown for more than 10 minutes has developed an idea of what defines the perfect airplane.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 The Grandfather They Only Thought They Knew If you don’t ask questions, you won’t get answers A few minutes ago, I finished reading an official document in which a gentleman I knew, a lawyer, had put himself up for questioning by another lawyer.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 From The Editor: Spreading The Word While working on this month’s Guest Speaker column, Managing Editor Pam Lee suggested that the reference to Patty Wagstaff mention that the air show star performs annually in front of thousands of spectators. Hundreds of thousands, I countered.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 The Character Of Risk No adventure is completely risk free It’s no news to most pilots that we recently lost Vicki Cruse, president of the International Aerobatic Club. What was almost certainly a control failure caught her in the worst possible position, and I can’t get her out of my mind.

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