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, September 22, 2009 Listen Up! Bull sessions can sometimes impart valuable lessons All of us will reach a stage in life when we’ve lost or are losing friends (as they slip away physically, mentally or both).

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 What Recession? Oshkosh shows that passion trumps depression every time Is Oshkosh ever really over? It’ll be weeks, maybe months, before my mind catches up with my body.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Life Begins At 40 A lot of words have flowed across this page in the past four decades As 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.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Remembering Aviation We often have to see through the eyes of an outsider to appreciate what we have It’s interesting how we can become so close to aviation that, even though it’s fueled by passion, it takes a “civilian” to point out what a great privilege and joy it is to fly. A lot of us instructor types spend four or more hours a day in a cockpit, but we really don’t do much flying—mostly we’re riding and talking.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Harry Some characters we simply remember; others leave an indelible mark At the risk of making this page an obituary for passing friends, let me say this: There’s absolutely no way we can let the passing of Harry Shepard go without saying something, if not profound, at least irreverent. Because that was Harry—a little profound, a lot irreverent and massively talented.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Glass Half Empty? Life & our perception of it I’ve been pacing around this semi-dark room, struggling for the words I want to put on this electronic page. This is the first time this has happened in decades. Usually, I just sit down and the words flow. During the week, something happens where part of my mind says, “Yeah, they’d like hearing about that.” But tonight, I’m struggling, and I only just now figured out why: I’m entirely too fixated on the “what ifs” of the new economic era we’re stumbling into. I’m not sure which is worse, the situation or the fact that I’m fixated on it.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Early-Morning Cockpits Right at this moment, aviation lives are being lived that we can’t imagine As I was out walking this morning, my brain, as is usually the case, decided to go somewhere else so it didn’t have to deal with the tedium of exercising. This time, it began visiting cockpits around the world. In a matter of seconds, film clips of pilots, who at that exact moment were readying their birds for flight, started playing in the theater of my mind.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 The Solitary Goose Not everyone wants to fly solo The morning sun had yet to break over the horizon, and as I speed-walked my usual early morning, let’s-get-the-blood-flowing-and-the-joints-loose route, I could actually see my breath. Light frost crusted the yards—a rare but not unknown happening here in the desert. Then I heard a single honk overhead and glanced up: Instantly, I felt just a little melancholy.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Retreads & Me We’re wearing out more than just our airplanes I’m not sure what it means, but this morning I glanced down at the Tail-Dragger Dragger dolly that I use to push/pull my bird from its nest, and I realized that the tires are wearing out. Bald, as it were. I was a little surprised and asked myself, “Exactly how much mileage should we expect from the accessories we surround ourselves with while flying?”

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Adventure Is In The Eye Of… To some of us, just getting off the ground is an adventure Elsewhere in this issue, we’re bantering around the phrase “adventure aircraft” as if it’s a universally understood term. Personally, I’m not sure it is. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think the term “adventure” itself is open to definition and is very much colored by your aviation life and how you live it—one man’s adventure is another’s ho-hum afternoon.

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