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Journeys

Article: Of Baby Girls & Aeroplanes­

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...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Memories Of Alaska

Once or twice each summer, I slip into the right seat of an airplane and help a pilot fly to an exotic destination, most often across the Atlantic from North America to Europe.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Gold Stars & Black Stars

About a year ago, I asked Mike Adams, Avemco Insurance Company’s VP of underwriting, to use his crystal ball (FAA and Avemco accident and claim statistics) to divine trends in LSA flying.

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: The Chicago Air & Water Show

As a lifelong Chicago-area resident, I’ve had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Air & Water Show several times.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Reading The Tea Leaves

Partway through the year, as the economy continues to show signs of recovery, I wanted to look down the road and ask someone who keeps a keen eye on the LSA industry if there were significant trends to track for the rest of 2010.

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: Plastic Pilot License

My new plastic pilot license showed up in the mail the other day, and this is what I think: I don’t like it.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Cowboys & Angels

As we approach from the north, over the deep lapis Caribbean Sea that surrounds a crescent shore, Haiti suddenly appears. At 4:53 p.m.

Also labeled: Features, Flying Skills, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Skills

Article: Stamp Out CFIT

It was mid-1977, and I had been assigned a story on the first production model of a new twin.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: The Long View

"This is a very dynamic time for the industry, and for Remos,” Ken Weaver, VP of marketing for Remos Aircraft, told me the other day.

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: Thar She Blows!

Nonpilots often ask me why I spend a good portion of my hard-earned income on flying. Nonpilots often ask me why I spend a good portion of my hard-earned...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: Favorite Aviation Moments

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.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: What’s Up With WAAS?

I was fortunate to discover GPS early on. I was on my way to the 1991 Paris Air Show in the one and only prototype Swearingen SJ30 business jet, and had stopped for fuel in Greenland.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: 24 Hours: Death Valley

Humans need adventure, stories and new experiences. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard friends talk about the millionth approach to the same old runway, but I still listen because I love to fly.

Also labeled: Features, Flying Skills, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Skills

Article: Helping Haiti

It started with an e-mail sent to my partner, Brian Reiff. Bahamas Habitat was looking for pilots with high-performance singles or twins to fly earthquake relief supplies to rural Haiti.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Befriending The Enemy

“Minute Man traffic, light-sport one three four X-ray entering downwind for runway three, Minute Man.” “Minute Man traff...

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: Fear & Preparedness

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.”

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: To Korea, With Luck

My buddy Jeff Kopps of the National Weather Service in Monterey, Calif., had predicted headwinds out of Santa Barbara, and as usual, he was right. ...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Profiles In Vision: Larry Burke

Ever had a neighbor who watered your roses if you forgot to? Or loaned you his tools, though you didn’t know him very well?

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Flying Into Isla Grande

Growing up in Puerto Rico in the 1950s, I lived at the top of the Hotel Columbus.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: The Science, The Art, The Realities

Anyone who has flown for more than 10 minutes has developed an idea of what defines the perfect airplane.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: When Slower Is Better

Contrary to sometimes misinformed opinion, a Mooney is one of the easier airplanes to land. Contrary...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: The Common Thread

You may not think that “learning to fly” and “mountain flying” fit well in the same sentence, but I urge you to reconsider.

Also labeled: Backcountry Flying, Bush Planes, Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Safety, Travel, Adventure Flying

Article: Danny’s Dream

Why would any kid want to do that?” That was the social worker’s response to my offer to take any child flying for free—that is, any child who was a patient at the local cancer center for children.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel, Flight I'll Never Forget

Article: The Grandfather They Only Thought They Knew

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.

Also labeled: Columns, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Speed Is Life

As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I’m most often asked is “How fast would that SR-71 fly?” I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Safety, Travel, Fighter Jets

Article: Caravan To Seoul—The Prequel

If you saw Jurassic Park, then you may remember the scene where Jeff Goldblum describes chaos theory as a mathematical discipline where the results of any given problem are never totally predictable, no matter how carefully conditions are...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: LSA Ownership—Condo Style!

I love this concept of sharing ownership in an aircraft, new or used. Last month, I delved into David Kruger’s Aircraft Partnership Association (www.theapa.com), a type of online matchmaking service t...

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, LSAs, Ownership, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Aircraft Partnership, Partnership

Article: Air Capital Tanker Chase

As a flight test engineer for the Boeing Company assigned to Wichita, Kans. (“the Air Capital”), I’m among the fortunate people who truly love their work. ...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel

Article: Air Shows As GA Rallying Point

As much of the aviation industry suffered through the effects of the historic economic downturn during the last year, the air show industry experienced double-digit growth and, in some markets, record attendance.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Safety, Travel

Article: The Paranoia Of Landings

I had been hired to fly a Cessna 340 from Torrance, Calif., to Glasgow, U.K., on an Atlantic tour with the owner in the right seat. The first four days of the trip had gone well. We had departed Torrance, stopped in Denver and made it to Ohio the...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk