Cross-country flying stories from Bill Cox offer fantastic insight into what pilots face on long distance flights. Dig into our X-Country Log today.
I was cleaning the belly of my Mooney a while back following an annual inspection, and not enjoying the task.
Rod Machado is at the leading edge of the latter group, and his instruction books on the various aspects of learning to fly are some of the most readable and entertaining you’ll ever encounter.
Mooneys have always had a charismatic appeal that seems to transcend their talents.
As one who has struggled across a few oceans in a variety of single- and twin-engine piston and turbine airplanes, I’ve been subjecting my ears to a long-term deluge of noise pollution.
With no form of motive power on the nose or wings, you might expect gliders to have limited altitude capability, but I quickly learned that’s not the case.
Like many pilots who often consort with non-aviators, I’m frequently asked the same questions regarding general aviation, especially when people know I deliver airplanes internationally.
I bought my first airplane, a Globe Swift, from a retired petroleum engineer and A&P mechanic who had lavished hundreds of hours on his airplane.
It was 1998, and my ride was one of the last of the Mooney MSEs, better known as the 201.
It was late December, and I had been stuck in Guam for five days, waiting for a stubborn typhoon to move out of the way between America’s westernmost territory and Japan.
We’re about to kick the sacred cow that is peripheral vision right in the butt and, in the process, probably generate a bunch of letters to the editor.
I had delivered the Beech Duke to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, five months before on the premise that the airplane might be able to improve rainfall.
I called up Flight Watch crossing the Colorado River at Lake Havasu and learned that most of the Los Angeles Basin was rapidly deteriorating toward IFR minimums.
Like most new pilots, I began my career renting airplanes and flying with as many friends as I could to mitigate the cost.
Like any aircraft owner, I take every opportunity to fly my Mooney rather than the airlines on any semi-short trip.
I have a friend who owns a 36 Bonanza, and though his airplane has always been a dozen or so knots faster than my LoPresti Mooney, he’s consistently envied my airplane’s lower fuel burn.
Like most pilots, I’ve been a major fan of the space program since long before there was one.
Many of us have had this happen at one time or another.
A friend stopped by my hangar a while back on a rainy Saturday with an interesting question.