Steve Tupper, May 14th, 2012
"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can." - Herman Melville; Moby Dick
I'm not especially "grim about the mouth" (although I love that expression). And I'm not yet to the point of knocking off people's hats. But any time I begin to figure that I know a lot about aviation, I account it high time to get into a strange and different aircraft as soon as I can. So what started as an evil plot by glider instructor John Harte to lure me into training for a new rating has turned into a regular source of joy in my life. Read More >>
Posted in Sailplanes, Training, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Steve Tupper, April 30th, 2012
The general public understands that, when a car’s engine stops running in an unplanned sort of way, that engine has “stalled.”
But “stall” means something completely different in the context of aviation. A stall in an airplane usually has nothing to do with the engine. Sure, an airplane’s engine can stall, but aviators usually use some other word, such as “quit” or “stop.”
Let’s talk about how an airplane stalls. Airfoils develop lift by moving through the air. Airfoils include the wings on airplanes, the rotor blades on helicopters, and lots of other things. The control surfaces on airplanes and even the propeller blades themselves are also airfoils. Heck, a barn door can be an airfoil under the right circumstances. Read More >>
Posted in Training | 2 Comments »
Neil H, April 24th, 2012
Simple answer, no. Flight training is a powerful experience that age cannot intercept. The only setback is the FAA, the DMV of the sky, who sets regulations in place to protect pilots and passengers alike. But there is always a way to get in the front seat and go follow ones dream of learning to fly.
I’ll start by addressing the younger crowd. Get this, to begin flight training, there is no minimum age! To solo a single engine aircraft requires one to be 16 years old minimum.Then, at 17, one becomes an adult in the FAA’s eyes and is able to take a checkride and receive a pilot license. When we think of the younger generation, we tend to generalize this group to be fit and healthy. If this holds true, it will be no problem getting a third class medical certificate from an FAA registered doctor. It’s even said that those who are young learn faster and gain fluent muscle memory with a shorter amount of practice. If you can’t wait until you’re 16 to mark your first pilot in command solo flight, you can solo a glider at just 14! Doing anything alone at these young ages is a feat that deserves recognition, especially something many are so passionate about like flying an aircraft. If you’re old enough to comprehend this, you’re ready to learn how to land a plane. But, if one or ones parents disagree, home flight simulation on a computer is a lot of fun and believe it or not, it aids in learning the physics of flight. Read More >>
Posted in Airplanes, Certification, LSA, Medical Certification, Private, Recreational, Sport, Training | 1 Comment »
Kristen Seaman, April 20th, 2012
Don’t get me wrong—I LOVE weather. But that’s not to say I’ve always loved weather. When I was little, I would take our two little poodles down into the basement with me as the first dark clouds rolled in, and there I would sit until the threat of danger receded. Mind you, there was hardly ever a threat of real danger, but after watching the movie Twister, every storm seemed like it would spawn a tornado at any moment. Today I thrive on the urgency of severe weather. My eyes are glued to the radar and I count down the minutes until I know we’ll get our first rain drops or hear thunder. After that, I can usually be found outside under an overhang or staring out the window enjoying Mother Nature’s wrath. Unfortunately, in the world of aviation, bad weather means one thing—you’re not going anywhere. Thanks to some extremely high winds, dense fog, and unusually early springtime showers, I didn’t go anywhere for almost two weeks.
Read More >>
Posted in Certification, Private, Training, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Ted Seastrom, April 16th, 2012
From the time you were little you knew you wanted to fly. You were enthralled by all sorts of aircraft—airplanes, helicopters, balloons and airships, and anything else that slipped the surly bonds of Earth. Only your imagination limited your possibilities.
Childhood dreams are a vital inspiration. But now you're grown up and asking yourself some tough questions. "What does it take to become a pilot? Can I really do this?"
Learning to fly is a serious undertaking. There are many questions to ask before that first lesson. Let's start with the most basic issues—the ones that often deter would-be pilots from even considering flight training. Read More >>
Posted in Certification, Training, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Arty Trost, April 9th, 2012
I haven’t blogged in quite a while – and got several notes from readers who said “Don’t leave us hanging! What’s the end of the story?” My strong apologies and an explanation. My sister has lung cancer and it metastasized to her brain. I flew overseas to be with her and was gone for almost two months. I didn’t have any energy for blogging. She’s been discharged to hospice care and so we’re in a limbo, waiting. Thankfully, she’s in no pain. It was very hard leaving, knowing that I’ll probably never see her alive again.
What type of segue sentence can move from that last paragraph to picking up the story of my flight home from Oshkosh? Nothing that I can think of, so I’ll just dive in.
At the end of my last blog entry, I wrote how I’d had a forced landing in a field in Custer, WY. I was more annoyed than frightened when the engine quit. I’ve done dead sticks before, and in this case I was over wonderful landing spots: lots of wheat fields. I set up for a glide to a particularly large field, and brought her down nice and slow and straight, aligned with the pattern of the plowing. (You can tell that by looking at the edges of the fields.) I felt pretty good as my wheels started to touch the tops of the wheat – and was absolutely astounded when I suddenly found myself upside down, hanging from my harness, my face tickled by wheat! Read More >>
Posted in LSA, Ultralights, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
FrancoisD, March 27th, 2012
This past weekend saw me hop on a regional jet from Amsterdam to Munich in Germany, to attend the Aerosoft Conference held in the city's wonderful aviation museum, the Flugtwerft. Aerosoft is one of the world's foremost developers and distributors of flight simulation (add-on) software and organizes this conference every year, now for the 10th time already. Although it is not as big and famous as the 'Dutch FS Weekend', it is surely worth visiting. If not for finding out news about the 'hobby' then at least to meet with some of the major companies in the industry and meet with developers and other enthusiasts face to face.
And as I have explained many times before, aviation and flightsimming IS the same for many people. The passion is the same, the goal is pretty much the same too. Read More >>
Posted in Flight Simulators, News Related | No Comments »
Ariel Talen-Keller, March 27th, 2012
This year I was able to attend the Women in Aviation International conference in Dallas, Texas. It was an amazing experience for me as Mrs. Alaska U.S. All World Beauties – and great exposure for my platform ‘GirlsFlyToo!’ It was very inspirational for me to meet so many other men and women that see the importance of promoting this platform. ‘GirlsFlyToo’ is so important to the state of Alaska – as we are a mecca of aviation, but this platform draws a much larger national audience. Read More >>
Posted in News Related, Uncategorized | No Comments »
ToddM, March 22nd, 2012
Those who lived through it know where they were when they first heard the Beatles, when man first stepped on the moon or, sadly, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center. On a more personal level there are life events that are elevated to the same status such as a wedding day or the birth of a child. For pilots, there are several occasions that meet these standards. Every pilot remembers their first solo, earning their private pilot’s license and probably even the tail number of the airplanes those feats were accomplished in (for me it was a Cessna 152 N5493L).
Read More >>
Posted in Aviation Lifestyle, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Jason Schappert, March 22nd, 2012
A pilots flight bag can be one of the most important tools they could have. But it’s not the bag that’s the tool..its what’s inside of it. So what are some of the most important items that a pilot should have in his or her flight bag? Here, I am going to go through what are arguably the five most important things a pilot should have in his or her flight bag. Read More >>
Posted in Private, Training | 3 Comments »
