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Welcome to Flying Fridays!
One of my goals for 2013 is to continue my aviation education and skill-building. Another is to do more writing (and photography) on aviation-related topics. To do this, I’m kicking off a new habit:...
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Drone strikes on criminals
For my first Flying Fridays post, I want to return to a favorite topic: drones. My first-ever published work was an article for the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) on some research work done...
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Going NORDO
You may not realize it, but the commercial airliners we fly on have redundancy for virtually every onboard system. This, of course, is no accident—it’s a popular saying that the history of aviation...
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The secret to emergency landings
Rule #1 in aviation, as recounted to me by my first flight instructor: Don’t hit anything. Rule #2, of course, is If you have to hit something, pick the softest object you can find and hit it as gently...
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Heading to see Fifi!
Short entry today– I’m packing my bags and my charts to go see Fifi again. When the ATOP folks contacted me and said that they were offering a two-day advanced course, consisting of an instrument...
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Go and no-go decision making
(Yes, I know it’s not Friday. That’s because on Friday I was busy… flying. Not flying myself, you understand; rather, I was being flown by the fine folks at Delta from SFO to ATL and then on to HSV.) I...
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A beautiful meditation on flying
I grew up reading Flying magazine. There always seemed to be copies around the house, along with books written by stalwart columnists such as Gordon Baxter (“File IFR even if you’re just going to the...
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Palo Alto-Petaluma and back
Tuesday afternoon I was working and decided to check out LiveATC.net, a web site that plays air traffic control audio for a huge range of airports worldwide. Soon enough I had fired up the Palo Alto...
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Go or no-go revisited
Thomas P. Turner is a flight instructor and businessman who publishes an exceptionally useful weekly aviation newsletter called Flying Lessons. Recently he’s been focusing on trying to help pilots...
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Dealing with partial loss of power
Andy, my primary flight instructor, has always described a pilot’s license as “a license to learn”. This may sound trite, but it’s true… if you’re doing things the right way. This week’s FLYING LESSONS...
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“There is always room for improvement” in aviation
Bonus double Flying Friday post today. Why? Because this article is too good not to share. …these NASA pilots were always at 350 when needed. It wasn’t 349 or 351. They always flew on-speed. For me,...
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Taking pictures in the air
Last week, Doug Mahugh posted this great blog entry on taking pictures from commercial airplanes. He’s done some excellent work. I don’t usually take my real camera on commercial flights, but I think...
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PIREP: my first “real” cross-country
Last weekend I took my first “real” cross-country flight. Executive summary: this is the one of the major reason I got a pilot’s license: fast travel, on my schedule, to do things that otherwise would...
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Weiner’s Laws
Aviation Week recently ran an article listing 15 laws developed by Earl Weiner, an aviation safety pioneer I had not previously heard of. Some of them will be immediately familiar to anyone who’s...
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Time flies…
I just got back from a great flying trip from Huntsville to Perrysburg, Ohio (more on that in a later post today if I have time). In reviewing my logs, I was shocked to see that I have as much...
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The Perrysburg Express
The boys and I had been discussing where we should go on vacation. As usual, they wanted to go someplace exotic, like on a cruise. I counteroffered with a trip to our former home in Perrysburg,...
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Speed, time, and cost
Recently I had the opportunity to fly down to Louisiana to see my mom, grandmother, and uncles. This was an easy trip: straight-line, it’s 411 miles from airport to airport. It took me 3:12 to get down...
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My new favorite word: “unable”
Sometimes one word can speak volumes. This is especially true when there’s a well-defined and mutually understood vocabulary that all parties in a conversation are using– which is exactly what happens...
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First real instrument lesson
I took the boys down to Tuscaloosa last weekend to visit David. The weather was fine, and we had a lovely visit, but it ran a bit long, and then I couldn’t get the plane started. It’s finicky, but it...
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My introduction to night instrument flying
There’s something particularly special about flying at night. As the air cools, it tends to calm, and on a clear night the visibility is stunning. Sadly, I hadn’t flown at night since leaving...
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