Congratulations and thank you for the excellent articles on hunting that appeared in the September issue. Too many good aviation periodicals have died because articles simply regurgitate the same stuff we learned during training. Once one has mastered flying from point A to point B, it’s time to go somewhere!
I love to fly because my airplane gives me the freedom to go places I otherwise wouldn’t, and for my wife and myself this often means the backwoods airports of the Appalachias, where we enjoy hiking in the great outdoors. The right to own a firearm is another one of the other freedoms that our great Constitution protects.
I do not hunt (but I sure like the taste of venison, wild boar and bear), but I do enjoy fishing from trout streams in the mountains; some day I might even catch one! The hunters and anglers I know are some of the most conscientious people I know. Their efforts and money have in recent decades done more to protect our wildlife than has the hot air from hordes of enviro-bureaucrats and tree-hugging extremists who claim to do the same. In many countries, hunting as well as flying for pleasure is considered taboo — and that’s what will happen in the U.S. if we give in to those who wish to impose their personal views on others against the law of our Constitution.
How many pilots make their living flying sportsmen into the backwoods to hunt and fish? How often does one see deer, wild turkey, and even bear in areas where a few decades ago there were none?
Are your readers aware that Bill Boeing’s interest in aviation was sparked in part due to his desire to shorten the trip from his office in Seattle to his fishing lodge?
How about a follow-up article on the best trout streams in the South and how to get there in a small airplane?
Kent Misegades
Cary, N.C.