Imagine you are flying with someone and you can’t say the letter e, because if it accidentally slips out in conversation, you might be ridiculed, ostracized by your peers, and it could potentially damage your career. Chances are you’d be so concerned about the things you say that you don’t put your full attention on […]
Reaching out through film
You probably have distinct memories of the first time you saw a World War II aircraft. Perhaps a parent or grandparent took you by the hand and told you about the airplane as you stood beneath it on the ramp. Maybe one flew overhead, bathing you in the roar of its engine. This inspired your […]
IMC Club: Mastering the art of instrument navigation
How much time did you have in the clouds before you went for your instrument check ride? Some pilots may have none, as there is no requirement for a instrument candidate to log actual time in the clouds. Which means that, although you satisfied the FAA requirements for the certificate, you may not have the […]
Restoring ‘Twilight Tear’
It takes a lot more than a coat of paint to restore a vintage warbird to award-winning status. According to Eric Hokuf, owner of Aircorps Aviation in Bemidji Minnesota, it’s important to transport people back to the time of the aircraft’s heyday. Hokuf’s shop did the restoration work on “Twilight Tear,” the P-51D that is […]
Success story: Chicago’s DuPage Airport
Running an airport is a lot like raising a child. You must nurture it, provide it with the means to support itself, and protect it from those who would do it harm. And, just like raising a child, you often don’t know how successful all that hard work is until several years down the road. […]
Chester’s Jeep takes off
It’s a grand day when your aircraft project rolls out of the hangar ready for its first flight. It’s an even bigger day when you fly your creation to AirVenture for the first time. Lon Dienst from Poplar Grove, Ill., sort of skipped the first flight phase because he was in such a hurry to […]
Scenes from the Arlington Fly-In
Vintage designs, homebuilts, flying mini-vans and everything in between were represented at the Arlington Fly-In, held the second week of July at Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO) in Washington State. The 43rd annual event featured more than 150 exhibitors, a full schedule of workshops and forums, and an air show each afternoon. Some of this year’s […]
Should rare planes be grounded?
“Liberty Belle crashed just outside of Aurora. Seven out of seven onboard made it out.” This text message greeted me the morning of June 13. Like so many other warbird enthusiasts, I went to the Internet to search for information about the accident. I found video shot from both the ground and the air showing […]
High Roller
The paint scheme of a homebuilt airplane is limited only by the imagination of the designer and the skill of the artist. When Mike Quatacker of Porterville, Calif., chose the design for his RV-8, he worked outside the limits of imagination — then artist Augie Cervantes took airbrush in hand and took the design from […]