South Carolina aviator Jeff Warren liked the look of the Bellanca Cruisair Senior the first time he saw it. And when the opportunity came to buy one, Warren, an architect from Simpsonville, S.C., jumped at the chance. That was in 1991 and Warren says he has been answering questions about his plane ever since. “It is […]
Alaska Highway Log: Return from Fairbanks to South Carolina
This is part four in a series of stories about flying to Alaska. Read about Bill’s trip planning, Flying to Alaska, and Flying the Alaska Highway. My co-pilot Albert Finocchiaro and I launched July 23 from Chena Marina (AK28) in Fairbanks en route home to the Lower 48. We hoped to reach Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, […]
Flying the Alaska Highway
This is part three in a series of stories about flying to Alaska. Read about Bill’s trip planning, Flying to Alaska and Return from Fairbanks. It took four days flying from South Carolina to reach Fort Nelson, British Columbia, 283 miles up the Alaska Highway from its starting point at Dawson Creek. And more than 1,100 road miles — […]
Flying to Alaska
This is part two in a series of stories about flying to Alaska. Read about Bill’s trip planning, Flying the Alaska Highway and Return from Fairbanks. This past summer I crossed off a significant item on my flying bucket list — Alaska. The journey from my home airport near Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Fairbanks and back covered more than […]
One pilot’s Alaska trip prep plan
This is part one in a series of stories about flying to Alaska. Read about Bill’s Flying to Alaska, Flying the Alaska Highway and Return from Fairbanks. Recently a friend asked me to help him prepare for a flying trip to Alaska. I said I would, using notes taken from my own 3,500-mile journey in a Cessna 172 from […]
Job 1: Keep things on track
For airport manager Margaret Pittman, the ever-changing nature of her work at Marion County Regional Airport (KMAO) in South Carolina, has been the best part of her more than three decades in the job. To demonstrate the variety of airport life she pointed to the aircraft parked in front of the terminal on the day General […]
Learning to manage an airport from the ground up
Melissa Huffman got her foot in the door at Virgil I. Grissom Memorial Airport (KBFR) in Bedford, Ind., a few years ago by cleaning up the place. Today, she is the airport assistant manager. Huffman said a chance meeting with Grissom Airport Manager Ray Sexton at the local store where she was working marked the […]
The Triple Tree ’15 experience
The organizers at Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, S.C., have a pleasant problem. Their annual fly-in has such a remarkably good reputation in the flying community that expectations for more and better activities grow with each successful year. And the recently completed Sept. 9-13 event was no exception. This year more than 320 planes flew […]
Tips from a backcountry flying expert
Mountain flying instructor Joe Kuberka drew one of the largest groups of the week for his Alaska presentation at this year’s SUN ’n FUN fly-in. The turnout for his session about flying from the Lower 48 to Alaska topped 75 aviators. With good humor and a lively photo presentation, Kuberka did not disappoint, honing in on safety and […]