By JEB BURNSIDE. If you’re lucky, you may get a chance to give someone their first airplane ride. In fact, flying passengers can be one of the real highlights of becoming a pilot. (And I’m thinking of pure passengers, the kind who have no clue how to do what you’re doing in the cockpit. Pilot-rated […]
Opinion
Rumors
By DEAN BILLING. There is a classic quote: “Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.” Although this blog is weeks after Oshkosh, any rumor that I wasn’t in attendance is greatly exaggerated. Granted, I drove from Oregon to Wisconsin, but I did actually attend and I can put a couple of rumors to rest. When I arrived […]
Let’s not go flying
I came to flying later than many. In part because I was sort of a hippie kid more attracted to the idea of playing guitar professionally than suiting up as a member of the military. And while those two paths might not seem mutually exclusive today, in the Viet Nam era they were often thought […]
LSA celebrates 12-year anniversary
A dozen years ago, at the beginning of September 2004, FAA’s newest regulation became “effective” as the agency terms it. That regulation gave birth to Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft. The former is a new pilot certificate and the latter is a fresh breed of aircraft that gained acceptance in a completely new way. How […]
Hypoxia, Part 1
El Paso to Phoenix, 11:30 p.m., cruising at 12,000, we could barely hear the radio calls from all the laughter in the cockpit. It was the second leg of three, after taking delivery of our newly acquired Twin Comanche in Dallas. The winds aloft were warmer than normal. We were positively giddy that neither the […]
People and planes… that’s why
When I think about why we produce General Aviation News, it boils down to two things: People and planes. It’s really that simple. Sure, it can get more complex from time to time, but strip away all the doo-dads and it quickly returns to a simple state: People and planes. In keeping with that theme, I […]
Big dreams can come true
With enough imagination, dedication, perseverance, and help it’s possible to do almost anything. If you doubt me, consider that human beings designed, built, tested, refined, rebuilt, and flew rockets that landed us on the moon – and we did all that in an amazingly tight timespan of only nine years. As I said, you can do […]
For the love of pie…
As I perused the Body Mass Index chart recently, I was aghast to find that I have slid just over the line that separated the overweight from the obese category. Yikes! Sure, I can log 25 miles on my bicycle without undue discomfort. Even at my advanced age I can still do a dozen pushups without […]
Quirky
By JEB BURNSIDE. It’s ironic that pilots are supposed to do everything the same way each time while the airplanes we’re flying are all different. One supposed characteristic of aviation is its consistency. Performing the same tasks in the same way when dealing with a complicated mechanical device is just good common sense, and pilots […]