By IVY McIVER. Taking someone for their first flight in a small aircraft is always rewarding, but making the flight to an airport I’ve never visited makes the reward even sweeter. I had the chance to fly two of my new co-workers to a private airstrip on a golf course in Wisconsin, and it was […]
Opinion
Passion is a two-way street
Suffice it to say, I’ve been to many more airshows than car shows. But back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, my wife and I met up with my in-laws at a few car shows around the country. Roy Nisbet, my father-in-law, was a car guy. After a lifetime as owner of Grand Forks […]
Analyzing statistics on worldwide aviation
Thanks to a solid effort by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), I have data that can be used to assess the number of recreational aircraft around the world. That organization is significantly focused on business aircraft, but did include all levels of aircraft in their country-by-country review. Whatever the actual level of accuracy — […]
Poking around perception, fear, and illusive rewards
Last night I spent the evening walking and talking with a young man from my neighborhood. He’s out of high school but hasn’t begun taking classes that would lead to a higher level of certification. He’s got a job, but it’s menial, low-paying, and often frustrates him. To his credit he wants to go to […]
The greatest threat to aviation
I was once blinded by my best friend while flying at night. He was trying to help me read a map. We were out of KDAL, heading to KSMO. Inbound to KSMO, at night, over California’s high desert, the earth below looked black as pitch, the sky above a planetarium ceiling’s worth of stars. I’d […]
A little solidarity can go a long way
When you get right down to it, politics are not really about Republicans and Democrats, Greens and Libertarians, Socialists and Capitalists. It’s about people. Individual people and how they interact with other individual people, and how those people plan, debate, and ultimately work together as their numbers grow into an ever larger group. The study […]
A primal passion
By IVY McIVER. I could answer the question “Why should I learn to fly?” with very practical answers: The business benefits, the convenience, the ability to find better weather in which to bike and access it in a matter of hours, or visiting multiple clients in one day. All of those things are indeed benefits […]
General aviation: Get evangelical about it
General aviation — get evangelical about it. This may seem unlikely, even inconceivable to some, but I have been fortunate enough to make a career out of being excited. It’s a pretty good career, too. I spend the bulk of every day doing something I really love to do. I work with people I’m glad to […]
Nostalgia for your coffee table
There was a time when aviation was an almost impossible dream. Millions, no, billions of people around the world were aware of the airplane, but most didn’t have the means to experience flight for themselves. That was the way of the world between 1945 and 1975. Then something miraculous happened. The Boeing 747 became ubiquitous […]