Longren did not have any formal education as an aeronautical designer and engineer. He also lacked any flight training. Neither stopped him from achieving success with his original biplane, the Longren Topeka.
Opinion
Michael Jordan on the diamond
I often talk to men and women who tell me how badly they’d wanted to learn to fly, but they never did. And now, they tell me, it’s too late. They’re pushing 40, or perhaps they’re even older. That ship has sailed, they moan. The opportunity is gone for good. What a load of horse hockey.
A little learning is a dangerous thing
What we have here is someone making an instructional video that has very little learning and, in fact, is very dangerous to pilots who tend to believe anything they see on the Internet.
Questions from the Cockpit: Recycle, replace, or retrofit?
Tom, an airplane owner in Georgia, writes: How do you re-web an airplane seatbelt?
Ask Paul: What should I do with an engine that hasn’t been flown in years?
Question for Paul McBride, the General Aviation News engines expert: I bought an airplane in the summer of 2022 and have not been able to pick it up yet due to a lot of work and a rusty pilot situation. I plan on picking up the aircraft, which has been sitting outside in New Hampshire, in May.
The ignorance is deep and wide
In aviation, that comforting belief that our thoughts and actions are just as they should be, regardless of widely disseminated information to the contrary, can be truly dangerous.
Here we go…again
The FAA opens a new remote tower facility in Atlantic City, but we’ve been down this path before.
Ask Paul: Is it OK to fly my Mooney lean of peak?
Question for Paul McBride, the General Aviation News engines expert: What is your professional opinion about flying a Mooney 20J with a Lycoming IO-360 engine lean of peak if the temperatures are within guideline perimeters?”
Maybe just stay home
Maybe some people should just stay home. And maybe those of us who love to fly should let them. No shame. No animosity. Aviation isn’t for everyone. That sounds like blasphemy, I know. But it’s true — very much so.