For pilots looking for something different, the city of Havana, Illinois, and the Recreational Aviation Foundation have come up with the first-ever Migratory Bird Fly-in and Photo Shoot. Slated for March 11, 2017, the fly-in will allow pilots to get up close to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, according to officials. According to RAF officials, […]
Destinations
A new pilot’s first flying vacation
As a relatively new pilot — having received my pilot certificate on April 3, 2015 — I’ve logged about 190 hours. Some of that includes the first multi-state, week-long trip I’ve ever done and by far the furthest I’ve flown as PIC. The series of VFR flights would take my wife, Tameka, and I from our […]
72 hours in Phoenix
Day 1 Arriving at Sedona Airport (KSEZ) — “America’s Most Scenic Airport” — at sunrise is a dramatic experience, even for a general aviation pilot who has flown the approach through downtown San Diego (KSAN) and landed at the Catalina “Airport in the Sky” (KAVX). Sedona’s Runway 3/21 is perched on the edge of a 500-foot tall mesa, […]
An Alaska Logbook: Excursions to Chena Hot Springs and Talkeetna
Last summer, while on a flying trip to Alaska, I visited two popular tourist destinations in the backcountry. One of them, Chena Hot Springs, was half an hour by air from our home base at Chena Marina Airport (AK28) in Fairbanks. The other, 184 air miles south, was the historic town of Talkeetna, aerial gateway […]
Crete2Cape Vintage Air Rally prepares for takeoff
Ever since the beautiful flying scenes in the movie “Out of Africa” were first screened in 1985, aviators have wished they could fly low and slow over the mountains, plains and waterfalls of the “Dark Continent.” Soon, a group of vintage aircraft owners will do just that as they embark on a journey to celebrate […]
National Park Service tells Wright story at AirVenture
By Tim Gaffney OSHKOSH, Wis.— For one week in late July every year, flight enthusiasts from around the world gather for what’s billed as the world’s greatest aviation celebration — the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture convention and fly-in. More than 500,000 visitors, including more than 2,000 from 80 foreign countries, flock to EAA’s headquarters at […]
RAF pilots head to Washington Island fish boil
By MIKE PURPURA On July 16, at 6 a.m., the earth was cloaked in cotton candy clouds as 200 airplanes converged on Washington Island in Wisconsin for the annual fish boil. Some slipped unnoticed across the Cheddar Curtain and into Wisconsin from Northern Illinois. Others flew east out of the North Woods and across Green Bay. […]
Destination: North Fox Island, Michigan
By Michael Purpura, Illinois State Liaison, Recreational Aviation Foundation A work party was held June 17-19 at the recently reopened airstrip on North Fox Island in Lake Michigan. Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) Michigan Liaison Brad Frederick had issued a request for volunteers to fly in for the weekend to clear brush, make improvements to the airfield and […]
Fly Me to the Moon Contest takes off
Headset manufacturer Lightspeed Aviation has launched the Fly Me to the Moon contest, which runs through June 26, 2016. The pilot who flies the most miles during private flights — as tracked through CloudAhoy tracking and debriefing service — will win their choice of any of the four models of Lightspeed ANR headsets including Sierra, Zulu.2, Zulu […]