By JEB BURNSIDE. A summer job working the line at the local airport can be a great thing for an aspiring pilot, but perhaps not for the airplanes. One of my first real jobs was pumping car gas, back in the days when drivers didn’t do it themselves. I was what we would call today […]
Pilot Related
Birds do it, but they have a learning curve, too
By JEB BURNSIDE. A variety of sources detailing the Wright brothers’ research methods and conclusions prior to the successful first powered flight note their study of birds. From that study, they observed and identified the ways soaring birds changed their wings’ shape to control the flight path. That data led to conceiving and implementing wing […]
The day I groundlooped a Baron
By JEB BURNSIDE. Flying the same aircraft all the time can be boring after a while. It’s an affliction most aircraft owners share, though it’s not one to generate much sympathy from non-owners. But after months and years flying the same familiar flivver, one begins to seek out new opportunities, different aircraft and even additional ratings. So […]
Niner-Niner Zulu: Some things in aviation are meant to be
By JEB BURNSIDE. One of my earliest aviation memories is of a family holiday trip from our home in Illinois to Florida, spending the season with not one, but two, grandmothers and relations. Any Christmas dinner for 30 or so members of the same family won’t be without its drama, and I’m sure that one […]
Logbooks catalog more than hours
By JEB BURNSIDE. I’m in the middle of what’s shaping up to be a long-term project: Organizing my logbooks and other flight records. I have varying details on literally decades of personal flying spread across four bound logbooks, a roll-my-own database on a hard drive, and my airplane’s tach sheets. Very little is duplicated in […]
That’s how it happens
By JEB BURNSIDE. So, there I was, high, hot and too close-in for even a chop-and-drop approach. What to do? I was steaming into a nearby airport situated next to Tampa Bay. The morning’s mission was to meet a neighbor for breakfast at the airport’s quite-capable restaurant. It was a bright, sunny morning, with excellent […]
The evolution of Flight Service
By JEB BURNSIDE. Even though little remains of the FAA’s Flight Service function, some of us still remember the old-fashioned ways. Up front, I’ll admit I’m old school, but only to an extent. I prefer steam to glass, and a stick to an automatic transmission, for example, but I’d rather use metric than SAE. Go […]
No step
By JEB BURNSIDE. One of aviation’s endearing characteristics involves the abundant myths surrounding aircraft operation: Do this, that or some other thing and your airplane will carry more, fly faster on less fuel and land on a dime. Such myths are great hangar-flying fodder, but most of them fall down when confronted with the real […]
Fast moving dragons
By JEB BURNSIDE. It’s way too early to know what happened to cause early July’s mid-air collision between a Cessna 150 and a U.S. Air Force F-16C near Moncks Corner, S.C. The accident is being investigated by the NTSB, but it’s likely the pilots involved were where they were supposed to be, doing nothing unusual. […]