Politics for Pilots

In 2009 a not particularly well-known Simon Sinek stood up at a TEDx event in Puget Sound and dropped a new way of thinking on his audience. Simon postulated that greatness in any industry, with any new product or service, starts with the founder and their team knowing why they do what they do, and […]

This may come as a surprise to some readers, but occasionally, I am mistaken. In error. Out to lunch. Wrong. This is one of those times. For nearly 15 years I’ve been attending and writing about the US Sport Aviation Expo, which takes place each January in Sebring, Florida. It’s one of my favorite shows. […]

When I was 15 years old I was approximately as smart as a sweet potato. That’s not flattering, but it bears a reasonable resemblance to the truth. What’s worse is that the sweet potato was in general more useful than I was. You can ask my mom. Even as kind and generous as she is, […]

Summer comes early in South Florida. Temperatures rise into the 80s and 90s while much of the north is still contending with melting snow, cold wind-driven rain, and yet one more oil delivery to keep the furnace running. It’s on such a day that I sit at a picnic table across from George Chase, president […]

When the idea of flying first became real to me, I became a voracious reader of aeronautical magazines. My imagination went wild with the idea of not just flying, but of actually owning an airplane. The reality of my situation was somewhat less optimistic than my imagination. For one thing, I was living in a […]

I’ve told the story before of my first attempt to get involved in aviation, and my absolutely dismal failure. It was sophomore year at Glastonbury High School in rural central Connecticut. A US Navy recruiter came to speak to students who were open to enlisting in the military. That may seem like no big deal today, but […]