It has long been a tradition for aviation enthusiasts to be perceived as elitists who shun outsiders. There is a factual basis for that belief, but its time is largely past. However, the dearth of minority participants in aviation is obvious to anyone who spends a day on the ramp. That’s changing, thank goodness. When […]
Politics for Pilots
On spam cans, big iron, and finding my way
Believe it or not, there was a time in my career as an aeronautical nut when I couldn’t wait to get out of the little spam cans I was flying. My plan was to move on to bigger, more capable machinery. Multiple engines were calling my name. Oh, to be operating airframes of much greater […]
Be the old man
The kid’s pace slowed as the tree line fell behind, the green grass of the airport coming into view. Pedaling slower while steering the bike off the main thoroughfare and onto the little used service road, the kid’s eyes scanned the grounds. Beyond the chain link fence, the Do Not Enter signs, and the undeveloped […]
The 12 steps that lead from here to there
The Boy Scout Law isn’t something that keeps me up nights. Well, not most nights, anyway. Yet I find myself thinking about it more and more often these days. Those 12 points from my youthful, somewhat rudderless phase of life seem to keep coming back to me at the oddest times now. If you were […]
Awkward hellos and somber goodbyes
Climbing into an airplane with the intent of getting airborne is an exciting endeavor. Even for those fortunate enough to have been doing this for years, it’s still a thrill. Yet our emotional response to flight isn’t always positive or uplifting. It’s those other reactions that really make this journey through an aeronautical life a […]
You think you can’t, but you can
“Oh, I could never build an airplane,” they say. And you know who they are. Almost anyone who ever overheard a homebuilder or an owner engaged in a restoration project could easily qualify. They rule out their participation before they even consider what the actual skills and requirements might be. They assume failure, then reinforce […]
Rusty Pilots Radio
It was one of those perfect Florida winter evenings. This is the weather flying dreams are made of. The air was smooth. The Cessna 152 and I didn’t experience a single bump. The sun was low off my left wing, a flaming ball of orange hanging just above the horizon. The landscape to my right […]
Something’s happening
Over the course of my life I’ve had three major obsessions. In chronological order they are motorcycles, guitars, and airplanes. My dad was an avid motorcyclist, owning a Harley Davidson 125cc machine when he was but a young lad in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the late 1940s. By the time I was born, he owned […]
In appreciation of the 1%
Current estimates of the population of the United States clock in somewhere around 323 million men, women, and children. If we assume a quarter of those people are under the age of 18, as the US Census Bureau suggests, that cuts the number of adults down to fewer than 250 million men and women. Now, […]