Politics for Pilots

It’s a simple truism that is all too often forgotten or ignored as we age: You don’t get what you wish for. You only get what you work for. And more often than not you’ll only see a percentage of that. Being a grown-up can be tough. Certainly any one of us might hope to […]

As is my custom, I started the day at a friendly local coffee shop. The caffeine is essential to my diet, the camaraderie of the patrons is important to my mental health, and the slow ramp-up to my full working frenzy keeps me in the game for the long haul. I like going out for […]

It was only recently I learned, with some considerable consternation, that CNN is reviving “Crossfire.” This is a show that ran five days a week on the Cable News Network from 1982 through 2005. In the news release announcing the rebirth of this appalling, pointless, loud, bombastic, repetitive program that is almost completely without merit, […]

I recently wrote a post where I suggested it might be possible to earn a private pilot certificate for as little as $5,000. I made that suggestion for the simple reason that it’s true. It’s an option that is available to anyone who is willing to thrown off the yoke of 20th Century flight training convention […]

Let’s get the obvious out of the way right from the start. The Solar Impulse is gangly, goofy-looking, slow, fragile, and can’t possibly carry the entire family in luxurious comfort to Aunt Sally’s house for the holidays. That pretty much covers what it’s not, a topic which seems to have gotten a fair amount of […]

On Monday evening a Southwest Airlines flight from Nashville to New York touched down at LaGuardia. Then the sparks flew. The nose gear collapsed on roll-out, the airplane skidded to a stop, and all hell did not break loose. I repeat, nothing much happened. That same evening the ABC affiliate in the city reported that […]