Touch & Go

When Discovery Wings went off the air earlier this year, many pilots went into mourning. Well, that can end now, because the Outdoor Channel just debuted a new show called “Wings to Adventure” that’s perfect programming for pilots. The show is the brainchild of Tom Gresham, a pilot, writer, producer and television personality who has […]

Recently I witnessed an exchange between father and teenage daughter. The daughter, a student in the inaugural class of Seattle’s Aviation High School, was begging her father to let her start her flight training now. She is 14. “No, not until you’re older,” he said. “I don’t want to spend all that money and have […]

While I certainly don’t have all the facts concerning the recent incursion into the Washington ADIZ — and within three miles of the White House — by Hayden Sheaffer, a certificated pilot, and Troy Martin, a student pilot, in a Cessna 150, I am upset with them for what they’ve probably done to all of […]

“Results! Why, man, I have gotten lots of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.” That was Thomas Edison talking. Edison probably was the most prolific and successful inventor of our, or any, time and his statement emphasizes the importance of curiosity. In Edison’s case, that often meant research just for the sake […]

Alan Klapmeier gets a lot of grief because he’s selling planes. Well, it’s not because he’s selling planes — it’s who he’s selling them to. “Our company gets beat up for trying to sell airplanes to people outside the industry,” says the co-founder and CEO of Cirrus Design Corp., which produces the SR-20 and SR-22. […]

Listening on the radio to a call-in talk show isn’t one of my favorite activities. Of course, like most folks, I end up listening to parts of one show or another as I drive down the road. It doesn’t take me long to start switching stations hoping to catch some meaningful dialogue before I get […]

I can now honestly say, “I was on the grassy knoll.” I visited Dealey Plaza in Dallas when I was in the Lone Star State attending the 16th annual Women in Aviation International Conference. I was not born when President Kennedy was assassinated, but I have seen the film of the motorcade and the black […]

Our world and our lives are composed of light and shadow. That can be taken both literally and euphemistically, of course. Day and night, happiness and sorrow, good times and bad, the bright moments and the dark times as the years go by. These days, somehow, the light seems brighter and the shadow darker than […]

I learned more from my high school social studies teacher, Mrs. Packan, than any other teacher I’ve ever had. One of the lessons that has stuck to this day is that there is a “good” reason and a “real” reason for every decision. When we moved to South Carolina in 1998, the “good” reason was […]