I had a flight instructor once demonstrate how to take off, fly a pattern, and land a Cessna 172 using only power, rudder, and trim controls. Many years later another flight instructor demonstrated the same thing to me during a Boeing 717 simulator session. Granted, both departures were long, flat climb-outs. The approaches were also […]
Opinion
It’s not the dollars, it’s the imagination
For the past few months I’ve been shopping for a house. Not a particularly big house. Or an impressive one. Just a house that my family and I can move to where we’ll be dry when it rains, warm when it gets cold, and comfortable when the Florida sun beats down in August. If I […]
How do you recommend getting started learning to fly?
“I thought your platform would help me figure out how introduce the following idea to my husband,” began the email that appeared in my email box on April 15. “I’m just beginning in my quest to find flying lessons to give to him as a gift. He’s a semi-retired software engineer (I’ve got to tell you, the […]
Ask Paul: What’s the best way to hone the cylinders in my engine?
Q: I pulled cylinders #1 and #2 to replace the base “O” rings due to oil leaks. The engine is a Lycoming O-360 A3B6D with 650 hours and is a factory reman from 1994 due to Chevron Oil fuel contamination. I would like to know if it is acceptable to use a Flex-Hone to deglaze […]
Is this flying?
Under normal circumstances I’d be writing this column from the comfort of my home office. I probably wouldn’t be wearing closed toe shoes, or long pants, and I sure wouldn’t be wearing a sports jacket. Instead I’m putting this little missive together at Gate 42 among a mass of random people gathered at Orlando International […]
Making connections that count
Generally speaking, most people are pretty decent. Given the chance to offer help to others, they will. Or at least they’ll try. Unfortunately, we often mistake that willingness to assist for the ability to be helpful. Unfortunately, things don’t always work that way. When my middle child was about seven years old, she decided she […]
Godspeed Mary Rosenblum
On March 15 I opened my email and found the following message from Stephanie Smith: “Many years ago (2012 to be exact), my husband, Dennis, and I met you during the Minam Airlift, based in Joseph, Oregon, to deliver supplies to Minam Lodge. My husband was president of the Oregon Pilots Association at the time, […]
Photographs, but few memories
The human mind is an intriguing piece of biological equipment. It can conceive of amazing inventions. Machines, devices, and processes that have never existed come to being first in the mind of someone not significantly different from you or me. Ideas can be incredibly powerful or they can be absolutely idiotic. In the case of […]
Miss Veedol’s victory spanned the Pacific
Long before entrepreneurs launched cars into space, pilots of the 1920s and 1930s were beholden to people of wealth who could sponsor record flights or offer cash prizes for the first intrepid aviator to achieve a specific milestone flight. Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon teamed up in an effort to be the first to span […]