Maybe some people should just stay home. And maybe those of us who love to fly should let them. No shame. No animosity. Aviation isn’t for everyone. That sounds like blasphemy, I know. But it’s true — very much so.
Opinion
Common misconceptions about unleaded avgas
Why can’t general aviation switch over the unleaded gas as easily as the automobile industry did?
Human Factors: Déjà vu all over again
People just aren’t getting the memo: The quickest way to kill yourself in an airplane is to pressure yourself to fly beyond your capabilities — whether those capabilities are weather, equipment, certification, experience, or simply how much energy you have left over from the day before.
Ask Paul: Does it make sense to add turbo to my Cherokee 6?
Even though this is a reasonable idea, it just is not a smart move financially.
The tenacity of why
Never lose the childlike innocence that allows us to ask why so often when we were young. Cherish it as a gift. Too many of us push it out of our minds in an attempt to cast off childish things in favor of adulthood. It’s the dreamers who do big things. That has always been the case.
Martin bombers: From World War I and beyond
Glenn Martin, characterized by some biographers as a prim and proper son who doted on his mother, was also an aviation visionary who leapfrogged his early bomber successes into a growing line of warplanes for the Air Force, Navy, and foreign customers.
Internalize the lesson
How do you best learn? Positive reinforcement? Admonishment for mistakes made? Writing and re-writing the lessons learned? And when you learn something, how do you internalize that lesson?
It’s a numbers game
The general public sees driving as relatively safe and flying as generally risky. But the numbers tell the real story.
Do they really want to hear from us?
The juxtaposition of the Piper AD story and the story that followed put a smile on my face.