If you are of a certain vintage, you probably remember this sentence: “Out of the clear blue of the western sky it’s Sky King!” The words were followed by majestic music that introduced the popular adventure serial from the 1940s and 1950s. The show, which first aired on radio then went to television, depicted the […]
Touch & Go
Up Ship! Learning to fly a Zeppelin
I am enamored with airships, so when I found out that Airship Ventures, a start-up company in the San Francisco Bay area, was offering a chance to pilot one, I had to take advantage of the offer. Airship Ventures was started in 2006 by Brian and Alexandra (Alex) Hall. Brian’s background is in project development […]
Fly casual
Guest Editorial By THOMAS P. TURNER “Fly casual.” If you’re a pilot and a fan of the “Star Wars” movies (hey, I was a teenager when the first one came out), this may be one of your favorite lines of the entire series. Han Solo tells his Wookie copilot Chewbacca to “fly casual” to avoid […]
Meg flies a Mustang
When someone offers you the chance to fly in a P-51 Mustang, you do not pass it up. I recently flew “Betty Jane,” a rare two-place P-51 that is making its way around the country on the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour. The foundation also has its B-17, “Nine-oh-Nine,” and the B-24 “Witchcraft” making […]
Growing the next generation
GUEST EDITORIAL By JAMAIL LARKINS We all remember our first flight — the feeling of seeing the world from a completely different perspective, the freedom of controlling an aircraft through the three dimensions of flight, the opportunity to make the world a smaller place by expanding our realm of possibilities. No matter what aspect of […]
What’s behind AirVenture’s record crowds?
If you build it, will they come? That had to be the worry of EAA officials, who invested more than $4 million over the last year on site improvements to the AirVenture grounds at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. Would aviation enthusiasts return this year to aviation’s biggest show? Or would the continuing bad news […]
Why I embrace user fees — and you should too!
Following is my speech and (notes) from an AirVenture forum that will never take place. “I want to thank you, Mr. President, and all 535 members of Congress for coming to Oshkosh for EAA’s annual AirVenture and my forum, “Why I embrace user fees — and you should too!” Also, thank you to EAA for […]
Be part of the solution
Guest Editorial By JACK PELTON Even without the global economic and credit crisis challenging the world and the public relations turbulence hitting business aviation, I anticipated 2009 would be a weighty year for general aviation. We have a new administration in the White House, new leadership for the Department of Transportation, a new chief at […]
Taking the hassle out of flying
For many years I’ve maintained that the business executive who can afford a single or light twin airplane doesn’t get involved in flying for a couple of reasons. First is time. Many of these individuals started learning to fly or actually got their certificates as young people. As their businesses grew or they advanced in […]