Touch & Go

One of our most avidly read features is Accident Reports. To put these together for every issue, reporter Meg Godlewski combs the National Transportation Safety Board’s database, choosing a wide variety of accidents to spotlight. We don’t do this to highlight bad news. In fact, we look at these reports as cautionary tales, presenting them […]

I just finished reading a magazine article that left me both surprised and thrilled. Published in Fast Company magazine, this article explains how cities around the world – especially in China, India, Thailand, Hong Kong and South Korea – are not only building massive new airports, but they are surrounding the airports with commercial and […]

I knew something was wrong when I had several cell phone messages from one of my flying club’s assistant chief instructors. A cargo plane had gone down and two of our coworkers who recently had gone to work for that company were not answering their cell phones. She asked me to use my reporter resources […]

You may remember reading Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” in which a would-be Alaska gold rush prospector dies when he can’t build a fire to stay warm. He ignored the advice of the more experienced and set out ill prepared for the trail. It can be seen as a cautionary tale for […]

I moved to the Tacoma, Wash., area in 1970 and almost since that first day I can remember threats being sounded about Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW). The airport is located in the county across a bridge from the City of Tacoma, very close to the small community of Gig Harbor. Because the airport is owned […]

“Need a ride?” One of my favorite parts about Sun ‘n Fun is the people I meet when I’m driving around in the golf cart. We get golf carts because we have to cover a lot of territory for the daily paper we put out at the show. If it won’t impact my deadline I’ll […]

When I was a small boy, if a schoolmate made a statement with which another disagreed, the accepted rejoinder was “Prove it!” Later on, having discovered an interest in science, I learned that this is an appropriate response to any theory. “Prove it.” Today, however, theories abound, proofs are as scarce as hens’ teeth, and […]

For Lewis Long, volunteering at Sun ‘n Fun has been a life-changing experience. The formerly homeless man, who kicked around most of the country before settling in Lakeland, Fla., has been volunteering for six years now. The first year he volunteered for just two days, but he was “hooked” right away. “I felt for the […]

If you’ve never heard of chemtrails, don’t feel badly. I thought I’d heard most of the nutty notions affecting aviation, until a friend suggested running a Google search on chemtrails. Try it. You’ll be astonished by the concept, to begin with, and the enormous number of pages devoted to it. In sum, chemtrails enthusiasts say […]