Low and Slow
Early on in my initial flight training, I started hearing occasional references to a requirement for a couple of solo “cross-country” flights. Nobody actually defined the term for me, and this was in the years before the partnership between Google and your ordinary smart phone made figuring these things out a non-event, so in my mind I was looking forward to the adventure of flying literally across the entire U.S. and seeing it all from the air. I was half relieved, half disappointed to find out that for the purposes of obtaining a my private pilot certificate, “cross country” meant landing at an airport at least 50 nautical miles away from my departure point. Fifty miles? In an airplane? Now how long could that possibly take, I wondered?...
Read MoreSunstone Winery
Just to show that it is possible to write about things other than aviation (I’m not addicted, really — I can quit any time I want), an old college friend of mine recently invited me on a trip to Santa Ynez to do some research on a winery. Rich has been working as a food critic for quite a while, always regaling me with the latest culinary goings on in Orange County. I’ve had the pleasure of dining with him at Paul Martin’s, Mozambique, the Crow Bar, and other trendy joints. It’s always first-class experience. Appetizers, deserts, and executive chefs seem to appear at our table out of thin air. “Did we order this?”, I’d ask. I’m living on a pilot’s salary, remember. “Don’t worry about...
Read MoreNew Year’s Eve in Hawaii
As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus sagely observed, the only constant in the world is change. That can be a tough fact of life, because while change is constant, it’s rarely easy. In some cases it can be downright unpleasant; my ever-receding hairline attests to it, in fact. For some reason, change seems to occur in aviation at an even greater pace that in the surrounding world. Companies, fortunes, people, and aircraft in our little slice of life seem to come and go at an amazing pace. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising since the whole idea behind flying is to get somewhere. I guess the real question is, are we getting where we want to go? That’s about a philosophical as I get, folks. Thankfully, for me the answer has definitely been yes. I...
Read MoreA Week in St. Thomas
Well, file this one in the “it’s a small world” category. After several grueling days of relaxation on St. Maarten, your trusty correspondent flew home to Southern California on Thanksgiving, arriving just in the nick of time for a late turkey dinner. I was home about 36 hours before departing following morning for a week’s vacation on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. For those of you who are keeping track, St. Maarten and St. Thomas are about 90 miles apart, but rather than just fly a short inter-island hop I managed to put about 7,000 miles behind me only to end up right where I started. Flying is like that. Anyway, unlike most other trips, this one was a long-planned vacation with extended family — 10 of us in all — to...
Read MoreSt. Maarten
One of the great advantages on-demand (more commonly referred to as “charter”) flying has over working at the airlines is the destinations. It’s not uncommon for charter pilots to visit some of the world’s most glorious locations. Instead of flying to Bakersfield, Palm Springs, and Fresno, I go to Nassau, Honolulu, and southern France. Naturally, not every trip is blessed with locales of that caliber. Those that are sometimes come with long-haul flights which cross a half-dozen or more time zones and can take jet lag to an unenviable level. But there’s little doubt that the ends are worth the means. Of course, alighting in Aspen or Nassau doesn’t mean much unless you get to stick around for a while and enjoy it. Thankfully, a...
Read MoreThe Year in Review
Welcome to 2012, the year it’s all supposed to end. Everyone likes to joke about the Mayan calendar, but perhaps they simply knew the election cycle would be tedious enough to make the entire planet take the Jonestown route. The turning of another page on the calendar reminds us of the passage of time. Or at least, it would if anyone had a calendar with physical pages to turn. For most it’s now done with the click of a mouse or flick of the finger on the iPhone. Even that is becoming passé — now you can simply talk to Siri and have her handle the scheduling for you. I wonder how long it will be before we can say things like, “Siri, load the ILS 19 approach and fly it for me. After we land, please taxi to Atlantic and have them add 16,000...
Read MoreSR22 Delivery Flight
The life of an aviator is indisputably rich in adventures, unique experiences, and, as Magee phrased it, “a hundred things you have not dreamed of”. Even in that life, however, there are a few days which stand above the rest. Who can forget their first solo, the successful checkride, or the name of their first passenger? As anyone who’s been there can attest, even the most diminutive among us stands ten feet tall at the end of those flights. Another big moment — one of the very sweetest in my experience — is the day you escape any niggling notions of common sense and purchase an aircraft of your very own. Today, that often means what a salesmen would refer to as a “pre-loved” aircraft. Pre-owned. You know, used. A select...
Read MoreCheapo Airlines
Flying seems to be getting more painful every day for those confined to the airlines. If you think it’s bad here in the United States, take a look at Irish-based Ryanair. They take cheapness to a new level, both in terms of airfares and amenities. Ryanair is quite famous for this. Far from being embarrassed by their reputation, they actually take pride in it. The fares may be low, but walk aboard their aircraft you’ll find less leg room than on any other airline. They’ve even gone so far as to remove the seat-back pockets in order to save weight and space in the cabin. But that’s just the start. Ryanair charges passengers extra money if they are too heavy (a so-called “fat tax”). You’ll also get dinged if you need to...
Read MoreThere’s No Place Like Nome
So I’m off on the latest adventure! This one has me flying with a new crew to an old home of mine, Alaska. Boy, what a place! I lived in the state when I was a kid, but haven’t been back since then. I had lived near Anchorage, which has 300,000 residents and is home to nearly half of Alaska’s entire population. This trip was going to take me to a village which was literally a thousand miles away from where I’d lived, yet was still within the same state. Alaska is like that. It’s so large that you could divide it in half and instantly make Texas the 3rd largest state. Hard to believe that the United States purchased Alaska for only $7 million, or less than $0.02 per acre. And even then, the purchase was so derided by the public that...
Read MoreThe Tiger Has Landed
I just returned from a 48 hour round trip to southern Florida to pick up a refurbished Grumman AA-5B Tiger and ferry it back to California. I’ll say this for general aviation, it’s always an adventure. I took a few photos, which are available here. My first thought after sitting down to memorialize the weekend: I’d forgotten how exhausting these transcontinental trips can be, especially when you’re dodging thunderstorms for 2000 continuous miles. Florida in late August — good times. The commercial flight out to Ft. Meyers was blessedly uneventful, but between the three hour time change and our 6:45 a.m. wheels up plan for Sunday morning, I was behind the curve even before we started. Fortunately the thunderstorms were confined to the...
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