Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one that sees the “big picture” the way I do. Recently, a fellow pilot in Arizona took the time to write about the escalating fuel prices and what this rise in energy costs is doing to the economy Groceries are already going up in price here, it’s in small increments but if you… Read more →
Author: Ron Rapp
Foo Fighters Good; Sony Bad
Some of the most relaxing moments of the San Carlos dive trip were had during surface intervals on the boat. A ‘surface interval’ is a period of time spent on the surface in between dives. This time allows the body to naturally rid itself of excess nitrogen accumulated while breathing compressed air at depth. Without an appropriate surface interval, a… Read more →
Dude, Where’s My GPS?
I’m not one of those ‘all technology sucks’ guys who look down my nose at a well equipped instrument panel. I fly the Cirrus SR20/22 and G1000-equipped DiamondStars all the time and really enjoy teaching glass panel stuff. Indeed, I’ll be the first to admit that GPS is the best thing to come along since sliced bread. But when I… Read more →
Extra, Extra!
This is my newest ride! What do you think? Sunrise needs another Extra instructor and I draw the lucky straw. I started getting familiar with this baby today. The cockpit checkout was interesting; it’s far more sparse than other Extras I’ve flown. This aircraft is one of the older 300 models (no -L or -S suffix, just a plain old… Read more →
Cancer Sucks
A few years ago, most of my donations were to Angel Flight, a very worthy aviation-based charity which provides medical transportation to those in need. I also did a lot of flying for AF. Lately, though, most of my charitable dollars have gone to organizations fighting cancer. It wasn’t a conscious change, but one that I now see was prompted… Read more →
Aviation Blogs
I’ve added some new aviation-related blogs to my links page. It’s about time, too. I periodically search for sites like these, but find them few and far between on the internet. Thankfully, I found a way to leech off the research of others! I simply looked up the Bloglines lists of some people who subscribe to the RSS feed here… Read more →
Victor Belenko
One of my first inspirations for getting into aviation was a Russian named Victor Belenko. In 1976, he defected to the U.S. from Russia in his MiG-25 Foxbat. At the time, the Foxbat was the most feared and super secret airplane in the world. It flew faster and higher than anything the U.S. had, and he flew one right into… Read more →
Bird Strike
Several aviation blogs have touched on the subject of bird strikes recently, and it reminded me of a wildlife encounter I had almost exactly a year ago. The day started pleasantly enough. I met up with Dan over Chino and we formed up as a flight of two enroute to Crystal Airpark. We spent an hour or so with the… Read more →
…Down Mexico Way
I’m back from Mexico and can report that no animals were harmed in the making of this dive trip. No non-human animals, at least. Er… well, we did catch quite a few trigger fish during the surface intervals, but I don’t count those because they make for such tasty ceviche. I’ve got quite a few pictures to post in the… Read more →
South of the Border…
It’s that time of year again. The annual dive trip to Mexico! Most of the guys are driving down to San Carlos this time. Personally, I think it’s crazy to spend 16 hours driving across the featureless desert when America West offers daily (though spotty) service to nearby Guaymas. And right out of John Wayne, too! No getting up at… Read more →