Sound. It’s what lured some of us unsuspecting into aviation. As a kid I reacted to the sound of an airplane engine ticking unseen among cicadas ghost-riding in the sky above my Wonder Bread and mayonnaise New Jersey neighborhood. The sound made me look up to glimpse what shining messenger called and prompted a nun […]
Two controversial physics notions: 1) It’s alleged that a rolling stone gathers no moss, but Keith Richards blunts that theory, and B) in aviation an open hangar door creates a low-pressure zone into which anything loose on the airfield flows with shameless disregard for adult principles. I know; I was sucked into my hangar 40 […]
By now we’ve all seen the video of the airline pilot beating the snot out of a rubbery airport parking lot gate with an axe. If you haven’t seen it, you probably have a real job. But once seen, it’s difficult to unsee this medieval quest for chivalric justice unravel on the marge of the […]
In an earlier column I mentioned Aldous Huxley’s “doors of perception”—which he ripped off from William Blake—and how it influenced millions of teenagers like me in the late 1960s to buy Jim Morrison albums. Except I missed the point; often do. I’m not a big fan of doors—The Doors, yes—but doors exist to limit access, […]
An elusive key to the skeleton closet of successful flight life is to do less, much less. “Straighten up and fly right” made for a catchy Nat King Cole lyric in 1943, but is it good advice for today’s pilots? Having been one for a half-century I can unequivocally state, “I don’t know.” That’s also […]
In my underachieving college years, I learned the merit of injecting quotes from collectively admired thinkers into essays, particularly if—as was often the case—I’d never read their works. My go-to source was Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922), whose full name is thirteen French syllables longer but was simply Proust to us loitering in café society. […]
Breaking news: To the shock of few, FAA administrator nominee, Phillip Washington, withdrew his name from consideration for an underpaid government job (about $140,000/year plus free pens), overseeing the most complicated aviation system in the Universe. Stepping in to the run the agency in an acting capacity is Billy Nolen, a pilot. Gutsy choice. Talk […]
This appeared in an Aeronca web discussion; I’m paraphrasing, but it’s a perennial issue of minimal importance, requiring in-depth review: Can the 7AC Champ be flown with its door removed? Answer: Yeah, pull the pin(s), extract door, go fly. Follow-up: Is there an STC permitting door removal? Yes, and I’m guessing a few Champ owners […]
George Santos told me during an oxygen break at the 23,612-foot elevation on our free-climb ascent of Kilimanjaro, or Fujiyama (Fugaku to gamers), I forget which, “It’s not the lie that gets you,” he then saved a koala from falling into a crevasse before adding, while lighting up a Lucky Strike (our corporate sponsor), “It’s […]
The 19th Century poet Herman Wordless Longfellow once tweeted, “Between the dark and the daylight comes a pause in the day’s occupations that’s known as the pilots’ hour.” His cousin, Henry, ripped it off, changing “pilots’” to “children’s” and made a killing on Disney movie rights. Being a pilot, Herman never saw a dime and […]
