Adventure Flying

Not long after the gas crunch of the late ’70s, I became aware of the buzz regarding a new homebuilt aircraft from this fella Burt Rutan. It was supposed to be ultra fuel efficient, unique in appearance, and built in an almost revolutionary way, sort of like a surfboard. With a lot of time spent […]

From constructing play forts to rigging her little red wagon up to a self-propelled lawn mower for a wild ride down the street, pilot, writer and A&P Lisa Turner grew up with an interest in building things. It was an interest she chose to pursue—not a common path for a girl in the 1960s. She […]

Michel spent 10 days at Mario Zucchelli Station in Antarctica. The team of scientists and station staff were very supportive and helped him remove the skis from the RV-8, plan the rest of the flight, and offered friendship, a bed, and good food. Even from 10,000 miles away, Michel still found time to update the […]

Flying is peaceful, the engine droning, wind whistling, your mind roaming to different thoughts as it gives birth to a new perspective. You reach out for your thermos to sip some hot coffee—but it’s not hot anymore. You start feeling cold, alone, and want to talk to someone, but you can’t. You fear that your […]

Have you ever wanted to fly around the world? Just imagine the organizational nightmare of it: You would need to book dozens of flights and land in many foreign countries, each with its own language, laws, rules, customs, and regulations. Add to that the dreaded idea of extended traveling with strangers to stranger lands. And […]

The flashlight is on only for a few minutes to check and record the readings from the sight gauges on the cockpit fuel tanks. Now off, it’s dark…really dark. The flight schedule had been planned many months ago to put this, the North Pole leg, at the full moon. Reality intervened to put me two […]

PREFLIGHT PERSONAL DOCUMENTATION AIRCRAFT DOCUMENTATION DEPARTURE ARRIVAL RETURN FLIGHT Print a printer-friendly version of this checklist to take with you.

Flying in Canada is just different enough from flying in the U.S. to make it a learning experience, and similar enough to make it comfortable. Canada’s aviation heritage is like a vein whose branches nourish virtually every facet of the diverse country’s social, business and even political life. To a large degree, aviation built Canada, […]

1. VFR “over the top” flight is permitted under the OTT (Over The Top) visual flight rules, which also requires a separate rating on Canadian pilot certificates if they are not already IFR rated (or have been in the past). U.S. pilots who do not have an instrument rating should not expect to be able […]

Last spring, clutching a free ticket on Southwest that was about to expire and harboring an intense desire to escape reality for a while, I journeyed to Seattle for a mini-vacation devoted to nothing except looking at airplanes and eating foods that were bad for me. I had a great time and would encourage you […]