Adventure Flying

Iknow. You’re thinking “Hey wait, Godfrey! There’s already an article in AVweb’s’Places to Fly‘ section called ‘The Last Fightertown Airshow.’What’s the deal?” Here’s the deal. Fightertown (aka Top Gun) moved its airplanes and pilots earlier thisyear to Oceano, VA and Fallon, NV. So last year’s airshow was the last Fightertownairshow. 1997’s airshow was the last […]

Howard Pardue’s Bearcat Richardson’s YAK before the accident… …and after. (Hint: something’s missing!) Howard Pardue’s Sea Fury taxiing in after the accident. Interesting tail art on the YAK! The 34th Annual Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada opened on September 8, 1997 witha record number of entries in the unlimited racing class. All in all, […]

I‘d purchased a 1995 American Champion Super Decathalon, and beforeshipping it home to Japan it seemed almost sacrilegious not to fly it toOshkosh. So I departed Chino, California (CNO) on July 26th at 1300 local,with my camping gear in the back and full tanks. After skirting the Las VegasClass B and deviating around the north […]

Ocean City, Maryland is a destination for all seasonsand all reasons. The southern tip of New Jersey points the way south alongthe coast of Delaware to this Maryland city on the Delmarva Peninsula. Thoseof us who remember boardwalks, cotton candy, roller-coasters and seashellhunting from our childhood excursions along the Atlantic Coast will not bedisappointed. Ocean […]

It was a wonderful South African Sunday winter morning.Clear skies, still a bit cold, but the weatherman insisted it would reach25 C later today. Sigrid, my wife and a pilot, too, was preparing for theflight to Lindbergh Lodge. Lindbergh Lodge is a private game and hunting farm in the North-Westprovince of South Africa. At an […]

Eureka has become one of my favorite spots to get away and decompress.Situated on the northern California coast, just slightly more than 200nautical miles north-northwest of San Francisco, Eureka is one of thosespecial places that’s easy to reach by light plane but a long hard drivefor the wingless masses. During the summertime, when everything from […]

Imagine an airport located in rural New England along the picturesqueConnecticut River. You fly in on a crisp, autumn day, enjoying the scenerythat only can be experienced in New England in the fall. Hop out of yourplane and walk four hundred yards to an historic nineteenth century hotelwhere you are served a delicious lunch or […]

I have always been envious of my friends who are skiers. WhileI dread the upcoming winter, they actually are anxious to see the temperaturedrop below freezing. The feeling of accomplishment that skiers feel at theend of a difficult run that has been well executed must be exhilarating.The sense of control, the rush of traveling at […]

I admit it: until a few years ago, I found Civil War history tiresome; there weretoo many battles, too many deposed Union generals, and too many politicalfacts to master. Now, midway through my fifth decade, I have the patience,the curiosity and the time to try to understand something of this mosttroublesome episode in our American […]

The 33rd annual Reno National Championship Air Races opened on September9, 1996 and with it brought both excitement and disappointment. In recentyears the “fastest motor sport in the world” has been slightly waning interms of participation and competition. However, the 1996 campaign showedgreat encouragement for there were a number of new unlimited racers on theramp […]