Commentary

When Greg Herrick asked me 18 months ago to be one of the pilots for his five aircraft on the National Air Tour he was re-creating, I reacted like most every one else: “Sure I would!” To be perfectly honest, I thought there was no way in hell he could pull this off, so I […]

I spent all day — it was a Monday — with my plane, poring over each system part and preflight check until I was satisfied the only tests left were those that must be answered in the air. It was late when I got home, and at least 1 a.m. before I finally made it […]

The North American SNJ is the U.S. Navy’s version of the venerable T-6 “Texan,” a big, noisy, radial-engine trainer aircraft from the WWII-era. The T-6 equals “airplane” in the mind’s eye of every kid who dreams of flight, as just about every airplane that every kid has ever drawn looks like one. That’s not to […]

Photos by Kirk Webber and Maria Rieger It is midmorning on what is shaping up to be a hot, sunny day at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta. Members of the public are beginning to gather at the end of a runway at Canada’s busiest fighter base, hoping to catch a glimpse of the “tiger.”It is […]

The scene is played out over and over on nice, sunny weekend afternoons across the country. The proud and excited new pilot leads her passenger out to the airplane. As they walk across the ramp, the pilot assures the passenger the weather will be good for the flight. Using all of the weather terms she […]

There are no more than a handful left. You can count the ones that are currently airworthy on one hand, and the ones that are flying regularly can be counted on the fingers needed to hold a good cigar. Of the more than 5900 built between 1940 and 1944, that’s all there are in the […]

Imagine a post-9/11 world filled with F16s, Blackhawk helicopters, surface-to-air missiles, AWACs, ADIZs, TFRs, FRZs, and other airspaces people haven’t even figured out yet.Imagine being cleared to fly through all that with ‘nary a care in the world.Now imagine preserving your freedom to travel through this airspace through numerous, ambiguous, ambivalent, and overlapping jurisdictions of […]

“It’s just something they seem to have in their blood; I think they’re born with it.” Spend time around people who love to fly and no doubt you will hear this conclusion voiced often by the people closest to them.It would seem almost unfitting for a young boy to not have an early interest in […]

It was a defining moment. “Y” at one time was simply the 25th letter of the alphabet. In kindergarten, this was often represented by the little three-letter word “yak.” Unannounced, and quite by surprise, an important shift occurs. This particular little noun springs into action, taking on a life of its own. The event transpires […]

Communications between the various crewmembers aboard military airplanesis typically accomplished by means of interconnected electronic devices.The interphone system is a vital part of the equipment required for efficientand coordinated flight crew operations. Pilots communicate with navigatorsfrequently to assure mutual understanding of headings to fly, time to goand estimates to targets or destinations. Pilots and co-pilots […]