Features

Robert L. Buck was born January29, 1914, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. At age 15 — inspired by Lindbergh’strans-Atlantic flight — he and a friend built a glider and Bob taught himselfto fly — sort of. His first flight in the glider ended shortly after takeoffwhen he mushed into the ground from 50 feet. He refreshed […]

The elevator dinged its announcement that I had arrived safely in the hotel lobby. Does it really matter where I was this layover? Whether I am in Newark or Paris, all hotels have the same qualities – clean, yet unimaginative rooms with inexpensive copies of art on the walls. Toilets sanitized for my protection and […]

Some time ago I wrote a column in which I stated that I’d rather be lucky than skillful any day, but in reality the skillful pilot makes his or her own luck. In all the years I’ve been flying I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been lucky – I’m no great shakes as […]

Let me make this clear right up front. I hate thunderstorms. I loathe them. I despise them. I’d rather work 10 years of wintertime IFR- icing, bad rides and all – than work one more season of thunderstorms in Atlanta Center. I’d rather take a beating and get it over with. After a day of […]

No, I’m not telling you where to go. Or perhaps I am, you figure it out. “SIAP” is FAA-speak for “Standard Instrument Approach Procedure,” and frankly, they’re not very well understood. I don’t profess to understand them fully, myself. Yeah, you heard that right. I certainly don’t begin to understand all the “stuff” that makes […]

A while ago one of my instrument students and I flew nearly six hours in a day. Not surprisingly, his last landing was probably measurable on the Richter scale. Earning our eternal enmity, someone then made a crude, derogatory remark about the landing over the CTAF/Unicom frequency. Neither of us responded, but over the next […]

John L. Baker was born July 8, 1928, in O’Neil, Neb. He started flying at 15 and went into the Air Force five years later. He flew fighters in Korea then taught fighter gunnery at Nellis, Pine Castle and Luke. After his military career, Baker went to law school in Omaha, and graduated with honors. […]

While the self-righteous denigrate those who mess up, we shout our barbaric yawp in praise of folly.

“Mind if I ride along with you guys?” an old friend and captain named Dave asked me the other day as we prepared to launch for San Antonio. “I’m heading down to Texas and the back is full. I’m hoping to get the jumpseat.” Dave grinned and handed me the usual licenses, jump seat passes […]

We’ve all heard the expression “staying ahead of the airplane” but what does it really mean to each of us? To different people it may well mean different things. Rod Machado advocates that, when in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions – in cloud), a pilot should at all times have determined what are the next two […]