Features

When I was an aspiring young aviation cadet in the old Army Air Corps during World War II, we were told that anybody can learn to fly – some just take longer than others. It was probably true then, because that group was carefully selected for aptitude, but I have since learned that it is […]

The 16th Annual Piper Fly-in, known as “Sentimental Journey,” took place last week at the birthplace of thousands of Piper aircraft — Lock Haven, Pa. In spite of off-and-on rain throughout the four-day event, over 135 planes managed to arrive at the W.T. Piper Memorial Airport (LHV) from June 20-23, while another 500 or so […]

Without ever having touched one, my usual comment about the B-24 has always been something on the order of “Ugly as sin, flies like *&^%,” based on the words of Ernest K. Gann in “Fate Is the Hunter.” He hated them. Well, pass the salt … I’ve got to eat a little crow here. Maybe […]

Last month I told you I’d spent an evening here in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport writing two letters. I wrote them after returning from a trip where I had seen, talked to, and briefly flown with, an airport kid, a kid who wanted to fly more than anything in the world. The […]

Over the years I have been a sole airplane owner, been involved in a two-person partnership in owning an airplane, and been in another partnership of four people that owned two airplanes. I have also belonged to several airplane ownership clubs, and I’ve been an airplane renter. I think this probably qualifies me to speak […]

“Nobody runs a balloon meet like Brian Boland,” declares Norman Metivier, a white-haired gent who’s been to many a meet in his day. “There’s no structure to it – it’s a happening.” And so it is: spontaneous, unpredictable, capricious, even a bit bizarre. During one weekend every May, Post Mills, Vt., becomes the center of […]

Click on any image to view a larger version. Brian Boland’s balloon loft and museum Rigging the submarine for its journey aloft One of many odd contraptions flown by balloon This antique submarine flew this year. Houston? Are you SURE this is how it works? Everyone is welcome to help out Time itself collects dust […]

Before getting into this month’s column, I’d like try and address one of the most common question I’m getting from readers of my series on piston engine operation: “John, you talk about fuel-injected engines, but I don’t have one. What can I do in my Cessna 182, with its O-470 carbureted engine?” Managing Carbureted Engines […]

It’s another one of those late evenings here in the pilot’s lounge. I’m here because it’s a place that is conducive to thinking. I returned from a trip a couple of hours ago, put the airplane away and started to leave the airport but turned around and came back here to the lounge where it […]

From the friendly folks at FSSes (Flight Service Stations), who are sort of stepchildren in the ATC system, to the controllers at the ARTCCs (air route traffic control centers), the personnel in ATC (air traffic control) are on the whole, with rare exceptions, men and women are the greatest public servants in the history of […]