Features

Talk about a muscle machine! It looks the part, and it flies like it looks. I really hate to brag (you do believe that, right?), but I’m having so much fun with this beast, I just have to tell you about it. The Grumman (aka “Grumman Iron Works”) F8F Bearcat was first delivered in 1944, […]

The playful bounce of a taildragger landing on a grass strip is now a sense memory for me, not just something I have read about and seen at the airport or on a video. Wood, fabric and all of 65 horsepower took to the air, and for a few moments, I was a Hurricane pilot […]

As blowouts go, it wasn’t bad at all. Most of us here at the pilot’s lounge survived the party to usher in the new millennium, century, decade, year, etc. About a week later a bunch of us were together at the airport to take care of some of the things one does in cold weather […]

Ray Dolby was born January 18,1933, in Portland, Ore. During 1949-52, he worked on various audio andinstrumentation projects at Ampex Corporation, and during 1952-57 he was mainlyresponsible for the development of the electronic aspects of the Ampex videotaperecording system. In 1957 he received a B.S. degree from Stanford University, and upon beingawarded a Marshall Scholarship […]

Many years ago when I was a whole lot younger than now, I was a championship athlete in a very competitive sport. When preparing for a competition, I always used to say, “Let my opponent have the skill, just let me be lucky!” When it comes down to a really tight situation in an airplane, […]

One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four An Act To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to establish time limitations on certain civil actions against aircraft […]

The Confederate Air Force (CAF) does the granddaddy of all warbird airshows every October, in an unlikely place called Midland, Texas. The airport is located between the towns of Odessa and Midland, and while it is a superb location to fly an airshow (flat, no obstructions, no noise complaints except from armadillos), it’s a million […]

Remember the last time you laughed so hard you wondered if you were going to be able to stop? We were lucky enough to have had one of those evenings in the pilot’s lounge very recently. A number of the regulars had gotten together to do some planning for the function we were going to […]

Fantasy camps are hot. They started with “Dude Ranches,” places where the city-born could ride the prairies with a broad Stetson on their noggins and a whiff of sweaty horse in their nostrils. From that simple Western beginning, fantasy camps have branched out into dozens of fields. You can now indulge your dreams of being […]

Preflight Briefing Photo Mission Prop Arc and Shutter Speeds Ground Shots Interiors Panels