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I was a terrified frequent flyer. Business forced me to travel,but it wasn’t pleasant. My fears were so strong that, at one point, Iwent to my boss’ home on Saturday to cancel a trip with him, closingthe conversation with, “So, that’s it. Fire me, demote me, but Iain’t gettin’ on another airplane.” “So,”you ask, “let […]

I was 47 when I did it for the second time one fall Saturdayafternoon in Cessna 152 N93114. My instructor flew with me the firstfew times around then got out and let me take it. I taxied back ontothe runway and took off, did three landings, taxied back to the parking area and got my […]

As a just retired Delta 767 Captain, I’ll have to admit thequestion, “How did you learn to fly?” has brought many smiles. Back in the mid 60’s, I was working as a country music DJ, playingthose love songs for the people of piedmont NC. There were many callsfor dedications. Some of the calls came from […]

A friend of mine at the YMCA did it. We always relieved the workout boredom by talking about airplanes and when I found out he had apilot’s license, I decided if he could do it, so could I. I went to the same airport and FBO he was flying out of and walkedinto a sort […]

My flight training began in the summer of 1964. I becamefascinated with aviation when a college friend took me for a ride ashis first passenger after recieving his ticket from the U of IllInstitute of Aviation. The private pilots course at U of Ill at thattime cost about $430. At the time that might as […]

In 1950 I was asked by Dean Bill Bender to take a sabbatical frommy studies at Harvard College. Various extracurricular activitiesseemed far more enticing than the books my family was paying bigbucks for me to study. During a term forcibly spent at home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard this wayward student took a courseHarvard […]

“I want to be a pilot when I grow up, because it is a fun and easyjob to do. That is why there are so many pilots flying today. “Pilots don’t need much school, they just have to learn numbers sothey can read the instruments. I guess they should be able to readroad maps so […]

During early WW II I lived in Canada where I was a young teen agemember of an Air Cadet Squadron. We built and flew an Englishdesigned Dagling Primary Glider. We towed the disassembled glider ona trailer behind a 1928 Packard roadster to a rather steeply slopinghill that had a flat area going back for a […]

AVweb readers come in all shapes and sizes. When we asked you to send us yourown tales of flight training, we were soon flooded with responses. We read them all, andthe best ones are published here. We hope you’ll get the same kick we do from readingthem! The offer, by the way, is a standing […]

I remember my first flight in a Level D simulator. It was abusiness jet, and I was lost among the electronic flat-panel displays, auto-throttles, andflight management systems. Totally “where-the-heck’s-the-airspeed-indicator”lost. Apparently I wasn’t the first person to stare confusedly at the glass cockpit like itwas a wall of televisions at an electronics store. “That’s why you […]