Flight Safety

Listen to Barb sing this song in RealAudio. Ifyou don’t already have RealPlayerinstalled, you can downloadit here. Wingtip turns above the far horizon;Dive into a quarter roll and pull up toward the sky;Wind has brought a turning of the season;The year rolls by; Sing a happy song and think of harvest time below,Watch your tach […]

Barb MacLeod was born June 10,1943, in New York City. She explored her interest in caving as a geology majorat Antioch College, but she preferred working in the dirt to working in theclassroom. Since opportunities for women in geology were rare, she switched toanthropology, and now holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. Her […]

As a pilot, you are a member of a unique group of people — a group that is sometimes difficult to understand, at least for non-pilots. In some ways, pilots are the most consistent and even-keeled group anyone is likely to meet, which makes it all the more surprising when a pilot’s behavior seems contradictory […]

One of the unsung benefits of being a general aviation pilot is getting to meet and know a lot of different FBOs. A Fixed Base Operator can be anything from a single-purpose business which sells fuel, or supplies, or provides training, or performs maintenance, or sells aircraft, or it can offer a combination of services […]

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, […]

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, […]

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 […]