Globe with the words Around the Pattern cured around the top half.

Ramblings about flying for fun and profit


About

I am a no-longer-bullet-proof male pilot. I flew professionally (retired by age), I fly for pleasure and I’m a retired military pilot. My  certificates include ATP, CFII, A&P/IA, FE, a couple of type ratings and at last count I have logged somewhere around 12,000 hours of flight time. But every time I go flying, whether the airplane is big or small, I learn something new about flying or about myself.  And that’s why I’m still doing this aviation thing after 50 years.

My personal airplane is two-seat (side-by-side) and the little wheel is in the back. It has a single comm radio and and ADS-B IN/OUT using a Stratus and an iPad with Foreflight. When I go somewhere in it, I look outside and enjoy the scenery.

When something catches my interest, pushes a button, or just sounds interesting, I’ll try and write coherently about it but there are no guarantees. If you like what you read or even if you don’t –  feel free to leave a comment. Just try to keep the comments civil and on topic. We’re here to learn and to enjoy the conversation.

Thanks for putting up with the occasional rants and ramblings. If you want to contact me directly, just drop me an email at tracy@aroundthepattern.com.

Tracy

(Yeah, guys spell it that way too,  OK?)

Comments

5 responses to “About”

  1. Carat Avatar

    Nice webpage, and interresting………..happy
    contrails.
    Carat

  2. bigredlancer Avatar
    bigredlancer

    Reno-Stead fire-fighter story interesting; I was aircrewman in SP-2E and P-3s. Am interested in that photo of the RF-8G; I was an avionics tech in VFP-62 with the photo Crusaders aboard USS Intrepid, now a museum in NYC. Any chance of a larger photo?

  3. Tracy Avatar

    Thanks for stopping by. The fire bombers were working all day today. Must be something going on north of here. Most of those photos are from slides I have taken – way before the digital age. I’ll see if I can find the larger version and make the smaller one a link to it. I’ll change the photo title to include “click for larger” when I get it done.

  4. Karl J Avatar
    Karl J

    Heh Tracy,
    After several years (looks like your last Jackson writeup was 2008? I just found this website. Are you still writing? good to see you again at Reno and Jackson!
    Karl

  5. Ken Avatar

    Nice post and interesting site, hope to hang here more often, I added you on twitter. Would love to see more and look forward to hearing from you.
    Ken