It appears that most of the aviation writers I usually run across think the flying season has come to a close. These Friday article links are getting sparse, but I’ll keep looking.
Here are some flying articles that you may have missed this week:
Bicycles and the birth of aviation
This article is from a Boston blogger who writes about bicycle riding. The article is his compilation of aviation history seen from the standpoint of bicycling. It’s a good article with several archival photos and video clips. Down at the bottom of the article the article explains that he wrote it in response to some comments made about his previous article describing ‘drum biking.’
A birthday gift to get you high
This one is from The Marshall Independent in southwestern Minnesota. Jerry Nelson turned 57 years old recently and one of the gifts he received was a certificate for a Discovery Flight at the local airport. Here’s how it went…
MIA pilot’s family finds peace at Randolph
This is from San Antonio, TX. In a ceremony held recently at Randolph AFB in San Antonio a family was finally able to obtain closure with their missing family member.
Comments
4 responses to “Aviation Articles for December 2, 2011”
A nice collection this week and I understand about the winter drop-off. So glad to hear that you and the swify are flying again. (That A&P in your back pocket helps, I’m sure!) My ‘audit’ ground school was a bust, but a better arrangement presented. A friend of a friend (retired, high hour big bird flyer for a foreign carrier) wanted a flying partner for some of those $100 burgers. We’ve been flying at least once a week and he enjoys teaching. I buy the burgers and try to buy some gas, but… (OK, I also take him crabbing when the weather permits.) it works for us and I’m learning from a master. Every flight is thoroughly planned and I get first crack. No license in the plan, just hard work, great company and challenging fun. I have homework assignments. I work them thoroughly as any slacking might result in termination of this ideal arrangement. My Captain’s wife is wholly supportive and says,”Get him out of my hair as often as possible!” (I think she misses those extended absences when he was flying the line .) Life is good and flying is even better. I enjoyed the pix from your last breakfast run. That Swift is one heck of a nice airplane. Regards, -Craig
Craig,
That sounds like you found the perfect solution. An airplane cockpit is not the best classroom, but with your previous experience, no matter how long ago it was, it’s better for you to re-learn by doing rather than listening.
As far as the wife’s comments are concerned – I believe mine feels the same way.
If you ever want to write an article or two about how it is for you getting back into the air again – let me know.
Tracy
Thanks. Wife part= agree. (I don’t have one to contend with.) Future posts=sure. I have good notes and I’ll think a bit. Agree that CP is not t he ideal class room, but I’m past that and we do lots of ground work. (My host now makes me do most of the flight planning. My only reservation is reader interest; most are pursuing licenses and climbing the pyramid. In this case, it is just a couple of old farts who like to fly and with no expectations beyond a spendy meal and some seriously safe fun. My partner addresses his super-jazzed C172 as if it was a big bird and we flight plan as if. I’m doing VFR plans for now, but he’s always got an IFR backup in his pocket if we need it. (Weather at home port is >90% terrible. Hard to understand why they built it.) We manage, I re-learn and my coach is out of his wife’s hair. The basic driving came back quickly. I’m working on navigation as that has changed a LOT since I was current. As noted, just two old farts having a little fun; one working hard and the other enjoying some amusement. I guess we’re fortunate in that our recreational stuff is within our budgets. I’ll explain the no license objective later. This works for this pair or old farts. Best wishes, -C.
It’s just a thought. There are probably a lot of older guys who flew at one time but have been out of it so long that all the changes they read about make them hesitant to jump back in – especially with the prospect of some ‘kid’ trying to teach them the new tricks.
If you want to pass along your experiences in getting back into flying – your concerns about the technology and airspace changes (if you had any) and your experiences as all the hand-eye stuff comes back to you – just send it to me in an email. Maybe we can convince some of the other old dogs out there that they still have what it takes.
For some people, finding a new place to fly to for breakfast is one of the best reasons to go flying that there is…
Tracy