This week I have been re-installing all the programs on my computer – finally decided to install Windows 7. You may have seen a weird post come out in the RSS feed – I got it in my feed. I usually write these posts using Live Writer and that temporary post was the new installation of the software retrieving the website theme. Sorry about that.

I took part of today off and went out to the airport to say hello to the Swift. It was just one too many nice days to ignore. I got up in the air for an hour – just flying around the area. I headed up toward Susanville, CA (KSVE).  The route is to the NE of Stead. The direct line is a bit over 50 nm, put up here in the mountains you rarely go in a straight line unless you want to climb up in the teens and/or don’t care what the terrain looks like under you.  I wasn’t in a hurry, so I pulled the power back and just held 140 MPH/121 KTS indicated. Heading NE the GPS said I was doing 170 mph over the ground – of course on the way back it was a proportionally lower speed.

It was a pretty nice day and surprisingly smooth flying considering the winds. I was by myself in the pattern for a change. It’s nice when you get to fly your own pattern rather than having to adjust for other aircraft.

It was another sparse week for aviation articles with only two that caught my eye…

An aviation buff writes the history of O’Hare Airport.
This is from the Chicago Tribune. Mike Branigan lives and breathes aviation. He grew up under the traffic pattern of Chicago’s Midway Airport and has held aviation-related jobs at both Midway and O’Hare. It sounds like he has tried to keep it centered on history rather than opinion. It’s probably a good book. Available on Amazon. Here’s my affiliate link to the book: A History of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

A little black aviation history before the Tuskegee Airmen
This article is from the Official Website of the U.S. Air Force. William Powell was born in 1897. He was attending the University of Illinois studying engineering when WWI broke out. He interrupted his studies, joined the 370th Illinois Infantry Regiment and fought in France where he was injured in a gas attack. He returned home, finished his degree and, after being rejected by several flight schools was finally enrolled in the Los Angeles School of Flight in 1928. He was a pioneer in the early days of aviation – before the Tuskegee Airmen.