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

Flying Stories for May 25, 2012

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It seems like we have had more than our share of  ‘wind days’ this year. It has been blowing  for most of the week – except for yesterday when it snowed most of the day. The ground is too warm for it to stick, but that hasn’t stopped the weather from throwing another curve our way.  Just in time for the long weekend.

I did get out to the hangar one day this week and started my polishing chores – only to have the polisher sustain a catastrophic dis-assembly.  A new one should arrive next Tuesday. By then the temperature is supposed to be back in the 80s again.

Here are some aviation articles that you may have missed this week.

Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh

Why build?
This is from the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, UT. Ed Willard flew first for Western Airlines and then for Delta after their merger. He’s retired now, but still retains a love of flying – and building. He’s working on his fifth airplane now, a Harmon Rocket…

Monday was an anniversary
This is from the New York Times Learning Network. Monday the 21st was the anniversary of Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic. The article gives us a history lesson about the flight, some background on Lindbergh and links to several archive articles from The Times.

Inadvertently promoting STEM Education
This is from the online edition of Atlantic magazine. It is an article about two teenagers in Memphis who got involved with the Team America rocketry Challenge and are inadvertently promoting STEM education throughout the Memphis school systems. STEM, if you are not familiar with it, stand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. STEM education is receiving increased emphasis as American industries look at an increasingly dwindling supply of qualified workers in technical fields. The article reminds me of the 1999 movie “October Sky.”

…never had more fun flying
This is from the Abilene,TX Reporter News. Bill Johnson is president of the Sweetwater Texas National Bank. He was an escort during the first WASP Homecoming in 2006.It was during that event that he was first introduced to flying – and he was hooked…