According to Professor Google, I have acrophobia—an acute and, as it turns out, somewhat irrational fear of heights. It likely started when as a very young kid when my stepdad took me onto a swinging bridge and then promptly showed me...
I describe the drive from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Denver as consecutive alternating doglegs, each 100-plus-miles long. Initially drive south, then east, finally south again for 530 miles—the crow only endures 390 or so miles. I could either zigzag on summer...
Most of my flying was in the 1960s and ’70s, long before many of you reading this were born, but they were good years. Though being a pilot had been a dream since childhood, my adult 42-year career was as a...
In the 1930s, pioneering English aviator Alfred “Lamp” Lamplugh penned the following profound words that we should review occasionally. “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any...
It was May 28, 1960, at about 8 a.m. No one was in the flying clubhouse, so I started my before-flying routine. This morning was a bit different. I had scheduled a Piper (PA-18) Super Cub for a three-hour flight for...
Being a pilot has been a life goal since childhood, but my primary career for 42 enjoyable years was as a U.S. and international secondary-level teacher, primarily of French. While a junior and senior at the University of Northern Colorado in...
“Serendipity can sometimes lead to indelible memories. I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one such event on a sunny day in fall 1982 by simply being in the right place at the right time.” I was...
If you’re like me, at some point in your pilot career, you may have asked yourself this: “Do I really need a weather briefing? The TAFs look like things will probably be fine. I’m not going that far. I’ll just get...
Ray Andrews, my flight instructor, turned to me and asked, “So, you think you’re ready to solo in front of your friends?” After my half-hour flight lesson of three takeoffs and landings, with my childhood friends Larry Leonard and Michael Rafferty...
Last March, a Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC was in cruise flight at 15,000 feet on the way to the annual aviation celebration known as Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland, Florida, when the pilot noticed the engine power had dropped and the airplane...
