Airplanes usually kill you quickly; a woman takes her time. Airplanes can be turned on by a flick of a switch. Airplanes don’t get mad if you do a “touch and go.” Airplanes don’t object to a pre-flight inspection. Airplanes come with a manual to explain their operation. Airplanes have strict weight and balance limitations. […]

I am flying northwest along the Mississippi river. A few boats are cutting curly wakes in the river below but most are just sitting still. Perhaps the people on the boats are idly wondering what the airplane is doing 1,000 feet above their heads. The ferry just north of St. Charles has a single car […]

Note: This was an April Fools joke and the web site is gone. (Unless you are a pilot, you probably do not care about this.) Finally! Honestly, I believed Garmin when I bought my GPSMAP 396 and it said “VFR Use Only.” We get a present today: the ability to use our Garmin 396 and […]

Thanks to the dedicated government researchers at the Cherokee Pilot’s Association for finding this critical information. Subject: FAA NPRM NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING (NPRM) Part 0, Section 000 (a) 1(c) Preface – As for the first part of the last part, see Section V, the Administrator may be a him or a her, but shall […]

October brought the deadline for my airplane’s annual inspection and, having no in-depth knowledge of the process and liking to get my hands greasy, I decided to get involved as much as possible. That meant finding a shop that was willing to work with me. In the end, Jeremy at St. Charles Flying Service came […]

Boy oh boy, this makes me want to try aerobatics 🙂 What impresses me most is how the pilot keeps narrating in a normal tone of voice throughout the movie.