Dateline Oshkosh Wisconsin & AirVenture EAA AirVenture 2024 is underway! Under clear skies, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh got underway on Monday. I was up at 5am to make sure I was there in time. I am staying about 25 miles away in the dorms at Ripon College this year. The UWO dorms were full. Monday was […]
You want to learn to fly? Great! But what is the right way to go about finding a good instructor? Like any major purchase or investment — which this is — you want to do your homework. Seriously — some people don’t and they later regret it. I’ve been a CFI for over 40 years […]
Master Instructors is pleased to announce that John Mahany of Long Beach, CA has received his eighth accreditation as a Master Instructor. He worked very hard to achieve this honor. He is an IFR Training Specialist, for PIC, Professional Instrument Courses, as an independent instructor. In addition to his work for PIC, he is also […]
Its springtime! Windy, gusty days are here, and the weather patterns are changing while we go from winter to summer weather. Do you hate trying to land on windy days with crosswinds? I used to! So you are not alone Yep, back when I was learning to fly, crosswinds were a BIG challenge to me […]
On Sunday, October 1, 2023. Well-known general aviation pilot and educator Richard McSpadden ‘flew west’, quite unexpectedly. Richard had most recently served all of GA in his role as Sr. VP., AOPA Air Safety Institute, (ASI). He and another pilot, former AFL football player Russ Francis were departing Lake Placid, New York, KLKP, in a […]
I bet maybe you don’t. I thought I did, until recently. Did you know that the ATC equipment code suffixes have changed? Yup, they have! In fact, they changed about 4 years ago, in 2019! I’m talking about the suffixes, like /T or /U or /G ‘codes’ that we used to use for our avionics […]
The Lancair Legacy is a speedster!! On Saturday, March 25, 2023, I was finally able to get a ride in a Lancair Legacy, an experimental aircraft!! It was awesome!! A good friend owns one. The Lancair Legacy is in the experimental category, being built from a kit. Which means, it’s not ‘FAA Certified’. It’s a […]
The last Boeing 747 was delivered to a customer on January 31, 2023. It marks the end of an era, the end of a 53-year long production run for Boeing. The last Boeing 747 was delivered to Atlas Air, on January 31. Atlas is a major scheduled cargo airline, and passenger charter airline, based in […]
First Flight As I write this, today is the 119th anniversary of the Wright Brother’s historic first flight. One hundred nineteen years ago, on December 17, 1903, on the wind-swept sand-dunes of Kill Devil Hill in North Carolina, Orville Wright successfully made the first flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft, the Wright Flyer! He was only airborne […]
Long Beach Airport Festival of Flight is opened to the public annually On Saturday, October 29, 2022, a portion of the west side of Long Beach Airport was opened to the public from 10am – 4pm, for the annual Long Beach Airport Festival of Flight. There were some airplanes on display, including my Cessna 150, […]