How To Resurrect An Airplane In Style

“Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die,  Life is a broken-winged bird,  That cannot fly.”  – Langston Hughes My roots in aviation came from my father.  His sprouted in the 1960s.  I do not know what or who influenced him.  He had not flown in the military nor been involved in aviation prior to his decision […]

Two Unusual Exciting Ways To A Pilot’s Licence

“Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.”  Jean Genet Acquiring a private pilot’s licence in the United States is fairly straightforward: Pass the Federal Aviation Administration’s(FAA) written exam Take flying (and landing) lessons from a FAA certified flight instructor (CFI) for at […]

How I Witnessed A Delayed Dream And Vision Fulfilled

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…”   ― Wilferd Peterson “I turned left onto a half-mile […]

Tora 101 – The Last Flight – Tora! Tora! Tora!

 Living in Wichita, Kansas, the Air Capitol of the World, I am privileged to know many aviators.  Men and women who influence the world, without necessarily being well-known.  I attended the memorial service of one of those special people recently, the pilot of Tora 101. I met Douglas Roy Jackson during the restoration of […]

Drones, Airspace and Liberty – How Are They Compatable?

 “Owning a drone does not a pilot make.” ― Alex Morritt, Impromptu Scribe I am an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified private pilot.  This is one of three FAA airmen’s certificates I hold : The first one I earned was the Control Tower Operator (CTO) when I certified as a controller at the Wichita Airport Traffic Control […]

A Day At The Kansas State Capitol – Aviation Style

Last Fall I contacted a fellow pilot/mechanic, Spencer, to inquire about the dates of the 2018 Kansas Air Tour.  I have been wanting to do some kind of event like this, but the Women’s Air Race Classic is out of both my and my Aircoupe’s league, so this sounded like a good alternative. Besides, Kansas […]

Indonesia

Things I Did Not Know About Indonesia

I recently was given a great gift through the opportunity to serve on a project in the country of Indonesia, specifically the Provence of Papua.  The opportunity came up very fast and aside from a few minor logistical items, most of which were taken care of for me by the sponsoring organization, I was on my way in […]

Flaps – A Cullen Cat at Maison Steinbuchel

A man is like a cat; chase him and he will run – sit still and ignore him and he’ll come purring at your feet. – Helen Rowland We are cat people.  This was not always the case with me.  Oh, I had pets growing up but they were always outside pets, mostly dogs.  The […]

second amendment

Old Airports and Second Amendment Rights

“Your connections to all the things around you literally define who you are.”  – Aaron D. O’Connell “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 Over the years as I drove to and from the east side of […]