In Flight USA Article Categories
In Flight USA Articles
Piloting By The Numbers
Cynthia Wheatley Glenn takes a hard look at the statistics regarding female pilots
Have Couch, Will Fly
By Bert Botta
For those of you who love to fly, you know that once “it’s in your blood,” the passion for flight never leaves. As a retired TWA and NetJet pilot, the passion for flight was still there so I recently began training pilots in aircraft simulators to fly in instrument weather conditions and to get hired at the airlines.
During one of my training sessions, I met a fellow pilot who told me about Gilbert Kliman, M.D. and his wish for a co- pilot to support him in his far-flung travels.
It appears that Gil and I seemed pre-destined to meet, one might even say serendipitously, around some combination of aviation and psychology from the get-go since I am also a Licensed Professional Counselor, in addition to my professional piloting career.
The Meeting and The Man
Gilbert Kliman, M.D.I met Gil at his home in San Francisco recently to interview him for this article. Up to that point we had flown together a few times, with me as his co-pilot and he as the pilot in command.
As I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco to meet him, years of memories from being raised in “The City” flooded through my mind as I pulled up in front of his beautiful home on Divisadero Street, in one of the most beautiful and stately neighborhoods in San Francisco.
Gil lives in a beautiful, totally remodeled, tri-level Victorian home that he and his wife have creatively set up as both home and office where, in addition to running the daily affairs of the Children’s Psychological Health Center, they each see patients on a separate level from their home.
From the first time I met Gil, I knew there was something special about him. His measured, concise, clear manner of speech and lively sense of humor conveyed to me his attention to detail and his deep commitment to and love of his work.
Gil has a “mentoring” quality that I immediately felt and connected with. This is something that is in short supply in most modern day men. It’s something that, as a man, I treasure and most often unconsciously seek out.
Before we started the interview in the lower level cubbies that serve as his agency’s Executive Director’s and video editing offices he leaned over and, true to his pilot persona, gave me a “pre-takeoff briefing” on the importance of protecting the privacy of his clients and the necessity for the strictest confidentiality during our interview.
The seriousness of his tone and his commitment to his clients’ privacy came through to me in somewhat of a contrast to my own, more relaxed code of confidentiality when I was in private practice as a professional counselor. I was impressed and immediately felt a respect for this man that would continue to grow the more I spent time with him.
Editorial: In Flight USA Hereby Resolves ….
By In Flight USA Staff
Yep, it is time for those New Year’s resolutions. We all make them, sometimes we even remember them, but the tone turned a bit more serious for the Team at In Flight USA this year. To be sure, our annual “what’s up for the new year” roundtable started off with the usual resolution thoughts, lose 10 pounds, get more exercise, eat healthier food, and be kind to needy flight instructors, but then we got down to business. And 2018 has a lot of business to deal with. We would like to share our thoughts for 2018, as they will possibly affect all our readers.
First, In Flight USA commits to maintaining a format that is more like a monthly aviation newspaper than a slick newsstand magazine. The vast majority of aviation publications have article and news cutoff dates that are as much as 90 days before distribution date. This means such publications are fine for reading about past events but do not carry timely news. In Flight USA typically has an editorial cutoff date that is within five days of distribution, meaning what you read in our pages is happening NOW! We encourage our advertisers, aviation event planners, and those pursuing newsworthy activities to contact In Flight USA by phone or email to let us know what they have going on, so we can help promote your event at no cost.
Our staff monitors aviation press releases daily and stays in tune with news from the Washington “swamp,” so you will be kept up to date. Sure, this means we go through a process every month that looks something like Lois Lane turning in that last-minute report about Superman to her somewhat erasable editor, Perry White, at the Daily Planet (yeah, we are nerds), but it is worth it. Fortunately, our editors are not erasable (depending upon who you ask). So, our tradition of timely ads and news remains, but we have spotted some areas for improvement and expansion.
Editorial: New Third Class Medical Provisions
By Ed Downs
It is now official, as of May 1, 2017, the FAR’s will contain provisions that allow an individual to exercise the privileges of a private pilot without the need for a third class medical certificate. But, let me quickly add, there are a number of conditions and caveats in the new rule. Those looking for specific details must review the “Final Rule,” www.faa.gov/news/updates/media/final_rule_faa_2016_9157.pdf, and Advisory Circular 68-1, www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory Circular/AC_68-1.pdf. These two fun-filled documents total 112 pages of legal language that needs to be read several times in order to get a full grasp on what is going on.
It had been the intent of this writer to summarize this final ruling, but space will simply not allow this. Instead, allow the opinions of this writer to set the stage and then take a look at the FAQ’s that are included directly from Advisory Circular 68-1. This is probably the fastest way to get some idea of what this ruling entails.
One Six Right Takes its Place in the Pantheon of Great Aviation Documentaries
By Mark Rhodes
One Six Right celebrates the connection of the general aviation airport, community and pilot. The quote “The Airport Runway is the Most Important Main Street in any Town” begins the Documentary One Six Right: The Romance of Flying (Anniversary Edition) (Terwilliger Productions) occupies a niche mini masterpiece of documentary film and aviation history. The film’s general subject is the history, ordeals, and basic contemporary state of the community airport and the pilot’s who frequent them. One Six Right focuses on one particular airport; Southern California’s venerable Van Nuys Airport, which is considered the busiest General Aviation airport in the U.S. The film has built a bit of a cult following, as pilots and aviation enthusiasts rave about how well the film communicates the romance and thrill of private aviation while working hard to dispel some of the misconceptions, large and small, relating to the operation and purpose of the 21st century general aviation airport. The film is a riposte to the idea that private and general aviation airports create excessive noise pollution and are populated by “one percenters” who give private aviation an aura of elitism. It does make a strong case that the general aviation airport is the key to a healthy aviation culture in the U.S. and is crucial to international commerce and “ground zero” for training the next generation of pilots.
Homebuilder's Workshop: The $100+ Hamburger
By Ed Wischmeyer
It turns out that in this electronic age, it’s really easy to do things differently from the old days of steam gauges. With the cost of avionics data updates these days, you can spend $100 for your hamburger without leaving the ground, and you can work on your plane for hours without any tools.
One project that I’ve been working on (a bunch) is getting the checklist for the RV-9A just as I’d like it. I’ve got buddies who also fly my RV-9A, and they were not satisfied with the “idiot-syncrasies” of my personal checklist. And that’s reasonable, as my checklist has memory crutches dating back 30 years to when I used to fly and instruct in planes that included three different kinds of turbochargers, all with different characteristics, some planes with retractable gear, some not. I needed memory crutches that would work with a wide variety of airplanes, and I still use them. Unencumbered with such history, they wanted an RV-9A checklist. Solution? Two checklists, one for me, one for them… Meets both needs.
Contrails: The Epiphany
By Steve Weaver
It must seem to newcomers in our world of aviation that the pilots who were flying back in “the day,” must be conspiring to weave a universal tall tale about how aviation was in the old days. Then they take turns telling the tale while the rest of the codgers nod in solemn assent.
In these times of six and seven dollar avgas and single engine piston aircraft pushing three quarters of a million dollars, it’s hard to visualize a world of 40 cent fuel and affordable airplanes, which the factories were pumping out like popcorn. Imagine a time when we had the freedom to fly just about anywhere in almost anything and when almost anyone who was working could afford an airplane of some kind.
To those of us who lived and flew during those halcyon days, it seemed normal at the time because we hadn’t known anything else. Most of us thought that it would continue this way always and that was just the way it was supposed to be. It also seemed to us, to me anyway, that aviation was probably about the same in every progressive country. I had no clue what an oasis of aeronautical privilege we were living in.
Goodies and Gadgets: January 2015
Editorial: Stick and Rudder
By Ed Downs
Does that title sound familiar? For many, the book, Stick and Rudder, written by Wolfgang Langewiesche, appears on nearly every bookshelf of aviators around the world. First published in 1944, this book became the quintessential word on the “art of flying,” stressing the need to develop well-understood skills to be used in controlling the aircraft. Those of us who teach Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics (FIRC’s) are hearing the term “stick and rudder” again, but not in reference to this classic book. This time it comes from the FAA, having added mandated content to approve FIRC curriculums that addresses the subject of “stick and rudder” skills, or more accurately, the lack of such skills. But let me take a step back and explain the issue at hand.
Every CFI must undergo classroom (or today, web-based) training once every 24 calendar months. The course undertaken is approved by the FAA and must contain a specific amount of FAA mandated content. Companies that conduct such courses maintain an FAA approved status, as do their instructors, like this writer. The program (class or web) MUST contain a minimum of 16 hours of actual training, and significant paperwork is involved. Failure to attend a FIRC every two years and pass two written exams means the CFI loses the privilege to instruct. Once a FIRC is missed, the CFI must attend a FIRC and take an FAA check ride to reinstate CFI privileges. Stop and think about it, how many other licensed professions (medical, legal?) have such requirements?
Blue Skies and Tailwinds to In Flight USA Writer Charlie Briggs
Charlie BriggsOn Tuesday, Aug. 26, during the In Flight production week, we learned that our newest writer died suddenly. Charlie Briggs, 84, joined our monthly staff of writers in January of this year. His mission was to bring “real-world” experiences to our pages, reflective of the thousands of aircraft owners and flyers who simply lived with an airplane as a permanent family member. Charlie was a pilot for more than 65 years, having a career that included ranching, agricultural services and consulting, computer technologies and business concept development. On our pages, Charlie reminisced about his life in the sky and in so doing touched many hundreds of our readers who reacted with “something like that happened to me…” or “ha, you think that story was funny, I can top it!” Overall, in eight short months, Charlie charmed his way into the hearts of his In Flight family… staff and readers alike.
A Brief Analysis of Takeoff Safety Concerning the Proper Decision Making of GO/NO GO
By Ehsan Mirzaee
Introduction: Do more planes crash on takeoffs or landings? This is a challenging question for some people and an easy, clear one for others. According to official statistics, landing phase of a flight is the most dangerous phase, noticing the number of incidents and accidents occurred during this phase. In this final phase of flight, pilots are required to take into consideration more variables in a shorter period of time. They should deal with speed, altitude, pitch corrections, comply with ATC instructions, and at the same, time monitor all other systems and instruments to know if they are working properly.
On the other hand, takeoff is the second most dangerous phase of flight. During the takeoff roll, as the speed of the aircraft is increasing, the pilot is supposed to decide more quickly and react more precisely in case of an emergency.
In this essay, I want to talk about the importance of decision making by pilots during takeoff run in case of an abnormal situation; whether to continue takeoff or to reject it and to discuss the standards according to which pilots must decide GO/NO GO.
Contrails: Oh, The Places You’ll Go
By Steve Weaver
When most pilots consider the hours they have logged in the air, the time usually remains just hours to them. The recorded flights are remembered as a cross-country, as an instrument flight, or as the hour spent learning recovery from unusual attitudes. But as time aloft accumulates, it can also be viewed using other measurements. By the time a student pilot has qualified for his or her private license, he or she has gained a bit of experience and is ready to begin learning to fly the airplane on instruments. He or she has probably spent about a week apart from the surface of the earth. That would be a total of seven 24-hour days spent hanging suspended above the earth or 168 hours total. Later, at the 500-hour milestone, our pilot has been missing from the earth for over two and a half weeks, and on the day he or she logs his or her one thousandth hour, he will have spent a total of more than 41 24-hour days some place other than on the planet where he was born.
Those of us who have flown most of our lives as a profession, rack up a prodigious amount of hours in the air, and the high timers among us have lived aloft literally for years.
Billy Goat at 12 O’Clock High
By Charlie Briggs
Aviation buffs read a lot of flying stories from pros who write articles on a regular basis. While often entertaining and informative, hearing from professional pilots sometimes lacks the real world experiences of the hundreds of thousands of aircraft owners and flyers who were never professional pilots, but simply lived with an airplane as a permanent family member. Such is the case with Charlie Briggs, a pilot for more than 65 years, having a career that included ranching, agricultural services and consulting, computer technologies and business concept development. In Flight USA invites readers to join Charlie as he reminisces about flying and life. You will experience a side of aviation that is informative, entertaining and personal. Enjoy.
Once upon a time, there came to this earth, a Billy Goat. This was no ordinary goat.
This one was destined to achieve what no other goat on earth had or likely will do. In fact, it couldn’t because the adventure of “Elmer” was the first. Now when you are the first of anything, that’s it. It’s the first. Elmer’s home was a nice roomy pasture lying in the winding river bottom carved out of the flat western Kansas prairie being the “Smoky Hill River.”
In the regular world, Billy Goats are not known as aviators. Well, neither was our pet goat “Elmer.” His “jump” into history was definitely not of his choosing. Just fate. Here is how it happened.
My wife and I were married in December of 1949. In the summer of 1951, we were “selected” to move to Logan County, Kansas to assume the operations of the families’ 25-section ranch and farming project. We left college and really went to “school,” leaving the security of our homestead country and friends to be 25 miles from the nearest town, living in a mobile home, with no phone, portable electric power, and having to haul all our drinking and household water from municipal sources many miles away. Now married for 63 amazing years, I had developed a plan of compromise. It has worked. If my wife wanted something, if I could get it for her, I just did. Well, here the early plot thickens.
Pacific Coast Dream Machines
Returning to the Half Moon Bay Airport for the 24th consecutive year, the Pacific Coast Dream Machines event saw record attendance this year.
By Michael Mainiero
(Michael Mainiero)For those not familiar, the event is a unique grouping of 2,000-plus machines from the 20th and 21st centuries that can fly, drive, putt around or just look cool! Dream Machines is an uncommon event due to the sheer size of the display. The combination of cars, vintage tractors, old military equipment, motorcycles and aircraft provides something for everyone, and there were plenty of attractions for the kids as well! From turbine-powered cars to vintage fighter aircraft, the world’s coolest cars and planes from every era and style drew people from hundreds of miles away. Model-T fire engines, vintage buses, custom motorcycles, tricked out trucks, super sleek streamliners, one-of-a-kind antique engines and tractors were displayed prominently around the airport
My Scary Event in Cow Country
By Charlie Briggs
It all started out very routine. The plane was a new model 150 hp, Mooney Mark 20 with less than 100 hours TT. The trip was for buying cattle. The weather was clear and calm. The route was direct from Amarillo, Texas’ Tradewind Airport to a ranch just south of Springer, N.M. on the east slope of the Rockies. Springer is on Highway 56 and approximately 90 miles west of Clayton, N.M. This route was to play a role in this event.
Landing on a smooth, grassy pasture near the ranch headquarters, I was met by the rancher. We spent the day looking at various sets of cattle. As evening drew near, nothing would do but “stay for a steak.” After an evening of exchanging “cow country tales” it was time to get home.
Déjà vu All Over Again
By Steve Weaver
Without question, the U.S. aviation fleet is growing long in tooth. While new aircraft are being built, their numbers are infinitesimally small when compared to the huge number of aircraft the industry pumped out in the 60s, 70s and very early 80s. The bulk of those earlier aircraft still exist, most of them on U.S. registry and the average age of registered aircraft goes up yearly. Today, those old aircraft actually make up the largest percentage of the aircraft population in our country.
Yet it seems like I’m always taken by surprise when I run into an airplane that I’ve known from the past, and especially if it’s from a much earlier time in my life.
Sometimes it’s a familiar registration number that sparks recognition, and other times an examination of the logs reveals an event that I remember. Once in a while I even come across my own name in the aircraft log books, a younger me signing off an item of maintenance.
Flying With Faber - January 2014
The Rubber Chicken
By Stuart J. Faber
When a self-made, fabulously wealthy business person is asked to reveal the secrets of his or her success, at or near the top of the list is invariably the following: “I always associated myself with people who were smarter than I in their specialized field. I always tried to hire those folks as part of my team.”
Well, I’m not one of those business icons. Nor am I one of those smart guys they pursued to be part of their team. However, to elevate my proficiency as a pilot, I have always attempted to follow that business philosophy. I consistently sought out pilots with flying skills superior to mine. With a healthy population of flight instructors, professional pilots and folks who are just naturals in an airplane, meeting outstanding pilots has never been too difficult. Some of these men and women became my friends as well as my flying buddies.
What's Up - December 2013
A Wing and A Prayer
By Larry Shapiro
Let me say this again, “A Wing and a Prayer! There are not many pilots out there that haven’t heard that expression. I wonder how many ever questioned what it meant? I suppose one could say that if you lose a wing, you don’t have a prayer… or, if you do lose a wing then you’d better pray. Either way I have found this expression used for many years in many ways. I’d be interested in your take on what “A Wing and A Prayer” means to you.
I’ve made no secret on how “prayer” has taken on a new meaning to me this past year. As I waged my personal war and battled Cancer, “prayer” became my new friend. Since I’m an equal opportunity prayer, I’ve prayed in different languages, cities, states and countries and I’m happy to report to you, I truly believe “prayer” works and the price is right.
Passing Your Airman Medical Exam When You Have Hypertension
By Dr. Susan Biegel, M.D.
Having hypertension is not a death sentence to continuing to fly, but there are some tips to make your airman medical exam go much more smoothly and increase your likelihood of passing the first time.
Get a good night’s sleep the night before the exam. Many times, my patients’ blood pressure will be significantly higher if they had a poor night’s sleep the night before.
Don’t exercise right before your exam. Exercising naturally will raise the pulse and the blood pressure. This is normal! But please allow two to three hours for the blood pressure to come down before your exam. Last week I saw a patient who did his 30 mile bike ride the night before his physical. His blood pressure did not come down after 45 minutes and he doesn’t even have hypertension! Please don’t come bounding up the stairs as this can raise the blood pressure. Instead, take the elevator to the doctor’s office.
Editorial: Thanks, Paul
By Ed Downs
A visionary, leader and damned good pilot flew over the southern horizon for the last time on Aug. 22, 2013. Paul Poberezny, founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association, is gone.
Virtually every aviation publication in the world will comment on the passing of this remarkable man, most recounting the creation of the EAA, the incredible success of this organization and the part that Paul Poberezny played in shaping the modern world of recreational flying. To be sure, the creation of the EAA and all that it has stood for over the years is a story that needs to be told in perspective with the amazing person who fathered what we now refer to as the “homebuilt movement.” But this writer would like to take a different approach.
You see, Paul was my friend. The funny thing is that thousands of people can correctly say the same thing. To meet Paul was to become his friend. To work with Paul was to become a friend for whom he would always take time to greet and say “hello” to, when the occasion permitted, usually at AirVenture.