Archive for the ‘Pilot Stories’ Category

Video: SOUTH BASS ISLAND, OHIO- Small plane ditches into the waters just off South Bass Island late Friday morning following an engine failure.

Watching this video along with my recent experiences flying over Lake Michigan and Lake Erie  has made me seriously consider carrying life preservers on ALL over-water flights. Take note as to how quickly the airplane sank.

Thankfully the pilot executed the emergency landing flawlessly and efforts by the ferry crew led to all four occupants surviving without injury. Read the rest of this entry »

AOPA president Craig Fuller interviews legendary airshow performer Sean D Tucker. Watch as Sean gives us some insight into how he got his start in aviation. You just have to love his enthusiasm!

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On Monday 6/7 my friend and fellow flying club member Stephen asked if I would like to fly to Hamilton NY for dinner on Friday night. As I am always looking for a chance to fly under the hood and check out new places I agreed.

The original plan was to leave work and head directly to the airport but since I left my camera and change of clothes at home I stopped by the house on the way. As soon as I got in I saw my son. I was hoping to avoid running into him since he always makes me feel bad about flying without him. What can I say, he loves spending time with his daddy and his daddy loves spending time with him. Sure enough, after checking with Stephen to make sure it would be ok to take my son I quickly got him ready and ran to the car just in time for rush hour traffic!

On our way to the airport I called Stephen and asked him to get the airplane ready. I wanted to fly IFR on the first leg since there was an overcast layer at about 4000 feet. As I pulled into the airport Stephen informed me that he was still waiting on fuel and on top of that my overcast layer was quickly breaking up. Read the rest of this entry »

(UPDATE 5/15/2010) During the days leading up to this trip I had been working on my planned flight to London Ontario Canada for the Diamond Aircraft Factory tour with the Republic Flyers. I had even canceled this flight at one point so I could stay an additional day in Toronto.  Unfortunately due to a strong low to our north witch was bringing with it 40+ knot headwinds, low IFR conditions and embedded thunderstorms I had to scrap that flight (see flight to Canada not to be for more information).

The night before, a cold front came through which cleared the air of the thunderstorms but also brought with it stronger surface winds. As the flight neared it became obvious that I would have to contend with some wicked winds at least during our return trip, so the day before I called Ed and asked his comfort level with flying with his niece on a windy day. He assured me that she was a veteran flyer and bumps have never been an issue. I also knew that my son responds well to bumpy air (he falls asleep) hopefully he breaks this little habit before becoming a pilot himself.

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Well I hate this but as they say “it is better to stand on the ground wishing you were in the air then to be in the air wishing you were on the ground”
After spending way to much time and money getting ready for my flight to Canada for the (Diamond Aircraft Factory Tour with the Republic Flyers) I have decided to pull the plug. The final nail in the coffin was when my estimated time in route (ete) went from 3:30 to over 4 hours due to a strong headwind thereby requiring an en-route stop in hard IFR conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

While in route to Martha’s Vineyard my friend and fellow flying club member Stephen and I experienced an alternator controller failure (basically a voltage regulator). It wasn’t a big deal since we were in day visual conditions and the engine does not require electrical power to operate. I have learned a few things from watching the video.. Read the rest of this entry »

Some more stuff from YouTube.. Enjoy. This one is awesome! Landing an an aircraft carrier during rough seas at night. Now that will get your attention!

From the PBS documentary series “Carrier” – Rites of Passage.
Navy pilots landing aboard the USS Nimitz during rough seas in the Pacific. Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a series of videos I ran across on you tube I hope you enjoy them. I am a subscriber of the Jeppesen airway manual service and find the product to be excellent. As an added unexpected benefit I have found the process of updating the charts to be a great armchair flying activity. I mentally fly the updated approaches while inserting them into the binders. Sure it gets a little old sometimes, but the quality of the charts and thoughtfulness that goes into the product more than makes up for the added time spent updating the charts. I highly recommend checking them out.
(Source: Video-Andy J. Musenreder; Text-National Aviation Hall of Fame)

Captain Elrey Borge “JEPP” Jeppesen, Jan. 28, 1907 – November 26, 1996. The following video was shown at the memorial service shortly after his death in November of 1996. Jepp received numerous plaques and awards over the years, but he was most proud of the letters he received from pilots who said, “Jepp, you saved my life, made my flying safer and easier, and given me great confidence on those dark, stormy nights.”

Jepp began flying as a barnstormer with Tex Rankin’s Flying Circus. Flew for Fairchild Aerial Survey, photographing the Mississippi Delta area around New Orleans. Read the rest of this entry »

Filmmaker and P-51 Mustang Pilot Chris Woods has put together a wonderful film that captures the emotional reunion between a humble WWII Mustang ace (Jim Brooks) and the historic plane he thought he’d never see again.

Inspired by the flood of memories triggered by this unimaginable encounter with a long lost friend, the 88-year old pilot finally breaks his silence, sharing his stories and experiences of war with the grandchildren who never thought they’d hear them. Read the rest of this entry »

My Son Steven and I have now logged about 6 flights and I figured it was time to do a bit of writing on the subject. From about the time my son became old enough to hold a toy airplane he has been fascinated with flying. Sometimes I think he is more interested in airplanes than I am. I just hope his interest doesn’t wane as flying becomes more and more “routine” for him. My wife on the other hand has never really caught the flying bug. There was a time when she “unenthusiastically” flew with me almost every weekend but at that time I was a new pilot and her dislike for small planes was confirmed on more than a few bumpy summer afternoons Read the rest of this entry »

Finally some IMC!
After all of  my IFR flight training you would expect to see some actual IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) flight time in my log book, but after about 42 hours of IFR time there wasn’t much. Just a few flights at altitude in and out of the cloud layer, not what I would consider IMC. Well yesterday I made up for some of that. I didn’t think my simulated instrument time provided enough experience to just hop in the plane solo, takeoff into the soup and fly an approach to minimums; so I opted to fly with an instructor. After calling the flight school the dispatcher let me know that one of the instructors would head up to the airport in about an Read the rest of this entry »

Watch the US Airways Flight 1549 crew discuss the events of January 15, 2009 at  EAA AirVenture 2009.

US Airways Flight 1549 was a scheduled commercial passenger flight from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, that, on January 15, 2009, ditched in the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan six minutes after departing from LaGuardia Airport.

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POLK COUNTY (Bay News 9) — The Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In starts today and already there were some tense moments in the sky for a pilot headed to the event.
The pilot, Kyle Davis, 22, and his passenger, Joe Surowiec, were flying from Winter Haven to Lakeland Sunday when they experienced engine failure. Read the rest of this entry »

On September 29^th 2007 Irv (a long time member of our flying club) flew Ed (in the back seat) and me (copilot) to Manassas VA for a tour of the state of the art Potomac TRACON facility. This was my first flight in our 182RG N4757T and my first flight using IFR routing. Before this flight I had never really understood the advantage of flying IFR in VMC, but after this flight I was definitely interested in attaining my IFR rating. Read the rest of this entry »