A horse and rider…it is a beautiful metaphor for many situations in life. When I think of a horse and rider, I think of a beautiful sunset being viewed by a silhouetted cowboy sitting upon his best friend after a hard days work rounding up cattle. The two together are a highly productive unit…the cowboy’s…
As a pilot of a 1989 Piper Malibu Mirage, I get to fly all over our great country and have experienced many interesting non-scheduled “events” while flying. On a recent trip from Central Florida to South Carolina, I had one of those events. It was a pleasant day for flying, aside from the routine incessant…
Jacksonville, TX (my hometown) is an interesting place. Although apparently a “normal” East Texas town providing a “normal” lifestyle to “normal” people, it is also home to some truly interesting folks that have had some incredible experiences. For instance, we are the hometown for Lee Ann Womack, Neil McCoy, Margo Martindale, and Eunice Sanborn (once…
We departed Keflavik in the morning with only a 20 knot wind, which seemed like nothing after the 50 knots from the night before. Since we landed in the dark the night before, we didn’t get to see Iceland from the air well at all. Mid-level clouds were present for much of the climb, but…
On the morning of February 1st, 2003 I was flying with CW4 Wayne Keeton in a UH-60 Blackhawk from the Dallas AASF to the Austin AASF. It was our drill weekend and we were on a routine flight that was about to become anything but routine. When we landed in Austin, a leader came out…
(Continuing post on Atlantic flight…) The departure from Narsarsuaq exemplified the power reserve of the King Air C90. We climbed out in the clear smooth air and continued out over the North Atlantic. The scenery departing Greenland (on the eastern shore) was particularly beautiful. Most of the flight to Iceland was uneventful. The winds forecast…
(continued from Atlantic Crossing…) At 7am we were eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant in Goose Bay, Canada and then were on our way to the FBO. Determining the weather at the various destinations in Greenland occupied about 30 minutes of our time at the FBO prior to takeoff. The weather in Narsarsuaq was forecast to…
One day at my home airport, the Cherokee County Airport (KJSO) in Jacksonville, TX, a King Air flew in and pulled up to Ridgeaire, an aircraft sales and brokerage firm based at KJSO. The pilot (I never got his name) got out and we struck up a conversation about his flight. I learned quickly that…
I had the pleasure of flying across the North Atlantic with Margrit Waltz in mid-October 2011. I’d read about her on the internet and through various magazine articles and knew of her record of performance: 700+ Atlantic crossings, a long, prestigious, and continuing career as a Ferry Pilot, and her over 21,000 hours of flight…
Are the book numbers right for a Malibu? So many aircraft manufacturers these days make claims of performance capabilities that are somewhat stretched. However, the Malibu really does perform as-advertised. In this picture, I’m getting 208KTAS at FL220 with 15 GPH at a power setting of 28″MP and 2300RPM. This is a very normal power…