Passion for Flight

The loud whap-whap-whap is startling. The noise comes from Runway 31, which is in use. A big two-rotor military helicopter flies along that runway at low level. But wait, right behind this monster comes another one. And lo and behold, a third one is following number two. The procession flies to the midpoint of Runway 31, turns right, and flies along Runway 4, using it as a taxiway. The three helicopters take a sharp left at the end of Runway 4 and approach the FBO. The noise of the huge rotor blades and turbines becomes deafening. Then, neatly, one by one, they settle on the tarmac in front of the FBO. The blades and turbines wind down. Now there is silence again.    Marine CH46 Sea Knight Helicopters in Plainview, Texas Where is all this happening? At the Hale County Airport in Plainview, TX, of all places. We have known that airport for (1) strong winds from any direction, (2) two runways to cope with #1, and (3) a friendly and helpful FBO. But never for an impressi...

We are westbound over Santa Rosa, NM, on the way to Albuquerque. Flying at 6,000 ft MSL, which is just 1,000 ft AGL, we encounter just light turbulence instead of the moderate turbulence above us.  But it is time to start the climb to 12,500 ft MSL to clear the Sandia Mountains to the west. As we try for this, we run immediately into moderate turbulence and thus go lower again. Now what? The day has started nice enough. With perfect spring weather of early May, we lift off from Aero Country at 7:00 am in our Zenith 601HDS, N314LB. There is some headwind shortly after takeoff, but it diminishes as we climb to 4,500 ft MSL. After 3.3 hrs, we reach Plainview in West Texas.  This is always a fun stop. The folks are friendly - they once helped replacing a failing battery with a WalMart motorcycle battery - and the fuel is cheap. Who would have thought that less than $5/gal one day would be considered cheap!? Another reason to love Plainview are the two runways, in case the win...

It's getting late in the summer, the weather is still good for flying, and Oshkosh has passed. Where could you fly not too far from Texas to see something really interesting?  The answer is, "Iowa." You say, "Iowa?"  Yes, indeed. There is a most impressive event over the Labor Day weekend: The Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, IA. There you will see -- Huge steam tractors  of the early 20th century including a Case 110 hp steam tractor that is truly intimidating. 110hp Case Steam Tractor  -- Small stationary steam and early combustion engines of that period. -- Large stationary steam engines of that time, for power generation and refrigeration via ammonia compressors. Some of the equipment was  used into the 1980s, in particular the efficient and elegant "Corliss" steam engine.    -- Large early diesel engines for power generation.    -- Early locomotives pulling vintage  passenger cars on a two...

We have just taken o ff from Redmond, OR, in our Zenith 601HDS, N314LB. The Flight Service briefer has cautioned us about smoke moving from the Mt. Je ff erson area to the east exactly into our path. Fires Near Mt. Jefferson, Redmond, OR No problem, I think, and my friend Arie from Tel-Aviv, Israel, concurs. We saw this some years ago when Mt. Shasta was enveloped half-way up in smoke. As soon as we saw the smoke in the distance, we climbed high enough to be well above the smoke layer filling the entire valley below. With GPS we tracked the unseen interstate below, considering it an emergency landing site in case of engine failure.  But this time it is di ff erent. We are taking o ff directly into light smoke, which rapidly thickens as we proceed northbound. We can still see the ground, so this is still VFR. But we cannot climb, since doing so would obscure the ground, e ff ectively making this IFR conditions. What should we do, and how did we get into this fix? The s...