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Published: 10 December 2016

Politics, Again  Howard Deevers    (Disclaimer: These comments and thoughts are mine, and not necessarily those of Arizona Pilots Association) For many of us there was a great feeling of relief when this election cycle ended. Never mind who won, but the feeling that it is finally over! The election may be over, but the next cycle is just beginning. What am

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Published: 10 November 2016

Simple Mistakes  Howard Deevers   A recent article from the FAA said that the new “kinder” FAA would not punish pilots for “simple mistakes, inadvertent actions, or other small infractions.”  That got me to thinking:  What exactly are simple mistakes? I’m sure we all make them.  A simple mistake might be knocking over

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Published: 12 October 2016

The Joy of Flying a Small Plane Howard Deevers To the general public, any airplane that is not a jet with at least two engines is a small airplane. Even a King Air or Beech 1900 would be considered to be a "puddle jumper." To most of us single engine fliers, a King Air of any size is a "big plane." So making a long cross country flight, solo, in a "small" airplane

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Published: 12 September 2016

Let's Talk About This Howard Deevers Remember your first flying lesson? Sure we do. The instructor did all of the talking on the radios, and it seemed so easy for him. Then after a few lessons, he insisted that I talk on the radio. The Cessna 150 I was flying had no intercom; we did not have a head set, but only a hand mike and speaker to listen to. He told me

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Published: 15 August 2016

It's Only a Flat Tire Howard Deevers The EAA convention is known as AirVenture, but before that name it was simply referred to as OSHKOSH. Most of us still refer to it as OSHKOSH. For one week the airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is the busiest airport in the world. About 700,000 people and 10,000 airplanes will make Oshkosh the place to be for anyone interested in

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Published: 11 July 2016

WINGS 'N THINGS Howard Deevers It might be hot in southern Arizona, but it was somewhat cooler in Denver, Colorado. At 90 degrees, the folks in Colorado are complaining! I was enjoying the cooler temperatures. The Mooney Pilots Safety Program (MAPA) invited Fred Gibbs and I to be instructor pilots at the safety program in Denver in June. Both of us have time in

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Published: 12 June 2016

DEAD RECKONING, GPS STYLE Howard Deevers Early in our aviation training, navigation is an important subject. Many of my beginning students get lost easily. That is understandable, since things do look differently as we get up in the air. Suddenly, the road we use to reach the airport does not look the same. Get a little further away from the airport, and some

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Published: 13 May 2016

Ready to Go Electric? Howard Deevers Electric (battery powered) cars have been around for a long time, even going back to Henry Ford’s time. His wife drove a battery operated car. The Tesla Company makes a modern all battery powered auto today. It has great styling, good performance, and NO gasoline power. It is not a hybrid. The Nissan Leaf is another example of

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Published: 24 February 2016

Looking Back in Time Howard Deevers At the end of the year I usually have some extra time to clean out my office spaces. 2015 was no different. I pitch out books or catalogs that I have not even looked at for a year, or longer. Dust off the shelves and try, one more time, to organize my life. Before actually throwing things away, I do look at them to see if it is

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Published: 08 January 2016

Twas the Night Before Christmas Howard Deevers Well, of course not. Everyone knows that Santa is the only one flying on Christmas Eve, well almost the only one. Some scheduled airlines do fly, but they are way up there and no problem to Santa. Very few General Aviation airplanes are flying. Several years ago we decided to make a flight from Pittsburgh, PA, to Moline, IL