I hope everyone has been enjoying the nice fall flying weather. We may have had a few days when it rained on our parade, but what the heck, generally it’s been great. Now is the time to get together with a group of fellow pilots and fly somewhere for breakfast or lunch, and enjoy the conversation, solving the world’s problems. Enjoy the flight, and fly
Greetings, After a Thanksgiving meal that required an updated weight and balance for me and my passengers, we're looking forward to getting more flying in now that our weather has turned into amazing. Crisp cool mornings that allow for that coveted "standard day" performance are finally here! My Comanche seems to leap off the runway, even though it's only a 180 model
  Isn’t it great that the fall weather is finally here? The flying weather has been very good, and we can enjoy a more comfortable flight. Our flying season is getting off to a good start with the schedule of aviation events rapidly filling the calendar. The fly in breakfast flights are a lot more enjoyable with the smoother air and cooler air temps. I look forward to
Greetings, It’s been said that women speak nearly three times as much as men, and while this may be debatable, the studies in question obviously did not take pilots into account. Male or female, my experience is that pilots speak nearly six times as many words per day as non-pilots. I don’t plan to use focus groups, lab rats, or college students to firm this belief up into a
  Well the mornings are finally getting slightly cooler, but it’s still a bit warmer than I would like. Grumble – Grumble. As the rest of the aviation world appears to be preparing to slow down, and start their winter hibernation, things here seem to be picking up. Special fly in/open house/breakfast events and the flying activity planning seems to be picking up
Greetings, Cooler weather is finally here and is making flying without air conditioning more bearable. The first snow has fallen in the mountains near Flagstaff and the morning temps in the valley are in the 60's. APA hosted the first Grapevine fly-in of the season and it was outstanding. Weekends are packed with backcountry fly-ins, breakfast fly-ins and safety seminars
  It’s summer time and the flying isn’t easy. It’s hot and bumpy, and I don’t care what anyone has to say, but there is a ray of hope on the horizon that fall, and good flying weather, can’t be too far away. I’ll keep that in mind and try to not get too crabby while waiting for the cooler weather. Trying to fly between Phoenix and Tucson and passing generally through
Greetings, With Labor Day now behind us, we know there are only a few short weeks of triple-digit temps here in the Southwest. As the rest of the country begins to wind down their flying season with “one last blast” and the “final summer hangar cleanout,” that I often see described in aviation forums, we’re just the opposite. It’s finally getting cool enough to spend a little
  Well, the monsoon season is here! We have to get up early to do any comfortable flying, and I’m sure many are using this time of the year to get out of town and take a vacation to where it’s cooler. I took off and went to the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and added a few days to the trip to visit friends and relatives near Oshkosh. I’m also writing this report
Greetings, As nearly all aviation media and sources have been reminding us, January 1, 2020, is coming much faster than many of us realize. Call around and you'll find that shops are booked well into next year for any type of avionics work, much less an ADS-B Out installation. I have a minor upgrade planned and the earliest I can get in is late February! Fortunately, I bit