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Published: 16 November 2020

  Greetings, It appears that summer has finally lost its grip on Arizona. Snow has fallen up north and down south, closed toed shoes and sleeves are needed in Phoenix, and the sound of reciprocating engines overhead is back! It's a glorious time to be a pilot in Arizona. Now if we could get some rainfall in the Valley, we'd be talking! The extremely dry weather

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Published: 15 November 2020

  I can’t believe it; suddenly, we went from the hot summer weather straight into winter. I made my last flight in the hot summer temps and started pulling the engine out of my airplane to have it top overhauled and have numerous upgrades incorporated. When I get it back in a few weeks I should have some cool mornings to break it in again. At least I’m sure counting on

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Published: 16 October 2020

  Greetings, This year has flown by faster than most, pun intended. March seemed like it was about 18 years ago, but at the same time seems like yesterday. While this year’s aviation gatherings were definitely not what event planners, organizers, vendors, and attendees had in mind, this year gave rise to grassroots events. Though not nearly as grandiose as Sun ‘n’ Fun

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Published: 15 October 2020

  On the last few flights, I haven’t seen many bugs on the airplane. In fact, last week’s flight didn’t produce a single bug on the windshield, it’s amazing. Apparently, fall must be trying to arrive because when the early morning flights end, it’s still comfortable out, and except for the wind the other weekend, flying has been smooth and very comfortable. I

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Published: 16 September 2020

  Greetings fellow pilots, Monsoon Season! Fire Season! Monsoon Season! Fire Season! It’s a classic argument, or so it seems. Monsoons dictate that we need to fly earlier in the day. Fires dictate where we can, or more accurately, can’t fly. Let’s focus on fire season first. This is a banner year for some abnormally large fires. Many of these fires are near the busiest

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Published: 15 September 2020

  Talk about a long, hot summer… this has really been one to remember. Fortunately, with the coming of September, perhaps we will start to see the temperatures begin to come down. I don’t particularly care to have to get up well before dawn to go flying so it can be halfway tolerable. The type of flying I now do has undergone some rather significant changes. Because of

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Published: 16 August 2020

  Greetings fellow pilots, Walking outside at 6 in the morning to 95 degree heat tells me we're definitely in the "heat" of summer. I'm not quite as eager to run down to the airport and head up in the sky as in the cooler months. While I'm a big proponent of a complete preflight briefing and virtual walkthrough on the charts with weather in normal conditions, I spend

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Published: 15 August 2020

  Given the constraints of the virus pandemic and the long, hot summer, it seems like the normal aviation meetings have come to a screeching halt. The realization that many aviation things really are coming to a halt was the cancelation of the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this year. This venue has been a yearly summer vacation event for many of us to meet up

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Published: 16 July 2020

Greetings, As I sit back and look in amazement at the curveballs 2020 has thrown at us, I realize that almost every facet of life has been impacted by political, social, or health concerns. And that's just since January! Of course, aviation has been impacted in a huge way that has yet to be completely understood. Shutdowns of ATC towers and facilities simply wasn't something

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Published: 15 July 2020

  It is getting hotter and my patience is growing shorter with this whole pandemic situation, especially with the video conference and teleconference meetings. I hope someone comes up with something soon, so we can get back closer to what was normal. The present virus situation has resulted in some rather interesting occurrences. I recently saw an article explaining that