Best of Aviation

Normal cruise power is 22 inches of manifold pressure and 2300RPM, or about 65% maximum rated power. We burn about 10 gallons of 100 octane aviation gasoline per hour and cruise at about 130MPH at this setting.

The unit with the green display is our transponder, which lets air traffic control (ATC) uniquely identify us among all the blips on their busy screens. It is required to be on at all times, even if we aren't talking to ATC.

Located in eastern Pennsylvania, the Allentown airport supports air carrier operations in addition to private aircraft. It provides special navigational facilities that allow aircraft to land when the cloud ceilings and visibilities are low.

From my house, Atlantic City is a two hour drive, but it's only a 30 minute flight. From there, it's a short cab ride to the attractions like the casinos shown here.

An arrival route into our home airport takes us to within a stone's throw of the old Bell Labs building (now Alcatel-Lucent) where some of most important basic research of the last 50 years occurred.

This is what it looks like to fly between cloud layers with a thin broken deck a couple thousand feet below us with a broken to overcast deck above at approximately 10000 feet.

If you will excuse the photographic error, this is a great perspective on what pilots see when landing at a large airport. This happens to be runway 34 at Binghamton, New York.

Slightly after departure from an airport south of Boston, MA. This is looking north and the city is just off the wing. Cape Cod Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard are all easily accessible destinations for private aircraft.

A unique view down the combined grass / asphalt runway at the Butter Valley Airport in Pennsylvania, located just south of Allentown.