Best of Aviation

It's possible to buy completely restored Boeing Stearman aircraft for a surprisingly low price. This example was spectacular. It no doubt looked better than when it rolled off the assembly line in war time.

The Boeing Stearman was a trainer, hence the two seats. The open cockpit design is lots of fun.

This is a VHF Omnidirectional Range or VOR, a ground-based navigation system invented in the 50's. These are still in widespread use throughout the US and the world, but GPS is quickly overtaking them in terms of utility.

Every 50 hours of flight we clean the engine bay with mineral spirits dispensed through a compressed air wand. It removes all of the oil and dirt that naturally forms as a consequence of engine operation.

All aircraft require an annual inspection, but in addition to that we voluntarily conduct smaller inspections at 25 and 50 hour intervals for added safety.

When an aircraft oil filter is changed, we have to cut it open and inspect the filter media. We always follow this up with an oil analysis, which can provide advance warning of excessive wear -- long before the particles become large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

Between cloud layers while flying under IFR during training to obtain my multi-engine instructor rating. Multi-engine aircraft do require the pilot to be well trained and proficient in engine out operations, but the benefits of multi-engine operations outweigh the disadvantages (including cost).

I flew out to Somerset, PA (which has the unfortunate distinction of being the crash site of Flight 93) back in 2003 and was rewarded with some of the cheapest gas of the day.

Flying home from Cape Cod one clear and sunny summer day, ATC puts us on the usual route over Long Island sound. While I'm not afraid of flying over water in single-engine airplanes, I do try to minimize the time spent farther than gliding distance from shore. I don't mind so much when the waters are warm.