Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
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Ray Johnson flew his 1943 Stearman in for the Sept. 19, 2020 Mora Fly-In....
Last summer, the first I spent with a private pilot's license, I used my newfound freedom to hit up a number of Minnesota fly-in events: Rush City, Starbuck, Elbow Lake, Aitkin, etc. I even made my first trip to Oshkosh and camped for a few days. Naturally, this year I had hoped to do the same, now a year older and a few certificates smarter, but I think by this point we're all aware of how that plan turned out. Part of what I love about fly-in events is that they provide a mission, a reason to...
The city of Mora hosted its annual fly-in Saturday, Sept. 19 from 8 a.m. until noon at the Mora Municipal Airport. The day began with the Mora American Legion opening ceremony with the presentation of colors followed by the Mora Lions Club serving a pancake breakfast with all proceeds going to support community projects and donations. Volunteers were standing by to greet all incoming aircraft with a poker chip for a free breakfast for all pilots in command. There were airplane rides available,...
Whether you fly in a towered environment or non-towered, the two are very different and require you to be aware of other traffic. While the towered environment is much more controlled, you still have to observe and avoid. Non-towered does not have someone setting things up for you or giving you advisories of who, what, and where there are other planes. Non-towered have lots of complaints from pilots about people landing in the opposite direction during calmer winds or even with light tail...
Charlie Seitz was my primary flight instructor in Wichita, Kansas, long, long ago. He taught me many long-lasting lessons, not the least of which was to get recurrent training from a flight instructor once a year. With this in mind I have made it a habit of doing two days of flight instruction each year in the early Fall…just before the weather tends to make instrument flight more likely. I am able to get a fresh biennial flight review and an instrument proficiency check and brush off the cob w...
First flying on 26 August 1944 as the XBTM-1, the Mauler was one of four single-seat bomber/torpedo planes ordered for testing by the Navy in 1943. The Curtiss XBTC-2 and the Kaiser-Fleetwings XBTK-1 didn't make it beyond the prototype stage, but the Douglas XBT2D-1, as the AD and in 1962, the A-1, became the famous Skyraider. As for the Martin, it had to settle for second place. Designed around the huge 28 cylinder 3000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major, the "Able Mable" was a load carrier...
Happiness is getting paid for what you love to do anyway. That's especially true if you're a flyer or nature lover. Lots of people spend plenty of money to go flying or get away from it all. Robert Hodge had a job where he got paid to both fly and be in the great outdoors. For 30 - plus years he was a game warden and pilot for what is now the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. To paraphrase the old TV commercial, "It just doesn't get any better than that." Bob Hodge grew up with a passio...
It’s that time of year again when the comfortable days of fall are giving way to cooler temperatures. Winter is moving in fast and will be here before you know it! As you are going over your checklist to be sure your airplane is ready for winter flying, remember to also look over your winter survival kit. Have you removed anything from the kit and not replaced it? Don’t assume that something is there just because it was the last time you checked. Go over the contents item by item. Are any packages opened or damaged? Look for outdated items (em...
I was in the Army 1966-68-stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. I had started flying in 1962, and had my commercial and Flight Instructor ratings at 18. United Airlines was handing out provisional hire certificates to Private Pilots at Mankato State University-contingent on an applicant receiving their Commercial certificate. I was looking forward to an airline career-until the buildup for Vietnam. Airlines no longer wanted applicants facing the military draft. I was 1-A, and needed to get the...
In the early 1800s a Catholic Priest mistook a lake for a something else and named a place in Minnesota using the French word "detroit" (that means straight or channel). Soon a village had sprung up with that name and was a waypoint on the Red River Ox Cart Trail. Incorporated in 1881, Minnesota's Detroit became the seat of Becker County. Eventually the citizens got tired of their mail ending up in Michigan, organized a referendum in 1926 and corrected the "clerical" error by changing the...
Headaches and aviation are frequent companions. Anyone who has made a long cross country flight knows why. Hours of engine noise and vibration, traffic, buildups, headwinds that make your fuel consumption jump…any and all are headache generators. That’s just part of flying. So why would the FAA care about something that’s pretty much built in to aeronautical endeavors? Well, there are headaches and there are headaches. What I’ve been talking about is what are referred to as tension headaches, that achy feeling in your temples, sometimes the fee...
Winter is almost here, and it’s time again to start shifting to winter operations. I love winter and the advantages and challenges it brings. Being from Minnesota, we know that proper gear is the difference between surviving and thriving through the winter. Your winter flight ops are no different. With the proper gear, you can comfortably take advantage of the dense calm air we often see throughout the winter. The first challenge is equipping yourself with the proper winter gear to comfortably fly in and shed layers as required. Having e...
Your Thanksgiving Holiday may look different this year but there is still much to be thankful for. That is why in this season of Giving Thanks we at the Minnesota Flyer would like take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to all of you! Thank You to our advertisers who continue to run their ad even when so many businesses have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic and uncertain economy. Thank You to our columnists for working diligently to provide quality material to fill our pages even in the absence of annual aviation events. Thank You to the...
Most of the articles I’ve read throughout the year have discussed the current COVID pandemic at length, and rightfully so – this virus has affected the lives of nearly every person worldwide. The year 2020 has been filled with shutdowns, travel restrictions, and many other challenges to daily life while our time has been spent focusing on case counts and hospital capacity, keeping a hopeful eye toward recovery. Our aviation community, like so many others, was impacted heavily. Mass groundings of commercial traffic left much of the sky emp...
