Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
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In the Beginning One typical school day as we were in the shop supervising our students' projects, two individuals I had never met walked into the school and introduced themselves. John Bucher, Maintenance Consultant for Banc of America Leasing and Eric Olson, Maintenance Manager for General Mills Air Transportation. Eric was a graduate of the A&P program back in 1993 and he wanted to show John his alma mater. After touring they said, if the school was interested, they would contact me at a...
Mitch and Lindsey Osowski, owners of Tin Tail Numbers, were vendors at the 2018 Seaplane Safety Seminar at Madden's on East Gull Lake. They shared several photos of their children Veronica and Maximilian in a J3-Cub at the Osceola Wheels & Wings event last year. We just couldn't resist using this engaging image for our cover shot....
An airport can be many things to many people. It can be a place of magnificent solitude, like during an early summer's morning, just as the sun rises and the stillness is punctuated only by the chirp of birds in the distance. Perhaps a very thin layer of fog will form over the field and in minutes dissipate as the air quickly warms. It is moments like this when there are few things in life more beautiful and tranquil than the silence of an airfield before the days' operations begin. Now is when...
Tips for aviation photography You can enjoy aviation events all year long with your photographs. The goal is to take photos you will want to look at, post on social media, print and hang on the wall. The tips here are simple and universal for all of your photography subjects. We will concentrate on composition, lighting, and exposure, but first a few words about safety and general tips. You can't enjoy an event unless you do it safely. It is tempting to get a unique image but do so by obeying...
Flight operations for military, airline, cargo flight crews, and even corporate/business flight crews are often disruptive to the normal cycle of human physiology. With frequent changes in flight schedules, (flights departing varying hours of the day and night), sleep for pilots, at least quality sleep, is often hard to come by. Quality sleep sometimes seems like a unique facet of life that busy flight crew members may experience only on occasion. That raises the question, do irregular...
As you have read in recent Aeronautics Technical Bulletins, we in the Office of Aeronautics, are celebrating 75 years of partnerships with Minnesota's fabulous publicly owned and operated airports. In addition to that celebration, we are also thrilled to be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Minnesota Aviation Maintenance Technicians Conference. This spring, we had another very exciting and successful Conference. Nearly 400 people attended the event on March 19-20, 2018 at the Earle Brown...
Flying the Denali Scout Though built on the same type certificate as the original Scout, there are enough changes for me to consider this as a different type/model rating. The tail, the aileron spades, the landing gear, the electrical system, the prop, and the landing gear are all different. Long-time readers know that I don't count a new type unless I make a takeoff or landing in it-no "holding the controls." Making a takeoff or landing lets me feel the aircraft in a wide range of speeds and co...
A variety of seaplanes nestle into place on the beach at Madden's Resort on East Gull Lake in Brainerd, host of the Minnesota Seaplane Pilots Association 2018 Seaplane Pilots Safety seminar the weekend of May 18-20. Educational presentations by aviation experts, and banquet's deserving of royalty ruled the weekend. Education, entertainment, gourmet dining contribute to continued growth and popularity of this annual gathering....
Communication is critical when flying, especially IFR. I was reminded of that a few years ago when we were in the clag, out of Atlanta, Minnesota bound. George was doing most of the flying and things were pretty calm until Atlanta Center issued the somewhat mush-mouthed call: “Two Nyna Fav Delta Lima, fla daarek sea two.” At least that’s what I thought I heard. After a couple of back and forth’s with our heavily accented controller, it was finally discovered that we should fly direct to the Cha...
The Minnesota Pilots Association Great Minnesota Aviation Gathering, held 27-28 April at the Anoka County Blaine Airport, Jane's Field, hosted by the Golden Wings Aviation Museum, was a compendium of educational seminars, aviation related vendor booths, award ceremonies, and people admiring vintage aircraft in the museum as well as aircraft flying into the two-day event. Attendees included an impressive presence of members of the Boy Scouts of America....
Safety in aviation is a big part of everything we do as pilots and, as an instructor, one of the first things I think of is VFR into IMC. This is a major accident causal factor, which is why I focus on this with my students. When I took my instrument rating I did not get hard IFR and after I flew into the clouds for the first time I realized I wanted more training so I decided to get my CFII and get confident with flying IFR. As a result of my experiences, I make every attempt to get my private...
Starbuck, what a great name for a great town! The City wasn't named after the first mate in "Moby Dick," or the fighter pilot in "Battlestar Galactica." The consensus is it got that unusual name from a 19th century railroad tycoon, William H. Starbuck who financed the Little Falls and Dakota Railroad. Another story has the place named for a pair of oxen named Star and Buck who worked on building the railroad. Or maybe a railroad worker was having some fun at the boss's expense. No matter how it...
Rene and Gaston Caudron were inspired by seeing Wilber Wright fly. Their first aircraft flew from their farm on 21 September 1909. Caudron designed and constructed aircraft for civilian and military use until the end of World War II when the company disappeared. One of their most exciting aircraft was the C. 460 racer that appeared in the 1935 National Air Races flown by Michel Detroyat, winning the Greve and Thompson Trophies against U.S. competitors. This photo, taken at the NASM's Steven F....
Check this column each month to see that dates have not been cancelled or changed. Send notices six weeks in advance of publication to the Minnesota Flyer, P.O. Box 750, Sandstone, MN 55072-0750 or mnflyer@pinternet.com or charlotte@mnflyer.com. July 6-7: Detroit Lakes, MN, Detroit Lakes Airport (KDTL), EAA Chapter 1498 Fly-In (in conjunction with Detroit Lakes Jaycees Water Carnival) July 6 at 5 p.m. Long Lake park adjacent to turf runway 17/35, FAA presentation of Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award to Bob Lund and Duane Janssen. July 7,...
This summer has been a very bittersweet one for me, as we are not able to see two of our grandchildren as much as we have in the past. My wife and I received a phone call from our son asking if we would be around on a Sunday in April and we said sure, come on over. The news we learned from them was pretty devastating to us in that they decided to move from Minnesota to Texas. this meant that our 5-year old grandson and three and a half year old granddaughter would no longer be living just a few...
Michael France, Managing Director of Safety and Training for the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) held an Industry Town Hall meeting hosted by Thunderbird Aviation in Eden Prairie, May 10. Discussion points included the shortage of skilled employees for aviation centered businesses, engaging in programs encouraging youth to become more involved in aviation, individual FBO services pricing structures, embracing the drone movement, and the dwindling number of volunteers, not only in NATA, but for organizations across the board....
Wipaire, Inc.® has welcomed Andrew San Giacomo as Director of Aircraft Services with oversight of Wipaire's wide range of services. Andrew will lead and manage teams in Minnesota specializing in aircraft maintenance, avionics repair and installation, paint refinishing, and custom interiors. His responsibilities will include ensuring Wipaire's high standards for safety and quality are met, along with maintaining compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations and all other applica...
