Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
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Although many aviation events have been canceled or postponed due to Covid-19, Jim Hanson reminds us to "Hold fast to What is Good."...
Staying “young” is an important concept, I think, generally speaking. We all try to stay young to some extent, even as we reach advanced ages (the older I get the older the definition of advanced age gets!). This has become a significant challenge as events are canceled as a result of our government’s response to the coronavirus. We find ourselves isolated more than most of us can remember and the resulting cabin fever can take a toll on how we feel, how we look at life, how we deal with the i...
At the beginning of the Coronavirus epidemic in March, my financial adviser and friend, Bob Strommen, sent a letter to his friends and customers. The title was “Hold Fast to What is Good.” Rather than just a note on financial planning and what might be expected in the coming months, it featured tips on how to get through the immediate danger, and what may come later. He offered tips on finance, but more important, how to deal with the immediate problems, and how to deal with the disruption in th...
It would be hard to imagine more interesting times than what our planet has recently experienced. The coronavirus worldwide pandemic and the resulting government responses have very much changed the lives of everyone. No baseball, movies, airshows or fly-ins. Bars and restaurants are closed, so the $100 hamburger run is out. The economy took a major hit, resulting in widespread unemployment. Aviation activity has decreased on an alarming scale. The U.S. airport system has felt the jolt as much...
As you are well aware, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been necessary to cancel most of the regular aviation events that everyone looks forward to each year. Typically, stories from those events help fill the pages of the Minnesota Flyer throughout the year. We at the Minnesota Flyer want to continue to offer our readers stories and information on Minnesota based aviation news and happenings. We believe this is the perfect time to introduce some fresh new column ideas and we appreciate...
This will be a new regular column where readers who are in the process of building or restoring their own aircraft can send in their questions to be answered in a future issue of the Minnesota Flyer by Technical Advisor Mark Manning. Please submit your questions along with a photo whenever possible to: verlena@mnflyer.com. As Technical Advisor, Mark Manning brings with him over 38 years of aviation experience. He has performed maintenance on over 35 different types of aircraft and has flown...
Recent changes in travel brought about by COVID-19 had put a damper on my planned aviation adventures. A trip to Hawaii in my attempt to land a Cessna in all 50 states canceled. A friend and I were going to fly to Wyoming with a stop in Idaho so I could complete my 50th state was also canceled. An opportunity to fly a rescued dog to Greeley, Colorado in my C182 became a fun chance to aviate under COVID restrictions. As I contemplated the trip, I had a crazy idea. Why not land at KDEN? (Denver...
This can be anything aviation related, an item of interest, i.e. artifact, piece of clothing, collector items, models, paintings, original photo's of aircraft in flight, and so forth. There are some pretty interesting things out there that many of us have never seen before. Please include a brief explanation with your photo. Send your submission to: verlena@mnflyer.com or Minnesota Flyer, PO Box 449, Moose Lake, MN 55767-0449. Send me your photo today and let's get started!...
On May 1st, 2020, came the EAA announcement that the 68th annual Oshkosh fly-in event scheduled for July 20-26th was to be canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was not an easy decision but for many reasons the organizers felt it was the only option given the uncertainty of the situation. More than half a million people from all over the world head to Oshkosh each summer for the event, the largest fly-in convention in the world. Last year's event hosted people from over 90 countries around...
Have you ever flown into an airport and found workers on the airfield? Do you ever wonder if they are listening to your radio calls? Do you expect they’ll give you the right of way? These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself and the answers might not be what you assume. Workers at airports are essential and are there to help make improvements. However, sometimes the work they conduct can only be done during daylight hours, and on nice warm days. Sounds like a great day to go flying, right? On those good weather days, wor...
Do you ever think about the people that work in aviation? I don’t mean the people that use aviation, I mean the people that are in aviation, making the system work. At MnDOT Aeronautics, I’ve often heard our pilots marvel at what they didn’t know, they didn’t know. Until they began working with us, they had not spent much time thinking about all that must be done, who must do it, to make flying, landing and taking off, possible. Someone is plowing the runway. Someone is mowing the grass....
For public airports in Minnesota, the 2020 construction season is going to be busy, with numerous projects continuing in process and planned, in spite of the current health difficulties. Upcoming projects include several significant runway reconstruction projects. Some of the projects that will affect airport flight operations are described in this article, as well as a link with information about the CARES act. Please check with your airport destination and monitor NOTAMs for specific information. Let’s all Stay Safe in the air and on the g...
This past January, just before COVID-19 became widely known and the world would change in ways we could never imagine, I was on a flight to Washington DC preparing for the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. I’m honored to serve on TRB’s Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Relations in Aviation, or AV010 for short. AV010 focuses on important aviation research and this meeting is one of my favorite work events to attend. Not long before my DC trip, but well before I was paying attention to COVID-19, a very different kind of ris...
In all the history of aviation, only 99 pilots can claim to have been "Flying Tigers." The nickname was later adopted by the 23rd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Force, but the original Flying Tigers were not members of the military. They were a band of mercenaries recruited by Claire Chenault before the U.S. was officially at war with Japan. Flying in Burma and China from December 1941 to July 1942, they destroyed 296 Japanese aircraft, losing 14 pilots in the process. Einar Mickelson from...
(With permission of the Proctor Journal) Tuesday, April 14 pilot/owner Tyler Nelson was forced to make an emergency landing on Midway Rd. (approx. 10 miles west of Duluth) after his Cessna 172K's engine stalled at 3,000 ft. Nelson had taken off from the Superior Airport about 15 minutes before the incident. He was able to safely land the plane and then take off a short time later. Neither Nelson or the Cessna had a scratch on them. It is not yet clear why the engine stalled....
What we call the Formula I Class at Reno, evolved from the Goodyear Trophy Racers that developed in 1947 around a 190 cubic inch engine, the 85 hp Continental C-85. Rules stated that the aircraft must have a minimum of 66 square feet of wing area and have an empty weight of at least 500 pounds. Props had to be fixed pitch and gear non-retractable. Goodyear sponsored the races for three years. Although the Cleveland races ended with 1949, the midget class continued. Famous racers included Steve...
Moose Lake was able to enjoy being a part of a statewide effort made by the National Guard to honor those on the COVID-19 frontlines. On Wednesday, May 13, pilots from the Minnesota National Guard's 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth, and the 133rd Airlift Wing out of Saint Paul, as well as from the Air Force Reserve's 934th Airlift Wing, performed their second round of flyovers of hospitals statewide. A pair of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft flew over Mercy Hospital in Moose Lake as part of their...
Check this column each month to see that dates have not been canceled or changed. Send notices six weeks in advance of publication to the Minnesota Flyer, P.O. Box 449, Moose Lake, MN 55767 or, verlena@mnflyer.com. Attention Pilots Be sure to get a Flight Service briefing from (800) WX-Brief before every flight and check your destination airport status. Aug. 1: Grand Rapids, MN. Grand Rapids Municipal Airport Fly-In. Free Young Eagle rides 8a.m-noon. Contact: Larry Dangle 218-244-3056. Aug. 9: Paynesville, Mn, Paynesville Municipal Airport...
