Minnesota Flyer - Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960

Being invited to take a free flight on any airplane is always exciting especially when that plane is a historical military aircraft. The flight on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, out of the Anoka County...

About 6% of the world's professional pilots are women. Surprisingly India is the country leading the way where slightly over 14% of the pilots are female. Among helicopter pilots the number is just... Full story

1943 - Barbara Mack was born in Minnesota. In 1964 she experienced her first airplane ride at the St. Cloud airport in a Cessna 172. She earned her Private Pilot license a year later and proceeded to...

The alarm interrupted the smoke jumper presentation "Ladies and gentlemen, please move to the side of the room, we have an alert." Obediently, we tourists moved to the side as the jumpers accessed...

The 2022 EAA AirVenture had several highlights for me as a photographer and writer. There were fast planes with massive engines, small planes with tiny engines. Pilots who flew big jets and pilots...

Hundreds of gorgeous, striking airplanes arrive at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh each and every year in hopes of winning a Lindy Award. Few aircraft, in comparison to the field, come away with any sort of...

Tom Poberezny, the retired president and chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association, was mourned by the EAA and numerous aviation communities after his death July 25 at age 75, following a...

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Aviation recently reviewed key opportunities and challenges facing the industry. General Aviation Manufacturers...

An FAA Registry and N-Number inquiry provides the basic information about Jay Schrankler's recently acquired 1965 Beechcraft Bonanza Debonair 35-C33. There a whole lot more to the story, however. The...

The Minnesota Navy League Council acted early when filing a special flight plan to celebrate the long-awaited sequel to a military aviation cinematic classic. "Top Gun: Behind the Curtain" landed Wedn...

Back in the 1930s, the primary radio aid for navigating in airplanes was the "Four Course Range." The way it worked is the station sent out two signals which divided the world into four quadrants....

Flying clubs represent an outstanding opportunity to continue aviation adventures. They organize fly-outs and getaways to grassy airstrips and fun destinations. And few things in life are as...

Five hangars were damaged Wednesday, May 11, at the Metropolitan Airport Commission's Crystal Airport after powerful spring storms plowed through the area. Airport Manager Mike Wilson said he...

Over the last 15 years, Willmar-based Bollig Engineering's expertise has focused on airport projects that are crucial to the financial well-being of rural Minnesota. Smaller GA airports need both...

Brooten Municipal Airport/John O. Bohmer Field's recently added fuel system, completed in 2021, includes a 5,000-gallon tank for 100LL. It was provided and installed by O'Day Tank and Steel LLC, based...

People used to call all facial tissue "Kleenex" because the product invented by Kimberly-Clark was so ubiquitous that the name became generic. Pilots did the same thing with flight simulators calling...

"Now Lieutenant," Randy often said. "You know you've been in aviation a long time, when the list of people you knew, is longer than the list of people you know." When he first said that to me over...

By any measure 1947 was an auspicious year. Yes, that was 75 years ago and included some very interesting and historic events. The Brooklyn Dodgers acquired Jackie Robinson, the first African...

The Minnesota Navy League Council has filed a special flight plan to celebrate the soon-to-be-released sequel to a military aviation cinematic classic. "Top Gun: Behind the Curtain" lands Wednesday, J...

The 2022 Minnesota Aviation Maintenance Technician and IA Renewal Conference returned March 28-29 to the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center. The two-day, in-person conference attracted...

Less than three months after getting his pilot's license, Carter Ricard took off from Sauk Centre Municipal Airport to undertake one of his highest-stakes flights so far: asking his girlfriend,...

Forty some years ago an aviation revolution was occurring, one of the biggest changes since Jimmy Doolittle flew without seeing outside the airplane. Point-to-point navigation using VORs and NDBs was...

Guadalcanal is not a waterway like "Panama Canal." In Arabic the name means "Valley of Stalls," or "Markets." It's also the name of a city in the Spanish region of Andalusia, and thanks to a homesick...