"Sometimes when I fly I hear God whisper, 'Enjoy it, Dude, because it won't last forever,'" says freelance writer and novelist Stephen Coonts. "Today sport aviation is getting squeezed from every direction — rising hardware, fuel and maintenance costs, soaring insurance premiums, disappearing airports, noise and fuel issues, excessive regulation by government, hysteria over terrorism — the list goes on and on. And I'm not getting any younger. When these thoughts threaten to overwhelm me, it's time to rob the piggy bank and go for another aviation adventure." Coonts' most recent adventure included blue skies, Rocky Mountains, and a Stemme motorglider (see " Soaring In Paradise," page 86). "It was just flat terrific. Come fly with me and we'll enjoy it again together."
A moment of nostalgia inspired William K. Kershner to share his personal tale of wake turbulence encounters. Kershner, who has been flying for more than 50 years and has accumulated in excess of 10,000 hours, was looking through some old photo albums when he ran across the images reproduced in this issue (see " An Awakening," page 91). "Our night fighter team had been relieved of our jet Banshees and given some older F4U-5N Corsairs. At first disappointed, I found the F4U to be quite an airplane, and fun to fly." Of course, Kershner didn't have quite so much fun with his Corsair on March 4, 1954. "As I made my approach, I marveled at how great a pilot I was," he remembers. "Twenty seconds later I was sitting in a less-than-perfect airplane wondering what happened."
We hear a lot about crew resource management (CRM) and how it can enhance the safe operation of an aircraft. But author Marc Henegar says there is also a lesser known, flip side to CRM. (see " Reverse CRM," page 97). Just what is reverse CRM? It's what happens when two people talk themselves into doing something that neither one would have tried alone. "It's sort of like when you were a kid and your mom asked you the famous question: If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you? Well, yes, of course you would!" Henegar says. How does he know? As an air traffic controller, charter pilot, and airline pilot, Henegar has seen some humorous cases where two heads definitely weren't better than one.
What started out as a routine pilot report at AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, turned into a three-day trip to Canada for Pilot Senior Editor Al Marsh (see " Star Over Canada," page 56). Approaching weather between Maryland and the Diamond Aircraft factory in London, Ontario, dictated a hasty retreat for the first North American-built DA40-180 Diamond Star. Marsh went along to finish his review of the four-place IFR airplane, ending up the next day on yet another flight in the airplane to Toronto's spectacular City Centre Airport. The airport lies on an island just in front of Toronto's impressive skyline that features the needle-like CN Tower which has a revolving restaurant situated 1,100 feet above the city. Marsh also test-flew the restaurant.
Related Articles
