Letters from our January 2019 issue
A big attraction
Loved the article on flying the new Goodyear Zeppelin (“Big Business”)! This past summer, we took a European vacation and one of the highlights was a Zeppelin ride out of Friedrichshafen, southern Germany, which took us around Lake Constance (Bodensee) in a one-hour flight. This was truly an awesome experience and I encourage anyone who’s interested to just go ahead and do it.
The Zeppelins flown there are the same model Goodyear now has in the States. Typically you need to book the trip about a week in advance; plan accordingly. This is also the site of Aero Friedrichshafen, which to me is sort of a German version of Oshkosh and an AOPA Fly-In combined, so you could easily do both in one trip. If you do go to Aero, one tip is to stay in the city of Konstanz and take the ferry to Friedrichshafen; you can buy a combined Aero/ferry ticket at the automated kiosk, and this also includes bus service from the harbor to the airport/fairgrounds.
The Zeppelin company flies these tours single-pilot, along with a flight attendant who gets to sit in the first officer’s seat during takeoff and landing. The passengers are free to move about the cabin and are encouraged to talk to the pilot during the flight (everybody speaks English). A window in the front and another in the rear can be opened for photos. Cellphones are strongly discouraged for picture-taking since it’s pretty easy to lose one out the window.
Heinrich Gerhardt
AOPA 4414028
Torrance, California
I really enjoyed Thomas B. Haines’ article on the Goodyear blimp, and the beautiful cover photo. Living only 20 miles from Wingfoot Lake, I found it ironic that the January issue of AOPA Pilot arrived on the same day that my daughter and I were heading to the blimp hangar to donate toys for Toys for Tots. The blimp looked exactly as it did in the article. A huge thank you to Goodyear for their incredible support of the Marine Corps Reserves and the Toys for Tots campaign, and for keeping this wonderful craft in the Akron area.
Robert Kohn
AOPA 824874
Aurora, Ohio
Fond memories
Nice work, Julie Summers Walker (“Airplanes We Love: Cessna 150”). Thousands of us have fond memories of the cramped 150s in which we first took to the air. Mine was a 150H model back in 1969/70—49 years ago. (I now fly a 2004 Cessna 182T.) One shortcoming of the 150 was its service ceiling. The 150H had a service ceiling of 12,650 feet. But, of course, that’s with “standard” air temperatures. A friend of mine took off in a 150 at Centennial Airport (Denver) back in the 1970s. It was a very hot day. He was only able to climb about 200 feet, make the pattern, and put the 150 back on the ground.
Thanks for the article.
James Ballew
AOPA 647062
Las Vegas, Nevada
Smarter, not harder
I just read Natalie Bingham Hoover’s article “Flying Life: Work Smarter, Not Harder.” You captured what helicopter pilots are taught from day one. Since helicopters are inherently unstable as opposed to airplanes, we were brought up with this philosophy. Great observation for the fixed-wing world.
Don Krivitsky
AOPA 2111912
Westerly, Rhode Island
It’s a match
Two other movies didn’t make your list (“Just for Fun: Match the Movie With the Airplane”): It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World starring a Beech 18 and some type of World War I-era airplane, and Goldfinger starring a Lockheed JetStar and a bunch of Piper PA–28s.
Barry McCollom
AOPA 796063
Kerrville, Texas
Hangar Talk
Growing up in San Diego, trips to Baja for surfing, fishing, and scuba diving used to be regular outings for Editor at Large Dave Hirschman (“Baja Bound,” p. 52). “Day trips across the border were normal in the 1980s, and my friends and I used to make longer excursions each summer,” he says. Hirschman (right, with Jeff and Alicia Provence) and AOPA Senior Photographer Mike Fizer flew to Loreto, a historic town on the Sea of Cortez, to get reacquainted with the rugged peninsula. “Getting there and back isn’t as easy as it once was,” Hirschman says. “But the marine life in the Sea of Cortez is abundant, the folks we met were friendly and welcoming, and I’d go back in a minute. Baja is still a fascinating and accessible place to fly.”
“My first exposure to the San Juan Islands came in 2007 when I spent a day at Friday Harbor Airport,” says Julie Summers Walker (“Island Hopping,” p. 62). “Stuart Hansen served as airport manager for many years and after my visit he emailed me often, reminding me how beautiful it was in Friday Harbor and pitching story ideas for me to come back. He recently retired. Godspeed, Stuart. Then there was Richard S. Drury. Drury is the author of My Secret War, the story of his flying the A–1 Skyraider in Vietnam. Drury lived across the path from Ernest and Dodie Gann and flew a beautiful red biplane over the islands. On subsequent trips I have met more incredible and interesting local pilots who shared their love of this archipelago. This photo is of me flying in a Cessna Conquest courtesy of Tim Lewis, gracious owner of Washington’s Corporate Air.”
Mountains of snow lined the edges of the runway at Sugarloaf Regional Airport when Managing Editor Sarah Deener arrived with photographer Bob Knill after a spate of nor’easters in March 2018. “I grew up in New England, so I’m no stranger to winter weather,” says Deener, who documented the airport’s access to outdoor recreation in “Happy Trails,” which begins on p. 70. “But this was Maine winter.” Temperatures dipped below 0 degrees Fahrenheit during their stay. “I dressed as if I were on an Arctic expedition, but native Mainers seemed to get by just fine with an extra layer and a nice pair of gloves. Maybe I’ve gone soft after all these years in the mid-Atlantic.”
“I am the world’s worst tinkerer,” says Senior Content Producer Ian J. Twombly. “Even worse, I don’t know my limits. Fix that leaky faucet? Sure. Change the brakes on my car? No problem! My results do vary, to the chagrin of friends and family who suffer my poor skills.” Twombly thinks maybe that’s why he’s so drawn to people who are natural problem solvers—who, when faced with a problem, actually fix it (“some assembly required,” p. 80). “I was fascinated by the Jones’ folding Kitfox,” he said. “To have a low-and-slow airplane that you can hide away in a trailer and bring with you is a pilot’s dream. And the ingenuity with which it was approached blew me away.”
Related Articles
