My brother is a stock car driver in CASCAR (he drives the #8 Carhartt car). He has been selected as one of 21 “wild cards” in a new reality television show, Racin’ for a Livin’. His press release is here. I’d appreciate anyone reading this to go vote for him.

I’m still alive (again).

It’s been a busy fall/winter/spring and now flying weather is back and I’m trying to get back up in the air some more. I’ve only been up a handfull of times in the past few months and I’ve had to take refresher flights (for insurance purposes) twice, including today.

I spent about an [...]

I haven’t been flying at night since my training, and with winter here and night coming so much sooner, I thought I should get current so I can take people on night flights.

Saturday night I rented 70739 around 5:30pm, a few minutes before “true night”. I whipped out my trusty Maglight and did a thorough [...]

Once again I have gotten caught up with work, a new baby, and other things, and have somehow avoided writing here. I was nicely reminded today that people apparently do read this stuff, so with my apologies I’ll try to write more.

I’ve been doing the odd bit of flying here and there – mostly introducing [...]

Yes, I’m alive. I’ve been pretty busy lately and just plain negligent in writing about my exploits.

The good news is I’ve been doing plenty of flying!

Back in August my parents came up from Florida for a visit to see my new daughter (who is now almost 12 weeks old), and Mark got me up in [...]

I’ve been wanting to fly up to Wausau, WI since I noticed the downtown airport on the other side of Lake Wausau while driving down highway 39 a few years ago. I finally had the time, so I did it!

Walt, a student at Morey airport, wanted to come along for some cross-country planning experience, and [...]

Mark gave me my endorsement to fly the Cessna 172 today. Yippee!

It was another hot, hazy day, with winds 190 @ 13K. We took off on 28 and headed north toward the Dells. Mark showed me how to use the dual NAV/COMs, the DME, and the audio panel. We tuned and listened to a couple [...]

Yesterday I got up for the first time in the left seat of a Cessna 172. It was very hot and humid, which really affected our pressure altitude. The cockpit was like on oven, made worse because we spent the entire time in the pattern. There was a lot of haze, with visibility of about [...]

Took the day Thursday with my cousin Spencer to visit EAA Airventure 2005 in Oshkosh, WI. This was a special treat, since I knew Glacier Girl was going to be there. The P-38 Lightning was the first warbird I fell in love with, and it is partially responsible for my interest in aviation in general.

Started [...]

This weekend is the “official” open-house of Middleton Municiple Airport – Morey Field (C29). It started with a ribbon cutting yesterday, a Young Eagles event this morning, a hangar dance and dinner tonight, and our first EAA chapter fly-in Sunday morning.

I helped out at the Young Eagles event this morning, including checking several dozen kids [...]

I wrote way back at the beginning, almost a year ago, about how I got interested in aviation. It pretty much started with a fondness for the P38 Lightning, which led me to discover Flight Journal Magazine, and from there, development of my interest in WWII in general.

I’ve recently been reading Stephen Ambrose’ fascinating book [...]

Matt and I had a very nice trip back to Prairie du Chien on Saturday, where we had brunch at Huckleberry’s, a half-mile walk from the FBO. It was a beautiful day, and Matt got a chance to take quite a few pictures.

This time I filed a flight plan for some practice with FSS. We [...]

Tuesday it was a clear day and I talked Spencer into going for a hop around Madison. This time we had N70739, my favorite 152 at Morey that has been plagued with microphone issues lately. But today the switch was working perfectly, which was good because I wanted to fly over Madison.

As we were taxiing [...]

Saturday I went out for my first $100 hamburger. I chose the Steakfire restaurant in Watertown, WI. My friend Matt (who had just gotten engaged a few days before – congrats Matt!) came along, and “Paris” provided transport.

It was hazy but calm. I took off and headed west so I could climb up to 2500 [...]

Here’s a crazy idea.

If you represent a company with some cash to spare, buy me an airplane (a used C172 would be fine) and I’ll have it painted however you want with your logo on it. It’ll be tied down at Morey field, in view of a major road, and I’ll fly it around several [...]

The weather finally got a little nicer so I decided to try flying into a new airport, and practice some ATC. I chose Blackhawk Airfield, a small field just SE of Madison and under Madison’s Class C shelf.

Winds were about 10-15 knots out of the NW, so I took off on runway 28 and headed [...]

Today I went up the first time (with passenger) as a Private Pilot. I took my cousin Spencer (well, wife’s cousin, but we spend a lot of time together going to the club and drinking) up for an hour flight up to Baraboo and back. Winds were very light, the air was very stable, and [...]

I got a call yesterday morning from my checkride examiner, who was going to be in the area mid-afternoon. Fortunately I was ready, had my paperwork in order, and the time flexibility (from working at home) to be at Morey when he was.

The whole thing took less than half and hour. He went over my [...]

To kick things off, I apologize for not posting sooner, and yes, I did my checkride on Monday, and no, alas, I didn’t pass.

My old nemesis, the crosswind helped botched things for me. The GOOD news is I learned a couple of important things that somehow I missed during my primary training. I’ll be a [...]

It’s confirmed – I’m taking my checkride Monday morning at 9am. As Lando Calrissian might say, “Here goes nothin’”.