Everyone at Toledo's Suburban Airport knows Mildred Benson. She learned to fly there, back when it was called Wagonwheel. For years, she wrote the "Happy Landings" column of the Toledo Blade. Ten years ago, she gave up her Cherokee 180. Her last flight in the left seat was in 1996. Now she writes a column … Continue reading Mildred Benson: Toledo Queen of Private Aviation by Michael Marotta
Author: Michael E. Marotta
Instructors by Michael Marotta
I took my first lesson on October 31, 1983 after seeing The Right Stuff. My next three lessons came a year later. Then the following October another lesson. Then nine years went by (where?) and I had two more. Since June 22 of this year, I have been up 10 times. In all, I have … Continue reading Instructors by Michael Marotta
The 1-to-100 Glide: An EAA Chapter Meets a Skydiver by Michael Marotta
"You are up there with your friends. You might be the last one out and you make that 1000-foot three-dimensional dive and you find your grip and you are smiling with your friends and you are not moving at 110 miles an hour but only very slowly together." On Tuesday, August 4, 1998, Brenda O'Brien … Continue reading The 1-to-100 Glide: An EAA Chapter Meets a Skydiver by Michael Marotta
Your Flight Service Station by Michael Marotta
On August 7, Paul Olson from the Dayton Flight Service Station spoke to the Sidney (Ohio) Pilots Association (7I7). Your FSS provides weather briefings as its primary function. You phone 800-WX-BRIEF and you take some menu options and you hear the weather for your departure. The FSS also handles flight plans and can reorient lost … Continue reading Your Flight Service Station by Michael Marotta
The Virtues of Aviation Culture by Michael Marotta
What is the culture of aviation? In what ways do pilots think, talk, and act differently from other people? What is good etiquette in aviation? When is a pilot behaving in a non-aviation or anti-aviation manner? What mechanisms inform us of aviation's unwritten rules and by what means is our behavior corrected when it strays … Continue reading The Virtues of Aviation Culture by Michael Marotta
Switching Instructors by Michael Marotta
Find an instructor you can work with and stick with that CFI until you earn your ticket. That is the usual advice. However -- as the Tulip Craze showed -- most people in most times and places are wrong about most things. Even so, it is still true that the road less travelled is less … Continue reading Switching Instructors by Michael Marotta
Simulators and the VFR Student by Michael Marotta
To see if working with a simulator can help me be a better pilot, I scheduled four hours in two blocks, with two different CFIs. The result is a qualified "Yes." If you understand the reasons why simulators can NOT help VFR students, you can then find a few things to learn that go better … Continue reading Simulators and the VFR Student by Michael Marotta
Radio Gaga by Michael Marotta
Livingston County Airport (OZW) in Howell, Michigan, gets a lot of business from high time pilots who prefer to avoid controlled airspace because they hate talking on the radio. Some of the regulars on the field, including one guy with a Pitts, do not even have radios.In college I worked as a radio disk jockey. … Continue reading Radio Gaga by Michael Marotta
NOT BAD FOR $100 — When you fly to Toledo, eat at Max’s by Michael Marotta
You can land at Toledo Express (TOL) or Metcalf (TDZ) or Toledo Suburban, long ago called Wagonwheel in Lambertville, Michigan, (5G9). That does not matter. What counts is that you get into a car and find Max's. There are two: 2336 South Reynolds Road (414) 865-1044; and 805 North Reynolds Road (414) 531-6627. The food … Continue reading NOT BAD FOR $100 — When you fly to Toledo, eat at Max’s by Michael Marotta
Can Flight Instructors Get Paid Enough? by Michael Marotta
"This is Eric, my flight instructor," I said to my wife. They exchanged greetings and said a few words to each other and then my wife and I walked off to see the rest of the local air show. "He seems so calm," she said. "Yeah," I replied. "But he spends all his time in … Continue reading Can Flight Instructors Get Paid Enough? by Michael Marotta