I enjoyed a great night of aviation at the AOPA Pilot Town Meeting tonight. Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association President, Phil Boyer, spends about a week each month traveling around the country to meet with pilots and to talk about issues that are near and dear to pilots. I remember attending a Pilot Town Meeting several years ago and was excited to see Phil was bringing his show to Chicago.
I arrived nearly an hour early so that I could save some seats for fellow members of the Chicago Aviation Meetup Group who were going to join me for the event. As is often the case at any pilot get together or at a local airport it is nearly impossible to be alone long around pilots. Within seconds of sitting down I was engaged in a conversation with several fellow pilots. One of which was a remarkable man, Clarence (Clancy) Hess. Clancy was one of the first members of AOPA when he joined for the price of $3 in 1940. He was a Marine Aviator in WWII and also was a co-founder of Wings of Hope, a non-profit organization that delivers food and medical assistance to third world countries. He shared with me and a few fellow pilots some amazing photos including one of him with Jimmy Doolitle who inspired Clancy to pursue aviation. Clancy was recently inducted into the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame.
In looking around the room it was obvious why AOPA is working so hard to bring new pilots into aviation as the median age had to be close to if not over 50 years of age. I knew that this particular AOPA event had both presentations for current pilots and for prospective pilots. I was excited that three of the six members of the Chicago Aviation Meetup Group who were able to attend were interested in learning to fly. Mid-way through the evening those interested in learning to fly were taken to a separate room to learn about the steps it takes to learn to fly. As a special gift, AOPA presented them each with a voucher for a free introductory flight. It was great hearing from the three future pilots after the meeting, each of them sounded very excited about taking the introductory flight. A.J. commented that he always knew he wanted to fly, he even was close to attending Embry Riddle to learn to fly but chose another career path. He now wants to get into aviation and stop putting off his dream of flying. He said this event just fueled his interest in learning to fly which was great to see.
Another fun story was from Mark, a private pilot who has not flown in several months. He mentioned this weekend he was outside when his young daughter pointed to the sky and said "airplane". He was so excited he took her to the local airport and showed her the planes up close as they watched from the fence line as planes came and went. He is looking forward to getting current again this spring and taking his daughter flying.
Tonight my eyes were opened once again to what I already knew but just needed a reminder of; all of us pilots are very passionate about aviation. In most cases it is a love affair we have had since we were children. It is our duty as pilots to be good ambassadors for aviation. We need to be vigilantly looking for the twinkle in one's eye when the topic of aviation comes up or one's attention is drawn to an overflying plane and we need to seize that moment to share our passion for flying with that person. I know I find great joy in helping people step away from the fence line and cross over to the tarmac to take an introductory flight or simply to visit an FBO or look at the inside of a General Aviation plane.
Tonight was one of those great nights where I enjoyed the camaraderie of other pilots and remembered again what a joy it is to have the privilege of flying. Thanks AOPA for looking out for the interests of pilots and offering this great forum to bring fellow aviators together for a great evening!
The photo above is of several Chicago Aviation Meetup Group Members along with the President of AOPA Phil Boyer and Clancy Hess. (Left to Right: Rob, Catrina, Phil, Clancy, A.J. & Myself.)
As frequent readers of this site know, I have been mostly disappointed by the lack of quality aviation apparel available through catalogs, websites or at airshows. I decided to do something about it and create a line of t-shirts inspired by aviation.
Roger Wilco Wear was developed with the pilot in mind; our line of t-shirts utilize elements familiar to pilots. After spending hours looking at sectionals I realized that images from the sectional chart would make for great t-shirts and many of our offerings feature those images.
The site currently features airport specific t-shirt designs including Door County Cherrlyand Airport, Lunken Field Airport, New Garden Airport, Palwaukee Municipal Airport, Van Nuys Airport. Each week we release a new airport specific shirt as our Aviation T-Shirt of the Week. Let me know if there is a shirt you would like to see featured.
Additionally, we offer several customizable t-shirts. We have a General Aviation Pilot t-shirt that can be customized to include your home airport three letter identifier. Additionally, we offer custom t-shirts that let you commemorate where you flew your first solo or learned to fly.
One last note, our t-shirts are being sold through Spreadshirt.com. They will handle fulfillment of your order and unfortunately, I will not know specifically who has bought a t-shirt. So please drop me a line if you buy one!
Visit the store today at RogerWilcoWear.com
As a pilot and aviation enthusiasts I love pretty much all things plane related. A few years ago Discovery Channel had a show called Wing Nuts that followed two artists who founded a company called MotoArt. MotoArt builds and sells furniture made out of used airplane parts. Their work surely makes any aviation buff salivate. Sadly, because these are functional pieces of art and not just plain old furniture they cost a little more than I currently want to spend on a desk. But, I keep their site bookmarked for the day when I am ready for a slick airplane wing desk.
MotoArt is not the only group that fuses art, furniture and aviation heritage together. I came across InterFlightStudio recently, they create not only aviation furniture but contemporary art and design as well.
I went the cheap wrote a few weeks ago and instead of ordering a desk from IFS or MotoArt I simply bought a few MotoArt t-shirts and a hat. My order was slightly delayed as they had run out of hats. Though they made up for it by sending me an extra hat with my order - thanks MotoArt! So, that means one of my readers lucks out. Leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail via the contact form between now and November 15th and you will be entered to win the extra MotoArt Baseball Cap.
Good Luck!
Back in August I mentioned that Pilot Getaways Magazine feature Door County as one of their destinations for their July / August issue. Since Door County is one of my favorite places to fly I enjoyed seeing their take on it. For the most part I think they did an excellent job as usual, though they missed out on two of my favorite sites.
So I sent the editor a note mentioning that they overlooked two great aerial sites for pilots flying over the Door County Peninsula, corn mazes and shipwrecks. I just received the September / October issue of Pilot Getaways Magazine and was honored to see my letter to the editor included as well as a photo I shot this summer of the local corn maze.
The Chicago Aviation Meetup Group August event was a tour of the Chicago Executive Airport control tower. Chicago Executive (formerly Palwaukee) is a Class D airport with three active runways. Although on Saturday only two runways were active as runway 6/24 was partially underwater from recent storms in the area.
There were five other group members that joined me for the tour. I believe I was the only certified pilot in the group but several members were working on their pilots license while others are thinking about it.
When we arrived there were three tower controllers in the tower one that was on a mandatory one-hour break and the one managing aircraft on the ground and another managing inbound and outbound aircraft. Luckily there was not a ton of traffic so the controllers were able to talk to us and explain what they were doing for the few aircraft that were maneuvering on the field or in the surrounding airspace.
One of the controllers showed us the light gun that is used to communicate with planes that are having radio communication problems. He asked if I had ever seen it in use which I have not. He mentioned that next time I am flying if their load is not to much to ask and he will shine it for me to see from the plane, which supposedly it is very easy to see at day or night. So I have added that to my next flight to-do list.
This was my second visit to a control tower and I have found both visits to be enjoyable and educational. I highly recommend a control tower tour for any pilot or pilot in training.
If you are in the Chicago area and interested in meeting up with other aviation enthusiasts check out our aviation group on Meetup.com.
I recently became the manager of the Chicago Aviation Group at Meetup.com. The point of the group is to bring local aviation enthusiast together once a month to talk about aviation or embark on some sort of aviation adventure.
We have scheduled our first get together for Saturday, August 25th at Chicago Executive Airport (Formerly Palwaukee) where we will take a tour of their control tower. For pilots it is a great learning experience to see what the Controllers life is like. While I was training for my private pilots license I toured the tower at Lunken Field in Cincinnati and found it very beneficial. For an aviation enthusiast it is a rare opportunity to see how a controlled airport works and how the airport tower controllers manage the airport operations.
If you are interested in joining the Chicago Aviation Group visit the group page on Meetup.com. You can learn more about this first event on the event detail page.
I am an avid reader of Pilot Getaways Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine featuring great destinations for pilots. After reading their 2005 article about flying the Hudson River Corridor I followed some of their advice and enjoyed an amazing flight along the New York skyline. In addition to enjoying learning about new places to fly, I like seeing how they cover airports I have flown in or out of. They have covered some of my favorite airports like Ephraim Gibraltar Airport (Summer 2004) and Cincinnati's Lunken Field(Nov./Dec. 2005). The July/August issue just arrived and I was excited to see this issue has an article Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, one of my favorite places to fly.
For the past few summers I have flown several flights out of Door County Cherryland Airport (Sturgeon Bay, WI) and enjoyed the aerial views of the Door County Peninsula. Flying over the peninsula offers wonderful views of Lake Michigan, Sturgeon and Green Bay, corn mazes and shipwrecks. The article gave some great tips on places to visit while visiting the Door Peninsula. I recommend a flight to the Door County area to any pilot. The folks at Orion Flight Service are sure to take good care of you during your visit.
If you are not already a Pilot Getaways subscriber, visit their website today to subscribe.
I thought I would share a photo of my favorite new aviation enthusiast TallyDog. She is seen here playing with her new favorite toy, a plush bi-plane, which we have named “Barney the Barnstormer”.
Tally is my six month old Golden Retriever puppy. She is named after my favorite little town in Alaska, Talkeetna. Talkeetna is home of a great general aviation airstrip and Talkeetna Air Taxi which offers amazing site seeing flights of Denali is based there. Supposedly Talkeetna that inspired the fictitious town of Cicely from Northern Exposure.
I am not sure if I will push aviation further on her and get her in a plane anytime soon. I have always kind laughed in the pilot catalogs with those headsets made specifically to protect a dogs ears like Mutt Muffs.
I have often been disappointed in the lack of quality aviation themed apparel. Every pilot has seen in every pilot shop they have ever been in the lame ladies t-shirt that says "Remove Before Flight" or the men's boxer shorts version with the same phrase. At every air show there is booth after booth of military themed t-shirts with loud designs and of course you will also find the tasteless t-shirts as well.
I always enjoy it when I can find aviation apparel with a nice clean and simple design that communicates my love for aviation without clashing with any other item of clothing. That is why I was so excited when I stumbled upon Red Canoe Brands. Sure the name does not give away that the company would have a strong focus on aviation themed clothing, but they do. Half their inventory is part of their National Heritage Brands line, which is a line of Canadian heritage apparel. The other focus is in vintage aviation apparel mainly using logos from companies like Cessna, De Havilland, American Airlines, Austin Airways and Stearman. They have a nice line of t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats.
I like to wear a hat when I fly to help with the sun and to be a buffer between my head and my headset. I noticed they had a nice selection of hats including a De Havilland branded hat. I thoroughly enjoyed a flight in a De Havilland Beaver while in Alaska a few years back so I decided that would be the right one for me. I rounded out the order with a Cessna sweatshirt. Though, I have a feeling I might be back to pick up a vintage looking Cessna Stow Bag.
I have a 45-minute daily commute on Chicago's El. Lately, I have been taking advantage of the time to watch aviation videos on my video iPod. There are several sources of videos that I have enjoyed thus far.
I started off by downloading iSquint which allowed me to easily convert my Sporty�s Private Pilot Flight Training Course, a series of six DVDs dedicated to the techniques and knowledge needed to earn your private pilots license. These were a powerful resource while learning to fly and I continue to refer to them from time to time to keep current.
Sporty's recently created a Download Center on their site where training videos can be downloaded for use on personal computers or mobile devices. I downloaded the 25-minute Descent & Landing Air Facts video. I enjoyed the content and having the ability to watch it on my iPod but wished they could provide this quality content for less than $9.95, which is a bit steep for less than 30 minutes of content.
For more than a year I have been enjoying Jason Miller's "The Finer Points" aviation podcast. I have always enjoyed listening to his podcasts during my commute. From time to time his podcast includes video content as well. He recently launched a new site, OnTheFlightLine.com, where he is publishing some aviation videos. So far there is limited content there but I look forward to seeing future videos.
