Robin Olds on Flying

Fighter pilot legend. Triple Ace. Multiple combat victories against Messerschmitts and MiGs. Married to a Hollywood actress. Son of a General, who became a General himself. College football star. Best Wing Commander in Vietnam. Hard-drinking mustached maverick, who eventually was Commandant of the Air Force Academy. Robin Olds had an amazing career. But let’s look here at some of his (almost sensitive) writing on flying. He first flew at the age of eight, in an open cockpit biplane with his father, a former WWI instructor pilot who became an accomplished aviator and Major General in the United States Army Air Force. In … Continue reading Robin Olds on Flying

The Disciples of Flight movie review

At the end of 2019 I downloaded a new aviation documentary— and it’s gorgeous. Beautifully shot crisp HD images of general aviation flying paired with insightful interviews from a bunch of pilots, including Patty Wagstaff, Rod Machado and NASA’s Dr. Dismukes. You can download it from Disciples of Flight directly for $15, or use Amazon Prime Video. Well worth the price for the visuals alone. The movie’s 93-minutes are all about personal dedication to aviation, about really loving and living flying. There’s no narrator, just lots of hangar interviews cut with super cool flying video. Both feel personal, close, real. … Continue reading The Disciples of Flight movie review

Easy to fly, Hard to fly well.

I’m back from vacation. A highlight was getting to fly a 1930’s Tiger Moth out of an airfield in England. That’s me in the front seat. Absolutely wonderful experience. The instructor said the Tiger Moth was the perfect trainer for all WWII RAF and Empire pilots as it was “easy to fly, hard to fly well”. Well, I certainly proved that! And on reflection, his phrase is true for lots of piloting stuff.