Gliders Posts

Egrett & Perlan 2, AirVenture’s High Flyers
July 27, 2022

Egrett & Perlan 2, AirVenture’s High Flyers

Attracted to unusual and unknown aircraft, I walked past the record-setting Airbus Perlan 2 stretching its 84-foot wingspan across AirVenture’s Boeing Plaza to find out what the large, white turboprop was and why its fuselage was a series of l…
Review: Eric Brown’s Wings on My Sleeve, the Life of Flying’s Forrest Gump
March 7, 2022

Review: Eric Brown’s Wings on My Sleeve, the Life of Flying’s Forrest Gump

Like many history-obsessed aviation geeks, I had a passing knowledge of Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown defined by the most common bullet points that most often summarized his life. He was (he passed in 2016 at age 97) a Royal Navy aviator a…
Promote Aviation With Inclusive Participation
Sept. 6, 2021

Promote Aviation With Inclusive Participation

Over the decades, the Young Eagles program has given millions of youngsters what, in many cases, were their inaugural flights in an aircraft smaller than a transport category airliner. This includes my kids and my grandchildren, which gives you an i…
Gliders Launch with 454 Cubic Inches of Pull
June 17, 2019

Gliders Launch with 454 Cubic Inches of Pull

Gliders—sailplanes—are engineless flying machines powered by gravity’s conversion of altitude into airspeed. Without a doubt, they are aviation’s purest expression of flying for fun. It is also the most social aeronautical neighborhood, …