It’s late June and we’re standing on the dock of Isle Royale Seaplanes’ home base, Torch Lake, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Our pilot is chatting with his six waiting passengers while passing out life vests. He’s trying to sort out who should be seated where within the vintage De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver that will carry…
Author’s Note: In Part 1, we explored many sites along the northern three-quarters of the Natchez Trace full of rich history. In this final installment, we’ll wrap up the tour, covering the southernmost 100 miles of the route, some nearby attractions and the city for which the Trace is named. If you recall from Part…
As pilots, we all share a common interest in modern transport. Often, we fly just for fun, feeding our passion to be airborne. However, King Air category aircraft are primarily a means of rapid transport. They are magic carpets that, in a matter of hours, cover distances that once took weeks, months or even a…
In Part One, we flew to the greater Seattle area and toured the National Park Service (NPS) lands northeast and northwest of the Seattle metro area. That included North Cascades National Park (NCNP), Olympic National Park (ONP) and the various associated National Recreation Areas and NPS lands. In this section, we’ll continue our tour of…
Emerald or jade. Forest or hunter. Turquoise or teal. Whatever adjective one chooses to add to “green,” there is little question you’ll find it in Washington. As a state motto, it’s never been officially adopted, but Washington has long been called “The Evergreen State” for good reason. Seattle, the state’s largest city, is similarly referred…
As we approached the summit of the High Peaks Trail, menacing Turkey Vultures circled overhead. Their inky black feathers and scarlet heads contrasted sharply against the pale blue sky as they effortlessly soared over the cliffs surrounding us. Riding thermals between and around the craggy spires, then crossing the valleys again to repeat each circuit,…
Aviation, like most activities, requires a certain level of expertise. However, it can also be pursued at a wide variety of levels, from recreational for a few dozen flight hours a year, to professional for a thousand flight hours (or more) per year. Thus, “expert” is a loaded term that can mean a variety of…
Seeking a smoother ride, we had descended out of our lofty cruising altitude before crossing the northern border of Arkansas. To increase arrival options, I’d canceled our instrument flight plan in favor of VFR flexibility. The first smooth altitude we found was relatively low. Thus, 10 miles northeast of Hot Springs, Arkansas, the airport was…
In Part I of this series, we explored two of Colorado’s amazing national parks and the airports that serve them – Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), northwest of Denver, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (BCGNP), just east of Montrose. Colorado has two other national parks worthy of your exploration. However, if you…
An old joke among pilots is that flying to anywhere in eastern Colorado is basically just a flight into western Kansas. Indeed, the eastern one-third of Colorado has more in common with Kansas and Nebraska than it does with the mountainous terrain that Colorado is famous for. What is easy to miss is the steady…