Flying the Chippie
Oh, those clever Brits!
It is a U.K. Admiralty Pattern P8 boat compass, which was used in just about all RAF single-engine aircraft during and immediately after World War II. Bombers got the larger P12 variant. They are remarkably easy to steer a course by. Once the outer course ring is set and clamped in place, all one has to do to keep the aircraft on course is to keep the lines floating on the compass card parallel to the “lubber lines” on the course ring, which is much easier than having to constantly remember a course number and head for it.
Graeme Smith / AOPA 6968542
Newport, Rhode Island
Hanging it up
I read with sadness about Wayne Pinger’s painful decision to hang up his solo flying (“Hanging it Up,” January 2023 AOPA Pilot). It is a very personal self-analysis, and I don’t question it since that day might come for each of us. I will say there seems to be another lesson (especially but not only) for those of us getting on in years that has held true since my first minute of dual received. Each one of the items forgotten, from “Avionics on and tuned,” to “Flaps set,” I’m surmising are on a checklist. To Wayne, remember, when it’s all over we still have our stories. I hope you have many.
Marty Krutolow / AOPA 4742504
New York, New York
Towering Presence
I was thumbing through Dave Hirschman’s article on the Cessna 208 amphibian and saw that small photo on page 69 and thought to myself that the “right-seater” looks vaguely like Brian Addis (“Towering Presence,” January 2023 AOPA Pilot). I started reading the article and, lo and behold, it was him. The last time I saw him was in September 2011 at his Wings flight school at South St. Paul airport (SGS) where Wipaire is located.
In 1991, Brian was the FAA designated examiner who signed me off for my single-engine land instrument commercial ticket. I find it very reassuring that Brian is 77 and continues to fly. In my opinion, one of the best hobbies and interests to combat the advances of time is to fly. Now at 71, I have been flying as a pilot with the New Mexico Wing of the of the Civil Air Patrol since 2017 and am currently getting checked-out in our Gippsland GA8.
Hirschman’s article was very interesting to read. And, if you know of a better elixir than aviation for staying sharp, please let me know!
Patrick Morrissey / AOPA 959106
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Is GA safe?
Of all the services AOPA provides, the Early Analysis videos on the @AirSafetyInstitute YouTube channel may be the most valuable. Richard McSpadden says that creating these videos was a defensive move to counter sensationalism (roger that!), but it’s also a proactive move to spread quick, dispassionate analysis among those determined to learn and improve. If you could bookkeep accidents avoided, Early Analysis would be a front-running lifesaver.
Charley Brown / AOPA 1358665
Coppell, Texas
Clarification
When intercepting an NDB bearing (“The Dreaded NBD,” January 2023 AOPA Pilot), you have reached the desired bearing when the degrees of needle deflection equal the intercept angle—in this case, 20 degrees.
Erratum
Louis Zamperini was not shot down; his aircraft crashed after it sustained a mechanical failure (“PlaneTags,” January 2023 AOPA Pilot). AOPA Pilot regrets the error.
Send your comments to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length and style.
Hangar Talk
“The places that we went to were only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicle taking hours or days in some cases. Seeing those places in a single afternoon was cool,” said AOPA Content Producer Alicia Herron of the remote locations she visited during the Lone Pine Fly-In. “Seeing the passion of fly-in co-founders Jeff and Anna Montgomery to bring together their two communities—aviation and Lone Pine—was amazing. On the first day, we went to a local ice cream shop, met the owners, and got to talking about aviation with them. They ended up coming out to the airport the following night for a bonfire. Without the work of organizers Anna and Jeff, Matt McDonald, and Dustin Mosher, that would have never happened.” Herron chronicles her adventures in “Once Upon a Time in the West,” p. 50.
One of videographer Josh Cochran’s first assignments when he joined the AOPA staff in 2014 was a low-level AirCam flight to the Bahamas that lasted hours. “I figured he’d either love flying after that or hate it,” said AOPA Editor at Large Dave Hirschman, “and the bottom line was that he absolutely loved it. He got out of the AirCam tired but beaming.” Since then, Cochran (left) has earned his own private pilot certificate, flown in aerobats and bombers, and his calm, focused bearing and wry wit put his companions at ease. On the trip to Nevis, he flew right seat in the Baron (with AOPA Director of Photography Chris Rose in back) and operated multiple video cameras that recorded the superlative views you’ll be seeing on AOPA media channels (see “Chasing Alexander Hamilton,” p. 60).
AOPA Director of Photography Chris Rose met former U.S. Air Force pilot extraordinaire Jon Engle at an International Society for Aviation Photography conference in Texas. The former U–2 pilot started his business, Green Eyes Aero, after retirement from the U.S. Air Force. He conducts aerial photography, aerial surveillance, and habitat oversight from his 1942 L–4 Grasshopper in Charleston, South Carolina. So impressed with Engle, Rose thought of him first when assigned this month’s Destinations’ story on Charleston (see “Southern Charm,” p. 70). Engle arranged the air-to-air photography on these pages, although he could not arrange the weather; it was a remarkably cold, rainy, and overcast several days in the usually balmy southern city. The admiration for a fellow photographer is mutual; Engle requested this photo saying, “It’s not often one gets a photo of themselves with the best in their field.”
General aviation takes you to unexpected places—it’s both the joy and the challenge. Traveling to Tofino in British Columbia was a highly anticipated joy for Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker, who like many had not been out of the country since before the pandemic. Challenge 1: Book the trip the second the borders opened. Challenge 2: Find accommodations at a popular summer destination days before you are to leave. Challenge 3: Videographer Josh Cochran’s family has COVID; cancel his travel arrangements, no refunds. Challenge 4: Forget your passport, realize a passport card says, “Land and sea only.” Challenge 5: Admit this to AOPA Director of Photography Chris Rose at 6 a.m. at BWI airport. Challenge 6: Drive from Seattle to Vancouver with a slightly angry colleague. Challenge 7: Oh, never mind, it didn’t get any easier. Except flying in a de Havilland Beaver into the wild and beaching on a gravel bar—that’s the joy. See “At the End of the Earth,” p. 80.
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