America's Greatest Aviator?

Everyone's favorite flying beagle

I’ve known it for some time, but to see it in print so eloquently laid out for believer and skeptic alike (“America’s Greatest Aviator?” March 2025 AOPA Pilot). Right there between articles about aircraft powered by electrons and how not to get killed in low IMC, it was. Peanuts’ Snoopy as America’s undisputed top aviator! Having personally watched him go from World War I flying ace to astronaut walking on the moon, I knew it—he had to be it. The best of the best. Thanks to Dennis K. Johnson for putting it to paper and Charles M. Schulz for making it so.

Ken Chapman

Advance, North Carolina

Pursuit of Excellence

Kudos to the new AOPA president, Darren Pleasance, for his editorial comments (“Pursuit of Excellence,” March 2025 AOPA Pilot). If all pilots were trained to understand and practice airmanship (i.e., courtesy, consistency, and competency), the current federal aviation regulations could be reduced by a large percentage.

David Cowan

Kenmore, Washington

As a 50-plus year member of AOPA, I’d like to welcome our new president to our association, and as a fellow CFI, I’d like to agree with him in saying we should “always be learning,” a tagline I’ve carried with me for longer than I’ve been an AOPA member.

As both a CFI and a Professional Ski Instructors of America ski instructor, I’ve tried to encourage my students not to fly—or ski—on autopilot. Not the autopilot in the panel, but rather the autopilot in our brains. I’ve seen far too many people get down the hill or into the sky in the same old way they’ve always done it: on autopilot, not thinking whether they’re skidding in an uncoordinated turn or carving a coordinated turn. In both skiing and in flying (and life!), it takes a higher level of ability to carve a turn. Practice it and think about it. Best of luck to President Pleasance, and remember “happy feet” on takeoff, final, and all other times you need them. And most of all: Always be learning.

Burt Stevens

Woodbury, Connecticut

Keep Them Flying

Julie Summers Walker provided an excellent spotlight on a vital aircraft industry (“Keep Them Flying,” February 2025 AOPA Pilot). I held Jim Dyer when he was two weeks old. His grandmother, Veta, was babysitting her grandson. At the time, I operated the FBO next door and had performed repairs to their Bonanza after a landing gear mishap. I am glad to see the company is in good hands and the Bonanza is still in the family. I am 82 years old now, and I’m still maintaining airplanes and relying on Univair for parts.

Rex Myers

Spring Hill, Florida

Tag! You’re It!

When talking with Mike Ginter at the Buckeye Air Fair, I complimented Ian Arendt's article (“Tag! You're It!” March 2025 AOPA Pilot). I have been an FAA aviation safety inspector for 24 years and have learned how important it is to explain regulatory compliance in very exact and accurate ways. I found Arendt's article explaining condition notices to be clear, thorough, balanced, and completely accurate in every aspect. It provides great benefit to all aircraft owners and operators who read it.

L. Pete Kelley

Scottsdale, Arizona

Classic Champion

I’ve read Ian J. Twombly's writing for years in aviation media, and I don’t normally respond to articles. However, I was so delighted by his tests of classic tailwheel airplanes (“Classic Champion,” February 2025 AOPA Pilot) that I had to chime in.

I had the pleasure of being the steward of a 1939 J–3 (85 horsepower) for 15 years. I sold the airplane five years ago when I moved from a grass strip behind my house to a Class D airport where I currently base my Archer. Every time I open a magazine and see a Cub or observe one flying overhead it brings a big grin to my face and evokes great memories of flying my grandkids and 100 other people over the countryside at 500 feet. As the article correctly points out, the airplane was slow. I once saw a lady putting clothes up on a clothes-line in the distance. By the time I reached her house, she was taking them in. It would sometimes struggle out of the 4,000-foot grass strip on a hot day with two grown men and climb at an alarming rate (not the good kind of alarming). It was difficult to see over the nose, but I finally, after a few hundred hours, was able to land without bystanders wincing in agony. The Cub did excel, however, at the “fun factor,” and I never brought a passenger back without an ear-to-ear grin. I knew which airplane was the winner before I finished the article.

Alan L. Dominy

The Woodlands, Texas

Flying for Barbecue

I enjoyed Julie Summers Walker's article “Flying for Barbecue” (March 2025 AOPA Pilot), and since it is near suppertime as I type, I’m hungry for North Carolina barbecue!

I’ve lived in North Carolina, near the UNC at Chapel Hill campus, for the past 35-plus years and have visited a couple of the places you included in your article, but I still want to try Grady’s. I had never heard of it. And while I’ve heard of Lexington Barbecue, I’ve never dined there. Not yet anyway. So, thanks for showcasing some of the North Carolina heritage barbecue joints!

Ray Lovinggood

Carrboro, North Carolina

To Julie Summers Walker and David Tulis: As a retired ink-stained wretch (UPI nearly 20 years, seven in Raleigh where I got my private ticket in July 1979) and as a barbecue aficionado: Thanks for the memories of Carolina ‘cue’ and flying. I think a long-lost logbook had some W40 entries. Knowing the subject is incendiary, I observe only that all barbecue is good but, pork—chopped or pulled—is gooder, and pork with vinegar-based sauce is goodest. And with all due respect to the crowd that likes Maurice’s, mustard sauce and pork are two words I believe should never be uttered together. Could I get a little sweet tea with that, please?

Eliot Brenner

Annandale, Virginia

Proficient Pilot

I am a retired commercial pilot, and I have followed Barry Schiff's work over the years, in fact since I began flying back in 1977. Yes, back when an omni indicator with a glide slope and an ADF was considered a full panel. Add a DME and you were in heaven. I just wanted to let him know, through all of it, I have analyzed, enjoyed, and agreed with about everything he has ever pondered or taken a stand on when it comes to flying. Like Barry, my oldest son is now an accomplished commercial pilot enjoying a gratifying career. It’s a new generation of flying, and these guys are, and will be, flying stuff he and I had only dreamed of, it seems, not that long ago. I consider Barry to be one of aviation’s greats. His passion for this thing we call flight is apparent in everything he has written, and his ability to put that passion to paper is a gift in and of itself.

Richard Hesson

Pasadena, Maryland

Barry Schiff responds: Thank you for those kind words. Omni might be archaic, but it was certainly easier to use in many ways than some of the newer glass panels. We used to be able to climb into any light airplane and know instantly how to use the avionics. Not so now. Each glass panel seems different and, in some ways, more complex than the other.

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