A Time of Joy and Peace

December 2021 – As I write this, it's about a week before American Thanksgiving. Typically the following weekend is when everyone puts up their Christmas lights, but when you receive this it's almost going to be Christmas, so I'd like to wish all our readers the best of good times for the holiday season and the safest of aviation experiences. Of course, good wishes don't always respond with good outcomes, so I'd also like to encourage our readers to send in an idea or two on what makes them a safer pilot. We do try in this newsletter to promote ideas of aviation safety. Tell us about an experience you had that you learned an important lesson from. Share something. Who knows, you might save a life. 

On the “good news” side, I did have a very nice flight down to my winter tiedown in Venice, Florida. It was almost a boring three-hour solo flight from the Atlanta area. I am very happy to have installed a Dynon Autopilot in my aircraft. It was relatively inexpensive (about $1,500 total, I think) and performs really well. But, yeah, it's boring.

Those of you who thought I'd forgotten about the “prolific builder” series, think again. There must be many of you out there who have built more than one amateur-built aircraft, so I'm asking you to step up and tell us your story. Once you're done, you're done.

Hasn't Zoom changed the world? I don't have time to attend all the chapter Zoom meetings I'm invited to and I suspect many of you feel the same way. Chapter 266 in Montreal recently initiated a “coffee morning Zoom meeting” as a way to keep those relationships going. What a great idea. Is this the way of the future? I think it might be. Maybe I could convince my friends in Bromont to do a Saturday morning coffee Zoom meeting.

We'd like to wish you all safe flying, a happy Christmas, and stay well (you know how).