“The Hot Mic” – 2014 Best LOL Story
“The Hot Mic” – 2014 Best LOL Story, Aviatrix Aerogram: My love of flight continued even through humiliating episodes. Mine included radio problems. One morning, I was in the pattern with a ‘hot’ mic, and talking out loud over my headset about how hot I thought my landings were: “*@!good one!” and other choice phrases, […]
FAA Recognizes MJ Marggraff
From the Aviation Business Gazette: FAA recognizes Mary Jo Marggraff Lafayette-based pilot sets positive example The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is recognizing Mary Jo Marggraff with inclusion in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database. The database, which appears on the agency’s website at www.faa.gov, names Marggraff and other certified pilots who have met or […]
Story of the Week March 21, 2015: On Fire
On Fire Sirens scream while lights, like fireworks of red and white, slice at twinkling skies. Engines slow, firemen race inside for the old couple. Blanket-wrapped, on the street, they whisper: “Think they’ll figure it out?” The Chief sadly reports: “The cause is under investigation.” They nod, squeezing closer, bedroom sheets smoldering. Selected Story of […]
More from HI-SEAS
The dome and my correspondence with the Astronauts inside: I am communicating with Zak, who is halfway through his mission with HI-SEAS -3. The ways in which the crew of 6 inside manage their decisions on priorities of tasks and resources will help future long-term space flight crews understand how to manage conflicts. Conflicts, after […]
Women, Risk, and Fear
Women have a natural defense alerting us to what is intuitively unsafe. Thank goodness. The expansion of the human race may be credited to her care. Perhaps that is why less than 7% of pilots are women. But data show us that our accident rate is much lower. Taking on fear and risk may not […]
Being Brave
Bravery does not describe me. I’m too imperfect for that. Learning to fly, twelve years ago when in my forties, was a dream to follow, not a dream feared. My biggest flying fear—my biggest dragon—was fearing that I would not be perfect enough at it. The next biggest dragon: my impatience to be perfect at […]
When Being Busy Isn’t Enough, Embrace Your Dream and Do What You Love
My day planner was filled—line by line, day by day. Each morning I consulted it and prepared for the list of duties it dictated about how I would spend my time. Blank lines on its future pages didn’t wait long for ink to fill them. My corporate days as a manager were behind me, and […]
Tips from Space — Feb. 20, 2015
Mount Diablo Pilots Association: Tips from Space — Feb. 20, 2015 This was a lot of fun. Right outside was the airfield where I had first soloed in 2004. The sky was clear (pilots have a habit of looking up) and the control tower had its night-time beacon on, green and white blinking across […]
Entering “The Beast”
My classmates and I before we enter “The Beast” behind us. This centrifuge is the world’s best to simulate leaving Earth’s gravity hold–making the weight of Mach 3.5 acceleration feel up to 5 times the weight of my body. Once in the gondola, it’s up to us to apply what we’ve learned so we don’t […]