Aviation Blog
Airports, Airplanes & Pilots
Nebraska’s Venerable Lyon Retires
Jan 6th
Bill Lyon, Deputy Director of Operations has retired from the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics (NDA) after serving the state as a pilot and administrator for more than 40 years.
With an Airline Transport Pilot rating, Bill retires with over 16,000 hours in a wide variety of aircraft. I count it an honor and a privilege to have shared the flight deck with him for a very small percentage of those hours.
Whether in the cockpit of a Cessna 182 or the Department’s Piper Navajo or Cheyenne, I spent many hours flying above the expansive Nebraska landscape, talking about aviation, talking about life and soaking up bits of wisdom from this skilled aviator.
As the Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics between the years of 1992 and 1998 I had the opportunity to work with Bill not only in the air but on the ground, in good times and the challenging times as well. It is through the day to day grind that you truly get to know a person.
A definition of venerable is, “commanding respect by virtue of age, dignity, character, or position” – all fine characteristics and each can be attributed to Bill. But, the one that stands out to me More >
Memories of the Downtown Kansas City Airport
Nov 9th
I use to fly into Kansas City Downtown airport quite a bit in my early flying days. It brings back both pleasant memories and a not so pleasant one. I read recently of the completion of a $90 million revitalization project at the airport last week.
The project featured a new general aviation terminal building, construction of 96 hangars, including 12 with radiant floor heating; a self-service fuel island; and runway and taxiway rehabilitation.
Dedicated by Charles Lindbergh in 1927, Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport is the city’s first airport and still one of its busiest. Originally home to commercial aviation, the airport now attracts a large number of corporate, charter and recreational flyers.
The good memories are of the days I would ride along with a friend who flew freight in a Piper Aerostar. The route consisted of a late night departure from Omaha’s Eppley Airfield to Lambert Field in St. Louis. We would drop our cargo, pick up new, and then head to Kansas City, arriving at the Downtown airport around 4:00 A.M. We would then get a couple of hours of shut-eye in the pilot’s lounge before heading to Lincoln, Nebraska and then back to Omaha.
The not-so-fond memory came from More >
Land-O-Matic Makes “Flying Like Driving”
Nov 9th
In the late 50′s Cessna and their nationwide network of dealers did a great job marketing the company’s new C-172 by mailing out postcards to prospective students and owners.
My mom recently presented me with a stack of old post cards she had been saving, including the one shown with this article. The shiny C-172 pictured with a first generation Corvette certainly caught my eye today as I’m sure it must have for anyone who saw it back in the day.
Late 1950's Cessna Postcard
This particular post card was addressed to my dad, Sam Stevens, and came from Clinch Flying Service, a Cessna dealer, located at the Municipal Airport in North Platte, Nebraska. It was postmarked April 10, 1957 and was a reminder that ground school class would be held on the following Saturday at 10:00 A.M. The back of the post card reads, [Take a "drive" in the sky in this amazing new airplane, the Cessna 172 with patented "Land-O-Matic" landing gear. It makes "flying like driving!" See and fly one at your nearest Cessna Dealer today.]
My dad got to fly the 172 on lots of cross countries back then. He got his Private license in Tulsa Oklahoma in the mid fifties More >
Looking Up
Aug 9th
I like to take walks in the early evening, just as the sun is setting. It helps to clear my head, reflect on the day’s activities and wonder where my next steps may take me. Interestingly, I noticed that I tend to look up at the sky for most of the walk, not to the point of bumping into things or falling off the curb, but I look from the horizon up and not the horizon down.
In classic chicken and egg thinking, I don’t know if I look up because I love airplanes or if it’s because I love the sky and planes just happen to be there. In the few days following 9-11, it was eerie not seeing any airplanes in the sky but I nevertheless still looked up. There is something about the infinity of the sky – it gives me hope.
Now, there is something to be said about terra firma, it’s nice to have my feet firmly planted on solid ground and indeed the ground is teaming with life and opportunity, but the call of the sky and the great expanse beyond it is tough to ignore.
For generations the sky has offered us adventure, mystery and More >
Glamorization of thievery may be sending the wrong message about our airports!
Jul 1st
With the news that 20th Century Fox has purchased the rights for a film based on the exploits of the bare-foot bandit, are we sending the message to every would-be thief in America that our GA airports are easy marks? News reports are growing and their seems to be a quiet expectation and longing for word on the continued exploits of the young fugitive, accused of stealing planes, cars and boats. Beginning along the West Coast, he has most recently brought his passion for crime to the Midwest with apparent break-ins at airports in South Dakota and Nebraska. Colton Harris-Moore, dubbed the “barefoot bandit” because he was without shoes when he allegedly broke into houses in Oregon and Washington, may be inadvertently the cause of the media’s message that thievery is easy at general aviation airports. If the allegations against Harris-Moore, 19, are true, the young man may be becoming more desperate, if not dangerous, according to some reports. Everyone loves a good story but we don’t want to create a birthing ground for would-be copycats who crave the attention of a nation-wide audience and a little milk to the point of causing, accidently or not, the loss of life. More >
