I recently received an email that made me go back in time and think about just how it was that I got to where I am. Here’s the email I received: “Hello Ruth, I admire your work as a pilot and what you offer for student pilots like me who also dream big! I was [...]
This morning I was able to sleep in a bit, especially since I slept with ear plugs in my ears because the refrigerator in my room kept making all sorts of weird noises throughout the night. It sounded like whenever the fan stopped, the fridge was going to jump out into the middle of the [...]
After a couple weeks’ worth of vacationing with my family in my own town (we even got to participate in a local parade), it was time to get Moose to his final home in Arizona. During the down-time, I took Moose to a nearby airport to get the transponder looked at. The avionics technician said [...]
Think you need to be a math whiz to become a pilot? Think again! The truth is, if you have the basic math skills of adding, subtracting, simple multiplication and division, you’ve got what it takes to be a pilot. Take a look at anyone trying to solve a complex math problem, they are focused [...]
330 AM: the alarm sounds. I hit the snooze button and close my eyes thinking how nice it would be to get another hour of sleep. Then I think about how smooth a flight it will be if I get an early enough start before any turbulence builds up from the sun’s heating of the [...]
Thunderstorms – one of those things I don’t ever want to mess with. My plan today was to get to Dease Lake in BC Canada. I didn’t even come close. After a hearty breakfast, I took off around 9am local time from Gulcana, AK for an easy 1-hr flight to Tok Junction. Tok is the [...]
After landing at Kenai airport, I was picked up by Tony, one of Nate’s friends who had the keys to the airplane and gave me a ride to the Soldotna airport. This is only my second time in Alaska, but I get the distinct feeling that people here are kind of like the land and [...]
I’m on my way to Kenai, Alaska on Alaska Airlines flight 85 from Seattle. A few years ago when I was a ferry pilot for hire, risking life and limb to build up flight time, I ferried a Piper Tri-Pacer from Tehachapi, CA to Soldotna, AK in late August. The weather was starting to turn [...]
While some may disagree with me, I have to give a resounding “YES”. Unfortunately, there are many times when I hear pilots touting their “thousands of hours” to less experienced pilots or the public. Even the media tends to inadvertently imply that thousands of flight hours is equivalent to superior skills and experience. Take some [...]
“I’m not good at math, but I want to be a pilot, what should I major in?” OR “I haven’t taken physics or math, but I want to be a pilot, what do I do now?” These are recurring questions that I receive, so I thought I’d answer these questions once and for all. Most [...]