In 2017, entrepreneur and amateur pilot Ravinder Bansal set a new record as the first person of Indian origin to complete a solo flight around the …
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month – Ravinder Bansal, Aviation Pioneer
May 6, 1896 An aviation milestone took place in the vicinity of Quantico, Virginia, when Aerodrome No. 5 made the first successful flights of an …
1896: An Aircraft Resembling an “Enormous Bird” Makes Aviation History above the Potomac River
Full throttle, right rudder and we were headed down the runway. The airspeed indicator read “0”. Come on! I waited for it to pick up. Soon, the nose lifted off the runway, yet the airspeed indicator stayed “0”. “Have I forgotten anything?”, I wondered. But I am getting ahead of my story.
It had been a gorgeous day out in the California Central Coast. When my college friend Manu, decided to visit California, as fellow pilots (and wanna be pilots) we started planning a cross country flight. I had just gotten my license to fly a month ago and had barely taken my first passenger in the air. I was excited and thrilled to plan a flight. In those days most of my cross countries tended to be up and down the California coast line, either following the coastline or Highway 101 which prevented me from getting lost. This was really important since all I had in the cherished 152 I flew those days was a single NAV/COMM. No GPS, no glass cockpit with traffic, weather and all the latest avionics! I navigated using 101 highway or the coastline. So the immediate choice for destination was Monterey.
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A novice instrument rated pilot’s first foray into clouds “
“Cherokee 456, do you have Watsonville information?”
“Negative,” I responded.
“Report back when you do,” said the NORCAL approach controller.
It was sunny, clear and beautiful where we were at 8,000 feet with breathtaking views of lush green hills, blue skies and the ocean in the distance. I am not supposed to allude to seeing any of those as, theoretically, I was under the hood flying under simulated instrument conditions. Four aircraft had set out from San Luis Obispo Airport on our monthly flyout to Watsonville Airport for a $100 hamburger. The plan was to meet at 1:00 p.m. for lunch at Zuniga’s restaurant. It was a beautiful day for flying. The weather in San Luis Obispo was already clear, though low clouds and fog laced the coastline to the north. Monterey and Watsonville were expected to become progressively clearer by the time of our arrival.
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