Author Archives: stingraydoctor

About stingraydoctor

Biologist

Ride to Santa Barbara

Axel Meyer, a professor of evolutionary biology from Germany, was in town for a few days. He likes to fly and I had not seen him for a while so, with Colin’s connivance, we hooked up for a morning of … Continue reading

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Late Night Thoughts on Flying and Writing

I stopped writing on this blog because it was made crashingly clear to me that not only was it a public forum, but that some people regarded it as non-fiction. I was appalled at first, indignant that a writing exercise … Continue reading

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Urban Flying

The LA basin is a wonderful place to fly.  Losing an engine more than 10 miles from an airport is really hard to do and the low level flying provides striking images.  What I like best about it (aside from … Continue reading

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Learning About IMC

You could probably fill an album with photos of Colin and me flying that look much like this. You may think we were posing for the camera, but this is a candid shot with our customary in-flight expression, taken by … Continue reading

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Florida Flight Extravaganza

Pat Hernandez and I attended a scientific meeting in Orlando and capped it with an amazing trip to the keys to visit my aunt and uncle. We rented a 172SP out of Kissimee. The check out ride with Sunstate Aviation … Continue reading

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Book: The Proficient Pilot Series

Okay, I know I said the whole book review thing was a dead loss for me, but here is another. The best book I have read since learning to fly is volume one in Barry Schiff’s proficient pilot series. This … Continue reading

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A Nice Vegas hop in a DA40

Here are two happy fellows headed into the sunset after a very nice trip to Las Vegas. I went to Long Beach and flew a DA-40 up to Colin at SMO.  The landing was perfectly acceptable considering it was my … Continue reading

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Book: Real Flying Tips – 101 Things to Do

What am I doing blogging? I should be writing a grant. I should be flying. Anything but blogging. Worse, I am writing a book review. I never saw the point of Colin’s, but here I am with one myself. I … Continue reading

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Long past bed

Well, it is long past bedtime but I am still flying around in my mind so I will jot down a few quick thoughts on the recent trip to Catalina with Colin. I rented a 172 at South Bay Aviation. … Continue reading

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Bounce Number Two: Stay Ahead of the Plane

Colin and I strapped in again on Thursday for an airport bounce. The aim was to really try out the Diamond DA20 as well as get some more new airports into the log book. We rented the plane from South … Continue reading

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