Very droll, thank you – and by the same token, it was by far the most expensive project I’ve undertaken. Because at the end, I had so thoroughly convinced myself – and, more important, my wife – that we scraped together the various home-equity loans and other piggy banks to get the airplane that was right at the upper limit of our economic bracket, an early model SR20. (And of course I bought it at Full List Price, to avoid a subsequent nightmare of payola suspicions.) Four years later it is still ticking along – and its humble Arnav screen already shows the terrain-avoidance features that Avidyne might someday match!
…and its humble Arnav screen already shows the terrain-avoidance features that Avidyne might someday match!
Not to mention that if you wanted to, you could have had datalink weather on the ARNAV for about the last year, albeit for a hefty price.
In reply to:
Great book however, unlike others, its staying in my bookcase in my FAVORITE room - my mini library.
Mario,
Same here. In fact, so far it’s the ONLY book that’s made it onto my brand new bookcase in my brand new office in my brand new home in Las Vegas! (It will soon be joined by others).
- Mike.
Rich’s book is great, I agree. I even said so in a blurb!
Thanks to all for gracious comments. Having just wrapped up another gigantic Iraq opus, (“another” because of thisthis), I look back with nostalgia on the innocent days of writing about promising innovations in GA.
Jim,
Thanks for the links to your prior articles. I’ve been so busy since M2 that I haven’t had time to look them up to re-read them.
I am also one of the chorus of folks that were impacted by your book. My wife bought it for me while I was contemplating a return to aviation after a 23 year hiatus. Free Flight and AirShares pushed me over the top, and I’ve been smiling since.
Now, if you’d just write a book about how to get your spouse to fly with you I’d be set…
Regards,
Jim
Jim,
At one time I remember you had a blog, but I haven’t been able to find it in ages. Are you still blogging, or did that go with the passing of innocence too?
Hi Curtis – I did an early blog for the Atlantic during the 2000 campaign, and for about a month this spring I did a “ghost blog” on my web site, to see how it would affect my life. I decided it was an either/or choice: to do a good job with a blog, you have to think about it all the time, and I found there was a real tradeoff between that and my actual paying (sort of) job with the magazine. I think on balance blogs are a good thing for the world, but the people with the least compulsion to become bloggers are the lucky few who have outlets in the “normal” press. SInce, for the moment, I am in that fortunate position, I’ll defer bloggery for another time.
OTOH, you should certainly be blogging your upcoming trip!
In reply to:
I’ll defer bloggery for another time.
Jim,
I take it “bloggery” is a sniglet? A word that should exist, but doesn’t? Or does it?
It sounds like an indecent thing, perhaps best if avoided completely. [:)]
- Mike.
In reply to:
Jim,
I take it “bloggery” is a sniglet? A word that should exist, but doesn’t? Or does it?
It sounds like an indecent thing, perhaps best if avoided completely.
- Mike.
Mike,
From the same source you used to define sniglet, it seems that to blog, be blogged, and a blogger are, as follows below. So, “bloggery” should be an acceptable variant…at least not indecent! 
BLOG “On a Web site, a blog, a short form for weblog, is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site and its purpose. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors. The essential characteristics of the blog are its journal form, typically a new entry each day, and its informal style.
The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger. People who post new journal entries to their blog may often say they blogged today, they blogged it to their site, or that they still have to blog.”
I guess a lawyer with his own blog would be engaging in . . . pettibloggery.
James,
This was such an important book that I ordered ten, yes 10 copies, and they were just dropped off by the postman this morning. These will make great presents to some business associates, friends, and a few young people that need their horizons expanded.
Thanks so much for documenting and memorializing this important technological advance which has tremendous relevance to the economic viability of business and commerce.
Bob McElroy
Chris! Not the chute! And the C152- Aerobat… No, never fear, the first chapter is untouched.
(This is a little inside-joke reference to the Dark Stage of my flight training in Seattle, when I went out for spin training with Chris Baker and wished I had six “ReliefBands” along. The first chapter features Chris in a starring role piloting a Cirrus at reed-top level across the broad Missouri river, recreating Lewis and Clark’s progress in their pirouges.)
Cover art was at the insistence of the all-powerful New York publishers, who couldn’t tell a Lancair from a Lionel Train.