Aviation events, destinations, and field reporting with Ramp. Airshow coverage, fly-in previews, airport restaurants, pilot destination guides, and the human stories behind the machines.
The shirttail cut is aviation's oldest training ritual, tracing directly to tandem-cockpit instruction when an instructor's tug on the fabric was the primary means of physical communication.
Sedona Airport (KSEZ) sits atop Airport Mesa at 4,830 feet MSL - one of the Southwest's most scenic GA destinations with serious density altitude risks to plan for.
Hangar flying - pilots swapping stories at airports - is more than tradition. It's one of general aviation's most effective and underrated knowledge-transfer systems.
Catalina Island Airport (KAVX) sits at 1,600 feet on a Pacific ridge 22 nautical miles offshore - a ridge-top runway with ocean on both sides and bison grazing the infield.
Schafer Meadows is a 2,100-foot grass strip in the heart of Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness - one of the only mechanized access points into 1.5 million acres of roadless wild country.
The silent language of the transient ramp - what marshalling signals mean, what line crew actually see, and why the person with the wands deserves your complete trust.
Big Creek Airport (U60) sits deep in Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness - accessible only by air and one of the most rewarding backcountry strips in the lower 48.
The shirt tail cut is aviation's oldest solo tradition, tracing back to WWI-era open cockpit biplanes where it served a practical purpose before becoming a rite of passage.
Johnson Creek (3U2) is Idaho's crown-jewel backcountry grass strip where pilots camp under the wing and soak in wild hot springs.
Mile-Hi is a one-way Idaho backcountry strip where pilots commit on final with no go-around. Here's what makes it so demanding.
The free FBO crew car is general aviation's greatest tradition - here's where it came from and the unwritten code every pilot follows.
Fly into Gaston's (3M0), a 3,200-ft grass strip on Arkansas's White River where pilots taxi up to trout dinners and riverside cottages.
Triple Tree Aerodrome in South Carolina offers a 7,000-foot manicured grass runway and a legendary fall fly-in for GA pilots.
Catalina's Airport in the Sky sits 1,602 feet up on an island runway with a blind hump - here's what pilots need to know.
At Beaumont, Kansas, you land on grass, taxi down Main Street, and tie your airplane to a light pole outside a hotel dating to 1879.
Moose Creek (1U1) is a remote Forest Service grass airstrip in Idaho's Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness - here's its history and how to fly it safely.
Sedona Airport sits atop a mesa in Arizona's red rocks - a 5,132-ft crowned runway pilots call the USS Sedona. Here's how to fly it safely.
The FBO crew car is aviation's greatest tradition - a free courtesy car offered on trust, with unwritten rules every pilot should know.
How pilots rebuilt Idaho's Big Creek Lodge (U60) board by board after a 2008 fire, flying every piece into the wilderness.
Fly into Gaston's White River Resort (3M0), a grass strip in the Arkansas Ozarks where you tie down under the trees and eat river trout.