New Blogs I’ve Been Reading

There is an entire aviation blogging community out there, much like we are in the gun blogging community here. Well, except they don’t have quite the circle-the-wagons mentality we have here in the gun blogging community. That’s probably because the FAA doesn’t do felony busts because a pilot put the wrong kind of carburetor in his Lycoming. You’re not likely to do ten in the pen because you lent your Cessna to a friend to take to Maine for a weekend. Hysterical people who’s loved ones died in plane crashes don’t protest the evils of aviation, and try to stamp out flying. Aviation is certainly very regulated, but the penalties typically involve suspensions of licenses and civil penalties, rather than five to ten in federal prison. When it comes to transportation, we always seem to have a better sense of perspective, even when, such as the case with general aviation, it can also be for recreation and hobby.

Anyway, some good aviation blogs. Flight Level 390 is a blog by an airline captain. Very well written and one I really enjoy reading. You want to have a good idea what’s going on behind closed doors at the front of the plane, this is the blog for you. Another one is a flight attendant’s blog, called The Flying Pinto. Take this post, for instance, on flying with children, where she seems to take the position that she’s willing to tolerate crying kids, if the parents would please refrain from changing their kids on the tray tables other people have to eat on. Think about that your next in-flight meal! You’re welcome. Also recommended, but not really an aviation blog strictly, is the blog of the guy that writes the rendering engine for X-Plane. He hasn’t been prolific as recently, due to the tight schedule for shipping X-Plane v.10, but it’s an interesting look into the aviation gaming world.

One thing blogging quickly does is change the way you read blogs. You stop reading blogs because you like them and read them because you’re looking for material for you own. This means you read faster and with less attention to details because of the sheer volume of material you need to get through. Lately I’ve wanted to read blogs for fun again, and since I don’t blog on aviation topics, I figure I wouldn’t be tempted to move through those at breakneck speed, looking for link material. But I wanted to highlight some here, just in case anyone else might share the interest.