Month: January 2018

“Cloud Wings,” Greg’s March, 2018 Flying Carpet column

flying adventures, Flying Carpet column, Greg's photographs

Earning your wings requires hand-eye coordination, but instrument flying (IFR) is a brain game.

Yes, mastering flight by tiny needles is tough, but navigation, holds, and approaches are exciting and fun. And while IFR may be the hardest rating, it’s also the most safety-enhancing, rewarding, and practical. When I earned my cloud wings forty years ago this month, my flight-completion rate doubled overnight to over 90%.

Instrument flying, of course, gets you where you’re going without sight of the ground, and “instrument approaches” deliver you safely to landing.

As with VFR cross-countries, instrument flight plans are crafted around checkpoints, but using predefined fixes from an IFR chart. These days, thanks to GPS and moving maps, we can fly great distances and shoot programmed instrument approaches almost as readily as by looking out the window.

But it wasn’t always that easy…

**Read Greg’s entire column, “CLOUD WINGS“**

Photo: GPS Runway 3 LPV instrument approach to Flagstaff, Arizona.

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2018 Gregory N. Brown

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

Poppies and Pinecones: Greg’s latest Fine Art Photography Metal Prints

Greg's photographs

Flower Power!

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I photographed “Bradshaw Mountains Poppies” north of Phoenix near Black Canyon City, Arizona.

c2017GregoryNBrown_BradshawMtnsPoppies_7092e24x36Smw1200Nowhere is the power of numbers more boldly reflected than in these fields of Mexican and Golden poppies captured from a mile in the air. (Available in both horizontal and vertical formats.)

See all my latest “Views from the Flying Carpet” aerial Fine Art Metal Prints, including “Cloud Quilt,” “Earthbound Rainbow”, “Flaming Autumn Aspens,” and a new vertical crop of my iconic, “Sunset Rains.” (I’ve received numerous requests for that image to fit vertical spaces, but it took me awhile to get it just right.)

The Great New Year’s Pine Cone Drop!

And here’s my latest “Down to Earth” terrestrial Fine Art Metal Print, “The Great Pine Cone Drop,” celebrating New Year’s at downtown Flagstaff’s historic Old Weatherford Hotel.

See all my latest “Down to Earth” prints including, “Supermoon Rises over Kachina Wetlands.”

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Many thanks to all who have invested in my photography products to date, including Fine Art Metal Prints, and Pilot Achievement Plaques.
Happy New Year!
Greg

Celebrating five years since Greg’s first solo fine art print exhibition

Greg's photographs, life & love

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Wow! Five years have already passed since my first solo “Views from the Flying Carpet” photography exhibition.

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Thank you, friend, fellow pilot, and Master Printer Richard Jackson (above left) for starting me down this path, and former Northern Arizona University College of Arts & Letters Dean Michael Vincent for inviting this first solo exhibition that led to numerous others.

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And a special thanks to all you good folks who have supported my passions for flying and photography by investing in my Views from the Flying Carpet and “Down to Earth” series Fine Art Metal Prints, and Pilot Achievement Plaques since then!

Here’s wishing you the Happiest and Healthiest of New Years for 2018!

Greg

“Special Girl,” Greg’s February, 2018 Flying Carpet column

flying adventures, Flying Carpet column

The romance of flight comes in many flavors, so when my friend Andrew requested a “huge favor,” I didn’t know what to expect.

Andrew formerly edited our local entertainment weekly, for which I’d provided aerial photos. An avid outdoorsman, he was eager to explore Arizona from above, so I’d invited him on flights to Tucson and Lake Havasu City. Instantly he was hooked on both the views and the controls. But that was months ago.

“What’s this ‘huge favor?’” I asked, surprised.

“I’ve met this special girl, Rachel,” he replied, “and I’m planning fun things to do together. So suddenly I got this idea… Would you consider taking us flying? It would be a total surprise for her.” Coincidentally, I already had a fitting mission planned: my semiannual rendezvous with buddy and former neighbor Gary at Payson Airport—Gary motorcycles from Phoenix, while I travel by Flying Carpet.

“Would you and Rachel care to join us for breakfast?” I offered, “Grab a separate table if you like. We’ll sightsee Sedona on the way back!”

“That sounds awesome!” said Andrew. “And we’ll definitely join your table because Rachel is a very social person.” Later, Andrew texted downloaded photos of Payson Airport’s Crosswinds Restaurant. “Is this where we’re eating?” he asked. I replied affirmatively with restaurant views of the scenic Mogollon Rim. My friend’s enthusiasm made me feel increasingly honored that he’d involve me in such a personal mission.

When Andrew introduced me to Rachel at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, I immediately saw the magic that attracted him to her. A dynamic, outgoing professional woman, Rachel sparkles with humor. When I cranked up the Flying Carpet’s radios she asked, “Greg, are you gonna say that ‘copy, roger, affirmative, and negative’ stuff?”…

**Read Greg’s entire column, “SPECIAL GIRL“**

Photo: Andrew and Rachel ‘play airplane’ at Payson Airport, Arizona.

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2018 Gregory N. Brown

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!