Greg Brown: Cockpit Adventures from the Flying Carpet

Text or Voicemail Greg! Perils of a Dream Pilot Job "When the police first came up I asked 'em 2-3 times, ‘you’re joking, right?’ But about the time they put me in handcuffs and locked me in the police car… well, I don’t know the law, but I don’t think they’re allowed to joke with handcuffs!" Climb into my Flying Carpet, buckle up your seatbelt, and prepare to take off on Flying Car...

Text or Voicemail Greg! The Magic of Being a Pilot! Where the heck is my watch? I wondered, upon checking my wrist for the current time. Jean and I were dining with aviation author and humorist Rod Machado , his wife Diane, and friends at an outdoor cafe in Palm Springs.  "So Greg,” said Rod, continuing a conversation in progress, “How was your flight from Phoenix yesterday...?" Join us...

Text or Voicemail Greg! I recently had occasion to remember my dad on what would’ve been his 100th birthday. He was a cool guy with an impressive aviation background who lived some memorable flying adventures, so I decided to honor his memory through this episode. So climb into my Flying Carpet, buckle up your seatbelt, and prepare to take off on Flying Carpet Podcast Flight #41, “Best Landing Any...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Lessons & Landmarks; Cross Country Odyssey During the ATC Strike During the recent longest ever US government shutdown, airline traffic was restricted at 14 major airports around the country. But you may not know that those same airports closed entirely to General Aviation ("GA") traffic, meaning non-airline private, and business aircraft. That aborted a plan...

Text or Voicemail Greg!  Any pilot will tell you that learning to fly an airplane is a challenging endeavor. So when you fly with someone who demonstrates a natural knack for it, that's a special occasion.   Well, I recently experienced the best "first flying lesson" I've encountered in  thousands of hours as a flight instructor. Here is the inspiring story.  Sawyer's &quo...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Runaway Autopilot! (Misadventures of a Corporate Pilot) Happily I've experienced only a handful of scares over decades of piloting. But this one was a biggie! So climb aboard my Flying Carpet, buckle up your seatbelt, and prepare for takeoff on today's episode, "Runaway Autopilot!" Support the show Contact Greg with your comments and suggestions! GregBro...

Text or Voicemail Greg! " This might as well be Oz,"  I thought, upon clearing the clouds approaching Paducah, Kentucky. I wouldn’t have been surprised to experience supersaturated sunshine, and perhaps a golden brick runway.  Tales of faraway lands work magic on youthful minds, and although I’d never been here before, the stories of a special person from my youth had cast a spell on thi...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Flight instructing offers some of the most rewarding flying there is. We experience the joy of fulfilling our students’ dreams of flight, become better pilots ourselves in the process, and develop lifelong friendships with many of those we teach.  But among hours and hours of routine teaching and flying, there are occasional hard lessons, too, most often unanticipated. And...

Text or Voicemail Greg! There's been lots of news lately about possible extraterrestrial visits from other planets, other galaxies. And whether the government has been covering it up. In particular, many reports have revealed sightings from airplane cockpits. So when a friend messaged the other day asking whether I’d ever experienced UFOs or extraterrestrials in the course of flight, I was re...

Text or Voicemail Greg! How many pilots have seriously considered the safety implications of unexpectedly losing GPS navigation in flight?  Well it happened to us, in clouds over remote and rugged terrain, and as you'll hear, the risks are thought-provoking at best, and potentially deadly without forethought, positional awareness, and preparation... This episode could save your life! Greg Sup...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Grab your logbook, 'cause it's time for one of my wackiest flying adventures ever ! So climb into my Flying Carpet, buckle up your seatbelts and prepare to take off on today’s episode, “Waterbeds by the 1/2 Hour!” Greg "I just finished listening to [this episode] - while driving and LAUGHED Out Loud! OMG, I don’t know [which part] was funnier…😂 It’s a great...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Cowboy Flying Lesson! Perils of an Off - Airport Takeoff You may remember meeting my buddy Baldy in previous Flying Carpet Podcasts, Flight #2, "Cowboy Pilot," and Flight #29, "Cowpuncher's Reunion." Well here's what happened when he suffered an inflight emergency, and then what followed. The precautionary landing went well enough, but not so t...

Text or Voicemail Greg! One thing I love about flying is that there are so many dimensions to it. It might be as simple as going from point a to point B... For a meeting... Or a "hundred-dollar hamburger."  But sometimes piloting takes you mystically and magically to faraway places —spiritually or across time. And that's what this story is about. So climb into my Flying Carpet, buck...

Text or Voicemail Greg! As I record this, we’re just two weeks away from the 2024 total solar eclipse that will come up through Mexico and cross much of the Midwest and eastern United States.  I suspect that many of you plan on flying to see this eclipse, but if you’re not, you probably should be. Plenty of people have experienced a partial solar eclipse, and a few have experienced an annular sola...

Text or Voicemail Greg! One thing I’ve learned over many years of piloting is that rarely can we plan a flight, take off, and then not need to worry about anything until we reach our destination. More often than not, circumstances arise before takeoff and en route that require planning, strategy, and tactics to get us safely where we’re going . A big part of this, too, is being prepared to land at...

Text or Voicemail Greg! You may remember meeting my cowboy buddy "Baldy" way back in Flying Carpet Podcast Flight #2, “Cowboy Pilot,” in which Jean and I were first invited to the annual "Arizona Cowpuncher’s Reunion." If you don’t remember that episode, or haven’t heard it, you might want to get to know Baldy via that episode before starting this one. Regardless, I predict you...

Text or Voicemail Greg! There are many dimensions to piloting adventure: some are scary, most are educational, but all are memorable! Support the show Contact Greg with your comments and suggestions! GregBrownFlyingCarpet.com (Find all of Greg's links here.) Greg Brown's Cockpit Adventures from the  Flying Carpet  Podcast Greg's Book, Flying Carpet; The Soul of An Airplane "You...

Text or Voicemail Greg! “Lobe Plays Sedona; Skies filled with music.”  Along with cockpit thrills and challenges, plenty of piloting adventure arises from where flying can deliver us, both physically and spiritually. That’s what today’s episode is about. Support the show Contact Greg with your comments and suggestions! GregBrownFlyingCarpet.com (Find all of Greg's links here.) Greg Brown&apos...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Some Lessons a Pilot Never Forgets "So this must be vertigo." I thought. Nausea circled my gut like the snowflakes orbiting my propeller. I peered out the windshield for landmarks, but snow obscured all but a tiny spot of  ground beneath me, even at an altitude of only a thousand feet.  To make matters worse, my navigational radio had obviously failed. How could I...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Ride along on Greg's youthful adventures in airplanes and automobiles! Support the show Contact Greg with your comments and suggestions! GregBrownFlyingCarpet.com (Find all of Greg's links here.) Greg Brown's Cockpit Adventures from the  Flying Carpet  Podcast Greg's Book, Flying Carpet; The Soul of An Airplane "You don't have to be a pilot, or...

Text or Voicemail Greg! I was recently awarded the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, for 50 years of safe piloting.  It’s mind-boggling to consider how short the history of aviation is, that I should have personally flown for over 40% of the entire history of powered flight!  In this episode I reflect on how general aviation flying has changed since I took to the skies in 1972. What’s more...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Piloting is a sophisticated activity that requires a good deal of training, hand-eye coordination, planning, and application of judgment. But today’s episode focuses more on spiritual aspects of flying--that is, why we do it, rather than how we do it, and it's topped off by a crazy destination.  This story is one of my personal favorites, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Ok...

Text or Voicemail Greg! As you’ve likely heard, the final Learjet was recently delivered following almost 60 years of production. I was a kid when the Lear 23 was first introduced in 1964.  Although a few other corporate jets were flying by then, most companies still motored around in relatively slow, unpressurized piston airplanes, many of them repurposed WWII-era bombers and freighters.  The Lea...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Every aviator develops mutually rewarding relationships with the flight instructors delivering his or her wings. Well, here’s the backstory of one of those relationships, that over 22 years led to the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame. It’s a story every pilot will appreciate. Read my 1999 NAFI Mentor column referenced in the Podcast.  Support the show Contact Greg with your c...

Text or Voicemail Greg! Tips and tricks for introducing family and friends to general aviation flying , including some hysterical stories about how NOT to do it! Learn how to treat family and friends to their critical first airplane rides, to ensure that they enjoy themselves and want to fly with you again.  Heads up that this is a live recording of a talk given several years ago, meaning audio qu...