David Freed

Contributing editor David Freed is a pilot, novelist, and former Los Angeles Times reporter.

Seen through the nose of a restored PBJ bomber, Camarillo Airport is tucked between two cities: Camarillo and Oxnard. Flying in, pilots are greeted by strawberry fields and residential blocks.

California’s Camarillo Airport Is Nirvana for Small Airplanes

Just about any day is a good day at CMA.

At Spirit AeroSystems, 737 production combines manual labor and automation. Airplanes are an economic driver in Spirit’s Wichita home; 27,500 people there build or service them.

We Built This City

History, family, flying: It’s all here in Wichita.

The Northrop T-38 was a great trainer when it entered service in the 1960s, but not for today’s frontline fighters.

Meet the Jets Competing to Become the Next Air Force Trainer

What will replace the nearly-60-year-old T-38?

In 1962, Lockheed tested the first A-12, known as Article 121, near Groom Lake, Nevada.

Vietnam, the CIA, and the World’s Fastest Aircraft

As the SR-71 went public, these pilots flew its lookalike in secret.

Combat photographers shot everything from napalm drops to this deceptively bucolic 1966 image of an airman and his sentry dog guarding an HH-43 at Pleiku.

Cameramen in Vietnam

How Air Force photographers created a visual record of the war in Southeast Asia.

Surrounding an SA-2 on its launcher, North Vietnamese missileers rally against an intimidating foe. Despite diminished effectiveness by the end of the war, the missiles and crews are still celebrated in Vietnam for protecting major cities against American air raids.

The Missile Men of North Vietnam

A look at the air war waged from the ground.

Environmentalists have called for a ban on leaded fuel. Private pilots worry that the ban could kill general aviation. The author is somewhere in the middle.

The Fight Over Avgas

Can private pilots fly unleaded?

“There are many Beech twins, but only one Twin Beech,” in the words of Model 18 owner Enrico Bottieri.

Pilots and Fans Dedicated to Prolonging the Stardom of the Beech 18

About 50 or less remain available for commercial use worldwide.

Equipped to explore the rough terrain on Mars, the rover Curiosity will try to determine if the planet was once capable of sustaining life.

Emissary

Never send a man to do a robot's mission.

A Dassault Falcon 2000, a Maybach luxury auto, and freshly swept stairs: NetJets set up this publicity shot in Switzerland, but for fractional jet owners, such fantasy is the reality.

Ride-Sharing With the Rich

How fractional jet owners get out of flying coach

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