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Ever wanted to quit your day job and take to the skies? Talk to Ron Webster. Since he started soaring — that is, flying without an engine — in the late ’70s, the guy has logged 2454 hours of airtime. That’s the rough equivalent, he says, of a year’s 9-to-5 labor. This lucky duck spent all of it gallivanting over the Green Mountains at altitudes of up to 7000 feet.... Read more

Epic airline delays and flight cancellations have been in the news this winter, and frequent fliers have found themselves spending more time in airports. Meanwhile, tightened security means you can't bring drinks to the gate. So what if you're hungry, stuck at the gate and your flight's delayed?

At most major airports, you grab a burger or a sub or a grande mocha from a familiar national chain.... Read more

Except for the occasional incoming mortar round, living for weeks at a time at the Baghdad International Airport really isn't so bad, says Jack Downey, who otherwise lives in Cornwall.... Read more

BURLINGTON -- The sole mission of the Vermont Air National Guard should be to protect and defend continental U.S. airspace, not drop bombs in foreign wars of aggression, a local antiwar group says. Now Burlington voters will decide whether the city should force the U.S. government to end VTANG's deployment overseas.... Read more

Nothing can cause butterflies in your stomach like getting into a plane with the word "Experimental" stenciled behind the seats and this warning on the instrument panel: "This Aircraft Is Amateur Built and Does Not Comply with the Federal Safety Regulations for Standard Aircraft." But I climb into the cockpit anyway, reassured after an hourlong chat that my pilot, Bruce Uvanni, is a reasonably sane, safe person. The 46-year-old from Shelburne is, after all, an IBM engineer -- who just happens to have some of the most hair-raising hobbies in the company.... Read more

I am 7000 feet above Lake Champlain, swooning over the velvety green pastures of Shelburne Farms below, when a voice on my headset sends me crashing back to reality.

"Your turn," says instructor Tom White, nodding at my yoke. Why, oh, why wasn't I listening when we were on the ground and he explained how to steer? Just as I'm reaching a tentative hand forward, White lets go of his own yoke. Suddenly, I'm in control of a Cessna 172, with two lives at stake -- and absolutely no idea how to fly.... Read more