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Iconic Adventure
#95 | JUNE 2026
You’re a sport pilot who took a friend for a day of splash and dashing in your Icon A5. After lunch, you met some folks with an XCub on amphibs, and your friend got some stick time with the pilot of that plane, who is also a CFI. Unfortunately, the XCub got stuck on the runway where you were supposed to swap passengers. After some loitering, there’s a plan to move it, but the clock is ticking toward civil twilight—after which you can’t legally fly. Pretty soon you won’t have time to get home. Is there a way to retrieve your friend without excessive risk or busting a reg?
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David Gagliardi
After 10 years of recreational flying David went pro in flight instruction, charter, scheduled freight, and aerial forest fire suppression. After 17 years of fire bombing, he moved over to Transport Canada as a Flight Operations Inspector before retiring in 2022. Throughout his career he has remained an active instructor, teaching introductory aerobatics, seaplane flying, formation flying, gliding, warbird checkouts, and teaching other flight instructors. He enjoys flying his Nanchang CJ6A. His wife also occasionally lets him fly her Grumman AA1B.