A Pilot · A Dispatcher · One Airstream · Two Dogs

Runways
to Highways

Dan flies 747 cargo widebodies for a living. Heather spent a career planning flights and then teaching others how. Between his rotations, they hitch up the Airstream out of Indianapolis, and run the trip the way they'd run a flight, with a plan, a checklist, and a debrief.

Get the Preflight Checklist Meet the Crew

The Idea

Two aviation careers.
One Airstream.

"Runways to highways" isn't just wordplay. It's the actual handoff. Dan's still active, flying cargo widebodies internationally on an irregular rotation. Heather already made the jump from a dispatcher's flight-planning desk to teaching in a college classroom. The Airstream is what they do with the days in between: real trips, planned with the same habits that kept two aviation careers safe for decades.

This isn't a full-time-on-the-road story. It's a part-time one, built around Dan's schedule, a home base in Indianapolis, and the idea that you don't have to quit your job to actually go somewhere.

Captain

Dan

Active 747 cargo captain. Brings a flight-deck's worth of checklist habits to hitching up a trailer.

Dispatcher & Professor

Heather

Retired airline dispatcher and college professor. Plans the route the way she once planned a flight.

Pax and Charlie, their two dogs, riding along in the Airstream

Ground Security Coordinators

Pax & Charlie

GSC's, official title. On patrol for squirrels, deer, and anything else that gets too close to camp. Compensation is treat-based, and negotiations are ongoing.

Their Airstream at golden hour, with one of the dogs on guard by his food bowl

How We Fly It

Every trip runs on three checklists.

Borrowed straight from the flight deck, not just for flavor. It's genuinely how a pilot and a dispatcher think about going somewhere.

Before the trip

Flight Plan

Route, weather, fuel stops as diversion airports, tow ratings as weight & balance. The planning post that comes before every trip.

Before you roll

Preflight

Gear tested the way a pilot tests equipment: documented, numbers included, no "we love this!" reviews. Checklists you can actually use.

After the trip

Debrief

What worked, what didn't, what we'd do differently. Aviation's after-action habit, applied to the road instead of the runway.

Free for subscribers

The Preflight Checklists

What we run before the truck moves an inch: the outside lap, drawn the way an aircraft exterior inspection is drawn, and the inside sheet that goes with it. They read like flight-deck checklists, not blog posts.

PDF
×3

Exterior & Interior Preflight

Three sheets. View on screen or download.

Runwaysto Highways

Two aviation careers.One Airstream.

Dan