Aviation Photo of the Day: Airshow Zen

Few things can make my hair stand on end just by existing. Certain types of jet noise, however, will immediately cause my usually straight face to break out into a big stupid grin and send a chill down my spine.

Couple the fantastic noise of military jets with the awe-inspiring close formation flying of groups like the Black Diamond Jet Team, and you’ve got a recipe for happiness. The noise, the sights, and smell of jet fuel, and the inevitable summer sun all combine to create a perfect moment of Airshow Zen.

Unfortunately, the airshow industry is under assault from the FAA. There are rumors swirling that the FAA will be charging a minimum of $5k for an airshow waiver, which applies to everything from Oshkosh to your local airport’s summer festival. FAA is also trying to charge large events like Airventure and Sun n Fun for the use of federal air traffic controllers, which is odd as the fuel taxes generated at large fly-ins are already pretty hefty and any pilot who’s a U.S. Citizen has already paid for the use of the National Airspace System. This is the advent of user fees, something I would personally like to keep at bay.

If you’re like me and you want to keep experiencing Airshow Zen it is super critically important that you stay on top of current events in aviation, and leverage the power of organizations like EAA and AOPA to lobby on our behalf. Send a letter to your congressman, call your representative’s office, be active in the aviation community. Only by working together can we keep our National Airspace System open and accessible to the everyman.

Aviation Photo of the Day: Final

No, it’s not the final Aviation Photo of the Day; while all good things must come to an end I plan to be publishing Airplanology for the foreseeable future. Rather, it’s a photo taken on short final, flying my trusty Piper into runway 11 at 06C on a beautiful late-summers day.

Due to some changes in the overall financial picture here at Airplanology HQ, I’ve been unable to fly as much as I’d like to recently*. My supply of enthralling new material has therefore been running a little low. That said, all things pass, and I foresee myself being airborne again soon enough. There’s a new Arrow down at Northwest Flyers with my name on it…next time I fly I can finally get my high power/complex endorsement out of the way!

*I’ve never flown as much as I’d like to; just less than usual now I suppose.

Aviation Photo of the Day: “…smoother than a fine whiskey in a teflon glass.

After a brief absence (due to an exceptionally arduous long weekend at work) I am back and better than ever!

Today I bring you a photograph taken on a memorable flight in Maine. It was overcast but silky smooth, one of those winter days where the overcast tames the sky and the cool air makes your wings happy.

My friend and I flew out over central Maine, to the seacoast region near Brunswick and then out towards the mountains in western Maine. Maine is an expansive state, but in the Piper the distances seemed negligible…

Flying over Thompson Lake, the water was just as still as the air. The photo doesn’t do the view justice, and if I take a thousand flights over the lake it may never look quite the way it did on this flight.

The privileges of the pilot are many; but one of the best has to be seeing the world from on high in a way that few people ever will.

Robot Bird Drones: The Future is Now!

Over the last several years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – Drones, in the popular parlance – have become more and more part of the world of flight. With the advent of Predators, Reapers, quadcopters, and more, the 2010′s are shaping up to be the Decade of the Drone.

We’ve already seen huge, clunky, overgrown-RC-airplane drones. The next step in drone tech is biomimetic drones: drones that fly like bumblebees or mosquitoes or birds. Don’t scoff and say it’s too far-fetched to happen, because as the folks at sUAS News will tell you, the robot-bird future is NOW.

 

This thing looks legit. On close inspection the wings do seem to have a sort of unnatural, marionette-like motion to them; but at a glance, this thing would pass for a generic gull-size avian.

Normally, I’d wax poetic about the awesome powers of engineering and the marvel of flight and whatnot; but in light of the recent revelations regarding the NSA and the near-complete erosion of American civil liberties, I’m not really in the mood.

Next time you see a bird, smile; you’re being watched.

 

The pattern of one’s fate…

“Tell me now, Howe, since you are older and wiser, by what ends does a man ever partially control his fate? It is obvious from the special history of our kind that favorites are played, but if this is so, then how do you account for those who are ill-treated? The worship of pagan gods, which once answered all this, is no longer fashionable. Modern religions ignore the matter of fate. So we are left confused and without direction.

Let us admit, then, that the complete answer may only be revealed when it can no longer serve those most interested…

…At least let us admit that the pattern of anyone’s fate is only partly contrived by the individual. And let us now remember that a wealthy gambler once said the essence of his success is in knowing when to quit.”

Ernest K. Gann, ladies and gentlemen. If you have not yet read Fate is the Hunter you are under orders to go out immediately and do so. It is easily one of the best aviation books I have ever read.

Sailplanes in Utah

Via the YouTube channel of Bruno Vassel comes this fun video of several sailplanes flying in loose formation over the ridges and mountain peaks of Utah.

I have to say I’m jealous of the terrain and scenery on offer in Utah. Illinois is great and all but soybeans and corn gets old after a while.

Pilot Detentions: This Isn’t America

Via Robert Goyer at Flying Magazine comes a well written blurb on the recent spate of unwarranted detentions of G.A. pilots by the Federal government.

Whatever program is prompting the stopping of pilots who apparently just happen to fit a profile of flight needs to stop. If the purpose is to interdict drug traffic, it’s not worth it. If the purpose is to stop terrorists flying small airplanes across the country (a laughable premise), it’s not worth it. If the purpose is to just see if the feds can catch some random bad guys with a software filter and a swat team, it’s not worth it.

If we’ve learned anything about freedom in this grand experiment we’ve all been engaged in, it’s that there is no perfect security in a free state. Indeed, we need to tolerate a certain level of uncertainty in order to be free. That means the government needs to get their noses out of our flight plans — unless they have a really good reason to do otherwise.

Read more at http://www.flyingmag.com/blogs/going-direct/isnt-america#dUgwoGiWUG6d3LeE.99

This is extremely disturbing. One of the fundamental rights that Americans have is the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to travel without molestation from one place to another. The road we are on seems to be leading towards a ‘papers, please’ police state, and I for one am outraged. Write your congressperson, pilots. Take action before they take away our rights.

Awesome Aircraft Video: Behold the Typhoon!

Behold the Typhoon!

Here in the U.S., I don’t hear a lot of buzz about the Typhoon. Maybe that’s because we don’t fly it; maybe we’re secretly jealous of it. If it were the latter, I could understand why.

The Typhoon is fast, beautiful, and lethally effective. The design is eye-catching, with that huge wing surface and the canard; and though it’s hard to get a sense of scale and speed in the video, it certainly appears to fly like a fighter’s fighter. BAE marketing conveys a sense of tremendous performance:

• Powered by two Eurojet EJ200 engines providing an excellent combat thrust-to-weight ratio in excess of 1.2:1 with 30% thrust growth available.
• Typhoon’s robust design and Flight Control System enables the pilot to fly aggressively to outmanoeuvre enemy aircraft under all combat conditions.
• Brakes off to take off in less than 8 seconds and supersonic under 30 seconds.
• Brakes off to 36,000 feet Mach 1.6 in under 2½ minutes.

I have even heard heretical whisperings that the Typhoon has out-performed the F-35, which is not a huge surprise given the F-35′s short yet troubled history.

The Typhoon, ladies and gentlemen. Look for more to come on this beautiful machine very soon.

Flying in a Police State

Via James Fallows at The Atlantic comes this extremely disturbing tale of a pilot, David Blackburn of San Diego, whose fourth-amendment rights were egregiously violated by federal authorities. A quote from the article:

I asked him who all these people were and he informed me that he had three agencies investigating me  and they were Homeland Security, The FBI, and DEA.  Each team had their own dogs that would be going through the aircraft and that they would be as careful as they could.  I  gave permission for him to search the aircraft.

That is when he brought out 3 dogs and what appeared to be 3 separate teams of two people with each dog.  One team went in at a time and after they were done they came over to ask me questions.

At some point I was taken behind one of the vans and asked questions.  I asked to be in front of the vans as I wanted to see what if anything was going into the aircraft and they said no they wanted me right where I was.  They asked about other passengers, Mexico, drugs and money each time.  They would not allow me to make any calls and this went on till the wee hours in the morning for at least 4 hours.

At this point I was shaking in my boots.  I was absolutely concerned they were going to plant something in my aircraft.  After they completed their questioning over and over again they finally  instructed me to move my aircraft to a different parking  area and that the security would escort me off the airport and that they were done.

Deeply disturbing. Part of being American is being free to travel unmolested across state lines, and being free from the threat of unreasonable search and seizure. More disturbing is Mr Blackburn’s suspicion that his phone is tapped, as this incident arose after a cell phone conversation he had with a friend.

This sort of behavior by the federal government is un-American; it is something I would expect of the USSR, or some insane South American dictatorship. I urge all of you, pilots and aviation enthusiasts alike, to write your congressman and demand to know why federal agents are detaining and searching pilots.

The best 1:27 you’ll spend this Sunday

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy comes this fabulous one minute, twenty-seven second video of everyday carrier ops. It starts a little sedate, but it picks up quick and gets awesome fast. Enjoy!