WAAAM and Me

So, a few years ago, I visited the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon.  I was  a pilot in my younger days.  Aviation has always been a personal passion. I love to fly.

Anyway, I took some nice images while I was there for a monthly Summer event they call, Second Saturday.  I recently reprocessed a couple of the images from my WAAAM visit.  I have pasted them in below.

The first image, I rendered purposely as a poster.  I just sent it to the Managing Director of the WAAAM Museum. I offered to donate the use of it to the museum for printing as a poster they could sell in their gift shop.

I've only had one opportunity to fly in an open cockpit biplane.   WAAAM has a slew of them, many still flying.   It's what you call, intoxicating for an airplane buff like me. 

The link for the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum is www.waaammuseum.org

Sunseeker Duo

I first learned to fly more than thirty years ago. I rarely get pilot time these days, but I am still passionate about aviation. I also have a long-standing commitment to clean, renewable energy. Some very cool things have been happening recently that involve both aviation and clean energy.

There are several groups developing solar powered aircraft. Solar Flight, a group based in Italy, has developed a series of solar-powered motor gliders. The latest iteration, the Sunseeker Duo, is big enough for two. It can take off on its own and stay aloft  as long as there is daylight in the sky.

I learned to fly gliders in California's high desert.  I love the quiet and the lazy grace that goes with this kind of cloud dancing. At this point in my life, having a Sunseeker Duo based at the gliderport ten miles west of my home would be the perfect way to satisfy my undiminished desire to take to the sky.

Here is a link to a beautiful video of the solar powered Sunseeker Duo taking off, flying over some gorgeous Italian countryside, and landing again, quietly, gracefully, using only the powered provided by the sun.   https://vimeo.com/92499008
 
Here is a link to the Solar Flight website... http://www.solar-flight.com

Messerschmidt ME109

The ME109 was the principle fighter aircraft in the Nazi Luftwaffe in WWII.   It was light, fast, and maneuverable,  a deadly match for allied fighter aircraft until the British Spitfire and the American P-38 Lightning, P47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang's entered the war.

Messerschmidt  ME109

Here is a link to a beautiful flying video of a 75 year old, restored  ME109....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzUUlO6ihwE

Final Countdown Dogfight Scene

My all time favorite aviation movie is,  The Final Countdown.   It was produced in 1980, and starred Kirk Douglass and the US Navy supercarrier Nimitz. Simple premise: what if a modern era US Navy carrier taskforce found itself in a time warp and ended up poised to resist the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered World War Two?

The scene that never fails to thrill involves World War Two era Japanese zero fighter aircraft attacking a defenseless cabin cruising yacht. 

The propeller driven zeros are then confronted by two modern era F-14 Tomcat fighter jet aircraft.  The Tomcat is now retired from duty, but 33 years ago, when The Final Countdown was made, it was the Navy's 'Top Gun' airborne, lethal weapon.
 
The thing I like about this aerial combat sequence is the morality dance at play  The zeros cravenly attack an unarmed civilian vessel and blow it up.  Enter the US Navy jets with vastly superior performance and the moral high ground to boot.  The overmatched, bad boy Zeros get what's coming to them. Not complicated; stirring music, good versus evil, designed to elicit cheering and emotion.

Japanese Zero Fighter

F-14 Tomcat Navy Fighter Jet

Here is a link to this very exciting movie example of aerial combat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyjNInIH4Hw

A Pilot Named Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford, 'A' List movie actor, is a big league aviation buff. I just ran across this video that features him talking about his love of flying as he pilots his single engine, DE Havilland Beaver.

Over the years, Ford has lived a relatively normal life away from Hollywood. He's kept his personal life private despite his fame.  This video offers a glimpse of the real person behind the Hollywood hype. When Harrison Ford talks about flying, it is clearly one of the great joys of his life.

Harrison Ford

Here is the  link to Harrison flying his DE Havilland Beaver...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgiEubacT0

Top Ten Insane Jet Fly-Bys

These are some crazy pilots pushing their luck to the limit, roaring by seriously close to the ground.  Number three is really nuts.  This is outrageous,  balls to the wall flying.  

Here is the link to this insane video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dr2ZB36p9Y

I found number three again in a separate video...straight down the runway, upside down...total insanity...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_KrNNebzU

Electric Airplanes

I used to fly. Then, it got too expensive. It costs even more now. A gallon of aviation fuel goes for $5 or even more. Even a small, ultra light airplane could burn four gallons per hour. That's $20 or more just for fuel for an hour in a single seat aircraft that flies about 50 mph.  The Cessna 180 I used to fly burns about 14 gallons per hour. Do the math. That's $70 an hour just for fuel.  It's no wonder there aren't that many Cessna 180s still flying.  It's no wonder that aircraft manufacturers like Piper and Beechcraft are out of business, and Cessna makes almost no small, fixed gear aircraft anymore. They simply are not practical. They cost too much to operate.

Those us who love going aloft need some other way to quench the passion for flying. We need aircraft that don't run on any kind of fossil fuel.  The good news is a number of innovators have come up with new light aircraft designs that are powered by electricity. A few of them run on fuel cells that make electricity by converting hydrogen to electric power.  No one expects the fuel cell to come down in cost sufficiently to commercialize fuel cell powered aircraft anytime soon.

Battery powered airplanes are a different story.  There are a couple aircraft emerging that could make flying affordable again, at least for people who just want to have a little fun in the sky for an hour or two.

One company, GreenWing International,  is just now starting to market a single seat, battery electric ultralight aircraft.  It's called the eSpyder, and the list price is just under $40,000.  For that, you get an ultralight that flies for about two hours under optimal conditions at a cruising speed of 38 mph.

As aviation experiences go, flying something like the eSpyder is not exactly scintillating.  But, it's a lot more fun than being stuck on the ground.  

Greenwing also has another design, the two seat e430 with better performance for a lot more money.

e430

It could be that the eSpyder is the leading edge in a  revolution in general aviation that will again allow the average person a means to fly at a cost that is affordable.  I hope it turns out that way.

Here is a link to a video of the eSpyder on the ground and in the air... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuFpkc5odWc

Pilot Porn

So, people who fly airplanes love cockpits; the places up front where the piloting is done.  Just ran across a webpage at the Smithsonian's Air and Space branch that features very cool 360 degree rotatable images of the cockpits of a whole range of iconic air and spacecraft.

The DC3 first flew in the early thirties. For some missions, even now, eighty years later, it's still the best plane available.




Cockpit - Douglass DC3
 

The Boeing B52 bomber dates from the early fifties. It has eight jet engines meaning there are a lot of controls and instruments for the pilots to manage.





Boeing B52 Bomber

The P51 Mustang was the best fighter aircraft of WWII

WWII P51 fighter

Anyway, if you're an aviation buff as I am, check out the following link. You'll be glad you did.  http://www.airspacemag.com/panorama/198460521.html?start=11&page=1&c=y

Richard Branson - Billionaire Change Agent

There are some people who are loaded to the gills that I respect.  Richard Branson is one of them.  From the time he was young,  Branson has been tuned in to making money.  He started at 16 with a mail order business, founded Virgin Records, and now controls more than 400 companies through his Virgin Group.   Through all of these varied enterprises,  Branson tries to operate in an exemplary way, ethically.   I admire him for that.  If I were in his position,  I like to think I would be the kind of entrepreneur he has been.

Richard Branson

By all appearances, Richard Branson takes a very respectful approach to the environment in his businesses.  A great example is Virgin Airlines.  From early on, Branson has taken a proactive approach to climate change.  He created a company that converts planet biomass into jet fuel,  recognizing that jet fuel coming from plant material could have a mitigating effect on climate change.  Living plants suck  CO2 from the atmosphere, converting it to plant material.  That green biomass can then be processed into jet fuel at the same or less cost than petroleum-based jet fuel, and with half the CO2 impact on the atmosphere of petroleum-based fuels.  This is no small initiative. Branson expects to make a lot of money with his plant-based jet fuel.  Good for him.  He's a pioneer with a genuine commitment to doing what's right for our planet, our people, and the living biosphere we all depend on.   He also seems to have a lot fun.  It's nice when you can make a lot of money doing the right thing.

I love Richard Branson's style.  The B Team is his latest life-affirming initiative.  He's wants to reshape the world's seriously corrupted business playing field.  He wants to put public interest before profit.    That is what you call a tall order.  I totally appreciate that Branson is making the effort. 

The piece below from Sustainablebusiness.com is about the B Team, Richard Branson s latest, 'good guy 'billionaire' initiative. 

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Sir Richard Branson Launches The B Team to Revolutionize Business Goals
06/13/2013
SustainableBusiness.com News
It is time for business to be a "force for good," says Sir Richard Branson in describing his new venture, The B Team.

His other recent ventures include RenewableJetFuels.org, which is spurring the aviation industry to invest in promising forms of biofuels, and Carbon War Room, which has been working to increase efficiency in the shipping industry and other ways to cut carbon emissions at the gigaton level.

The B Team is his new global non-profit that promises to champion "a new way of doing business that prioritises people and planet alongside profit - a "Plan B" for businesses the world over." "Plan A - where companies have been driven by the profit motive alone - is no longer acceptable."





Co-founder Jochen Zeitz, former CEO of Puma, explains that while business is integral to society, it has "also created most of the negative environmental challenges of this century." At Puma, he initiated environmental profit and loss accounting, where companies put a cost on their environment impacts and include that as part of their total accounting.

"The B Team will help to catalyse a shift away from the existing short-term, unsustainable mindset, towards the long-term interest of people, the planet and the wider economy."

Today they announced leaders that will join them in recruiting others and who will begin breaking down entrenched barreirs. They include Arianna Huffington, Chair of the Huffington Post, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever and Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group.

In a live online broadcast to over 500 hundred gatherings in more than 115 cities around the world, The B Team Leaders issued a joint Declaration, which acknowledges key global problems of  growing inequality, unemployment and unsustainable use of natural resources.

The Declarations starts by saying: "We, the undersigned, believe the world is at a critical crossroads. Global business leaders need to come together to advance the wellbeing of people and the planet. In fact, we think business has to think this way in order to thrive ...

Business is now waking up to the reality that:
If we carry on using the natural resources of the world unsustainably, they'll quite simply run out.
With a burgeoning population, more people are still living in poverty than ever before and inequalities are increasing in many parts of the world.
Unemployment rates are at frightening levels.
Non-Profits alone cannot solve the tasks at hand, while many governments are unwilling or unable to act ...
These are not the outcomes we envisioned as we grew our companies; this is not the dream that inspired us.
And the overwhelming conclusion we've reached is that businesses have been a major contributor to the problems, and we as business leaders have the responsibility of creating sustainable solutions."

"The Future of Leadership" Challenge will seek to accelerate a new kind of inclusive leadership underpinned by a moral compass of being fair, honest, positive and creative. Based on cooperation, it will be aimed at generating long-term value for society, the economy and the environment.
"The evolution of business leadership away from a focus on short-term profits is essential for the future generation of leaders," saus Arianna Huffington. "We need a "Plan B" for the way business is managed, starting with leadership more committed to well-being, wisdom and sustainable business success."

The "Future Bottom Line" Challenge seeks to accelerate a move away from single-minded financial "short-termism" towards a focus on the long term, and will aim to expand corporate accountability beyond financial gains to include negative and positive contributions to the economy, environment and society.

"The Future of Incentives" will help focus business away from short term gain and to balance the long term benefits for our people and our planet. B Team plans to work with partners to develop new corporate and employee incentive structures and to identify and map both positive and harmful subsidies.

"Positive market incentives operating in the public interest are too few and far between, and are also up against a seemingly never-ending expansion of perverse incentives and lobbying," says Mo Ibrahim, Founder of Celtel.

The B Team will be holding a series of community events over the coming months. They are encouraging the public to submit their views on a new charter for better business at their website:

© 2013 Sustainable Business.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Here is a link to Richard Branson's  bteam website ....www.bteam.org/

Why I Admire Women Pilots

For most of the time since the Wright Brothers first flew at Kittyhawk in 1903,  aviation was considered a man's business.  Probably because in the early years it was risky, and well outside the traditional roles for women.  Even so, a few women found ways to get past the gatekeepers, right from the beginning

1908 - Therese Peltier  (USA)  -  first woman to pilot an aircraft
1910 - Raymonde De Laroche (France) - First woman to have a pilot's license
1921 - Bessie Coleman - First African American (male or female) to have a pilot's license

Amelia Earhart, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Pancho Barnes,  and Jackie Cochran  achieved notable milestones in the early decades of aviation.  They were not the only ones, but women in the cockpit were rare until world war two.   During that war, with male pilots in short supply, the Women's Army Service Pilots were organized.  Women were trained to pilot every type of aircraft, including fighters and bombers, and were tasked with flying them to wherever they were needed for the war effort.

WW II WASPs with B-25 bomber

After the war, the WASPs were disbanded and women were denied the access they had so admirably earned.  They were given no chance to fly for the military and almost no opportunity to fly commercially for the airlines.

I have a special place in my heart for lady pilots.  The best news is they are no longer a rare commodity.  These days, there are women flying every type of aircraft. Most airlines around the world now have female pilots. The senior ones are captains assigned to many different aircraft types, including jumbo jets. 

More than thirty years ago, when I was living in Los Angeles, I developed a wonderful friendship with a young woman named Cindy Rucker.

Cindy Rucker

Cindy was remarkable in so many ways.  She was an accomplished musician and graphic artist,  but the thing she was most passionate about; the thing she loved above all else was aviation. I first met Cindy when I was flying out of Pioneer Aviation at Van Nuys Airport in Southern California's San Fernando Valley.  It was early in Cindy's career as a Boeing 727 pilot with Western Airlines.




Western Airlines Boeing 727

Cindy was female hire number six for Western. The road to airline employment has very difficult for her.  She spent every dollar she had on building flying time. Later, she took the 727 flight engineer ground school, and eventually became an instructor, teaching the course to male pilots who were getting hired ahead of her.  It was the seventies and the feminist movement was picking up steam.  Cindy was finally hired by Western as a 727 flight engineer in 1977.   Once she began flying a regular schedule, things went well for her.  She purchased a Stolp Acroduster, a single place biplane designed for stunt flying.  On April 26th, 1981, Cindy was flying the Acroduster at an airshow in El Mirage, California.  Tragically, she was doing a maneuver close to the ground and something went wrong.   I knew she was flying the show that weekend, but was working and out of touch when the media reports came through. I didn't find out about Cindy's death until three weeks later.  It was devastating, and made worse because I had no chance to say goodbye. I had to mourn her loss privately.

A newsletter published by Stolp, the manufacturer of her Acroduster biplane, included the following quote about flying aerobatics from an interview with Cindy. She said, "Fear doesn't enter into it for any of us...who wants to die?  But I'll admit, for me, facing death is the way to know you're truly alive."  Cindy Rucker was a wonderful friend, and an exceptional human being.  Her determination, and courage were remarkable.

A few years later, as my own career as a media writer/producer was blossoming, I spent considerable time developing a TV reality series called Women with Wings.  I found an Air Force C-5 Galaxy jumbo transport pilot, an Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle pilot, a Norwegian Air Force helicopter pilot, an Indian Airlines first officer,  a Northwest Airlines 747 jumbo Captain, and an Alaskan Eskimo bush pilot; all women, all willing to tell their stories and inspire young girls and boys to believe in themselves and their possible dreams. Unfortunately,  I was unable to generate any enthusiasm with broadcasters for the idea, and I had to move on to other things.

These days,  many women are serving as pilots in the world's militaries, and as commercial pilots with the airlines.  Women are flying the most advanced aircraft and the newest air transports, including the Airbus A-380 jumbo jet. Little girls who are growing up with a passion for flying know the door is open to them.

Air Force F-15 Fighter Pilots

Airline Captains

 

If Cindy Rucker were still with us, she would be a veteran airline captain flying the newest generation of Air Bus or Boeing jetliner.   She earned her place in the cockpit,  I think in heroic fashion. She helped pave the way for the current generation of female professional pilots.

Given the opportunity, women have proven themselves worthy and entirely competent in their work as aviators. As I write this, these women with wings are getting it done quietly, and mostly without fanfare.  They're just getting it done. As a pilot myself, I know how much they enjoy going to the office.  In the cockpit, gender should be, and now mostly is, irrelevant. 

Whenever I cross paths these days with a woman pilot, I think of Cindy Rucker.  She would be so proud of her flying sisters. As for me, what I feel is admiration.


Here is a link to ISWAP, the International Society of Women Airline Pilots... http://www.iswap.org/


Here is a link to a video about a young woman Lufthansa Airlines aviator,   co-piloting the A380 jumbo jet, the largest airliner in the world. By the way, Lufthansa also has a female A380 captain.  This video is in German, but don't let that put you off. It's a very engaging video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDSE9b9fzRg

Here is a video about Lt. Colonel Nicole Malachowski, the US Air Force's first female Thunderbird pilot....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmYYmaxZNNg

Flying with an Airshow Pilot

Rennie Price is a professional airshow pilot flying out of Aurora Airport about 30 minutes south of Portland, Oregon, where we live.   I had the great privilege of flying today with Rennie in his Sukhoi SU29, one of the world's premiere aerobatic performance aircraft.  It was a totally awesome experience.

Sukhoi  SU29

 

 

Retired from piloting Airbus A320 airliners, Rennie now splits his time between flying airshows in his Russian built Sukhoi and flying business clients in an Astra jet, and when he's not doing either of those things, he's an FAA flight examiner and instructor at the most advanced levels.  Rennie is exactly what you might expect of a pilot who has logged 23,000 hours of flying time. He has a warm, cheery personality, and seems eager to share the joy of flying with aviation buffs like me.

Rennie Price

We were fortunate to have a beautiful morning to fly. Sunny skies with lots of puffy cumulus clouds to dance around. Getting strapped into the passenger seat of the two place SU29 was a bit of a chore.  After dawning a parachute,  I climbed up on the wing, and settled into the front seat. It's a tight space. The harness that holds you in has shoulder and leg straps that link together with double waist belts.  It's a very snug fit, as it should be in an aircraft designed and built specifically for flying aerobatics.  Next came the helmet linked by intercom with Rennie, who was in the pilot's seat right behind me.

 

Fifteen minutes later, the Sukhoi lifted off from the Aurora airport runway and quickly gained altitude. We headed east toward Mount Hood.  Once we were clear of the airport traffic pattern,  Rennie allowed me to take control of this most nimble and responsive aircraft. I was feeling a unique blend of  exhilaration and apprehension.   I hadn't piloted a stick and rudder airplane since I was tooling around in a Citabria more than 30 years ago.

The Citabria is a docile plane, designed to do limited aerobatics like loops and rolls in a fun but very forgiving way.  Comparatively speaking, the Citabria is a frisky donkey and the Sukhoi is a triple crown worthy thoroughbred race horse.  The Sukhoi has a large radial engine and big control surfaces, making for quick and unambiguous response to movement of the stick and rudder.  

As we climbed to a safe altitude for aerobatics, Rennie urged me to do some tight turns around one puffy cloud then another.  What a thrill.   Then, after he demonstrated  a roll,  I took the stick and rolled the Sukhoi a couple of times myself.  My effort was clumsy and graceless at first, but it got better with Rennie's patient coaching.  I rolled left a couple of times then to the right a couple of times. Awesome fun.  At that point, I was feeling a bit queasy.  After taking a moment to settle myself, we tried a couple of loops. What a blast. Finally,  Rennie executed a hammerhead; a very cool maneuver where you point the nose straight up then kick in right rudder just before running out of airspeed.  It was wonderful fun. 

A few minutes later, we were back on the ground.  As it turns out, we were only in the air for about 30 minutes. But what a splendid time it was.  I couldn't have asked for a more accommodating and patient facilitator for this experience than Rennie Price. He is an aviator at the top of his profession. To be able to share this experience with him was a great privilege.

These days, flying is an expensive hobby.  I'm not sure what the future holds for me in this arena,  but I still have my pilot's license.  I probably need about 15-20 hours of dual flight time to regain my competence.  If the stars align right, and such a course becomes financially feasible,  I still have the hunger to fly.  My time with Rennie Price only confirmed that fact.

Here is a link for Rennie Price's pilot training and airshow website   http://www.hammerheadaerobatics.com/

Here is a link to a video that features Rennie performing in his Sukhoi SU29 at an airshow...  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjgiRFhYgXA

IMAX Fighter Pilot

I just came across a video that originated a few years ago as an IMAX presentation in theaters.   It is focused on the famous Red Flag fighter aircraft exercises that take place over the Nevada desert near Nellis Air Force Base, which is located just outside Las Vegas.

I decided to build a blog entry around this video simply because it has some of the most exciting video footage I've ever seen of fighter jets in action. 

Here is a link to the IMAX Fighter Pilot Video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V30f88a8OTA

A380 Approach & Landing at SFO

This is one of the best videos of an approach and landing I've ever seen.  The fact that it is from an Airbus A380, the biggest passenger plane on Earth,  is frosting on the cake.

Here is the link to this very entertaining aviation video...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3HKN-FWNq0

Flying the P-51 Mustang

Kermit Weeks is a wealthy man who has used some of his money to buy, restore, and maintain in flying condition some of the most iconic aircraft designs in aviation history.  One of his planes is a fully operational, World War Two era, P51 Mustang.

P-51 Glamorous Glennis

The North American Aircraft P-51 Mustang was arguably the best fighter aircraft produced during that war. When it was first introduced to the European air war against the Nazis in 1942, it met the drastic need for a long range fighter aircraft that could provide air cover for allied bombers on day and night raids against targets deep in Nazi controlled territory.  The one named 'Glamourous Glennis' in the image above is a depiction of the P51 flown by World War Two ace Chuck Yeager, who went on after the big war to be the first pilot to break the speed sound barrier in the Bell X-1.

Anyway, the other day I ran across a couple of videos Kermit Weeks made of him prepping and flying his  P51.  This one is a very rare early version. The later models had one piece bubble canopies.  Very cool stuff for a flying buff like me.

Here are the links to Kermit Weeks' videos on flying the P51...

Part One...     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z1Z-WEZZGM

Part Two...   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1F_UJaaP1A

Part Three...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOXxUApaaWo

Here's another cool video of the P51. It features Kermit Weeks and one of the original 'Tuskeegee Airman', who were black pilots that flew the P51 fighter during World War Two....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJW9UlxPmMk

Boeing 747-8 Build Video

The Dash 8 is the latest iteration of the Boeing 747, which first flew more than 40 years ago.  This new model is designed to be more fuel efficient that the Airbus A380, it's only competitor for long range jumbo air transport.

Here is a link to a 45 minute video that shows how the 747-8 is built  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OQ712nscudQ

Ten Stearman Take-Off

Flying is one of the great joys of my life.  Old biplanes are especially appealing to me.  The Stearman is a large, open cockpit biplane used by the American military prior to and during World War Two as a primary flight trainer.

After that war, many ended up being used as cropdusters.  A fair number of them are in the hands of private owners today, still flying, probably on weekends just because they are so much fun.  The big radial engine hung on the front of a Stearman burns a lot of fuel, and they don't fly very fast, so they are now mostly a rich man's toy, flying on sunny and warm weekends when having a good time is the bottom line.

Here is a link to a video that features ten Stearman's flying together...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDUgzPshEPQ

Supersonic in a Mig-29

This is something I haven't done, but I would love to do. In Russia, there is a place that offers an experience that most aviation buffs like me would put high on their bucket list. It costs $14,000, but if  you've got the money, you can break the sound barrier in one of the most advanced figther aircraft types.

Mig- 29

Here is a link to a video of an adventurous soul experiencing some very heady flying in a supersonic Russian Mig-29 fighter-inteceptor.
http://www.youtube.com/user/migmangreg?v=dq7UjkU1pvQ

Here is a link to teh website if you want to sign up for the Mig 29 yourself.  http://rusadventures.com/tour7.shtml

Waco Biplane

Open cockpit biplanes (two wings) are  an aviation icon of another era.  I've long had an affection for open cockpit flying. I've had a chance to experience it in a vintage Waco like the one in this video. It's a total blast. Too much fun, especially when doing loops, rolls, wingovers, and other aerobatic maneuvers. By the way its not Waco, like in Texas, it's Waco as in Wocko... Old Waco's are very cool flying machines.

Waco YMF biplane

Here is the link to a video of a flight in a Waco biplane.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSvGZGymdpo

Another cool video of aerobatics in a Waco   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91af9ysuVGE

Daredevil Pilots of Columbia

We're not talking about thugs who fly cocaine out of the jungle.  This little video showcases professional pilots who fly ancient, twin engine Douglas DC-3 aircraft delivering supplies and passenger service in and out of grass strips in the jungles of the western Amazon. 

First flown in the 1930s, the DC-3 is a remarkable airplane. Tens of thousands were built for the war effort.  There are probably several hundred of them still in commercial service. In places like Coumbia, few aircraft can match the DC-3 in serving that nation's remote communities.  The conditions in which Columbian pilots operate regularly are daunting to say the least.

Here is a link to the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-F-cBF5ZbQ&feature=watch-vrec

Van's RV8

When I was a kid, what I wanted more than anything was to fly.  I wanted to be a pilot. I dreamed of flying for the Air Force.  I made models of all the current fighter aircraft in the Air Force Inventory.  When I reached my teen years,  I was devastated when I learned that I am red-green color blind.  That doesn't mean I see in black and white, but it is sometimes difficult for me to differentiate between close shades of red and green. A pretty common anomally, but at least at that time, it disqualified one from any prospects of flying professionally.  

Later on, after college and military service, I did learn to fly; first in gliders out in the California desert, then single engine Cessnas, and my favorite, the Bellanca Citabria.  I got an instrument rating, and was even on my way to getting a commercial license.  Then, the reality that I could never fly professionally, coupled with the rapidly increased cost of flying,  hit home.  I stopped flying not because I lost interest, but because I couldn't afford to do it often enough to stay safe in the cockpit. 

So here I am, hankering to get in the cockpit again.  Regaining my pilot proficiency, and having fun aloft is near the top of my personal bucket list.

Just down the Interstate, about half an hour from where I live, is Aurora, Oregon. There is a terrific airport in Aurora.  It is home to Van's Aircraft, a kit plane manufacturer.  They make a whole series of very cool, aluminum skinned, low wing, sport monoplanes.   The one I am in love with is the RV8.

It's got a tandem cockpit with the pilot sitting centerline.  It's fast and climbs out at 2,600 fpm. The engine most often used is a 180 hp Lycoming.   The RV8 is a taildragger, strictly stick and rudder.   It's designed to do aerobatics - loops, rolls, wingovers, tail slides -  total, unexpergated fun!

Here is the page on the Van's website that reports on the RV8.
http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv8.htm

This is a totally awesome flying machine.

Check out this video made by some RV8 pilots.. 
http://vimeo.com/4172767