500 Traffic

 

The weekend of the Daytona 500 has come and gone.  Now we are in the midst of wonderful bike week.  When tens of thousands of people who think that riding a Harley is cool arrive in Daytona to clog up our traffic and create the most obnoxious noise pollution.  Can you tell I don't really appreciate them.  To keep my mind off them lets check out some highlights from the 500 weekend traffic.

 A  pretty nice look at a very nice Challenger business jet.  It shares the same fuselage as the CRJ line of aircraft, but has increased range due to its smaller size.  These are truly stand up cabins and seem to be great aircraft.  Bombardier CL-600 Challenger 604.

 This big boy is a Gulfstream G-550.  Massive and expensive business jet that can just about take you to any place you'd want to go in one hop.  Personally I'm a Falcon guy so this didn't interest me that much, but I know quite a few people who have interned at Gulfstream and absolutely love it.

 A regular Citation?  Nope, look a little closer and you'll find some military markings on it making it a Cessna UC-35.  I fiddled with Gimp for a little while trying to make it look cool, this is what I came up with.

 F/A-18B or D model Hornets you say?  Not quite these are from our neighbors from the north.  McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornets from way up at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta.  I was happy to see them because of my Canadian heritage and the fact that they are essentially US Navy aircraft.

 The Canadians departing.  One of my friends from school mentioned that there was a TV documentary made about the training of Canadian fighter pilots made for the Canadian Discovery Channel called, "Jetstream".  I haven't been able to find a stream for it yet, but the clips that are on youtube look amazing.

 The other Canadian Hornet departing.  I like the paint because they share it with their other British Commonwealth nation, Australia, who also operate the Hornet, and now the Super Hornet.

 Trying to make an Airbus product look cool.  Here a US Airways A319 is on short final for Runway 25R at KDAB.  This kind of traffic is somewhat unusual for Daytona and is received for times when there is a high volume of traffic, the races, spring break...

 Another cool set.  The first of what I call the real warbirds.  I think the guys that fly the T-34s around should not be considered in the warbird class.  They are simply Bonanzas with a different cockpit and tail.  These North American T-28 Trojans are absolutely awesome.  If I could choose any of the old training type aircraft to own and fly, this would be it for sure. 

 Finally some real Hornets.  They're McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornets from VFA-83 the "Rampagers."  On the aft portion of the fuselage where it might typically say Navy it instead says, "Ram On".  These guys did the loudest takeoff that I have ever had the privilege of witnessing.  They were so loud that you couldn't here yourself shouting over the engine noise. 

 This was a pretty boring shot of the Thunderbirds before I did some heavy editing.  I have probably 3,000 pictures of the Thunderbirds already and they are all very similar so I wanted to try something new.  Lockheed Martin F-16 Falcons.

This a completely unedited shot.  Not one of my best into the sun shots, but I still like it.  I also like the aircraft that is on final!  A Dassault 50 Falcon one of the locals.

I have some more shots from the weekend including some form New Smyrna where we saw some awesome WWII aircraft, but those will have to wait until my next post.

Mental Battle

For the past week I have been having this major draw to be outside and either in the water or mountains.  Unfortunately Florida only has one of these activities and so I have had to pacify myself by running on the beach.  I have been on the quest to buy a sea kayak for the last year or so, and each time they seem to slip out from under me.  I have called/emailed on a half a dozen boats, and each have been sold before I have had a chance to look at them.  I'm going to continue my search, and hopefully within a few weeks I'll find something.

In my search for these activities I have been captivated by sea kayaking videos that I have found on youtube.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with another post of some of the aircraft we saw this weekend at KDAB.  NASCAR was in town for the Daytona 500 and as a result the NASCAR air force was here too.  Some interesting visitors also made an appearance.  This weekend also saw an open house in New Smyrna where a pair of B-17s and a B-24 were on display, and a very rare aircraft was also spotted.

Massey Ranch Airpark

Well another day of flight team practice.  Although no longer on the team I still enjoy going to practice and helping out.  This weekend marks the 3rd weekend of practice since the team received the brand new Cessna 162 Skycatcher.  What a plane it has been so far.  No complaints from anyone really.  Over the last three weeks I have watched as our pilots have slowly taken to the aircraft and improved their landings.  The first week hardly anyone even landed in the 300 foot box.  Already by week 3 not only were most  in the box, but they were doing so despite very gusty conditions.  Massey has a burble not unlike that which carrier pilots experience from the bridge.  At either end of runway 18-36 there are trees, and the second you pass over those trees on short final all the flight characteristics of your approach change in an instant.

Phil and I were able to arrive early to practice because we drove separately this gave us a chance to take some shots in the early morning light with frost and dew still covering the aircraft.  The Commander above is probably the best shot of the morning.

The big thrill of the day was the first time that any of us have witnessed a jet at Massey Ranch.  A Cessna 500 Citation I departed around 0900.  You can see it being fueled and towed by a Ford diesel.

Next weekend is the Daytona 500 so be on the look out for shots of the Thunderbirds and the NASCAR air force.

Back to the Grind

This week marked the beginning of the end.  The end of my college career that is.  In just 5 short months I will be done with school and on to bigger and better things with the United States Navy, after a short time as an unemployed, bachelor of science in Aerospace Engineering holding, Ensign in the United States Navy waiting to go to flight school.

Until then I will muddle through school preparing for what I hope to be my first ever marathon.

This weekend I was able to attend flight team practice where the team for the first time flew their brand new Cessna 162 Skycatcher.  My first impressions of it are that although it isn't much of a looker it does seem to have good flying qualities.  It is considerably quieter than the Cessna 150s that we usually fly.  Although the Skycatcher was designed some 50 years after the 150 it doesn't seem to have as an advanced a wing from what is visually perceptible.  The 150 has a tapered wing, and the Skycatcher has a hershey bar wing with no taper.  In the coming weeks I hope to see much more of it as our pilots become better and better at flying it, and the team's second Skycatcher arrives in February.

This weekend has also brought renewed interest in photography and filming.  Yesterday the afternoon was spent at Spruce Creek building a gimble for a DIY steadicam.  The work continued today, and it should be operational tomorrow, so look for updates with that.  As we were working on it today we started thinking about camera cranes/booms and tomorrow the plan is to hash out a better idea of how to build one of those as well.  The goal is to have everything operational by next weekend.  Along the way we also ran across DIY plans for a dolly, so that may be included as well.

For my parting words I will share something I have come to realize based on two old phrases:

The first phrase is, "You can achieve anything you put your mind to".  No as a matter of fact you cannot.  It seems to be a motto that American's live by and the rest of the world already knows is not actually true.

The second phrase, "There is no such thing as a stupid/dumb question".  Oh yes there is, and far too often I have heard them.  My favorites are the ones that are asked mere seconds after someone has just finished explaining that very thing.  Why don't people just learn to listen?

And with that it is time to end, thank you, and goodnight.

The Beginning

A New Year and a New Beginning for this blog. I intend to be much more diligent with my posting and a lot more interesting. Many big changes are coming for me in the next year and this will be one of the places that I post these changes.

To start the year off on the right now I ran in a small fun run called the John Dailey Memorial One One Run. I ran it with my cousin Rebekah and her cousins Laura and Emily, their Dad Dan, and Emily's husband David. This was all sort of a last minute deal, I had not even heard about the run until the Thursday before it happened.

The day was a cold one, but with sunshine breaking through from time to time. No snow was on the ground as the rain and warm weather from the previous two days had washed it all away. I found out later that the wind chill was somewhere in the teens. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a shirt, they sold out because of the nearly 800 people that were there.

In the end I think I finished between 15-20th for the people who did the two lap 4.4 mile option. I ran it in 0:32:36.63 which I feel was pretty good given the weather, and how little training I had done. I had only ran 3 times over break.

The goal this year is to run the first ever Kalamazoo Marathon in a time under 3 hours 10 minutes. Ideally I would like to be under 3 hours, but I am going to be realistic for my first marathon.

One thing I observed during the run was how many people have all the gear and look the part of runners, but aren't at all very fast at all. I don't have nearly the proper gear compared to some. I was wearing a pair of soccer sweat pants with a pair of running sweats underneath, a long sleeve shirt, a North Face lightweight pullover, and a pair of Adidas running gloves. Some people were decked out head to toe in purpose made gear and were slow as can be. I just cannot understand the people that dress the part and cannot perform.

Back From a Long Hiatus

I'm finally back from quite a long hiatus, nearly a year. Well these things happen when you transfer schools and begin doing many more things. Anyway enough with the excuses, I have a years worth of aviation news to catch up on.

Once again we are waiting on the 787 to roll out for real this time, the roll out last year on 7-8-07 was a bit lame now that it has been more than a year and it has not taken to the sky. The other problem is the Air Force's new tanker contract, which I personally think may never be resolved, not really. It has taken far too long for the government to come to a decision about this matter. I read a quote six months ago when the initial final decision was made that expressed something to the effect that if the deadline was 25 January, he should have asked to make sure it was 2008, not 2009. The bureaucracy that goes into these types of matters is absolutely ridiculous.

Enough about that. The last year has seen me transfer from Western Michigan University to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. I'm still pursuing the same degree, with a slightly different title, Aerospace Engineering with a focus in Aeronautics. The move was a good one for me although I have really missed all my flight team buddies from WMU. The move was prompted after finally getting my chance at the military career I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I was able to pick up a full ride Navy ROTC scholarship which has been absolutely great. The NROTC at Embry-Riddle is one of the largest in the country despite it being just 5 years old and it is already producing the largest number of pilots for the Navy second only to the Naval Academy.

A little bit on the flight team business. I started on the flight team at WMU, the Sky Broncos, we took first place in our region, region III, and fourth in the nation. My event is aircraft recognition, you are given normally 60 slides in of aircraft and have to identify the manufacturer, model number, and common name associated with the aircraft. The catch is that you are only given three seconds to view each slide, which makes things a bit more difficult, when you are experience like most of the top reccers, as they are called, this is more than enough time. The first 50 slides are multiple choice and you are given 15 seconds after each slide to make a decision about the aircraft that was seen, the last ten are fill in the blank and you are given 30 seconds to come to your decision about the aircraft. In the regional back in 2006 I took first place followed by three of my teammates, then in the national I took 6 place. This year I only participated in the national competition with my new team at ERAU, the Eagles, I was able to take second, missing first by only one point. If you'd like to view more on this visit www.nifa.us for more information.

Partially as a result of this I have had little to no time to do leisure flying on my own, so I have had very little flight time in the last year, I'm hoping to remedy that over the next month in preparation for the Eagles Flight Team back in Daytona in the fall. This year I flew for the first time a G1000 equipped Cessna 172, very nice, but I miss the round dials. I have only two gripes with the system, I'm to tall and the extended dash makes it impossible for me to see the comm frequencies on the pilots side display, and the fuel gauges are horizontal. To me the fuel gauges should be vertical since the fuel doesn't drain out of them in a horizontal manner, I'm sure it was a space saving design on the screen, but it just doesn't register with my brain.

This summer I was on active duty for a brief stint enjoying all of what the Navy has to offer in a program called Career Orientation Training for Midshipman or CORTRAMID. It was extremely fun seeing everything the Navy does on a regular day to day basis, as well as getting to meet Midshipman from all around the country that I'll soon be serving alongside. Of course for me the best parts were the flying that we were able to do. Every Midshipman that physically qualified had the chance to fly the T-34C Turbo Mentor. Let me tell you it was a blast! You felt cool from the instant you were geared up and walking out to the aircraft, kitted out in flight suit, harness, gloves, and flight helmet, you felt like you were really a Naval Aviator. Each of us got a 20 to 30 minute flight in the Mentor. My pilot was a Marine Corps C-130 pilot by trade who was doing a tour as a primary flight instructor. We took off from NAS Oceana taxiing out through rows and rows of F/A-18 C-Fs watching them takeoff and land through the expansive greenhouse canopy was amazing. Once we got airborne he held it in ground effect until the end then pitched up 60 degrees in a climbing left turn until we had reached 500 feet and our on course heading. We flew out until we were in Northern North Carolina over the Blackwater compound that is there then climbed to 6,500 ft and did a wide clearing turn. Then he executed an Immelman after which we ended up at about 8,000 ft and 90 knots of airspeed. The stick shaker was going off as we rolled level indicating we were close to stall speed. We then dove for a little airspeed executed a loop followed immediately by a barrel roll, then an aileron roll, and finally a split S. After the split S we made a turn and were now down around 4,500 feet, then he gave me control and we did an aileron roll, that was cool! I then had control from there until 5 miles out from Oceana. Most of the way we were doing 200 knots at only 500 feet. We had to stay below the pattern altitude of the F/A-18s, that is the reason we were so low.

Throughout the rest of CORTRAMID we toured squadrons and flew simulators as well as received two more rides, this time in helicopters. We flew the MH-60S all around the greater Norfolk area with the doors open for about an hour, that was pretty neat! We also flew the CH-53E during Marine week on a short ride, not as interesting as the 60 but still fun for me at least, it seemed to put others to sleep though. It is nicknamed the $h!tter because all sorts of fluids are leaking on to you , in the picture below you can see some of those fluids on one of the guys helmet. They told us there was nothing to worry about, but that if we noticed it stop leaking we should tell them!

Here is a link to a youtube video I created highlighting some of what went on, a lot is missing since we weren't allowed to have cameras at many sights for national security purposes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDzVLHKXh0I

Plane&Pilot

I have a bit of a bone to pick with Plane&Pilot magazine today because of this months issue, September 2007. They did an article about the 10 sexiest airplanes and I am really not pleased by it.

First of all it should have been the 10 sexiest airplanes plus 2 and then 15 more. Lets be definitive here folks its honestly not that hard. My first bone to pick is with their choice of the Avro B.1 Vulcan. The thing is absolutely hideous with its stingray shaped wing that looks so under designed. I won't even give it the gratification of more of an explaination, I think what happened in the James Bond movie Thunderball is enough, and thats when they were new. I can't stand any of the V bombers and I was very surprised seeing the Vulcan on the list.

My next is with the indecisiveness they had to put two aircraft for 7th place the Cirrus and Columbia, and they didn't specify which models for either. I think as I have said in a previous blog that the Cirrus SR-2o/SR-22 are better looking, with my decisiveness being placed specifically on the SR-22 because of its exhaust stacks. Besides they already put a better looking Lancair/Columbia earlier on the Lancair 320.

They did the same thing with the 4th place aircraft picking two once again the Lear 24D, which is really a Gates Learjet 24D Learjet a successor to the original, and the Dassault 10 Falcon. I do think a Learjet should have made the list, but I think it should have been the 31 the most capable of the Learjets with body strakes, and winglets. I couldn't disagree more with the choice to put the Falcon 10 on, for me it is the ugliest and least sexy of all the Falcons and the one that doesn't fit in with the rest of the line. I think that the Falcon 20 is the aircraft that represents the quintessential Falcon design, you can see it in all the other Falcons. They then go on to say that the 10 and 20 are still aircraft to swear by for corporate flight departments, the 10 no, the 20 and 200 yest definitely, I see them all the time. The only time I see Falcon 10s are when NASCAR goes anywhere.

That's the end of my rant for now.

The Space Shuttle Endeavor blasted off just minutes ago and is probably just now reaching space as I write this. I'll hopefully get to see it landed in two weeks time when I'm down in Florida to start school.