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.

Stupid Aircraft

I was watching ABC news tonight and a story came on regarding an aircraft that has been under development for 21 years. As my previous posts have been regarding the beauty of aircraft this post is in regards to how ugly this aircraft is, just look at the thing. If you read Popular Science Magazine you will have seen an article regarding a hypersonic aircraft for the Marines several months ago. The following month the letters to the editor regarding this issue pretty much destroyed the possibility of this aircraft ever making off the proposal sheet because there is no need for it. The same is true for this aircraft that $63 million have been poured into, its just not needed. I think the news was trying to show what a waste of money it was, but in the governments eyes this $63 million is nothing. Anyway there is really no need for an aircraft that can take of vertically fly at 700mph anywhere in the world and drop off 50 combat troops. We can pretty much do that already with more troops, almost 6 times as many troops in a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, granted the troops will get dirty from parachuting in, but whats a little dirt. Anyway this aircraft will probably never progress beyond its hovering several feet off the ground tethered to a flat bed. As much as I support aviation when you build something this ugly it is no wonder it never makes it past the prototype stage, ie Boeing X-32, don't even get me started.

Round Two

Well I'm glad I have committed myself somewhat to this, I think it will be fun. Anyway on the topic of space it is good that the shuttle Atlantis safely made it to orbit yesterday, unfortunately I was unable to watch the launch as I was playing in a soccer game. The game was the first I had played in 19 months and it was definitely good to get out there again.

Now I need to get back on topic and describe to you some of the aircraft that I think are aesthetically pleasing. These aircraft will not include some of my favorite aircraft that aren't so pleasing to the eye, namely my favorite aircraft the Dassault F-1 Mirage.

I'm going to do this in order of size most likely so I'll start from the smaller aircraft first and work up to the big ones.

So here it goes the first aircraft being the Cirrus SR-20 and SR-22. I can't say enough about the nice lines that these aircraft have. Everything is swept back and almost elegant in nature and I would only change several things to make them even more pleasing to the eye. On the SR-22 I would change up the wingtip extension that they added, it just does not look good from up close or when you see it in wing shots. The other thing that I would change are the exhaust stacks on the SR-20 they are way to long, I understand that this is for functional purposes, but they just don't look right.

The next aircraft up in class that I think has good lines is the Beechcraft 60 Duke. Everything about this aircraft has been swept back and looks like it was built solely for speed. There really isn't anything about this aircraft that I would want to change. Although the modernized versions with winglets I don't think look as good as those with clean wings. Some of the modernized variants have picked up aft body strakes which I think are a real plus aesthetically. The only thing I would really like to change about the duke is its reputation. It seems that they are maintenance hogs and so have gained the reputation as hangar queens, although to date I have seen several flying so I don't know if this is actually the case. AT least one has been granted the privilege of wearing Pratt & Whitney PT-6s and I think it looks fantastic.

Stepping up once again we move to the Dornier Do-328. This regional turboprop airliner is definitely the best looking regional airliner out there. With speeds nearing that of jets, clean lines, a high performance wing, and an awesome flight deck its no wonder I don't hear anything bad about this aircraft. I must advise you that it does have an extremely ugly sibling, the Do-328JET model which has the six bladed turboprops replaced by turbofans. This aircraft sounds as good as it looks, ten years ago I had the privilege of flying in one and it was one of the quietest aircraft I have ever been on, and I was in a wing seat very near those monstrous Pratt & Whitney PW119 engines.

The next aircraft on this list is the Dassault 900 Falcon. For me nearly all the Dassault aircraft should been on this best looking list with the exception of only a few. Marcel Dassault formerly Bloch must have really been inspired when he began creating his aircraft because they all look superb. For me the 900 exemplifies this beauty it has flowing lines, a nice wide fuselage, the ducted third engine, and the typical Dassault business jet tail. It seems everything on this aircraft is faired in and just perfect. My uncle had the privilege of flying this aircraft and he said he absolutely loved it.

In the next class up lies the Boeing 757. To some this aircraft is some what unattractive because its fuselage is so slender and long, and its engines are so big and powerful, but to me these are the things that make it such a good looking aircraft. Pilots consider this aircraft to be the sports car of the airliners because of how overpowered it is. I have heard a story through one of my friends about some pilot he had talked about how one day with no passengers on board and a light fuel load they did a performance takeoff in the aircraft and pitched the nose back to other worldly attitude. If you have not yet seen it I suggest searching the New Zealand Air Force 757 flyby on Youtube, that's what I'm talking about. As with the Dornier Do-328 the 757 has an ugly sibling known as the 757-300 which has been stretched to a length that just looks unsafe. The 757 features aft leaning twin bogey landing gear that look like claws off a falcon when in their down and locked position and this further adds to its aura as a bird of prey.

Finally there is the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar. This is the best looking of all the three holers, although I am somewhat partial to the MD-11 as well. This aircraft like many of the others on this list has everything tucked away and faired in. Something about the sheer size of this aircraft makes it impressive. Although this aircraft did not sell very well in comparison to its opponents the DC-10 and 747 it was probably the best of these aircraft. Lockheed spent a year extra working everything out on this aircraft so that it was absolutely a dream to fly. I've heard stories about pilots of this aircraft waking up in the middle of the night and going to sit with this aircraft it meant so much to them.

Those are my favorites for the civilian side of things, I'll be back at some point to give my military aircraft, and I may even give my helicopter favorites, if I'm in a good mood.