It’s a harvester of evil
That no one can control
And it’s here to take your soul.
Don’t try to fight it.
There’s nothing you can do.
S.O.S. is coming for you!

- Dos Gringos, “S.O.S.”

I have survived Shoe Flag.  It’s actually called CAP’s Squadron Leadership School.  It and its related follow-on schools are roughly analogous to the Air Force’s Squadron Officer School or “SOS,” although the CAP courses each last a few days at most and SOS goes for a month or more.

If the legends are true, non-pilots in the Air Force (known to pilots by the pejorative term “shoe clerks”) regard SOS as a prized opportunity.  Pilots are reputed to dread SOS because it tends to take pilots out of the cockpit for a month or so.  And, let’s face it, SOS involves very little flying upside down – or any other kind of flying.  Taking a cue from Red Flag and other “Flag” exercises, pilots occasionally refer to SOS or any similar endeavor as a “Shoe Flag.” [Read more...]

With the studio rearranging mostly complete, I’m back to editing the Acro Camp footage.  Having picked up some decent logging software, I’m going through each flight and logging the maneuvers and dialogue day by day.

On 14 May 2010 (Day 1 of the first Acro Camp), the campers flew 12 of the 41 sorties of the camp.  Each of the four campers flew three sorties.  Over the last day or two, I’ve logged two sorties by Paul Berliner and three by Lynda Meeks.  The frame grab above is from Lynda’s second flight.  After a couple of wingovers, Barry does a couple of 3G pulls just to begin introducing the sensation of positive G.  In the frame grab, Barry has just unloaded the airframe at the top of a pull.

Barry’s core program is essentially the same with each camper with whom he flies.  Minor variations to accommodate each camper, to be sure, but a very consistent curriculum.  It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves.  I first flew with Barry in 2008 and, if memory serves, he put be through almost exactly the same sequence of maneuvers in the early going.

Lynda’s story is unfolding in interesting ways.  I’ve seen and logged the ground footage in which she said that she was really bunched up on the way out to the practice area.  But it took watching the flight from three camera angles to really understand how bunched she was.  Really tense.  But also determined to fly upside down competently.  A really good story that’ll come out in the finished film.

Back to it.  More from the editing suite soon!

The NTSB’s Air Race and Air Show Safety Hearing just wrapped up in Washington.  I was able to watch the last hour or so.  If, like me, you missed part or all of it, the NTSB’s website indicates that the webcast will be available in archived form as early as this evening.  I’ll be checking the NTSB’s web page for the hearing (http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2012/air_show/index.html) this evening and,  if the archived version is available early enough, I might try to get through all of it and do a post or two with my thoughts (such as they are).