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I Take Flight: The Simulator Dudes

May 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This is a regular blog entry. If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other entries.

I went to Cole’s school earlier today for Young Author’s Day. Each of the kids in Mr. Gayta’s class has produced a book containing an original illustrated story. Cole’s is entitled I Take Flight: The Simulator Dudes. It’s based on the US Navy jet simulator at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Note the descriptive “[i]t was a big enough space that you could move around in your seat and press the emergency button if you were going to puke.” Cool! I need to get to that sim. I was there with Rod Rakic in November, but we ran out of time and couldn’t get through the sim.

Cole’s teacher did a great job with the project and I’m really proud of the job that Cole did with the book.

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More Acro Conditioning and Shooting Video

April 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment


This is a regular blog post. If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other posts.

Got up for 1.1 in the Super-D with Barry yesterday. Started out with a 5,000-foot overcast, but that was plenty of vertical room for acro and the overcast moved out toward the end and we had sunny skies.

Tolerance is getting better. We had a break in the action to take care of the oil door about halfway through, but generally got some good acro time. Loops, rolls, hammerhead, four-point rolls, and some inverted. All designed to keep building the tolerance. The inverted is what gets me, so we’re saving that for the end of each session. Didn’t feel as ragged out this time, which is a good sign.

+3.5/-1.5G. Not pushing for the gee tolerance. I’m fine with up to 4.0 and that’s about the unassisted equivalent of what I expect to pull in May (assisted by a gee suit, which adds +2.5G to +3.0G to one’s tolerance) In fact, lower gees for these maneuvers is a pretty decent proxy for the smoothness that I’m developing.

I’ve also been very pleased with the video so far. The camera mount is working well and giving really good angles, especially now that I’m including more of the view out the side and roof windows to give a better sense of the motion. Once I get some time, I’ll start editing and putting together the music.

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Acro Tolerance Going to Two a Week

April 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This is a regular blog post.  If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other posts.
Just a short update.  I’m scheduled to go up with Barry in the Super D for acro twice a week between now and mid-May, when I’ve scheduled the T-6A Texan II flight down at Randolph AFB.  The weather’s not looking too promising for today’s flight, but I’ll be there and preflighted at the appointed hour and we’ll make a go/no-go decision then.
Tolerance at the moment is an abysmal 20 minutes, so it’s imperative that I get up and inverted a lot between now and mid-May.  Above is a frame grab of the video that I shot the week before last.  The camera is working well and I’m pretty excited about how things are going so far.  Look for more video episodes soon!
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Sun ‘N Fun 2009 – Saturday and Sunday

April 27, 2009 by 2 Comments


This is a regular blog post. If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other posts.

Ella and I are back from Sun ‘N Fun 2009 and a side trip to Kennedy Space Center. Heck of a good time.

Ella’s least favorite (and one of my most favorite) of the day was the USN F/A-18F Super Hornet East Demo Team, shown above in the Heritage Flight phase of the flight. Sun ‘N Fun is a little easier to photograph because the sun is a bit more behind you and you can shoot to the right from the announcer’s stand and get a much better sun angle than some other venues.


Matt Chapman flew his Eagle 580 to the edges of the envelope again. Really nice low-energy maneuvers and masterful handling of the aircraft. I’m not sure that many of those watching really understand what it takes to do some of the really slow stuff, but I was amazed. Embry-Riddle Eagle 580. Lycoming IO-580 engine, 330hp. 1,300 lbs. 400 degrees/second roll rate. +/- 10 gees. Yeah!


The Uncontrolled Airspace team was in full attendance for two episodes of its show and to run the Gathering of Aviation Podcasters on Friday. Good to see Jack, Jeb, and Dave all in one place!

Ella and I took Sunday and headed over to Kennedy Space Center. She’s not huge into the whole space thing, but, then again, she’s four years old and was a champ about everything. Here she is in the rocket garden just after arriving. There’s a dearth of family rest rooms throughout the center (rough for daddy-daughter pairs trying to navigate the premises), so we rode the fine line between not needing the facilities too often and dehydration.


I have pictures of her with the Saturn V from a January 2006 visit to KSC when she was 13 months old. I took another few of her in roughly the same position at the aft end of the first stage for comparison and I think we’re going to try to keep doing that for years to some. In the meantime. Here’s one of the both of us (which might also develop into a tradition).

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Second Day at Sun ‘N Fun

April 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment


This is a regular blog post. If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other posts.

Day two here at Sun ‘N Fun in Lakeland, Florida. We got up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday to make the flight to Orlando and didn’t get to the hotel until around 10:00, so no blog post yesterday.

But we’re back at a reasonable time tonight, so here are a few views of the day.

Rod Rakic, the mastermind behind www.mytransponder.com, got to hold Sean Tucker’s pole (at least one of them) for one of the ribbon cuts at the show today. Ella and I talked our way up onto the announcer’s stand and shot this picture of the moment. That’s Rod in the orange shirt holding the near pole.


Yesterday, we hit the Splash-In at the Fantasy of Flight museum on the way to Lakepand. We hooked up with Will Hawkins and Rico Sharqawi of Wilco Films and got to help set up for Kermit Weeks’ interview for A Pilot’s Story. Ella was the stand-in for Kermit during the setup phase.


The Viper East Demo Team was there with a single-ship F-16 demonstration. I shot what I could of the demo, but this was the first time I could get really close to the announcer end of the presentation. Here, the major is handling the communications with the aircraft during the demo while the chief did the announcing.


Be sure to join me on the Sun ‘N Fun Radio porch tomorrow right after the airshow (approx. 5:30) for the very first live rendition of Airspeed! I’ll tweet as we get close to airtime. See you there!
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