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About Stephen Force and the Airspeed Media Network

“Stephen Force” is the superhero alter ego of mild-mannered tech and aviation lawyer, commercial pilot and instructor pilot (with instructor, commercial, or private privileges in gliders, ASEL, AMEL, ASES, IA, and DC-3 (SIC) type-rated), and Civil Air Patrol (USAF Auxiliary) lieutenant colonel and search-and-rescue pilot Steve Tupper.

Steve brings the experience of aviation alive for a large and growing audience by digging deeper and going longer than any other medium.  Whatever it takes to get the story right.  He stuffs the audience member into his headset or helmet and takes him or her up on some of the most compelling experiences in aviation.

Having spent dozens of hours inside the head of the average audience member, Steve is a trusted friend and intermediary.  The Airspeed audience knows, likes, and trusts him to go have these experiences and then bring back the sensations, the exhilaration, the trepidation, the knowledge, and . . . the story.  Always, always, always the story.

Since launching the podcast and media network more than nine years and 200+ episodes ago, Steve has recorded episode segments from the cockpit of the aircraft that he flies, received aerobatic demonstrations in a USAF Thunderbird F‑16D, T-6A Texan II, T-38A Talon, and L-39 Albatross, been strapped into a canvas sling seat at 12,500 feet next to the open door of the Golden Knights’ C-31A jump aircraft, been in the cockpit and at the boom in a KC-135R refueling C-17s over the Carolinas, and flown with a growing list of the nation’s premier airshow performers.  And, in 2012, he became an airshow performer himself.

He has covered such diverse topics as motion sickness with NASA’s premier expert on the subject, music composition with composer David Kneupper, icing with the NASA Glenn Icing research Team (home of the “Otter-sicle”), and the modified B-747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with astronaut and pilot G. Gordon Fullerton, to name just a few.

He also goes out and lives a big part of the dream with which many of his listeners identify.  Most recently, be began flying competition aerobatics in a Pitts S-2B and placed second in his first competition.

Steve also writes and delivers some of the most hard-boiled, gut-wrenching, and brutally honest commentary in any aviation medium, including Why I Fly, First Solo, This I Believe, Fingers in the Airport Fence Entwined (increasingly in demand on occasions when well-loved aviators go west), and The Kranz Dictum (which has gone viral among CAP squadrons for safety stand-downs).

The show gets between 15,000 and 19,000 downloads per month from the primary feed and uncounted additional downloads from syndication sites around the Internet.

Steve assembles groups of radio and similar audio media to which to feed audio content for airshows and other special events.  He has contributed as a videographer for WGVU TV, a blowtorch PBS affiliate in west Michigan.  He also volunteers with EAA Radio for AirVenture Oshkosh and with Sun ‘N Fun Radio and has composed and recorded original thematic music for both events.  You can also hear Airspeed episodes on the event radio station at the Arlington Fly-In.

He is a multi-instrumental musician and compose who is currently scoring and recording music for, as well as writing and appearing in, the upcoming independent film, A Pilot’s Story for Wilco Films.  See www.apilotsstory.com.

He is a member of the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) and holds a letter of authority (“LoA”) as a Recommended Air Boss/Single Venue (“RAB/SV”) for the Detroit Riverfront.

He regularly covers some six airshows each summer and makes an annual appearance as part of Podapalooza at AirVenture Oshkosh.

 

The Audience Speaks:  Praise for Airspeed

The best coverage the team has ever had for a media flight.

- Tony Mulhare, Maj, USAF – 2008 Season Thunderbird 8

This is an excellent podcast.  Traditional media doesn’t cover aviation nearly enough and when it does, it often gets it wrong.  This guy knows what he’s talking about ‘cause he’s actually doing it.  An aviation George Plimpton, he walks the walk and talks the talk and lets us walk right there with him.  And the fact that this great content comes in a podcast is all the better.  My medium of choice is now podcasting and the depth of information I want and need is often only available through new media.  Thankfully, there are shows like Airspeed to give me my aviation fix when I can’t get it myself and when traditional media gets it wrong.

- Rick Felty

Steve, this is outstanding. The production quality is top notch. Great music – it’s  driving without being cliché or overwhelming. I’ve never read of a Thunderbirds ride with this perspective. It’s usually what you get in the Sunday paper (“Gee, that was fast, and then I needed to use the sick sack”). I enjoyed the pilot’s perspective, but you wrote so much more than MOAs and G forces into this, and that’s what makes this a truly outstanding work. It’s about the people, after all. Thank you for the huge time and effort you have put into this wonderful and entertaining show.

- WC

Not only have you again captured the essence that drives us back to the airport or to look back up into the sky with every passing airplane, quiet honestly you’ve caused me to take a hard look at my own inner spirit for aviation and what effect the daily drone the airline schedule has had upon it. In short, thank you. In long, I’m not quite sure what the eventual effects of these new insights may have, but I’m excited about them, so thanks. Thanks a lot.

- CC

I knew I would listen when the full T-Birds ‘cast came out, but I figured I’d heard a lot of it already in the early teasers you’d released. Man, was I wrong! I’ve listened three times so far. It is so engaging, I had to stop using power tools while listening to avoid personal injury! I laughed, I cried (I told my wife it was dust in my eyes from the leaf blower).  You captured it, and you shared it with us all. Thanks for taking me along!

- SJ

You really earned your “ready for NPR” ticket with the [composer and musician] David Kneupper interview. Great story idea, superior execution. If you worked at a newspaper, your editor would offer you a cigar after reading that story.  Thanks for the consistently solid podcast. I wish you continued success and I look forward to hearing more on Airspeed in the future.

- JF

I wanted to take a moment this morning to thank you for making [the Airspeed episode] “Sometimes Alternates Fly.” For the better part of five years now I have been driving the same route to work each morning. Monday through Friday it is a consistently mundane ride that lasts just over thirty minutes. I have driven several different vehicles over the years but today was the first time that I have ridden to work in an F-16. I started my ride today just as Thunderbird 8 requested the MOA and arrived to work at just in time to look down and see the end of the Thunderbird routine overBattle Creek. I have listened to a lot of podcasts over the years and continue to listen to all of the aviation shows but today was the first time that I felt the experience. I hope that your flight isn’t the closest I ever come to the back seat of a fighter but if it is, it was a damn good ride! Keep up the great work.

- Damon Favor

This podcast kicked ass on the audio. I have a little Mini Cooper S with an H/K Audio system. I had the sun roof open and the wind whistling along with the sound as I listening to it on my drive home. It felt like I was right there. I really enjoy when you put the listeners there in the seat with you. You have had some nice opportunities to pursue some wicked cool parts of aviation. Thanks for sharing that with the rest of us.

- RM

This [piece] deeply moved me. I don’t know what put me in the “able to be moved” mood, if it was the rainy weather or because I am way the heck over here on the wrong side of the Atlantic Ocean missing my wife and kids, but your poem nearly shook me up. I had to do the old Navy Officer sleeve wipe to get the “haze” out of my eyes to regain my composure.

- RM

I still have no idea why but, after listening to this three times, “Viper-Six is a two ship flight and, sir, we’re F-16s” is where I get all choked up.  Wow. What a treasure this episode is. “Take Your Kids to the Airport” and “Why I Fly” were great. But this sets the bar very high indeed.

- MC

“Shut Up and Listen To the Airplanes” was another gem. As soon as I heard the intro, I grabbed the good headphones and headed for the garden lounger with the iPod. It’s sunny and warm here in theU.K.today, so I shut my eyes and was transported to an airfield in another country.  I could smell the kerosene as the jets ripped past and the announcer got himself excited in the middle distance. Then there was the Pitts (was it?) looping and rolling in my mind’s eye while that lovely warm exhaust note came and went. That was this morning. Its a holiday today and we’ve just come back from a good pasta-lunch-and-two-pints at the local pub. So guess what I’m going to do? I’m going to grab the iPod, head for the garden and listen again.  After that, I may just listen again.

- Christopher

“Shut Up and Listen to the Airplanes” was a fantastic show! I absolutely loved getting to hear the aircraft that I don’t get to listen to that often. I’m currently stuck at work right now but I’m going to hurry home and play this on my 6.1 Home Theater system as loudly as my wife will let me.

- MW

This episode was the best podcast episode ever, regardless of the fact that no one else outside flying may understand.  It stuck me so close to the heart, for I went thru very similar solo experience. Sorry for the lost of Josh, and very proud of you to continue chasing your dreams, beating your demons. Must admit, this was a tear-jerker.

- FD

Wow. Blew me away. Clipping a copy of your logbook sheet to the fence got my cheeks wet. Second time, even wetter.  The most powerful, personal, meaningful podcast I’ve ever been blessed to hear.

- KK

Stephen Force produces one of the most professional shows in any medium – period.  Airspeed is informative and entertaining, with sharp production and excellent original music.  Listeners interested in aviation will find their enthusiasm boosted by Steve’s contagious energy and those not already interested will be quickly!

911targa

Stephen Force is the embodiment of aviators.  After hanging up his aviation/technology lawyer hat at the end of the day, he takes us along on his adventures from flying classic planes like the Super Decathlon and the DC-3 to flying machines of the military like the T-6A Texan II and the F-16.  The format of this podcast varies from scripted monologues, to inspiring poetry, to the most in-depth coverage of aviation events available anywhere.  Pilot or not, if you enjoy airplanes, click subscribe and come flying with Airspeed.

CaveBear42

Most aviation podcasts are either student pilots taking you through their training or hangar flying where knowledgeable pilots and enthusiasts discuss aviation topics.  Airspeed is unique in that Stephen Force is pushing the envelope of new media reporting.  He has taken you through his training and has engaged in hangar flying but be has also discussed topics as far-ranging as Civil Air Patrol, interviews with astronauts and air show performers and has brought you along to Oshkosh, Sun ‘N Fun, and museums.  He has even thrown in some of the most inspirational poetry and outstanding music you will ever hear on the way.  Oh, and let’s not forget his media ride with the USAF Thunderbirds.  Anyone interested in aviation and aerospace should listen to this podcast.  As well as anyone who wants to see where new media, such as podcasting, is going.  Stephen Force truly is shaping the future of podcasting and making it a legitimate form of reporting media.

R Cigliano

Steve is a multitalented individual who is not only a great pilot, but an accomplished lawyer and musician.  He had the guts to produce several episodes on his training that included the good, bad, and ugly which we all realize is a part of the process of becoming a pilot.  His “Fingers in the Airport Fence Entwined” episode alone made the show worth listening to.

Tom Gilmore, CFII, author of Teaching Confidence in the Clouds

Steve does a great job of putting into words how great it is to be a pilot.  It doesn’t matter if the plane has two seats or 200, you’re still a pilot and the exhilaration of leaving the ground is the same.  Steve is very articulate and has a great voice for radio that will bring a tear to your eye every now and then with his passionate monologues.  A must listen.

Ron Klutts

ICAS 2011 – Day 1

December 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment


This is a regular blog post that updates listeners and viewers on events in the Airspeed world. Airspeed is an audio and video Internet media source that brings the best in aviation and aerospace to media devices and desktops everywhere. If you’re looking for the audio and video content, please check the other entries on the site. It’s all here! In the meantime, enjoy this update about what’s going on in Airspeed’s world.

I’m here at the ICAS Convention at Paris Las Vegas for a few days. I again hit Airshows 101 yesterday and then got reacquainted with the airshow pros. The opening session kicks off in a half hour and then the exhibit hall opens for the first session mid-day.

I’m working on the Airshows 101 episode and have hopes of getting it out later today.

In the meantime, here are a few shots of the convention so far.

The first is a panoramic shot of the welcome reception last night. We had a nautical theme in honor of the centennial of naval aviation. My costume was a TSO’ed life vest. I gave it a 50-50 chance of making it through the party without someone pulling the handle to inflate it. The handle got pulled as I was making my last round of the floor before heading out to the bar. No worries. That’s what it was for. And now I have experience with yet another piece of emergency equipment. And, yeah, there’s got to be a way to log it.

The rest are shots of Le Central, better known as the “circle bar,” just inside the main entrance. Other than the parties at some of the suites upstairs, Le Central is the place to be. You can check out my episode from last year for a more complete gouge.

Back to work on the Airshows 101 episode!

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ICAS Convention – Day 2 – Part 2

December 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment


Day 2 of ICAS successfully completed!

This is the first day upon which the exhibit hall was open and I spent most of the day making my way around the hall with Rico Sharqawi of Wilco Films. It can get to the point where it takes an hour to go 50 feet. In a good way. It’s running into people you know and people you’re meeting for the first time. And really connecting about their particular take on aviation and how to convey the excitement to audiences.

Rico and I are planning to do another debrief tomorrow morning. We’re finding that it’s a great idea to just empty our pockets of business cards from the day before and go over the people we met and talk about some of the synergies that we have with these folks. Or just the amazing stuff that they do. Looking forward to that.

Aaron Tippin gave a performance after the exhibit hall closed down for the day. Good performance with footage of him flying his Stearman on the big screen. Even though it was in the big ballroom, that makes for a cozy venue here at ICAS. Probably 200 people gathered around the stage in front with others hanging ou tat the tables in back.


I guess that’s just another thing about ICAS. I wandered right up to the stage several times after changing cameras and never had a problem getting there. Nobody throwing elbows. Nobody being a jerk. Everyone giving room to the guy shooting video for the big screens. Jut a great crowd.


The sessions kept going today when the exhibit hall was closed. I pretty much hung out in the halls to soak in more of the vibe of the event and to meet additional people. I’m actually in danger of running out of business cards if you can believe that.

I find that, in talking to people, they want to know about the show and about what I do as much as I want to know about them. ICAS seems to level out the interactions. Outside of ICAS, it’s the hero-fanboy relationship at the airshow fence. Here, I get the feeling that if you’ve come to the effort to come to ICAS, you must be serious. No posers here. Or at least not many. And you can stand around and have a beer with Greg Koontz or Gene Soucy or Theresa Stokes or the Misty Blues (all-woman skydiving team), or Scott Lane and the list goes on.

Jay, one of the pilots from Speed and Angels bought be a Leinie’s. Just out of the blue. It’s that kind of community. If you’re there, you’re serious about aviation and airshows. It’s just assumed.

I’m still finding that I have to explain what a podcast is, but people are interested and actually want to know. It’s really had the effect of refining my elevator pitch, if nothing else. I need to get across what I do and the audience for whom I do it. All in about 60 seconds in a crowded and exceedingly noisy room. It’s a challenge, but I think the message gets across. And it’ll ultimately benefit the whole new media community if we get the word out about the depth of the coverage that we can do.

I neglected yesterday to go over the presentation that came immediately after the new media panel. Announcer extraordinaire Rob Reider moderated and Roger Bishop served on the panel. They covered how to leverage video for the airshow experience, both for big screens on site and for distribution to remote audiences. These guys can wire and aircraft for video and sound in about an hour and set up the ground stations and production trucks to assemble the programking in a really immediate way.

It might seem simple, right? Sure, if the aircraft is only going to fly straight and level. But straight and level isn’t very exciting. If the aircraft is going to yank and bank, you need to have antennas with a line of sight to the ground systems at all times and that means antennas that aren’t blocked by the airframe itself. Suddenly, you’re talking whole new levels of complexity.

I saw the video production for the on-site presentation at the Indy Airshow this summer and it was great. You really have to involve the performers, the announcer, and everyone else to bring it off. It adds a whole new level of complexity because everyone’s now thinking about not just the pure acro visible along the crowd line, but the added elements of the video. Now the audience gets to see inside the cockpit and outside from the perspective of the performer and the aircraft. And you have to think about how to make that compelling – not just to an aviation fanboy like me, but to the average airshow attendee.


The mixing and getting to know people continued after the Aaron Tippin show. Mainly down at the bar near the elevators in the lobby, but in other places as well.

The above shot is not intended to be great art. It’s not. It’s just to give you an idea of how crowded and great things get.

I spent an hour or so up in the Air Show Aces hospitality suite. The Air Show Aces are Kent Pietsch, Gene Soucy, and Warren Pietsch with announcer Danny Clisham and wingwalker Theresa Stokes. These folks can put on a almost two hours’ worth of airshow all by themselves by combining their skills and resources to form 12 discreet acts. Unreal. You guys know how much I love Gene’s Show Cat and the noises it makes. And the rest of the acts are great, too.

The picture above gives you a good indication of what it’s like. Wall-to-wall people, most of them pilots to one extent or another, and everyone talking or shouting across the room. I saw that John Mohr had brought up two guitars (my kind of scene!) but the party was too thick to really break them out and I didn’t have enough energy left to wait until things dissipated. So I retreated to the room to edit some audio and get stuff ready for recording the show tomorrow.

Hard to believe that I have to leave at noon tomorrow to head home. Wednesday is going to be ugly. I’ll review a few deals tomorrow on the plane and try to be ready to return to normalcy, but it’s not going to be easy.

More soon from ICAS 2009!
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Selfridge ANGB Airshow and Open House 2009 – Day 1

August 22, 2009 by 1 Comment


This is a regular blog post. Show notes and links to show audio appear in the other posts.

I considered just posting this picture and leaving it at that. Seriously. The major and the kid sitting there in the cockpit of an F-16 and talking about whatever. This Viper was there on the ramp and they were sending little kids up the ladder (yeah, the ladder and not the air stairs) for a moment or two in the cockpit with the driver. Pretty darned cool.

Day 1 of the Selfridge Airshow and Open House is done and it went over pretty well. Overcast skies most of the day and some of the performers had to flatten out their shows, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. If traffic was any indication, attendance is up at least 30-30% this year, similar to attendance figures for other airshows all over the country.

Having gotten most of my coverage done in the days leading up to the show, I left the house around 10:30. I hit the traffic backup at M-59 and I-94 and it was two and a half hours before I got to the ramp. Holy crap! Biggest objection is that the sergeant at the single-file choke point at the entrance to parking on the ramp was letting every other car or so stop and ask questions. I think that particular practice cost about 10,000 people an hour each of their lives. A butterfly flaps its wings on the ramp and traffic crawls five miles back down the line.

Not complaining. Just an observation. If you’re going tomorrow, get there early. If you’re not at M-59 and I-94 by 12:30, you’re not going to be to the flight line in time to see the Thunderbirds. I’m more delighted than most about the attendance. But, if I go back tomorrow, I’m hitting the media window at oh-dark-thirty and then taking a nap on the ramp under an F-16 until a more civilized hour.


The Thunderbirds demo was great at usual. I think they flattened the show, but I can’t be sure. The converging maneuvers, especially by the diamond, are really breathtaking. And they’re flying in tighter formation. This is the latest in the season that I’ve seen them and they’re tight and close and spectacular.

Kind of weird hearing Maj Mulhare on the PA. I still think of his voice as issuing only from inside my helmet with a refrigerator sitting on my chest, watching the horizon appear from the top of the canopy of an F-16D. Not from PA speakers out on the ramp with all of these other people around. He’s the voice of my childhood dream fulfilled. Mine! Yeah, I know that sounds a little like something you’d see scrawled in Cheez Whiz (or worse) on the wall of the trashed hotel room after they finally apprehend the crazed stalker. It’s not that way, really. Just a little weird to hear that voice out on the ramp. Probably because I spent so much time editing that episode and, for all practical purposes, flying that flight. Thanks again, Maj Mulhare! That was a really special 1.0 ASEL, sir! It’s okay that you flew Colbert. His audience might be slightly larger than mine.


More pyro this year than I’ve seen in past seasons. Here’s a shot of the ramp with the flight line in the background.
This is a really deep show from the parking lot. It’s something like a mile (at least) from parking the car on the ramp to the show line. The parking lot is about a quarter of a mile behind me as I shoot this picture and you can see that the show line is most of a mile away. The first year I volunteered at the show (2005), I was driving a golf cart picking up mobility-impaired people at the gate and driving them to the crowd line. I was relieved in the afternoon and went on to do something else. I don’t remember seeing convoys of golf carts driving them back at the end of the show. I half expected to see their skeletons still out there in folding chairs on the crowd line when I went back to volunteer again in 2007. But all apparently ended well.


Here’s N976CP (CAPFLIGHT 2027), the Michigan Wing C-182T Nav III that I flew from Pontiac (KPTK) to Newberry (KERY), Traverse City (KTVC), and back to Pontiac this week. 6.3 hours of time toward the commercial, as well as three instrument approaches and a hold, making me instrument-current for a little longer.

That’s Capt Shawn Wyant, the commander of the Oakland Composite Squadron of Civil Air Patrol (my home squadron) in front of the aircraft at the CAP display. Capt Wyant was also the long-suffering flight release officer (FRO) for both the flight this week and a half dozen or so training flights that led to my successful Form 5 in the aircraft last month. In addition to that aircraft, we had the Gippsland, the glider, the ES trailer, and lots of other hardware on the field. A spectacular showing by CAP! Really prod to be a part of that organization.


A semi-inspiring shot of the Michigan Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook in which I flew yesterday. Shot this from the McDonald’s just before the traffic goat dip this morning. Dave Higdon is right about trying to blur the prop whenever possible. He tries to shoot around 1/100th at the fastest to be sure that he gets a nice translucent prop disc in pictures. I shot this on auto into a bright sly and the camera probably set itself to about 1/100th. And I froze the rotors.

The CH-47, beautiful in its own way, is ugly to many even when the rotors are properly blurred. It’s ugly even to those who love it when you freeze the rotors like this. I need to learn my still camera a little better to say the least.

I have a pile of work to get done and will probably miss the show tomorrow. Some of that work includes finishing Goat Groove, the music to accompany the T-6A episode. I have great new studio monitors (Polk Audios) that are clean and deliver that canoe-paddle-to-the-face effect that I love so much when doing audio. Scott Cannizzaro would disown me if he know how loud I usually like it, but my ears don’t have to be the finely-tuned instruments that his are.

Get out to the show tomorrow. And get out there early! Gates open at 8:00 a.m. and there’s plenty to see and do on the field between then and flight time. Admission and parking are free!

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Kicking Gas in Greg Poe’s Ethanol-Powered MX-2

August 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment


This is a regular blog post. Please check our the other posts if you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio.

The airshow season continues in spectacular form! I rolled out of bed (off of couch) this morning at 0930Z, ran through the shower, and headed out to Ray Community Airport (57D) in Macomb County. A very nearly perfect morning, cold and clear. And a beautiful airport to boot.

An airport made even more beautiful shortly after 1200Z by the red-and-checkerboard flashes of the A36 Bonanza and the ethanol-powered MX-2 of the Fagan-sponsored Greg Poe Airshows team.

I was on site this morning in connection of the Selfridge Airshow and Open House, which kicks off this Saturday and runs through Sunday. The base puts on a great airshow every other year and this is a show year. In addition to converting a lot of 100LL, and JP-8 (and ethanol this year!), the Selfridge show is an opportunity for the base to let the broad community around it inside the gates and show the folks what the armed forces stationed there do.

Greg Poe is performing at the show and he and his team were kind enough to fly media rides. It was a primo opportunity. Greg’s team brings both the MX-2 show aircraft and an A36 Bonanza. The doors come off the Bonanza shortly after arrival and the photographers and videographers climb in, harness up, and shoot their respective riders getting a snootfull of precision aerobatics.

The MX-2 is amazing. Shortly after I started tweeting about it, a couple of followers tweeted back about the aircraft, and rightly so.

It’s an all-carbon airframe built to withstand +16G/-16G. A Lycoming IO-540 modified by Lycon Performance Engines hangs in the front, putting out 385 hp to pull the 1,350-pound airframe. It’ll roll 420 degrees/sec and has a Vne of 275 mph.

And Greg is no wallflower either. He learned to fly in taildraggers in the Idaho back country at a young age and then became an instructor, primarily in tailwheel aircraft and specializing in aerobatics. He started performing in airshows in 1992 and was performing full time after that, hitting 15 to 25 airshows and events each year. And, talk about dream jobs, he was the production test pilot for Aviat Aircraft in Wyoming, test flying each Pitts and Husky as it came off the line.

He has time in the MiG-15, the B-17, and the F-15, F-16, and F-18 fighters. He’s also one of the very few civilians ever to ride with the USAF Thunderbirds during a full demo. He rode with Thunderbird 4 in an F-16D in the slot position.

He’s sponsored by Fagen, Inc., a green energy designer and builder in Granite Falls, Minnesota specializing in ethanol and wind power. The MX-2’s engine is modified to burn ethanol and it’s the only aerobatic aircraft on the airshow circuit that burns ethanol in its performances.


We showed at 8:00 and stepped around 1:00. Selfridge had a great turnout of media for the flights and I went up on the fifth ride. Really nice to see a good media turnout for this event so Selfridge gets good press. It’s also spectacular that Greg did the rides on a Wednesday, allowing lots of time for the deadline-driven media to get material in print or on the air well prior to the show to maximize the buzz.

I was lucky enough to have two CAP squadron mates along to shoot stills and video. In their non-CAP capacities, of course, but it’s still all about being a part of the aviation tribe. Jason Schroeder shot the stills and Mike Murphy shot video for my ride and also took stills from the front seat of the Bonanza for the Free Press rider. This post features Jason’s images and the video episode will feature Mike’s video.


We took off in trail (Ray is 2,500 x 60, so a formation launch wasn’t really an option) and formed up to the north of the airport. A really good set of air-to-air passes, including knife-edge, inverted, rolls, and a high-speed pass directly below the Bonanza. Then the loop and some vertical rolls to a reversal.

The vertical rolls were spectacular. It’s the most hang time I’ve ever experienced in an aircraft. I know that the airplane probably didn’t truly helicopter in the vertical with my 210 pounds in the front seat, even with minimum fuel. But it sure felt like it. I didn’t have the presence of mind to look over at the horizon (not that I could have guessed from the horizon when we started to peak), but the sight of the prop up there in front of my nose was awe-inspiring. This massive barn-door-bladed Hartzell prop up there just clawing at the air, refusing to accept a receding VSI for an answer.

Every ride (or other flight for that matter) has a moment for me when the noise and the stress and the workload just recedes and I get a moment to just think about one thing. That was my quiet little moment up there. Looking up at the blue sky through the violence of that monster bird shredder and experiencing in the air that phase of flight that I love so much from the ground.


The pulls were a lot of fun. The pull at the beginning and end of the loop and the pull to vertical for the vertical rolls in particular. We peaked at +6.5G/-1.6G. (Yeah, they mount a G meter in the front cockpit so you can see it!) I had my AGSM down pat and am proud to say that I had no problem with that dose of Vitamin G. I have pitiful upper-body strength, but monster thigh and calf muscles that are apparently pretty good at resisting the blood that wants to escape from my melon at high G loads.

This was my second time on a formation shoot. No flies at all on Billy Werth and his Pitts S-2C, but the visibility was much better in the MX-2. I love acro, but it’s even more fun to do it near, and around, a photo ship. It’s mush more three-dimensional visually and you have a better sense of your speed and maneuverability. Nothing wrong with the sky and ground swapping positions rapidly in the window, but a barrel roll over another airplane is just more of a barrel roll. Does that make sense?

Approaching the photo ship from behind, from above, from abeam. Doing it with a 60+ -knot closure rate and watching the photo ship go from gunwale to gunwale in the canopy in seconds. That’s just amazing.

And listening to Greg and DO/photo-ship-pilot Dax Wanless coordinate the flight on the radio was cool, too. Counting down to the maneuvers. Exchanging lead responsibilities as effortlessly as I might exchange the controls of a C-172 with Jason. Real professionalism and real safety culture, that.


After the shoot, the Bonanza headed back and Greg and I broke off for a bit of free acro. I got a demonstration of the roll rate of the aircraft, which was amazing. Pull up a little and then just crank the stick over and watch it get darker and lighter in rapid succession. No, you don’t have the presence of mind to think of the horizon turning. It’s dark-light-dark-light-dark-light and then it’s 2.6 seconds later. And your head is trying to figure out where your torso went. (And Greg is sitting back there smiling with a coordinated head and torso, even though this is sortie no. 5 for him for the day and he just had lunch.)

I was pretty happy about the way I handled the inverted flight. I had more the sense of handing from my chest than from the tops of my shoulders and the inverted phase (which sometimes does my stomach in) was to problem at all.

The rolls, on the other hand, were really disorienting. That’s good, mind you! This is one of the reasons that I explore the envelope.

I had been up in the Super-D four days before flying acro with Barry for the first time since the T-6A ride in May and I lasted a pitiful 20 minutes. Acro tolerance is a genuine use-it-or-lose-it proposition. I did great with the other maneuvers, but the high-roll-rate stuff set off an insurrection in my vestibular system.

So Greg called Dax and told him we were coming back in. I took a little bit of ribbing from Mike and Jason about coming back in so quickly after we broke off for the free acro, but that’s okay. Time is the Kryptonite. For acro tolerance, for flight proficiency, and for lots of other stuff. A worthy reminder and worth the figurative elbow in the ribs.

Get out to the Selfridge show this weekend! The Selfridge Air Show & Open House will be Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 22-23. The gates will open both days at 8 a.m., with the flying starting both days around 10 a.m. Among the highlights of the show will be a aerial demonstration by the US Air Force Thunderbirds. I’m planning to be there volunteering and I hope to see you there!

The 127th Wing at Selfridge is home to two flying missions of the Michigan Air National Guard, serving Air Combat Command and Air Mobility Command. The 127th Wing is also the home unit of the 107th Weather Flight, Air Force Special Operations Command. In all, Selfridge is home to more than 20 tenant units from all branches of the military, the Coast Guard and Border Patrol.

More about Greg Poe Airshows: http://www.gregpoe.com/
More about Fagen, Inc.: http://www.fageninc.com/
More about the Selfridge Airshow and Open House: http://www.selfridgeairshow.org/
More about Selfridge ANGB: http://www.127wg.ang.af.mil/

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