Rules of Engagement 2014 – Audio Episode Show Notes

Chicken 01

 These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedRoEWithPreRoll.mp3.  Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free!

We’re taking a break from the usual avgas and airshow smoke here on Airspeed to go a little meta.  A few years ago, I wrote a FAQ section for the website.  I called it the Airspeed Rules of Engagement.  Mostly the backstory of the show and information about who I am, what I do, the philosophical bent of the show, and other information about why Airspeed exists and where it’s going.  I turned it into an audio episode and, strangely enough, it has become one of the most popular episodes and resulted in a lot of feedback.

So I thought I’d take an episode and update the Rules of Engagement here in Airspeed’s ninth year.  Here we go.

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The Airspeed Rules of Engagement are available here.

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I’m very proud of what Airspeed has become.  I was standing in a photo pit at an airshow a few weeks ago when a guy turned around upon hearing my voice and said, “Hey!  You’re him!”  It’s a great feeling when that happens and it happens more than I ever expected it to.

And I get e-mails from some of you who tell me that you’ve started flight training.  Or re-started flight training.  Or re-re-started or as many “re’s” as life makes necessary.  Some of you have undertaken other projects or begun or continued other journeys that are just as compelling.  Some of you tell me that you’ve made astonishing, terrifying, and courageous decisions and that something I said had a part in getting you on that trajectory.  Wow.  Just wow.

Brian Eno is reputed to have said that the Velvet Underground’s first album sold only 30,000 copies, but “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.”  If you happen to be in search of a proper measure of real success and a life well-lived, may I tender Brian Eno’s words as an excellent candidate.  And, though Airspeed is far from the “30,000” and “everyone” parts, some of you who have “started a band.”  In fact, many of you have.  You have flown, written, played, spoken, sung, counseled, taught, and – most of all – dared.

I am proud of Airspeed for many reasons.  But that’s the big one.  If something I said was a part of you daring to do a worthy thing, I’m flattered beyond any real ability to describe it.  Thanks for joining me on this journey.  And for what you’re going to do next.  And the thing after that.

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This episode’s Audible selection is The Martian by Andy Weir.  Get is for free today when you sign up for a free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/AIRSPEED.

Martian Thumb

 

Horsing Around in the Citabria with Ben Phillips

I went out with Ben Phillips this afternoon and horsed around the Acro Camp Citabria (N7636S). I still have lots of bad habits by Ben’s estimation, but I fly with Ben mostly to have benefit of his estimation, so it’s all good.

Five takeoffs and landings. Three of them to a full stop. So I’m again current to fly passengers in ASEL, be it tailwheel or otherwise. I think my work in the TG-7A has broken me to some extent of stirring the coffee on landing. Still some stirring, but nowhere near what I used to do.

And, perhaps coolest of all, Ben gave me the go-ahead to take the Citabria out solo. It might strike you as counterintuitive, but I’ve never been cut loose in a tail-dragging airplane. Lots and lots of time in them, but never solo. I have lots of solo time in a tail-dragging motorglider, but nothing about the TG-7A’s taildraggerness counts in the airplane world. I got my tailwheel endorsement from Dan Gryder in the DC-3 in 2008 and I’ve flown movie stuff and competition acro since then. But never frequently enough at any one place to get turned loose in the airplane.

My landings were pretty decent today. Not perfect by any means. The first one was a little ugly, even. And the wind was nearly calm. I know the difference between what I’m authorized to do and what it would be smart to do. So I’ll be back to fly some more with Ben when we can get a good crosswind with which to play.

In the meantime, my clothes smell like Citabria. It’s a good smell.

 

Who We Are and What We Do: A Journeyman’s Letter Back to the Tribe

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I’m going to approach turning this weekend’s first airshow performance experience (and, frankly, this whole season) into Airspeed episode content.  This is big, huge, life-event stuff for me.  I’m still pretty tingly about having done it, even as I write this on the Thursday after returning.  I really want to get writing, but I need to let it simmer for awhile before really writing the episodes.

So you knew that it was going to start squirting out.  This afternoon, I undertook an intermediate measure.  I wrote an e-mail to the cast, crew, and friends of the Acro Camp movies.  Although I’m the putative mastermind and the guy behind the camera, I am very much a camper myself at heart.  I only made the movies because there were no casting calls by anybody else making them that I could answer.  So I made those movies myself with my friends.

I really needed to tell a core group of people what was on my mind.  I needed to tell people who really get it deep in their bones.  I needed to tell my tribe.  So the e-mail turned into a message that one who has gone far afield to seek his fortune might write back to the tribe.  To tell his fellow tribe members how different it is out in far-away lands.  And how he has carried the tribe with him.

Smarmy BS?  Maybe.  But it’s my smarmy BS.  And I’m pretty proud of it.  And it’s probably not smarmy BS, either.

You’re going to get the full energy of this experience in an Airspeed episode or two soon.  But, until then, I couldn’t think of a good reason not to share this with the broader Airspeed community.  You guys are, after all, a part of the tribe.

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Ladies and gents of the Acro Camp community:

I discovered something this weekend.  A TFR is perfectly fine as long as they put it there for you and you’re in it, wings-up and burning free gas.

Long story short, I flew my first airshow this weekend in a hot box and a TFR over the waterfront at Rogers City (KPZQ) as Tuskegee 2 in a two-ship demo of TG-7A motorgliders.

I was supposed to be 3, but our No. 2 ship developed a bad mag on the way up and had to divert for MX.  3 did make it up, but the Sunday demo was cancelled for wind (bumpy as HELL for practice that morning and the gust ground-looped lead on the taxi for the second takeoff, so we knocked it off).  We returned to KDET as a three-ship, but got some passes in over town before departing.

For those not in the know, the TG-7A is a motorglider with a 59.5-foot wingspan initially flown by the USAF Academy.  Piper Tomahawk firewall-forward and Franken-glider behind.  The academy surplused out three of them in 2003 and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit got them to use in training kids to fly and to raise awareness about the museum and its programs.  Out fleet represents fully half of the remaining flying fleet of TG-7As.

They’re yellow, they look great with big bank angles, they fly great in formation, and we can fill the sky in front of the crowd line with swooping longwings to great effect.  At the conclusion of the initial part of the demo, the solo ship (that’s me) does 180-aborts back and forth in front of the crowd between 0 and 300 AGL and then recovers.  The two other ships gaggle-climb to 1,000 AGL and go engine-out and glide back to recover, preferably on a taxiway right in front of the crowd.

We’re not technically aerobatic, but we bank big enough that you actually have to take the low wing’s dihedral into account to avoid the stinkeye from the FAA.

Anyway.  I know that you campers came to Michigan and experienced some really new sensations in a very public way and at a rapid-fire pace.  It changed every one of you in some way.  It might be hard to believe, but it changed the crew who watched and filmed you, too.  And the director/editor who re-lives it in his basement late at night as he watches from his perch out on the wing.

I told you during the camp that I’d never ask you to fly a camera rig that I hadn’t already flown myself.  I made good on that part.  But I did ask you to undergo that trial by fire of learning acro in the camp format when I hadn’t really ever had that experience and didn’t have a genuine sense for what that was like.  I’m not sorry that I did that to you.  In fact, I’m still kind of jealous of you.  But I still threw you into a deep end in which I had little or no experience.

But you need to know that I do put my stick and rudder skills where my mouth is, even if it is a little time-delayed.  I’ve only been flying these aircraft since March.  I got sucked in when I realized in the middle of my second flight that I was training for the rating (these things are in the glider category, so it’s new-rating time if you want to fly them PIC).  I picked up a commercial certificate with the glider rating on July 12 and got asked a couple of days later to join the team.  I went from 0.2 formation (in an L-39) and no real glider time to airshow demo team member in just a few months.

When you commit to fly a show, you’re committed.  The team can’t very well get a sub at the last minute.  You commit or you don’t.  And, if you commit, you suck it up and go fly to a high standard that involves being very close to other aircraft and constantly earning the trust of the other two guys.  Even when it’s bumpy as hell.  Even when you’re forced to land downwind because there’s a KC-135R blocking some other important part of the airport.  Perform.  Period.

I got an education.  I was reactive a lot more than I was proactive.  I have a lot to learn.  But airmanship like the kind that Don and Barry teach translates.  The pace, order, and mutual support of an IAC contest translates.  The camaraderie of an Acro Camp translates.  It’s all right there waiting for you when you need it.

I just wanted to let you know that you guys helped make this weekend possible.  If you think that I considered not flying the show, you’re right.  It would have been easy to bow out.  I was a brand-new glider driver whose media reputation probably gets him more credibility that his flying skills really deserve.  I was pretty goddamned scared and saw a lot of stuff that I’ve never seen before and was expected to figure out quickly.  But I’ve got a little piece of each of you in my hands, feet, eyeballs, and heart.  That – and lots of other stuff – made it happen.

We are a rare collection of people.  We demand of ourselves the willingness and capability to do things that aren’t easy.  We do them because they’re hard.  And because, if there’s fear in doing a thing, we also know the fear of not doing the thing and regretting that we didn’t take on the challenge.  This is who we are.  This is what we do.  And we will forever be different from the others among whom we move from day to day.  We are amazing people, every one.  And I’m insufferably proud to be a part of an intrepid band of humans who take on challenges like this.

The team is still working out some last-minute details, but, if things go as we expect and you’re in the neighborhood, stop by [airshow event and location withheld from blog post until confirmed].   I’ll be there.  Flying Tuskegee 3.  In the box.  Wings-up.  Being like you.

Invertor et vomens!  Smoke on!

- Dogbag

Tuskegee 3

 

Acro Camp Sneak Peek 04: With Friends Like These . . . – Video Episode Show Notes

Despite the aggressive schedule around here (glider training, trying to find a new acro ride, doing really cool legal work for the best clients on the planet, etc.), I managed to get some time this weekend to do some editing on the movie.  The result is this sneak peek, “With friends like these . . .”

The campers at both of the Acro Camp shoots were very collaborative and supportive of each other.  But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t at least a little laughter with (okay, at) each other when stuff went wrong.  And stuff is bound to go wrong when you’re learning to fly an aircraft whose center of gravity is behind the mains.

In the course of logging all of the footage, I’ve noted when both IPs were in aircraft and noted opportunities to synchronize the conversation across both cockpits.  Usually based on ATC calls or radio communication between the aircraft.  This was one such pair of sequences.  I loved the big bounce on Jim’s wheel landing and I loved the reaction that it got from Barry and Lynda.  I lined them up this evening and voila!  Tailwheel magic!

I’m actively working on putting together more time to get the film edited.  It hasn’t been easy, but I’m making some real progress.  Watch this space and the new Acro Camp web page (in development) for more news and updates!

The Pile of Awesome on My Desk: IFR Currency, L-39 Editing, NESA MAS Part 3, and Acro Camp Rough Cut


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 slowly getting back to the point of editing down some of this summer’s content into episodes. Airshow season here in the northern climes is essentially over, the last aerobatic contest in the area was last weekend, and things are calming down to the low roar that precedes ICAS in December.

I didn’t fly at all in September. Not for lack of trying! I had three attempts get rained or ceilinged out before finally getting up in a glass CAP C-182T on Wednesday to try to claw back some instrument proficiency. After devoting the summer to flying upside down or training for the commercial maneuvers, I had precious little time under the hood or in the clouds. I nailed down my six approaches in April and May, but they were about to fall off for currency purposes. So I launched with Capt Malek in the right seat as safety pilot and banged out four approaches in rapid succession: VOR-A 77G with the published miss and a hold, RNAV 27 77G, RNAV 19 77G, and ILS 9R KPTK. I hand-flew the VOR and ILS and let the G1000 and GFC700 handle the RNAVs. We landed about 40 minutes after sunset and, though the landing didn’t count for night currency, it was pretty darned dark.

I’ve taken to putting two cases of bottled water in the back of the C-182T when flying with just two aircrew. The CG is really far forward in the aircraft with no scanner(s) in the back, and the extra 50 lbs in Cargo Area B helps to take some of the nose-heaviness out of the equation. I love the G1000. I just don’t like to see the nose strut poking through it. The aircraft behaves sooooo much better in the flare with a slightly more aft CG!

I have an annual stan/eval ride coming up in the airplane this month, and I think I’m pretty much ready for that, pending only a little sim time to get my switchology polished.

Otherwise, I have a number of projects that I’m able to dive into.

I need to get the Hoppers promo video done. You’ll recall that I embedded with the team in July and shot two four-ship sorties with seven cameras plus audio, and then went up myself in the 3 and 4 ships to shoot hand-held video. The sky was gray and crappy for the flights, but there are enough good moments to make a primo promotional video for the team.

I need to do the last ingestion of the footage from the Acro Camp shoot at Ray in August and then get the footage of some of the crew guys out to them on a hard drive that Larry Overstreet has kindly sent to me, but that has been sitting on the desk staring at me. I also need to get David Allen’s footage to him so that he can crank out some OPA episodes.

I also need to edit the last part of the NESA MAS series and put together the huge 30,000-word single-MP3 edition, complete with an associated PDF file that will have the full text and pictures.

And, lastly, I need to finish a rough cut of the first rough cut of the first Acro Camp movie. That’s going to take some serious time. But it’s doable.

Thanks for all the downloads last month! Pretty good for the off-season and it suggests that core subscribership is up.

And I have proposals on desks at one Air Force unit and one Navy unit for jet media/orientation flights for the upcoming season of the show. As always, there’s no guarantee with respect to any flight, but the proposals are solid, you guys are a great audience, and the intrepid video, audio, and still crew is locked and loaded if and when the word comes. Airspeed changed the game in aviation new media this year with the T-38 episode. And it’s ready to continue pushing the boundaries.

But you knew that!