Aviation Archives

how to shirnk the military budget

A 1/5th scale A-10 Warthog that really really flies.

If you could get the aircraft to mimic the sound of an A-10, I think this might actually be pretty useful in combat conditions. I am thinking it might be a more modern version of this World War II phy-ops thing called "Rupert".

Posted @ April 24, 2008 11:05 AM | Aviation | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Dogfight: Congress vs. the American Aviation Industry

This is a Boeing KC-135R. You know, the tanker everyone is talking about.

Do you see anything wrong with this aircraft? I don't.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the "R" Model of the KC-135, uses engines made in France, the CFM-56 made by SNECMA.

Here is a Boeing site that talks in detail about the CFM-56.

Hat Tip to Retired General Chuck Horner, where this interesting fact was uncovered in an article on National Review. General Horner was the Combined Forces Air Component Commander during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He consults for a number of defense firms including Northrop Grumman. Yes, He likes the KC-45, but you knew that didn't you.

Posted @ April 01, 2008 03:45 PM | Aviation | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Pajamas Media: PJM-Political Podcast

Ed Driscoll, Host of PJM-Political on XM Radio Channel 130 and Uber-blogger from wayback, asked me to give a short breakdown on the Airbus vs. Boeing Tanker Controversy on this weeks Podcast.

Click here to listen in.

Tune in each Thursday to XM Channel #130, POTUS ‘08 at 6:00 PM Eastern/3:00 PM Pacific for Pajamas Media’s weekly PJM Political show! (And at 11:00 PM Eastern/8:00 Pacific for a rebroadcast) If you missed this week’s show, click here to get the podcast.

My thanks to Ed, Roger and all the folks at Pajamas for this opportunity.

Posted @ March 28, 2008 10:09 PM | Aviation | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Whats missing from this picture?

I'm looking at this and I'm thinking "so wheres the fire?" I would think if you jam two main landing gears of an aircraft through the wings, and the fuel tanks therein, there would have resulted one rather massive fire. Im extremely glad that it didnt happen, it just makes me wonder why it didnt happen.

Is the 777 simply designed to minimize fire? Or is it that there wasnt the fuel on board that they had thought there was, which would explain the surprising loss of power on approach?

Commercial Jets who run out of fuel in midflight by surprise? Well, its happened before.

Posted @ January 18, 2008 10:27 AM | Aviation | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

MV-22 Osprey: First footage from Iraq

Interesting.

Posted @ December 13, 2007 06:54 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)

A Halloween Treat: Death of an old man

For your holiday reading pleasure, I present you with what I consider the scarriest story I ever read.

Death of an old man. By Roald Dahl.

Posted @ October 31, 2007 07:51 PM | Aviation | Comments (2)

Martin Mars update and an announcement

Heres video of the aircraft in flight in Lake Elsinore

As of 9:30 this morning:

"San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials confirm that the World War II-era flying boat, named Hawaii Mars, flew threw missions Friday, dropping a total of 10,000 gallons of water on the Harris and Witch Creek fires. It is expected to remain in the area to assist firefighters in San Diego County and elsewhere in Southern California."

And in regards to all of the overreaction to the holdup at customs there is the following:

"In response to news media attention and public criticism of the delays in clearing the Martin Mars water bomber through customs last Wednesday, Battalion chief Greg Donnelly of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department provides this rundown of how the process actually worked:
"Customs agents from both San Diego and Los Angeles regions worked diligently through the night on Tuesday to clear the crew and logistical staff. All crew members were given a telephonic clearance which helped expedite their arrival and availability to initiate work."

From the indispensible SDonline fireblog.

I got held up once at the border with Canada for three days because instead of lying and saying I was visiting friends or going on vacation, I told them the truth and said that I was going up to Calgary because I was working on a software project for Petro Canada, which is exactly the sort of thing that the Canadian Custom service frowns on. People telling the truth just throws the whole system into shock and we just can't have that going on now can we?

So after much legal negotiation and about 72 hours sitting in an antiseptic, orange and blue naugahyde covered bench in the Canadian Customs holding tank, I was eventually allowed to purchase a temporary work permit ( for 800 US dollars which allowed me to work for a grand total of 7 days) This "permit" wasnt exactly wallet sized but was about the size, shape and color of a Dennys placemat only instead of the word "Dennys" at the top with bright sunny pictures of hamburgers, pancakes and sausages, it was pictures of Queen Elizabeth, beavers, bears and trees with the word "Canada" at the top.

And that was all over little old me going to talk to some people in Calgary. No computer gear, no fancy flying machine, just me, my mouth and my brain standing in front of a whiteboard telling people how to set up a payroll system on an IBM 370 with CICS. For that, I needed an 800 dollar work permit that was the size of my college degree(and more ornate!).

So in other words the border crossing for the Martin Mars went as fast as it could considering it was three semi trailer trucks of gear, lots of ground staff and a large unique aircraft with no permits or paperwork so...shaddup you yammering morons.

And here is my announcement:

My next post will not be about the Martin Mars but will be in celebration of having just made 1000 blog posts. Incredible...

Posted @ October 27, 2007 12:54 PM | Aviation

Martin Mars: Video of arrival at Lake Elsinore

Click Here.

The subtext of the day is the Bush administration delayed its arrival, due to customs issues at the border.

For the record, aside from one trip down to the Harris fire, shes been sitting on the lake all day.

Posted @ October 25, 2007 04:21 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

NASA brings UAV to fires

NASA Ikhana UAV. A predator drone used for gathering data about wildfires.

From a NASA press release issued today:

...Snip

Jim Brass, NASA's co-project manager of the Wildfire Research and Applications Partnership, said the plane was designed to put in hours of service under conditions that would be too "dull, dirty and dangerous" for human pilots.

"We're flying through a lot of smoke - a pretty dangerous place to have a pilot flying for a long period of time," he told me. Today, Ikhana was scheduled to fly for 10 hours straight, going as high as 23,000 feet in altitude. It will likely be sent out for another long shift on Thursday.

Brass recalled an earlier tryout of the Ikhana system in the Bay Area, where a fire manager breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the airborne imagery. He said the team leader told him, "This has saved us a million dollars, and I can sleep tonight because I know our backfire has worked."

"His next question was, 'Can we trust this?'" Brass said. "Yes, you can."

...End Snip.

UAV's at work, saving millions of dollars and providing quality data in a timely fashion right on the front lines.

Just one more example of the slow and inept response to this emergency by the Federal goverment under George W. Bush.

Posted @ October 25, 2007 08:11 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Martin Mars update

She's down in Southern California, based inland at Lake Elsinore. They are repairing a bird strike this morning on the horizontal stablizer and they will be off and runing.

I havent found any live video of her in action on this fire, but I will keep an eye out. Those of you in the San Diego area should have quite an airshow today. The Martin Mars, two CL-214 waterbombers, the CDF P-3's and S-2F's as well as the National Guard C-130s should be in the air.

Good information on the 'air war' from a San Diego Televison Station can be found here.

Posted @ October 25, 2007 07:20 AM | Aviation | Comments (5)

San Diego Fire: Martin Mars firebomber on its way!

from SignonSanDiego:

"A Martin Mars waterbomber is expected to arrive in San Diego County this afternoon to help fight the area's wildfires. The plane, which is based in Canada, is capable of dropping 7,200 gallons of water in a single drop, enough to drench three acres.

The plane also can drop a gel that can coat structures in the path of fires, said San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman."

Dig it baby!

Here's their website. Welcome home old girl...

UPDATE: "Coulson's Jim Messer said a crew to fuel and service the plane left Vancouver Island in two tractor-trailers Monday evening while another crew worked Tuesday to take the aircraft from partial winter storage to full operational status.

"It looks like we'll fly early (Wednesday) morning, say seven o'clock we'd depart British Columbia, and about 1 p.m. we'd be over San Diego," said Messer. "We'll have four hours of fuel available and we'll go straight to work."

From Canadian Press.

Posted @ October 24, 2007 07:53 AM | Aviation | Comments (3)

DC10 Airtankers in action

Click here for video from KNBC on the DC10 airtanker at work in Lake Arrowhead.

This is a drop of 16,000 gallons of "foscheck" which is a fire retardant material. The DC 10 airtanker is just one of the air assets that are being used to fight this massive fire.

Below is what it probably looked like from the ground.

Posted @ October 23, 2007 07:21 AM | Aviation | Comments (2)

Reno Air Races - 2007

I'm back, T-shirts in hand. I got interviewed for local Reno TV. In addition to the races that I went to see, I also saw Steve Hinton, Glacier Girl and the guys from "Moto Art".

I Had a great time. No, wait, I had a FANTASTIC time...

UPDATE: Slide Show Complete. Click here for a slide show of photos and comments.

Posted @ September 15, 2007 05:39 PM | Aviation | Comments (2)

Fossett lost and Ogle is still lost

The fascinating tale of the discovery of a wreck that might be a man lost since 1964, turns out to be incorrect.

Posted @ September 13, 2007 11:35 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

if it quacks like a duck

The Japanese Government says that this is a Destroyer. the 13,500-ton JSDF(Japanese Self Defense Force) Hyuga appears to my eyes to be the first version of something that could appear to be a Japanese Aircraft Carrier to take to the seas since 1945.

Which would normally be somewhat trivial, but since the Japanese consider "Aircraft Carriers" to be offensive weapons instead of self defense weapons, that would be a problem, because that would be against their Constitution,and thats why it can't possibly be an "Aircraft Carrier".

When you see this sort of doubletalk going on (because its clearly not a Destroyer) You get the feeling that the Minister of Defense got one look at this ship and said "We bought WHAT? How am I going to explain that to the Prime Minister!"

It's also interesting that it may be a Naval issue that brought Prime Minister Abe to resign. Apparently the Japanese government is ok supporting the Afghan mission, but not the effort in Iraq.

More details here.

(Note: She's a sharp looking ship, and if it gives pause to the Chinese and the North Koreans, then keep making them. And yes, I'm sure my long dead grandfather is looking down saying "mmmmm, japanese carrier" and wringing his hands in glee...)

Posted @ September 12, 2007 05:47 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

by jiminy...

2 engines to 4 engines? sweet llama of bahama, what's Burt thinking that these folks are taking with them into orbit?

Im tellin ya, they are really missing the boat by not exploiting the downrange for suborbital hops across the globe. Take off in Mojave, land in Tokyo, have dinner and then go back in the same day. Now that would be cool...

Posted @ September 12, 2007 05:32 PM | Aviation | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Theres a certain something in the air...

Reno Air Races start in just 3 days.

Considering that I was super-ultra-mega busy with revenue producing activity this summer and barely had time for any aviation related activity, I will make a special effort to cover the event this year.

I'm experimenting with flickr and various video and photo capturing systems this weekend, so I will be ready for next weekends show. If you can't make it, come back next weekend for coverage of the Reno Air Races.

If you havent yet had the chance to hear 12 P-51 Mustangs at low altitude going by at 400+ miles an hour right in front of you; you shouldnt miss it for the world. The sound in the video doesnt begin to capture the feeling you get. There reall isnt anything quite like the sound of a V-12 Merlin going full out.

Except of course, the sound of the Wright 3350 which is the engine on this little monster here.

I go every year. I absolutely love it. My hair is standing on end in anticipation.

Posted @ September 08, 2007 09:47 AM | Aviation | Comments (2)

The Great Artiste

From wikipedia:

"...On the mission to bomb Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, it was to have been the aircraft carrying the bomb, but the mission schedule had been moved forward two days because of weather considerations and the instrumentation had not yet been removed from the aircraft. To avoid delaying the mission, Sweeney traded airplanes with the crew of Bockscar to carry the Fat Man atomic bomb to Nagasaki. The crew of Captain Frederick C. Bock flew The Great Artiste to Nagasaki on its instrument support mission, and landed with it on Okinawa at the conclusion of the mission.

In addition to its use on the nuclear bomb missions, The Great Artiste was flown by five different crews on 12 training and practise missions, and by Albury and crew C-15 on two combat missions, one of which was aborted and the other in which it used a Pumpkin bomb to attack the railroad yards at Kobe. Capt. Bob Lewis and crew B-9 flew it to drop a pumpkin bomb on an industrial target in Tokushima.

In November 1945 it returned with the 509th to Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. On September 3, 1948, on a polar navigation training mission, it developed an engine problem after takeoff from Goose Bay Air Base, Labrador, and ran off the end of the runway when attempting to land. Heavily damaged, it never flew again and was eventually scrapped at Goose Bay in September 1949, despite its historical significance.

The Greate Artiste makes a very brief appearance in the take off scene from Tinian in the movie Above and Beyond as an observation plane for the Hiroshima mission. At this point in time, however, it did not have the nose art visible in the movie. It had its nose art painted after the Nagasaki mission, and the name purportedly referred to undisclosed talents of the bombardier, Capt. Beahan.
"

August 9th was the day that Nagasaki was bombed. August 9th was also, for Capt. Kermit K. Beahan, bombadier of the Nagasaki Mission, the man also known as "The Great Artiste"; his 27th birthday.

[back row (L-R)] Captain Beahan, Captain Van Pelt, Jr., First Lt. Albury, Second Lt. Olivi, Major Sweeney

Staff Sgt. Buckley, Master Sgt. Kuharek, Sgt. Gallagher, Staff Sgt. DeHart, Sgt. Spitzer

Here is a TIME Magazine article from August 20,1945.

Here is Kermit Beahans obituary. After the war, he worked as a technical writer until 1985 for Brown and Root. Thats right, the subsidiary of Halliburton!

In 1989, He still has the twinkle in his eye and the rakish moustache of "The Great Artiste". Today not just the commemoration of the Nagasaki bombing but today is also the birthday of Kermit Beahan, a man who hoped that he would be the last man in history to use an atomic weapon in warfare.

Posted @ August 09, 2007 07:14 AM | Aviation | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Mojave Explosion: Follow up

In total, Three men died in the accident:

Charles “Glen” May, 45
Eric Blackwell, 38
Todd Ivens, 33 died that later in the evening.

Several other employees remain hospitalized in Bakersfield, CA.

I consider the efforts towards private enterprise in space an essential part of the growth of the species. This was not something specific for space travel, it was a very serious industrial accident and rest assured that in every industry that pushes the envelope of human performance, people will probably die in that effort.

Before we start to think of the impact to ourselves, its worth taking a moment to just stand in recognition of the loss of these men. They had a choice in where they worked and what they did. As a result of a flaw or a mistake, a loose conspiracy of simple errors that spun together into a web of catastrophe; these men died.

The safe jobs were always open to them the schoool librarian, the store clerk or perhaps just maybe instead of those safe things, work with something that has never been done before. Many of us choose the former, but our lives are better because a small number of men and women who choose the latter.

They chose do do this work, this effort of "pushing the envelope" and because they made that decision, we live in a better world for it.

The human race and civilization itself depends on people who chose not to do the careful and safe thing; to go on living behind the safety that has been provided in the past by the pioneering efforts of others; it depends on those who choose against all logic to work on the frontier, choose to hack a new path out of the dark woods and make the lands on the far horizon accessible to the rest of us.

If you would like to help their families, please feel free to donate to the following location:

Scaled Family Support Fund
c/o Scaled Composites
1624 Flight Line
Mojave, CA. 93501
Acct # 04157-66832

Wire transfer ABA Routing #1220-0066-1

Please make checks payable to the account number or to the name of the fund.

He knew that we gave constant lip service to the dictates of safety and howled like Christians condemned to the arena if any compromise were made of it. He knew we were seekers after ease, suspicious, egotistic, and stubborn to a fault. He also knew that none of us would have continued our careers unless we had always been, and still were, helpless before this opportunity to take a chance.
— Ernest K. Gann

Posted @ July 29, 2007 05:25 PM | Aviation | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Mojave Explosion

Scaled Composites: SpaceShipTwo(from astronautics.com)

Word from afar is that there has been an explosion that has killed two people in Mojave and that it involves Scaled Composites.

Speculation is that the explosion involves the N20 tank.

for a detailed view of this, click here.

At this point we don't know who, what or how, all we know is two people are dead at this point.

Rand Simberg is running updates every few minutes as information arrives. He is the go to guy for this material.

It comes as a surprise to me, but Scaled had its own internal Rocket Propulsion Team for SS2, and at the moment it appears that it would be members of the Scaled team who were killed in the accident. For SpaceShipOne, this critical component was subcontracted. I do not know the reason (design?, cost? control? speed of implementation? proprietary fears? )for the decision to take this work internal.

UPDATE: confirmed, its Scaled Team members who have been killed:

From ABCNEWS.com
"Aerospace designer Burt Rutan, who heads Scaled, was away at the time. He sounded distraught in a phone call with The Associated Press as he was en route to the scene. "We've lost a couple of our employees. It's a very big deal," Rutan said."

Update II: via CNN.com

"Rutan told CNN he was not at the spaceport at the time of the explosion, which he said happened during a "cold fire test".

Posted @ July 26, 2007 07:43 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)

Coming up next, The Boeing 797?

Boeing has restarted its prototype testing of the X-48b ( a scale model of the BWB design, pictured above ) in Mojave. Full story can be found here.

So, its still about 10 years off, but you'd be surprised how fast 10 years goes by in "design and engineering" time.

In depth coverage of the advent of the BWB design can be found here.

I'm very happy to see this design move forward. I was unhappy with Boeing for backing away from this in the 90's because I was still thinking in terms of competition from Airbus with the A380. I think this design is the way to go, but I can see now why they needed to do the 787 first before moving into the BWB. The BWB design is heavily dependent on new manufactuing techniques with composite materials. The 787 and its radical new approach in both materials and assembly will make the construction of the BWB all that much easier because of the experience gained with these new materials and systems.

Then again, Norman Bel Geddes can take heart that his 1929 idea for aircraft design:

Norman Bel Geddes - Airliner #4.

is finally starting to take shape.

Posted @ July 26, 2007 08:51 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

How "airplane people" see the world

Tom Cruise as "Count von Stauffenberg", from his new film "Valkyrie"

Normal people: Hey look, its Tom Cruise!

Airplane people: Hey look at that, its a Junkers JU-52! Wow I'll bet its that one that Martin Caidin used to own. I sure hope its not just a movie prop. I wish that dork actor would get out of the way of the shot so I can see the landing gear. I wonder if there will be any scenes of it flying in the movie? Wow, that will be cool!

And Mr. Cruise, being an airplane guy himself, would know exactly what I mean.

Posted @ July 19, 2007 02:02 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Oregon Man goes to 13,000 ft and travels 193 miles - by lawn chair

Snip...

"...Last weekend, Bend gas station owner Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some drinks and snacks — and a parachute.

Attached to the lawn chair were 105 balloons of various colors, each 4 feet around. Bundled together, the balloons rise three stories high.

Couch carried a global positioning system device, a two-way radio, a digital camcorder and a cell phone. He also had instruments to measure his altitude and speed and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as a ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise.

Destination: Idaho."

Read the whole thing here.

Next up, a 9 year old kid from Lakewood California puts wings on his bike and flies!

Posted @ July 10, 2007 08:31 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

What’s all this “revolutionary’ stuff?

So you say “The 787 just looks like a typical commerical jet to me, so whats all the hubub about”?

To better answer this, lets take a walk through the last 80 years of aviation.

Let’s take a look a this aircraft

Fokker Tri-motor

In the 1920’s this was “high tech”. A Metal passenger aircraft with three engines, this aircraft started the idea of commerical aviation as a reality. This aircraft is also a monoplane, meaning it has one wing, rather than a being a more typical biplane. Now, the reason why people flew biplanes in the good old days wasn’t because they were dumb, it was because the materials that were avaiable in those days determine the structures used.

Curtiss Condor. The standard prior to the Tri Motor

Biplanes arent just about providing two wing surfaces as much as it is also about providing a strong, structure for the wing(s). A structure that resembles that much like that found on an old bridge. Guy wires, struts, look at any old bridge and you see something that looks like it might belong on a biplane wing.

Remember, monoplanes were new in the 1920s. There had been a few examples prior to the 1920’s but large, passenger carrying aircraft, well for that, you wanted a biplane. That is until Mr. Fokker came out with his “cantiliever wing” and changed the paradigm.

Model of a DC-3 wing.(shown for its detail)

This wing design allowed all of the strength of the wing to be made by structures inside the wing itself. No wires, no “bridge like” structures for the wing, just a wing much like we know it today.

Mr. Fokker did this with the material that had the best chance of handling the loads and the material that he and his team had the most experience. That material wasn’t metal, but wood. The outer skin would be made of metal (giving the aircraft its affectionate nickname of “tin goose”), but the internal structures themselves would be made of the world's first “original composite” material, good old fashioned trees.

This revolutionary idea went along fine, the three engine layout provided enough power to get an aircraft under load through most trouble, and it allowed a start up airline enough safety to reassure a skeptical public that flying was a possibility. It wasn’t yet cheap enough for the masses, but it was getting closer.

Then in 1931, this happened.

Fokker Trimotor Crash, carrying "Knute Rockne" - All American.

It happened because the main wing spar failed. Remember, while the aircraft exterior is made of metal, the wing spar itself was made of wood. The wood decayed and Mr. Knute Rockne and the rest of the passengers died. Commerical Aviation came to a near halt almost before it got started.

Engineers and aircraft manufacturers got to work on new designs. Cantiliever wings would stay but wooden wing spars would go.

In 1933, Boeing came out with this aircraft.

Boeing 247.
A Multi Engine, cantiliever wing passenger aircraft. An all-metal canteliever wing. Now we are getting somewhere!

Unfortunately, the Boeing engineers did one thing wrong with the design:

Yes, Theres the wing spar, right there in the cabin with you! Right there where you can see it, touch it, step over it. Get to know your friend the wing spar, we don’t hide anything here at Boeing, step right up kids, be the first on your block to touch the wing spar!

Now, down in sunny Santa Monica California, Mr. Douglas was working on another design, The DC-1. Today we know the most famous version of this design as the DC-3.

A Multi-engine, All metal cantileiver wing. Oh, and no wing spar to step over. The DC-3 was, revolutionary because it managed to do something no other airliner before ever managed to do.

It made the airlines money. For the first time, you could fly people and cargo reliably and safely for less than the investment in the equipment. There wasn’t anything revolutionary in the technology that was used on the DC-3, it was just for the very first time, it was executed properly.

There were also a tremendous amount of other changes that occurred with the advent of the revolution of the DC-3. Prior to the DC-3, large aircraft had always been Seaplanes.

Dornier Do-X

Boeing 314

Short Brothers “Empire”.

This lead many people to believe that the future of air travel was the same as taking a sea cruise. So many large cities planned their air transportation around the idea of seaplanes being the primary carrier for passengers.

Laguardia Pan American Seaplane Base

San Francisco Seaplane Base

You say you don’t live in a big city near the coast? Well back of the train for you then.

The DC-3 changed all that. It didn’t just teach airlines that they could make money, in an odd sort of way, the DC-3 brought flying to the masses. Unlike with seaplanes, Air travel could be in any town or city anywhere. Cities began to build “airports” with formal runways (instead of “Fields”) and all of the infrastructure that came with it.

Now World War II, like all wars, greatly affected the technology of flying. The wartime DC-3, known as the C-47 brought the science of logistics and forward deployment of armies into reality. That lesson was brought home in a very different way in 1947 with the Berlin Airlift.

C-47's at Berlin during airlift

Without the products provided by the DC-3 and its progeny, the people of Berlin would have starved.

Now, the next revolution in aircraft is the revolution of “pressurization”. Pressurization means that the part of the aircraft that you sit in is pressurized to maintain an atmospheric pressure equivalient to a lower altitude.

“Lower altitude than what” you say?

Well, that’s where the revolution comes into play. Flying at high altitude provides you something that most people today don’t think much about. Weather.

In the good old days of aviation, back in the DC-3 era, you flew through storms, I mean right through them, not just during landing or takeoff either, but for hours you and your hapless pilot, crew and the rest of the passengers had to endure hours of being pounded by rain, hail, snow and ice. It was awful.

The way to get out of that weather; was to fly higher. To fly higher, you need to pressurize the cabin so that the passengers will survive the trip.

Now, to pressurize an aircraft fuselage, you do it the same way you blow up a ballon, you fill it with air, and yes, that means that the fuselage is like a ballon in that it that inflates and deflates each time it takes off and lands. Typically you pressurize a fuselage at the equivalent altitude of 8,000 ft. Thats why those people give you fluids on flights, its not to be ice ,its because at that altitude, you easily get dehydrated and that tends to make people who live at sea level pass out and have all sorts of other health problems. 8,000 feet is an average. Ideally, you would want to pressurize for sea level, but thats really difficult to do.

For the folks who flew back in the DC-3 era, being pressurized at all was something of a miracle. Flying over the weather rather than through it, made a world of difference to the flying community. Heres another example that illustrates how much different things were in just a single two year period, thanks to pressurization.

The Boeing B-17 (Circa 1943)

Heavy jackets, oxygen masks. This is how you did it in the 1930’s.

The Boeing B-29 (Circa 1945)
Pressurization in action.
The flight crew working in Shirt Sleeves and No oxygen masks. This is how you would do it from now on.

Boeing and Lockheed both made commercial aircraft that took advantage of the presurization.

Boeing 377 (Based on the aforementioned B-29)

Lockheed Constellation

Using the runways provided by the activies of World War II, Commerical air travel for the masses was starting to arrive.

There was just one problem left to solve. Time.

To cross the Atlantic, you needed to stop in Canada, Ireland, Iceland or Scotland and finally you would get to the Continent. It could be done, you could now fly to Europe, but it would take all day to do it. Every stop was a potential problem with weather and the mechanics of aircraft.

There was also another problem. The aircraft that were most capable of this flight, while magnificent beauties, were complex expensive beasts to fly. These aircraft required a 5 member flight crew, one of which was responsible for just watching the engines ( known the the flight engineer). The pilot had enough to do just flying these great beasts a man had to be set aside to do nothing but watch the various gauges and keep the engines running.

Flight Engineer Seat

Or at least try to:

Boeing 377 “Soveriegn of the skies” Ditching at Sea, 1956

This happened a lot more often than we like to remember.

So, how do we go higher and faster, and yet cheaper still than we already have?

Theres only one way to go.

Jets.

The Canadians and the British got there first, but both answers to the problem failed to answer the more important problem with commerical airlines, and that is the profit question. The DeHavilland Comet was the world’s first commerical jet and it was a magnificent aircraft. (By the way, they beat the Canadian effort by one day.)

With just two flaws.

The first is in this picture:

See it? It’s right there in front of you. Look closely at those windows. Those "Square" Windows?

Failed Comet Fuselage

Those “square windows” are killers. You don’t see square corners in pressurized aircraft. Remember what I was saying earlier about the act of pressurizing a fuselage being like blowing up a long kids ballon. Sharp right angles don’t tend to survive cycles of inflation and deflation very well,and on the de Havilland Comet, they didn’t survive very well either. And in two very sad accidents, the world of Commerical Jet aviation took a serious setback.

As is often the case, the first is not always the one to get it right, but unlike the Boeign 247, it would be Boeing this time that would get it right.

The Dash-80.

The Boeing Model 367-80 (known as the “Dash-80”) was the one that got it right. The final commercial version, known as the 707 brought Commercial aviation to the masses. World wide travel on a budget, in comfort and safety that could be accomplished by the middle class was a reality. This aircraft changed commerical aviation forever, not just because it was jet powered but because of one other thing that was seriously missing on the De Havilland Comet.

Look at the size.

Just eight windows (eight square windows…)
b707_04

One look says it all. The Comet could only carry 36 passengers. The 707 carried 165. At the end of the day, the airline business is a “butts in seat” business.

Again, if the airline flying your aircraft can’t make a profit, it doesn’t matter how cool it is. All of that engineering is wasted if the people in a position to buy the aircraft in the first place can’t make money flying it.

And that brings us to today. Today is the day that the Boeign 787 arrives, and as I’ve said, its revolutionary, not evolutionary.

Up till now, we've had Cantiliever wing, multi engine, pressurization and jet power as the revolutions that have driven the airline and aircraft industries.

Now we have a new revolution and it goes all the way back to our first example, the Fokker Trimotor.

Remember, Mr. Fokker used wood in his main wing spar. He did that because it was light and because it was a material that his engineers felt most comfortable working with.

So what is a “Main Wing Spar”? If you stand at the edge of a wing and look towards the fuselage, imagine a big I-Beam running straight down the wing all the way to the other wing tip. That is the “main wing spar”. That structure, and its ability to be strong and yet flexible, is what drives the all decisions for what materials are chosen for aircraft design. The "Main Wing Spar" and the technology that drives it, is what determines nearly everything in aircraft design.

The next time you fly, look out your window and watch the wing. It bounces, it flaps and flops around. It is not – solid. Its not supposed to be, its precisely that ability to flex that allows it to survive all of the things that the pilots and the atmosphere can throw at it.

So we’ve gone from wood spars, to metal spars. And today we take another step, and it’s a big step forward. The main wing spar of the 787 is made of composites. That’s right, the main wing spar is made of materials that come from a laboratory. Why is this big and "revolutionary"? Because the spar is not only made from materials that are man made the main spar is also contructed in a very different way. It’s also machined by computers! The use of composites represents not just a change in what aircraft are made from, but how they are made and who makes them.

Composite materials are made from highly computerized machines, which are then fed into other highly computerized machines. These parts, the main wing spar, and the sections of the fuselage itself are milled from start to finish by – computers.

Composites are attractive for aircraft designers because they are both light and strong. Lightness is essential to Aircraft engineers because a everything you take up in the sky has to have some element of lift and thrust in order that it fly. Composites have been used in components of aircraft for awhile now, and aircraft have been manufactured using nothing but composites.

Beech Starship.Pioneer in Composite aircraft construction.

But now, for the first time, the entire main structure of a commercial aircraft, the main wing spar, the wing structures itself and the fuselage are using composites and not just the skin (like was done with the old the “Tin goose”).

Now, take a look at the “factor floor” of the last generation of aircraft.

And…

Boeing737airframe-DaveWilliams-WichitaEagle

Now take a look at what it took to make the 787:

Whats missing? People. On Aluminum aircraft, you have thousands and thousands of rivets to bring all that metal sheeting together. All those boxes in the background of the factory? Rivets.

On composite aircraft? No rivets – ergo – no people.

Well, not as many people anyway. And what people are involved are now distrubuted all over the globe to take advantage of the world economy, for while the aircraft components are build all over the world, they are all finally assembled in Everett Washington.

No aluminum also means no corrosion, no corrosion means no downtime for inspections. Remember, aircraft sitting around do not make money. Making major componeneets out of composites makes everything about owning an aircraft that much cheaper.

The aircraft that is rolling out today, has been assembled with a very small staff in a little under 30 days from parts built all over the world, using structures that were created by machines from materials developed in a laboratory.

The result is an aircraft that before its first flight has already impacted every aircraft manufacturer in the world. That is the true test of a revolution. There were lots of great prop planes in the 1950s but after the Boeing 707 came out, it didn’t matter; they were finished.

Worldwide sales for the 787 have already surpassed over 600 airframes, and virtually every single manufacturing slot from Boeing that has available until 2013 is now completely sold out. There is simply no more capacity to be had to make more of these aircraft, and all of the “costs going up” excuses aside, Boeing is actually rasing its price for the 787, not because it costs more, but because they can get more for it. Selling it at a discount is not in the cards when you are at capacity and there is no real competition. And for the next few years, there is no real competition for the 787.

In 10 years, any aircraft that is not made entirely of composite mateials will seem as out of date as anachonistic as the “Tin Goose” or the DC-3.

So today when you watch the 787 roll out, watch it with an eye towards the future because someday your going to tell your grandkids that you once flew on jets that were made entirely of metal and they will look at you like you rode into town on a covered wagon.

How do you know a revolutionary idea from an evolutionary idea?

- Once presented, a revolutionary idea changes the existing paradigm.

- Once presented, a revolutionary idea set the new standard.

- Revolutionary ideas cause a complete re-write of the metrics on systems.

Monoplanes were revolutionary to biplanes, metal revolutionary to wood and fabric, and now composite main structures.

Now that Boeing has done it, be they successful or not, there will never be any "going back" just as once metal aircraft fabrication was perfected, there would be no return to wooden aircraft ( for the sake of argument, Let's look past the example provided by the Mosquito).

From here on out, to be successful in the aircraft business, you will need to use composites at every level. Right now, theres only one group that is capable of delivering it, and thats Boeing.

Posted @ July 08, 2007 03:55 PM | Aviation | Comments (6)

Boeing 787 Rollout Celebration

July 8th 2007, or 7/8/7 for those of us in the US is the day that the public will get its first look at the revolutionary aircraft, the Boeing 787.

If you are a DISH or DirectTV subscriber, you can watch the activies live at 3:30 PDT(For more details, click here)

If you dont have either of those things, you can watch it live here on the internet by clicking here.

I'll be back later today with another post on exactly why the 787 is the most revolutionary aircraft since the the DC-3 or the 707.

Posted @ July 08, 2007 10:19 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Paris Air Show - My poor career choice finally catches up with me

I like what I do for a living, I really do, but there are days when being buried neck deep in flashing lights and bits that bite in buildings without windows and security guards that check you every single time you go through a door - every-single-time..., and it starts to make you think that maybe you shouldda done something else for a living.

Like something in aviation. Yeah, that would be great!

I love aircraft, I love to fly, hell I like just being at the airport even if I dont have anywhere to go. But what did I choose to do with my life? thats right, move bits of magnetism around inside machines and call it "logic". What was I thinking? I have no idea...

So I'm out on my break from that adventure and catching a bit of the Paris Air Show coverage when one of the blogs posts a picture of the, ahem, scenery.

I dont know what they are selling at an airshow, but I know I want alot of it. Tell Al Gore that I've found the source of 'Global Warming', its blue and it has six legs, six arms, eyes and uh, yeah you get the idea, and if getting rid of Global Warming means we will have to live with less of this and more of people dressed like the Amish, well then, we can just rename the planet from "Earth" to "Hades" as far as I'm concerned and be done with it. I live in a desert, I like it hot. I've "adapted" to the new reality.

Anyway, while I'm out looking for my high school career guidance councilors phone number, take a read of the best "Paris Air Show" coverage from the Weekly Standard at this site.

It looks like its off to a good start, the Russians havent started distributing MIG parts over the airfield yet, but its sill early...

Posted @ June 18, 2007 11:25 AM | Aviation | Comments (1)

And then there were two - Wally Schirra Dies

Walter Schirra (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007)
One of the last remaining original Mercury 7 astronauts, leaving only Scott Carpenter and John Glenn behind.

Favorite Quote:

Schirra and his Gemini flights involved the process of rendezvous of manned spacecraft. Schirra and Stafford, attempted to launch aboard Gemini 6 mission on October 25, 1965, and rendezvous with an unmanned Agena rocket. However the Agena exploded, and the launch was scrubbed. The bold decision was made to launch Gemini 7 first, quickly refurbish the pad, and launch Schirra and Stafford in Gemini 6 for a rendezvous of both manned spacecraft.

At the time, rendezvous was considered any approach within 3 miles. Schirra however begged to differ with that assessment, He said:

" I'll tell you what a rendezvous is. When a man looks across a street and sees a pretty girl, and waves at her, that's not a rendezvous, that's a passing acquaintance. When he walks across the street through the traffic and nibbles on her ear, that's a rendezvous!"

Gemini 6 and 7 maintained station just 30 centimeters from each other and were able to vary the distance regularly through the mission.

The rendezvous of Gemini 6 and 7 spacecraft in 1965 represented the largest number of US Astronauts in space at the same time, until the use of the Space Shuttle during the 1980's.

Posted @ May 03, 2007 04:51 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

787 - Tomorrow's factory today

From Seattle Times:

Tomorrow's factory today: A lone technician at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., tends the machine that winds carbon fiber tape around a mold to form the plastic shell of the 787's entire forward fuselage section. Shown is part of what will be airplane No. 7.

I know it doesnt look like much, but what you see in that picture is a revolution taking place. That "lone technician" is making an aircraft fuselage not with the "tried and true" method of 100's of men with rivet guns putting aluminum panels on aluminum frames, this man is making an aircraft fuselage out of carbon fiber using a process that is largely automated; much like the way that Doritos come out of a machine at Frito Lay.

Heres another view of the aircraft under construction:

We can again notice the lack of people involved on the factory floor. You can also notice that the fuselage is turned on a central axis, like someome using a lathe to make a baseball bat, rather than making a hull for a ship and bolting the planking on the side as has been done in the past.

Here's another view that shows the scale of the operation. Look in the background of the shot and see if you can notice something different:

Yes, thats a fuselage being turned around a central robotic arm. Notice the size of the people in the group to the left? Notice that none of them are actually working on the aircraft at the moment?

Now compare it to this:

This is a picture of the last "classic" 737 being built, which compared to the processes and methods used to create the 787 is like looking at a picture of the DC-3 being built (and now that Douglas is a part of Boeing, I can say that without anyone taking offense, can't I?)

The 787 is a revolution not just because it has "comfy seats" for the passengers and big windows, its a revolution in its manufacturing process as well.

Posted @ April 23, 2007 07:52 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Marines deploy MV-22 Osprey to Iraq

The Marines have deployed the Boeing MV-22 to Iraq. To those of you not in the aviation world, that aircraft is a 'tiltrotor' a hybrid between a helicopter and a standard fixed wing aircraft. it can fly like an aircraft and then transition into 'hover mode' for very short helicopter style landings. And yes, we in the US are the only people in the world with such things as this aircraft.

So let's all keep our fingers crossed that it works, ok?

Here's a great briefing on the deployment of this new technology.

snip..

"GEN. CASTELLAW: First of all, you know, the primary troop assault aircraft now is the CH-46. It's almost 40 years old. It was introduced in the middle of Vietnam. The aircraft is old in the tooth, and its capability in terms of range and payload is not what we want. So we have been developing the V-22 as its replacement, again, to survive in a combat environment. This aircraft from the very beginning, from the time we put the first piece on the deck, was held to stringent combat characteristics and requirements.

So what we have is an aircraft that goes twice as fast. It goes three times as far, and it is the most survivable, about six or seven times of what the aircraft that it replaces is. On a mission, it can be at 200-plus knots in 15 seconds climbing the altitude. Fixed-wing use altitude as an area to get outside of the range of missiles and fire -- small-arms fire. We'll be able to do the same thing with this aircraft to get above the threat."

end snip...

Let's hope it works as planned, or the whole practice of "vertical envelopment" on the battlefield will take one big step backwards. Helicopters are becoming increasingly vulnerable on the battlefield, the MV-22 is a way to keep the abilities of the helicopter while getting the advantages in range, speed and carrying capacity of a fixed wing aircraft.

I've talked to pilots who fly it ground crew that work on it and there are skeptics and fans in both of those groups. The proof for all weapon systems lies not in the labratory or in idle bar talk, but in the battlefield. I heard all sorts of skepticism about the F-117 Nighthawk, the F/A-18 and even the A-10 Warthog when they were in the process of moving from the labratory to the battlefield, but you dont hear so much of it now and I suspect that you wont hear it about the Osprey in 15 years either.

If it works, its going to be terrific. If it works, it will make war that much more unlikely. If not, lots of people arent going to come home and the possibility of war is that much more likely. It's as simple as that.

A history of accidents? Yes, the Osprey has had her share, but compare it to the number of accidents during the development of any helicopter system and it puts it in better perspective.

I'm betting that she does just fine. Frankly, I'm hoping and praying she does fine.

Posted @ April 16, 2007 07:30 AM | Aviation | Comments (5)

A380 at LAX

Pajamas Media has graciously posted my article on observations of the LAX event.

Posted @ March 20, 2007 12:57 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

A380 in LAX: Live

Arrived on time at 9:24am. First, the crowd went wild. Then they realized the aircraft was in fact a Boeing 747. Boos erupted from the press corp and just as quickly followed by laughter.

What have I learned so far? No one talks to you when you have a big badge around your neck thay says "MEDIA". You ask a simple question, they see that badge and suddenly everyone gets a case of the fidgets. its no wonder the media makes stuff up. you cant get anyone to talk to you, so you might as well just create your own story.

Oh yeah, and I've now got a big blue badge that says "MEDIA".

More to follow...

Posted @ March 19, 2007 10:51 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

A380 in LAX: Gameday

Its going to be busy today. Im off to the Press gaggle in about 30 minutes. From there we get bussed over to the other side of the airport to await the arrival of the A380 at 9:30am Local time.

Were scheduled for about two hours of 'meet and greet' and photos in front of the plane this morning. The soonest I can get back for uploads and a quick writeup is about 1:00 PM.

Check back frequently.

Posted @ March 19, 2007 05:56 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

The Ghost of Dr. Hugo Eckenar

Dr. Hugo Eckener – Director of the Zeppelin Airship Company, from the window of the Airship LZ127 – The Graf Zeppelin.

In 1929 Dr. Eckener needed to raise money to keep his company in business. His company, the Zeppelin Airship Company was having all the difficulties of a new technology in post war Germany could have. Rapant inflation, political strife unemployment and a web of various trade restrictions that were slowly strangling his company.

He hit on the idea of an “around the world” flight to show off the capabilties of his companies work.. Dr. Eckener was more than just the leader of a company; he was a true believer in the product. The product was the Airship, or as it was also known, the Zeppelin, after its inventor, Count (or in German - “Graf “) Zeppelin.

In 1929, not too many people in the world were arguing with him about the usefulness of airships by comparison to aircraft. While aircraft had clearly shown their value, airships still held much of the public imagination and the conversations in many places would always turn towards what this country or that was doing in the way of the use of Airships.

With the help of Newspaper Tycoon William Randolph Hearst, Dr. Eckener and the Graf Zeppelin made a triumphant flight across the globe. Crossing the Pacific by air for the first time and crossing the globe in the lighting speed of 21 days. While aircraft had also managed to fly around the world, none of them had done it with anywhere the speed an economy of the flight of the Graf Zeppelin.

You have to remember that when the airship Graf Zeppelin crossed the Pacific in 1929, saying that you were going to the “South Pacific” was like someone saying they were “going to mars” today. It was a far off place; there was little contact from the outside world, no radio navigation aids, few real time commincation methods at all. This trip was taken in a world few of us can understand. There was no navigation aids to work with, no weather forceasting that approaches anything like what we have today. When Dr. Eckener and the crew of the Graf Zeppelin crossed the Pacific for the first time by air, it was closer to the accomplishment of Francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hinde than that of any modern comparative achievement.

When the Graf Zeppelin made landfall in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge was not yet built, nor the Bay Bridge. Treasure Island, the artificial island at the tip of Yerba Buena Island in the bay was yet to be created.

Yes, there were still cows in Berkeley.

San Francisco was a small village by comparison the metropolis we know today. The Graf Zeppelin then turned south to fly along the California Coastal Range, overflying the home of his benefactor, Mr. Hearst in San Simeon.

The Graf Zeppelin arrived in a Los Angeles that was much different to that world than the place we see today. There was a Los Angeles, There was a Santa Barbara, and there was a Long Beach, but inbetween all of them, it was largely populated by small farms and very small towns. The freeways, for which the area would eventually become noted for, didn’t exist. The cars, which not everyone was yet driving, used hand cranks on the engine to start. Los Angeles International didn’t exist. International Airports, if they existed at all, were in Europe, not on the outer fringe of the western part of the United States.

Where Los Angeles International is today was a cow pasture. In 1928, the city fathers decided to create a new airport in the area where the current airport now sits. “Mines Field” was its name, and the entire airport sat between where Sepulveda Blvd and the 405 Freeway are today. Hangar #1, which is now a Fedex hangar, was built the same year that Dr. Eckenar came to call on Los Angeles. It is all that remains of that time.

If you wanted to go anywhere by air in 1929 Los Angeles, you went to Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale. You will have to look hard to find it today, because it’s a strip mall. The terminal building has been preserved, but the rest of it is long gone.

In 1929, Dr. Eckener was demonstrating the superiority of European technology to the world by crossing the Pacific and landing in a sleepy California coastal town, far from the bright center of the world. The world rightly sat awestruck at his accomplishment. This was a staggering acheivement in any age but in 1929, it was positively heroic.

In August 1929, it was all chamapagne and celebration for the crew of Graf Zeppelin. The future looked very bright indeed for the makers of Airships. Sitting below the Graf Zeppelin on its arrival to Los Angeles, I can’t help but think that the smart set of the day would have been betting their money on the big, big future for the use of Airships.

It just goes to show you what a waste of time it is to try to predict the future. Stand in the shoes of the people living in LA in the summer of 1929, and see how far it gets you.

While the flight of the Graf Zeppelin is still one of the most successful flights of Airships, the future of airships was far less certain. (Interestingly enough, the only other airship not to meet a less than glorious end due to weather or accident, was the U.S.S. Los Angeles.) No one at the time would predict accurately what would happen to Los Angeles and the world in just the next 20 years.

The Stock market crashed in October 1929, marking the beginning of what came to be known as the “great depression”.

The Hindenburg crashed in 1937, marking the end of the Airship for transportation purposes.

In 1939; War.

The sound barrier was broken in 1947.

Los Angeles International Airport opened in 1949. (And yet, absolutely no Airships were seen at the opening ceremony – go figure…)

Tommorow I will stand on a ramp at Los Angeles International Airport mindful of its past and listen to lots of supposedly smart people with deep and varied backgrounds in business and aviation who will willingly opine loudly and proudly about the future of Airbus and the A380.

And we will all be just as full of crap as a Christmas goose.

If deep within the soundbites that will be made tommorow you hear what sounds to be an elderly German gentleman laughing at us under his breath, you’ll know that the ghost of Dr. Eckener has made his feelings known about the value of our prognosticating the future.

Posted @ March 18, 2007 10:38 PM | Aviation | Comments (3)

Springtime In El Segundo

Ah, Ive arrived back at the old neighborhood. El Segundo California ( It helps the ambiance if you say it like Jack Webb used to say the words "This is the city" at the beginning of Dragnet)

When I last left the industrial core of EL Segundo California, the brick building on the corner of Sepulveda and 110 said "HUGHES" and now it says "BOEING". Once, long before I showed up to work in some small function in the lowest level of its brick basement, it said "KAISER-FRAZIER", then it said "NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION", then "HUGHES" and now - "BOEING". You can trace the history of the Aviation industry by the sign changes on the properties. You can change the signs, you can even change the companies, but the inside of these buildings no matter who owns them or their jobs within, still give you the stale institutional ambiance of the Deparment of Motor Vehicles. Green walls, laminate floors, the occasional detrius from projects of the past. My building had posters made from long since gone satellites that had been launched in the 1960 and 70's. Most of the people I worked with had no idea what these satellites did, or what Hughes had to do with them, but there they were, just outside of the conference room. I'm sure that the "conference room" was used to store paperwork in the 1960s and that sometime in the 1980s it was upgraded to become a "conference room", but try as they might, it still had that "lost in the sands of time" feel about it.

Some things just never go away now matter how much around it end us changing. I'm sure that my desk at Hughes was used by some midlevel bureaucrat to fill out paperwork for the wartime delivery of North American P-51's. Later on, some poor schlub probably used it to write a report trying to explain (yet again) why the Kaiser-Frazier wasnt selling as well as they hoped.

I think the building I worked in might have even been part of the Kelvinator corporation( the refrigerator folks!), but I never found anything while I was there to indicate that to be the case. I did find things from all the other companies I mentioned. Like archaeologists finding signs of earlier civilizations, at Hughes Space and Communications, every time you opened a closet or storage locker you could be sure you would get atleast one "what the hell is this?" as a model of some once "super secret satellite" fell out onto the floor, now oblivious to its place in history or the man hours that were once expended to create it.

But El Segundo is El Segundo. Post World War II - Cold War industrial architecture, sitting shoulder to shoulder with late 1970's glass and beam in the same block as an oil refinery ( hence the name of the town - it was the second refinery, making it "El Segundo") and right there in the middle is a nice set of middle income homes, looking all the world like they were lost in a time warp, sometime around 1965.

Just when you adjust to that, you find that it all sits right next to one of the best beaches in Southern California. Ah, sanity at last you say, and then you drive a bit further and see the sign that leads you to the biggest sewage treatment plant in Southern California. ( And yes, I know you've always wanted to tour a big giant sewage treatment plant, there is in fact a tour for the public! interested in what they find that gets flushed down the pipes every day? Well heres your chance to see your wish fulfilled!)

It's then you know for sure that you are someplace unlike any place else in the world. "The Second?"; if thats the case, I have no real idea what "The First" must be like.

And right in the middle of all of this, sits the home of Barbie, the Mattel Corporation. Well, at least it was when I was here last...

You go to lunch at any of the fast food places in the area and see badges for people working at Raytheon, Lockheed, Boeing, SpaceX, Hughes and always, right there in that line would be some guy from "Mattel". It could be very surreal if you were anywhere else, but this is El Segundo, where nothing is really out of place.

The aviation community here is abuzz in anticipation of tommorows arrival of the A380. The word I have from the folks in the hotel is that the Beach area at the end of the runway is already full of people anticipating the arrival. On the north side of the airport, the highway is blocked off and crowds are encoraged to start forming at 5:00am. All this for an aircraft that doesnt arrive until 9:30am ( which isnt that much different from the time they would need to be at the airport in advance, were they to fly out on it...)

I'm going to pop out and get some dinner, drive around for a bit and see if theres anything worth putting to film.

I'll be back later. I want to blog about the arrival of Dr. Hugo Eckner and the Graf Zeppelin to Los Angeles in 1929 and how much as changed and not changed since then...

Posted @ March 18, 2007 05:53 PM | Aviation | Comments (2)

Captain Ahab meets the "White Whale"

The A380 is coming to Los Angeles for a big press show on Monday.

Hmmm. The A380 is coming to LAX and Jerrys Deli is right down the road from LAX in Marina Del Ray. Well, thats enough right there to justify a quick visit to my ancestral homeland, dont you think?

Well I thought so too...

So a few phone calls to the right folks,(thanks again Roger!) and my previous Monday plans are now completely shot to hell, just so I can look at the Airbus A380 as it makes its arrival in the United States.

If you're in the area on Monday and you want to get a great view of it without going through the hassle of going into the airport, I recommend going to the In and Out Burger on Sepulveda Blvd at about 9:30am. It's a great place to watch planes on any given day, but this particular day and timeyou will get to see the Airbus A380 arrive. You shouldnt have any trouble figuring out which one is the A380, it will be bigger than anything you will see in the sky or on the airport that particular day.

I don't care that the A380 is built in Europe and competes with the home team of Boeing, all I care is that its an airplane, and it flies. I appreciate the engineering of aircraft the way some people appreciate a work of fine art from one of the masters.

I'm an airplane freak from way back. As a kid I probably made every aircraft in 1/72 scale that existed in kit form. The entire 'Battle of Britain' was fought in minature over my head with model aircraft that were hung from the ceiling. If you've ever seen the model plane collection at the Chino Air Museum, that was pretty much my bedroom as a kid. I'm a pilot and a real life airplane builder as well. My dad used to say that the only reason I worked anywhere was to get enough money to go flying and he wasnt totally wrong. Where most men dream at night of swimsuit models of questionable moral values, I dream of doing Immelmans in a Spitfire or landing on a carrier deck, or just watching the landscape go by from the cockpit window. I have on occasion traveled across three states just to see an obscure one-of-a-kind aircraft( the douglas skyshark - idaho. been there - done that... ) I willingly confess, It's an obsession. Fly a T-6 over my house at any hour of the day and I'm likely to come running out of the door like a kid chasing after an ice cream truck.

Now I get to cover a real live aviation event. I get permission to oogle airplanes.

This is one sweet deal.

Let the blogging commence...

Posted @ March 16, 2007 02:37 PM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Airbus: How to inspire confidence - Lesson #421

Our man at Airbus...

Step One - Issue a press release saying that youve fixed a problem with the new aircraft and its complicated wiring.

(inner dialog)

Wiring? Isnt that sort of important? Didnt that SwissAir MD-11 crash because of a wiring problem? How could you not get the wiring right? if you cant do something like the wiring right what chance do they have of making sure that the pylons that attach the engines to the wing are engineered with some sort of high precision or dare I say possibly even "over-engineered" to be able take the stress of every day flight? When I hear 'wiring problem' I think of 'inflight fire', and 'inflight fire' is almost always a bad thing.

Step Two - Issue a second press release the same week correcting the first saying that you only meant to say that you fixed the wiring on the first aircraft, not the entire fleet.

(inner dialog)

What in the wide, wide world of sports? Are you telling me that Airbus is now custom making aircraft by hand like the way that black forest craftsman make cuckoo clocks? The whole purpose of manufacturing is to make one aircraft after the other in the exacting fashion, not cobble together big complicated things that fly out of the floor shavings.

Step Three - Appoint as your Operations manager a man with the unlikely name "Gerhard Puttfarcken"

(inner dialog)

Are you freaking kidding me?...

Posted @ January 26, 2007 08:46 AM | Aviation | Comments (6)

Reno Air Races - 2006

Stead Field Tower. The main entrance gate. Todays entry process took 30 minutes to complete. Its a sure sign that this years Air Races will be one with a good turn out.


The lineup for the Jet Races. The Jet class is much like the T-6 Class, in that only one type of jet is in the race class. I have to say that the Jet Class has really proven itself to be a "crowd pleaser".

Here's what keeps Osama up at night. A General Atomics Predator Drone with two "Hellfire" missiles mounted for display only. Beale AFB is right across the Sierras from Stead Field and serves as the home of the Global Hawk and many other aircraft like the Predator.

The wing of the Predator is about 6 feet long from tip to root and all of a foot wide. What I found most striking was its simplicity. The navigation light is an off the shelf part that you can buy from any avionics catalog. As someone who spent several thousand hours sanding fiberglass and resin into wing shapes, I have to tell you this wing is a thing a beauty.

Psst. hey buddy, wanna buy a MIG? Reno is the home of several outfitters who have purchased MIGs from the "former Soviet Union" and other parts of the third world. This is a two seat variant of the MIG-21. This one goes for 240k. Considering a new Cessna goes for 172K, its not a bad deal...

This is Strega. This is one of the most successful aircraft in the Unlimited Class of racers. Once upon a time, this was a P-51 Mustang. I doubt theres much left on this aircraft that is actually from a P-51 except its general shape.


Not just a Corsair, but a "Super Corsair". Notice the Bubble Canopy. This is one of the very rare Super Corsairs that were produced right at the end of WWII. This is an outstanding aircraft.


One of the reasons why I rarely show shots of the races themselves is that standard home use cameras really stink at taking pictures of fast moving objects. Shutters need to respond quickly and you need multiple shots of the pass to find one that holds up as a still later on. This is a rather unique flyby of an F-15, F-4 and two P-51's.

The same four as before, only directly overhead. It was nice to see an F-4 in the air again.

This looks like a Chevy Trucks advertisement. "Chevy Trucks - Like A Rock..."

This P-40k just came back from Oshkosh with a major award. Even for people who arent big time aircraft freaks like me,everyone seems to like the P-40. I always stop to point out the fabric covered control surfaces and the "ring and bead" sights. This may be a WWII aircraft, but its just an inch away from Ricthofen. Compare this 1941 aircraft to the 1945 Super Corsair and you get a real education in just how fast things changed during the war.

So, what was that you were saying about sensible gun control laws?

You half expected the box to say "ACME" didnt you?

The business end of the Harrier Jump Jet.

Three F-15 Eagles during engine startup ( notice everyone with their hands over their ears?). Me? I dig this sound. Let my ears bleed. I survived a decade of "Deep Purple", I can handle the sweet sound of jet engines.


This is the area known as the "Rat Ramp" those of us too cheap to pay for reserved seating often sit down under the visiting aircraft instead of getting crammed into the general admission seats. I love this part of the field during the races. In this area, I've stood under the wing of a B-29, a B-24, and many, many other aircraft since I first starting coming to the Air races back in 1980. I saw my first B-2 from this location. It took my breath away.

In 1964, I was just a kid and I lived on the other side of that ridge on the horizon. In those days I could not have been more remote from the world if I had lived on the dark side of the moon. I had no idea back then what the future would hold in store for me. I have to say that much to my surprise that things turned out pretty well.

Coming back to the Reno Air Races every year is a much about taking part in the "cult of aviation" as it is a way for me to see just how far I've come since the days when I lived in a single wide trailer in Panther Valley Nevada, just over there on the other side of that ridge.

Posted @ September 16, 2006 09:57 PM | Aviation | Comments (4)

You can try making it fun again

(1950's advertisement for the Lockheed Super Constellation. This is my idea of flying. Also please note - everyone is having a good time and there isnt so much as a calculator on the aircraft.)

Well it looks as if (thanks once again to terrorists) that we are about to see another change to our habits with air travel. Remember when we used to be able to board aircraft without going through metal detectors? I do. Remember when you didn’t have to undergo a full colonoscopy in security to get through to your flight on time? I do. Ah, those were the days. You could actually get to a flight 5 minutes before it left and actually make it on board without getting arrested.

First came metal detectors. Then came the requirement to actually give your real name when you checked in. Then came taking off your shoes, and now its come to not being able to take your “stuff” with you.

The indignity of modern life never seems to end.

Our generation has been raised in the electronic age so these new electronic things are everyday normal for us, but air travel existed long before the advent of portable computers, Ipods, dvd players, ebooks, PSP’s and half a dozen other things that we probably wont get to use anymore on long flights. It will be a hard adjustment, but we can make it, our grandparents did or parents did, so can we.

I think that the adjustments for passengers will be easier than it will be for airlines because to overcome the loss of our “toys”, airlines are going to have to do something that they have moved away from for the last 30 years.

They are going to have to start treating their passengers as customers, rather than as cargo. It’s a radical thought I know, but bear with me for a second.

Back in the “grand old days”, passengers had to be compelled to fly. Back in the “grand old days”, airliners fell from the sky with an amazingly high failure rate, so passengers had to be bribed with flight bags with the airline logos, special treatment on the flight. Heck, they even fed you on your flight– with real food too!

It worked. We flew, despite losing an average of 5 passenger jets a year. If an overnight bag from Pan Am will make me brand loyal despite the headlines in those days, then perhaps the same can be used now to overcome the possibility of a disaster today.

Over the years, the market (the passengers- the “cargo with legs” that is…) has taught the airlines that the one thing that really mattered was price and price alone. Passengers learned that they could take their own entertainment; they didn’t need to pay the airline for the use of the precious “plastic air tube technology” earphones to watch a bad movie while enroute. They learned that they could take their own drinks on board, and even get their own food. Passengers got so good at it that airlines soon learned that it simply didn’t make sense to give these incentives to passengers in the first place. Passengers didn’t want them and they weren’t impressed when the airline gave them anyway (remember those endless hours of standup comedy routines involving bad airline food?). All we taught the airlines was that if you lower the price and get us there safely and regularly; we didn’t care about the rest of it.

Airbus makes aircraft with seats that have no air vents and many of the seats don’t recline? Who cares! I can fly to LA for less than it costs to drive and that is all that mattered (or at least it used to…).

And that’s all that mattered, because we took care of the rest. What do I care what the inflight movie is? I’ve got an Ipod that has my Tivo content downloaded on it. I’ve got a laptop to work on and I’m eating and drinking my own preferences.

All I want is a seat.

Well now things have changed for both the passengers and the airlines.

It’s ok post baby boomers, generation-xers, generation-yers, and whatever the hell you call people who were born after 1990, the world managed to get along just fine before we all carried more computing power in our backpack than NASA used to go to Moon and at the same time have more media technology at our disposal (in the palm of our hands no less) than Stanley Kubrick used to create 2001: A Space Odyssey. It will be tough; it will be difficult, but we will get through it. We will all learn why it’s really important to back up our laptops as we check them as luggage, but we will get through it.

Really.

Once upon a time, we all sat on aircraft on long, LONG flights without the help of our laptops, Ipods, cellphones, 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke and food from our favorite airport diner.

But back then the airlines helped us with this time management problem. For one thing, they let people smoke; they served prodigious amounts of hard alcohol, (and so long as you left the “stews” alone, they really didn’t care of if you managed to get drunk with it either). They gave you playing cards, actually gave them to you, for no extra charge! They even managed to give you a seat that was an actual seat - that you actually could sit in, unlike today’s seats that are more like putting on a pair of pants (A very stiff pair of pants that don’t move, are two sizes to small and a thousand other people have worn before you put them on).

They even fed you; sometimes they fed you more than once. Airlines actually competed on the quality of their food.

Once upon a time, flying was fun. It wasn’t particularly safe, but it was fun. Now its pretty damn safe, but its not fun.

Its time for the airlines to put the fun back into flying. Its time for airlines to get back into the process of providing passengers incentives for flying with their airline. I don’t mean “mileage” clubs. I mean incentives. Glorious swag. Free goodies by the armload with lots of prestige attached.

Here’s my idea of incentives:

Dump 6 rows of seats; give all the other seats that much more room. I don’t mean dump 2 rows of seats, increase the size of 4 rows of seats and charge a premium like United and American have done. I mean that people today are not 5 foot 6 feet tall average, so stop making seats that use that as an average size. Lets set 6 foot 5 as the average, and let everyone except the ½ of 1 percent that are over 6 foot 5 enjoy the freedom to be able to move their legs on a flight.

Give passengers Ipods when they get on board. Collect them when they get off. On the Ipod will be a collection of “things to watch or listen to”. Car rental companies have made the Car GPS and XM radio move faster into the marketplace by allowing business travelers a chance to see them in action. I now see Hummers for rent at Hertz. A smart move on GM’s part. Let the traveler try one out, so they can go home and buy one. The same will prove to be true of ipods or other such things. While its not a big deal, just the fact that the passenger is trusted makes them feel like they aren’t a burden on the airline. It’s a little thing, but it helps.

Feed the passengers. Feed them good food. Not fancy food, but good food. It can be done.

Give the passengers all they can possibly stand to drink. All the passengers, not just the 4 seats in first class.

Make the line as small as possible and as convenient as possible. How do you do that? Eliminate them. Car rental companies figured out how to do it a long time ago, airlines should do the same.

Smile. Laugh. Flying is supposed to be fun. Have your staff say, “Can I help you” not “What is your Problem”. Have them say “Can I help you” and actually mean it. Remember, it’s supposed to be fun. If you are 60 years old, not particularly fond of flying, and just to get the to the gate you’ve had to undergo a battery of invasive humiliations, when you walk up and ask if the flight is going to be on time, you really don’t want to be told “I cant help you – this gate is closed”.

Service. Smile. For Gods sake folks, you’re not in the “airplane business”, you’re in the hospitality business. SO TRY TO BE HOSPITIBLE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. MAKE THEM WANT TO FLY WITH YOU.

Virgin Airways has already moved in this direction. I predict they will do very well as a result.

United, American and Delta need to get their act together quickly, not because other airlines will be their competitors, but because the passengers have a choice, and in the modern world more and more of them aren’t choosing to fly someone else, they are simply choosing not to fly. United recently created a low cost no frills wing of their airline called “Ted”.

I recommend that they get fancy in a hurry that they rename it “Theodore”.

Flying used to be fun, even when lots of people died doing it. We fixed the dying part, now we need to go back and fix the fun part that we lost along the way. We can make it fun again if we try. We’re smart, creative people. Let’s watch and see what happens.

(Look at this Ad. Red Carpet, Hot towels, cocktails, wines, dinner, dessert, exotic liqueurs, movies and oh my – even “stereo”. It makes you gasp, doesnt it?)

Posted @ August 13, 2006 11:33 PM | Aviation | Comments (10)

The Shortest Long Distance Flight In History

After 120 hour work week and the first night of regular sleep, I actually "went outside" today.

Unfortuantely it was spent Christmas Shopping. Two quick observations - First, can we dispense with the moaning and groaning about the "poor economy", because if you cant keep stuff on shelves and the parking lot is full and the streets leading to the shopping centers are completely packed, isnt that enough to convince even the most vinegar filled pessimistic Democrat that things are actually pretty good? Second, Its amazing how 2.00 a gallon for makes everyone feel like they are rich, but 3.00 makes everyone feel like they are Tom Joad. Its also amazing how few people saw how the market was going to work in relation to gas prices. Prices goes up, people dont drive. price goes down. Wow! Who wouldda thought!

Things are booming,shelves are empty, stores are packed. Its going to be a good year. It IS A good year! Accept it! Embrace it. Things are good!

One other Note: I heard New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on the radio today begging people to move back to New Orleans. I thought to myself, Why? Why would anyone lucky enough to get out of New Orleans ever go back?

Now, while Im finishing up my big post of the weekend and having dinner, go look at this:

Dick Rutan - Pilot Extraordinaire - does it again.
When I grow up, I want to be just like him.

Posted @ December 03, 2005 06:41 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)

2005 Reno Air Races

I'll be Blogging the Reno Air Races this year.

Unlike last year, I'll be bringing a decent digital camera and I have a much better blogging platform on which to post the pictures.

Look for updates late Saturday night.

In the mean time, try to imagine what a pack of P-51's sounds like going at nearly 400 miles per hour right on the deck right before you in the stands. There is no sound like it in the world.

Then try to imagine what sagebrush, hot asphalt, Nevada high desert and kerosine smells like when mixed with 100,000 people grinning ear to ear while they get one more chance to see one of the greatest remaining shows in aerospace.

Every year they say "this will be the last year for the unlimited air racing". Someday that may come true. But this year, for at least one more year the sight and sound of P-51 Mustangs going around the pylons with F8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Furys in tight formation can still be seen by the admiring public for just a little bit longer.

I once got the chance to meet Cole Palen, the curator of the "Old Rhinebeck" before he died. "Old Rhinebeck" is out on the east coast and if you ever get a chance to go see it you should try get there. Old Rhinebeck is one of the finest collections of aircraft Ive ever seen, but the best thing is, you get to see them fly. Old Rhinebeck is a grassy field, in the hills of the hudson valley and the museum has aircraft from the golden age of flight. Sopwith Camels, Fokkers, Albatrosses, you name it.

Cole Palen believed that for aircraft to be appreciated as aircraft and not as modern industrial art, need to be seen in their natural state; not sitting in a museum where you cant even touch them, but flying.

There is no words that can quite describe the sound of a Mustang in flight. If you get the chance to see one, do so. If you get a chance to see two of them, then by all means go.

But if you get a chance to see 15 of them race...
Well, like I need to tell you what to do.

Posted @ September 15, 2005 10:08 PM | Aviation | Comments (6)

Whats The NASA Budget Again?

Every time I see what the boys in Mojave are up to, I always find myself asking "why we are paying NASA to do what it does"?. Heres two pictures that help illustrate my dilemma.

This is Scaled Composites' Proteus aircraft, with Chuck Coleman at the helm, carrying tSpace's 23 percent-scale spaceship mock-up. Proteus is a fully reusable expandable flexible mission aircraft, the center fuselage section is replaced with different modules depending on the mission. The aircraft is also capable of being flown as a UAV/Drone. In this case the ceter section has been replaced with a "drop" module.

Photo: Courtesy of Transformational Space Corporation

TSC is developing its own version of the Space Shuttle. TSC and Scaled are private companies.

This is Scaled Composites 'White Knight' carrying the NASA X-37 for 'drop tests' yesterday in Mojave.

Photo: Courtesy of Mojave Books. Please visit their site often...

NASA had been using a B-52 for drop tests for the X-37, but for the cost of a single drop test on the B-52, NASA could buy 10 drops from "White Knight". Thankfully, NASA was able to overcome its natural "Not Invented Here" sense of things and contracted out to Scaled Composites for the work, saving both money and time.

More pictures of the tspace private shuttle effort can be found here at Wired.

Posted @ June 18, 2005 11:09 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Fossett-Blogging: "let's go for it"

Mission Status: Steve says "Let's go for it!"

At 21:30CST (03:30UCT) Steve Fossett relayed by satellite phone to Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer Mission Control Director Kevin Stass "let's go for it". Strong tailwinds across the Pacific from the coast of Japan carried Steve between 100knots -130knots from the coast of Japan to Hawaii, bringing the round-the-world non-stop circumnavigation world record back within his grasp.

Steve Fossett, commented: "I hit the jetstream very well which has put us in a better fuel position. I have every hope of making it to Salina tomorrow."

And then theres this:

Steve Fossett has proved once more that he is a record breaking adventurer. At 18:01 UTC when he reached Ferar, Steve broke the world record for "distance without landing" which was last set in 1962 by a B-52.

When it arose that Steve might not make it back to Salina due to the loss of fuel, a conference call was arranged between the Contest and Record Board, who oversee record setting activities in the US. The Board discussed the interpretation of the record setting rules and since Steve had exceeded the 12,000 mile distance set by the B-52 it was determined by vote that the world record was now his.

So, Global Flyer will cross the coast of California later this evening, somewhere between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Between his current location - just off the Hawaiian Islands and landfall, guess what the next closest airfield is available for landing?

Catalina Island.

Posted @ March 02, 2005 09:17 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)

Global Flyer Update: This Is Not Good...

Steve is over the coast of Japan and overnight they have been working to solve a fuel discrepancy.

It now seems that they cant account for 2600 lbs of fuel.

Quote:

"A tired Steve was facing the possibility that the around the world may not be a success and had been looking at the alternatives that were available to him. In a live feed, Steve said: "I think there’s still some significant hurdles here. I don’t have a very high level of confidence at this point."

More details can be found here.

Keep an eye on www.globalflyer.com for updates over the next couple of hours. He will either decide to abort or keep going in the next couple of hours.

Stay Tuned...

UPDATE I: Ok, He's on for Hawaii at the least. Well see what happens from there.

Update II: One guy, One plane and he still manages to lose 2,600 lbs of fuel. I will try to remember that the next time United manages to lose my luggage.

Update III: Ahh-HA! I've found the cuprit! Courtesy of Warner Brothers.

Posted @ March 02, 2005 09:44 AM | Aviation | Comments (0)

Alone

Imagine taking a flight on a Southwest Airlines jet.

Imagine getting assigned to seat 22b, the dreaded middle seat, in the back of the plane, with no view, and your seat cannot recline.

Now, imagine that the flight is 80 hours long, and that you can’t sleep at any point of the flight.

Now imagine that you’re not just a passenger, but you’re the pilot. And its not a well tested and understood Boeing 737, but a one time creation, made mostly out of plastic, and it doesn’t have two engines, but one.

And no one has ever done what you are about to do. Fly around the world, nonstop, Solo, on one engine without refueling.

Now imagine that you just crossed from Newfoundland into the Atlantic. You are familiar with the North Atlantic arent you? The Titanic sank there most of the passengers died not of drowning but of hypothermia. In that water, you have about 20 minutes before you are stone dead, even if you use your 'flotation device'. Even if you crash next to a nice warm US Coast Guard Cutter, your chances of survival are pretty slim. The Atlantic is the most populated, safest part of the trip. Later, you’ll cross the equator, and all of the weather problems that can create will be yours to deal with.

Alone.

Before you tonight is 8 hours of blackness before the green coast of Ireland appears along with the bright light of sunrise. Only that sunrise will make you squint, which will have the effect of making you want to sleep even more.

Now imagine you have two more days and nights to go before you can sleep.

That’s what Steve Fossett is up against tonight and the next three days. There are people who would say that Steve is really not alone out there.

But none of those people are pilots.

Pilots know that all engines and electrical systems immediately fail or go dark as soon as you are over water and too far to go back to land. Pilots know the cold fear that comes from second thoughts. Pilots know the nervous habit of tapping the side of their instruments to “make sure they work”, like knocking on wood. We all know its crap, but we do it anyway. We all listen for the engine to miss, and even when it doesn’t, we hear it, as if by hearing it early and catching it, there might be something we can do to stop it.

But there isn’t anything you can do. You, like all pilots have to sit there and take it. Once you do the pre-flight, and once you are in the air, there’s not a damn thing you can do about a misfiring engine or the blown fuse that happens when you neglected to bring a spare or a flashlight to see it with.

Pilots know. And it makes us all sweat and fidget when you talk to us about it.

Tomorrow, when you see someone you know who is a pilot, you’ll see them sitting they’re tapping the edge of their coffee cup with their pencil, nervously awaiting news. When you look at their eyes, you’ll know what pilots know that normal people don’t.

Sure, its lonely up there, and potentially dangerous but there’s nowhere else any of us would rather be.

Say a prayer tonight for Steve Foss