I just can’t imagine why some people think skydivers are a little messed up in the head… well ok, maybe I can find one or two reasons. I’ve got 110 jumps myself, so I guess I can relate to the crazy guys in this pic : )
I’m guessing this will be a pretty easy pic to come up with some funny captions for, and now’s the time to caption up my friends. The best caption will put the winner in line for $20 in AirPigz funny money. (line forms wayyy over there : )
You've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EST to submit captions, then I’ll pick the 5 best captions and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on.
The Rules:
1) Max of 3 submissions per person
2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area
3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EST
4) Keep it clean!
Anyone who wants to cast their vote will be able to after the poll goes up around an hour after the 9pm Wednesday submission deadline.
We'll vote for 24 hours, til 9pm EST on Thursday. Then the winner will be posted Friday morning 2-5-10. Have fun, and hang in there!
Another new CoolPix category, this time it’s ‘Racers’... and what a sweet racer this is! This is a pic I took at Reno 2009 as the sun made the colors in the new paint come alive. I’ve been a huge fan of this airplane for many years, and I think this new scheme takes the airplane to a whole new level. Be sure to click the pic to see it big and up close. This is definitely desktop material : )
The clear air and bright sunshine make the Reno Air Races an excellent event to get perfect pictures of amazing airplanes. This fact alone should be enough to convince you to make plans to be at the races in September.
Rare Bear has had a long and interesting race history that began in 1969 as ‘Able Cat’, followed by the name ‘Phoenix l’ in 1971. It didn’t pick up the current name until 1980. I’m guessing she’ll be Rare Bear forever now.
The airplane looked hot in the new paint, but the engine wasn’t quite up to the task in 2009. The crew, along with John Penney as pilot were able to snag second place in the championship race, helped by the fact that VooDoo had to mayday before the end of the race. In theory, 2010 should be a stellar year for unlimited racing with a stronger Bear, scorchin’ hot P-51’s in VooDoo and 2009 Gold winner Strega, and there might be several surprise contenders show up as well. Awesome stuff indeed.
I mean this in the nicest possible way… but if you don’t watch this video, you’re crazy. I know it’s 11 minutes long, but it is sooo worth it.
My interest in the 1950’s era Lockheed U-2 spy plane has been enhanced by my recent podcast interview with Jill Rutan Hoffman. Her husband Lars Hoffman is a Colonel in the Air Force and has a lot of experience flying this unique, ultra high altitude aircraft. That doesn’t mean he’s an old and crusty guy tho because the U-2 is still a totally operational aircraft to this day… well over 50 years after the first U-2 flew! They’ve even updated the cockpit in the last 8 years to all glass with a range of additional upgrades that improve capability while also reducing pilot workload.
The current plan is for the airplane to remain operational til at least 2014. As was mentioned in the podcast with Jill, I might get the chance to do an interview with Lars before long on what it’s like flying the Dragon Lady. Hopefully that comes together as it will be very interesting to better understand, from the pilot’s perspective, the challenges that go with flying 15 miles high.
This video is a segment from the program James May on the Moon that aired last year on BBC. You might already know that James May is one of the guys from the crazy-cool car show Top Gear. I didn’t know anything about this special program that looks back at the moon landings 40 years later, so this awesome segment was all a surprise to me. This is the part of the program where James goes for a ride in a two-seat U-2.
I actually found the link to the video this morning on Jill’s twitter page (@LookingSkyward) and thought that it might be interesting to watch since I had this increased interest in the U-2. OMGosh… it’s way more than interesting! I realize it might not touch you the way it did me, but watching this was a very powerful experience. The view of earth from 70,000+ feet, at the edge of space, isn’t just beautiful and awesome - it has the ability to change you. You are so far removed from the tiny, meaningless details of everyday life and so thoroughly confronted with thoughts of what it means to exist. It can boggle the mind and challenge the heart.
I know it’s not just me that feels it, as it’s clear that the ride had a real impact on James to be sure. I chose this version of the video on YouTube because it includes the very Top Gear-like intro which I think adds to the experience. It ends as James is exiting the airplane, but stops just before he says some very powerful words that can be found in the last 30 seconds on the versions that don’t include the cool intro… he says, as he’s walking down the portable stairway, “it’s just incredible… if everybody could do that once, you’d completely change the face of global politics... religion... education. Everything.”
This amazing video of a U-2 ride is truly a fabulous experience, and I hope it touches you in some special way. It moves me to add this line from the poem High flight:
The winning caption for this extremely odd circular wing thingy (apparently from Belarus) was submitted by 'Tony' - great job! You're now officially on the AirPigz funny money list - hopefully that will really mean something some day : )
I did a little research but couldn't find any info to confirm if this thing actually flew. If anyones knows more about it, I think we'd all be interested to know.
Watch for a new wacky pic for contesting captions coming next Monday morning!
Sometimes we think we're pretty hot pilots... or that maybe we've seen (or maybe even flown) the ultimate flying machine, but I've felt for years that the birds God has created make even the best of man and machine look like rookies. Have you ever really thought thru what it takes for even a common everyday bird to land on a swaying tree branch when the winds are gusting to 30mph? The mastery of aerodynamics and the processing power required are nothing short of a miracle!
This video from the BBC goes way beyond your common everyday birds for sure. Absolutely awesome images from a camera mounted on the back of a Peregrine Falcon and a Goshawk that give you a bird's eye view of some very extreme flying. All I can say is: Wow!
Jill Rutan Hoffman's dad is test pilot Dick Rutan, her uncle is aircraft designer Burt Rutan, and her husband Lars Hoffman is an Air Force Colonel with lots of experience in the U-2 spy plane... Jill is very well connected to the world of aviation! In this interview, we talk a lot about her recent book, 'First Flights' - available at Amazon, and how all of the proceeds from it go to scholarships to send young people to aviation or space camps. We also talk briefly about her first book ‘Oshkosh Memories’ - also available at Amazon.
It’s a fun interview that also looks at what it was like for Jill ‘growing up Rutan’.We talk some about the early days of the Rutan brothers work with experimental aircraft, including the world record setting Voyager from the 80’s, which began like many other great projects… as a napkin drawing at a small restaurant! There’s also a little talk about the current space project that Burt has been working on, including an interesting behind-the-scenes detail about the beginning of it all.
In the intro before the interview, I explain a little about why AirPigz was on hold thru the fall, and how things are going now that the site has been rebuilt and re-launched on the squarespace.com platform.
I also give a quick update on the building of my updated Volksplane experimental airplane that I call Project VP. If you’re interested in supporting the project by buying a special PVP t-shirt, check out the recent post ’Project VP Hibernation To End Soon’.
And, I should have another podcast out real soon : )
Just like the wing on this odd airplane, the caption contest just keeps on going and going : )
That means it's time for you to come up with some wild and wacky captions to see if you can get in on winning some of that (still mythical) $20 in AirPigz funny money. It should be pretty fun to see what y'all come up with on this one!
You’ve got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EST to submit captions, then I’ll pick the 5 best captions and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on.
The Rules:
1) Max of 3 submissions per person
2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area
3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EST
4) Keep it clean!
Anyone who wants to cast their vote will be able to after the poll goes up around an hour after the 9pm Wednesday submission deadline.
We'll vote for 24 hours, til 9pm EST on Thursday. Then (unless we have to have another tie-breaker!) the winner will be posted Friday morning 1-29-10. Have fun!
Lynda from @GirlsWithWings is really starting to find the sweet spot in Caption Contest writing... she's won 2 of the last 3! It's hard to tell tho if that comes from having a sharp and clever wit, or if she simply has too much time on her hands. Just kidding! Great job Lynda : )
More fun and crazy Caption Contesting will rise from the deep on Monday Morning - don't miss it!
The guy with YouTube channel Rotormast has been working to master building and flying a scale RC V-22 Osprey. You can see in this 6:51 video he's pretty well got it conquered! It's extremely stable and controlled, even in hover, and twice in this video (all in one flight) he transitions to full flight and back. Looks like a pretty stunning accomplishment to me. Bravo(!) man for sticking with it and succeeding... and thanx for letting us see it!
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:07AM 
