Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 09:32PM 
All in all, the first ever AirPigz 'Caption Contest' went quite well... with several entries and no rules violations! The winner is Ryan Keough with the caption shown here. Nice work Ryan.
Looks like this game is a keeper. I'll think thru some extra details and try to set up a regular schedule for it too. Toss me an email if you have any thoughts or comments and thanx for playin'.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 12:54PM I originally found out about this video a couple months ago from Max Flight at the Thirty Thousand Feet website. It was a mighty awesome experience then, and still is today!
Looks like the perfect combo of 'peaceful' while also making the ole heart pound out loud too! I especially like the transition from the kinda bumpy take-off roll (with landing gear noises being transmitted into the fuselage structure) to the wind-noise only flight.
This vid is definitely worth the 3:58 investment of your time.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 09:16PM 
It's still day #1 here at AirPigz and here I am throwing out a whole new game for you! (if you haven't been following me on twitter, then you don't know we've been playin' games for quite a while now).
I haven't thought this game thru a lot yet, but I think it's gonna work out ok. Here's the deal: I've got a slightly wacked and hopefully very funny pic posted above, and you have 24 hours from the time stamp on the post to submit a winning caption.
As you would likely suspect, a winnning caption is gonna be clever and funny in the way that makes that one vein in your head hurt cuz you are laughing so hard!
The rules:
1) You've only got 24 hours.
2) No more than 3 submissions per person.
3) Make your submissions in the 'comments' section.
4) Keep it clean.
The winner will be picked and posted within an hour of the end of the game. Have fun my friends!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 03:24PM
If you tossed all the airplanes ever made into a really big bucket like popcorn and shook 'em up, there's only gonna be so many that work their way to the the top. Concorde is definitely one of them.
Few other aircraft have been able to stir such a wide range of people, and do so with such unanimous adoration. And while some might see Concorde's legacy tarnished by the crash in 2000, the truth is that this is an amazing aircraft that stands as a fabulous tribute to those who made her a reality.
For Americans, possibly our greatest opportunities with Concorde came at Oshkosh in 85, 88, 90, 94, and 98. Not only did Concorde's presence there give us by far the closest look at this exotic beauty, but for a few people it was a relatively affordable chance to actually get to go for a ride.
I was one of those fortunate few. I recently found an old VHS tape I'd made in the corner of the basement in a grocery bag, almost forgotten. Check out the vid for a unique look at one of the world's greatest aircraft.
A total of 20 Concordes were built, with 6 used for development and 14 put
into airline service... 7 for Air France and 7 like this one, for British Airways.
Bristish Airways G-BOAF showing many of the curves that make Concorde so beautiful.
Air France F-BVFA on display at the National Air & Space Museum campanion
facilty, the Uvdar-Hazy Center located near Washington Dulles in Virgina.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/
The video above is really just a home movie I made to have a record of the day I got to ride in a real SST. But it means even more to me now that I'm 20 years older, and especially because Concorde is now retired.
My experience tells me that no airplane electrified the air at Oshkosh like this one. No other airplane has offered the world so much capability while also being so full of grace and beauty. I suspect that no airplane will ever surpass the stunning collection of attributes that are found only in this intriguing collaboration between the British and the French.
If you're young or maybe just new to aviation, I hope you'll take some time to learn about the history of this earth-shrinking machine. There are so many stories that take you a lot deeper than 'that thing sure looks hot'.
And while many will argue that Concorde wasn't a financial success... all I can say is that I've yet to see real success ever be defined by dollar bills (or Pounds, Francs or Euros).
To learn more, a lot more, check out the links below. Go experience Concorde!
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/concordeChronology.html
Straight forward chronological history of Concorde
http://www.concordesst.com/home.html
All things Concorde - great site!
http://www.wingweb.co.uk/aircraft/SST_rise_and_fall.html
Nice overview of the SST concepts including Concorde
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/concorde/
PBS Nova explores Concorde + innovative aircraft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uW5sLug_0
Fabulous video tribute to the amazing Concorde
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 12:27PM 
In the beginning... three simple words that not only define where the Airpigz blogazine and podcast is at on this very day, but they're also the words that lead us right up to: 'God created the heavens and the earth.'
I've built AirPigz to be all about a passion for flight, for anything that gets us off the ground. But I also believe that the foundation of a desire to fly is that it gives us both a feeling of freedom and a fresh and special way to look at the earth... from above. Flying isn't just a different perspective, it's a whole new dimension.
For me, flying gives me the best view to see what God has created. There's a lot of talk about 'evolution' these days, but if Darwin was here to chat about our actual 'origins' while at Starbuck's sipping on a fancy coffee, he'd be the first to say that his research never came up with an answer for the question: 'where did life come from?'
Pretty fascinating that almost 150 years later, science honestly still has no idea where life came from. It's the biggest mystery we'll ever run thru our gray matter, and that's exactly why it's the mystery we need to be chasing.
Believing that the universe was 'created' by God doesn't mean you understand how it could be possible, but it does mean that life has purpose, design, and real meaning. You can't go shoot wheel landings in a taildragger on a grass runway and really come away thinking that life is meaningless. Somehow you can feel it, you know that life really does matter.
I sure don't have all the answers (none of us do) but the journey of my life, which has included a lot of great flight experiences, has lead me to the simple conclusion that God really is here.
Study this stunning earth pic up close and in Hi-Res!
http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/2429/globe_west_2048.jpg
Learn how the pic was put together and enhanced
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=2429
