Video: The Hostile World Of F-18's On A Carrier's 'Pitching Deck' (Must See)

 This 20 minute video from the 2008 PBS series 'Carrier' is about the most must see video I've ever experienced. Maybe you saw the series, but I never did... and this segment, that chronicles the extreme hazards of flying off an aircraft carrier's 'pitching deck' (due to the swelling seas) in both day and night operations, is simply incredible.

Screenshot: F-18's launch and land on a wild 'pitching deck'

 I'm sure you're like me and have huge respect for the people who live and work on aircraft carriers, especially the pilots... but your respect for these pilots after seeing this video will be off-the-scale. Truly amazing.

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My First Landing At Oshkosh Was In A Citabria In 1974... At Age 13 (8 Pix)

Here was the Oshkosh 74 campsite with the Citabria in the North 40

3-seat Citabria?

 With OSH14 being just weeks away now, I got to thinking about the first time I made a landing at Oshkosh. I guess I dream about the past since once again I won't be flying into Oshkosh... it'll all be ground-bound again this time around. Nothing wrong with driving in, but of course it's always better to be able to fly in. While things are indeed better for me now than most of the last 5 years, I still seem to have crazy strong headwinds in my life. No matter what direction I go, strong winds are on my nose. It gets tiring, the fuel burn is high, and the ground covered is greatly reduced. Oh well, this is my life.

 Back to that first OSH landing. It was Oshkosh 1974, I was just 13 years old, and I made a nice wheel landing on runway 27. If I remember correctly there was a little light rain at the time, and I know the tail was riding just a little lower than on most of my wheel landings. More on that in a minute. I was in the front seat of our still-smells-new 7KCAB Citabria, which we had picked up at the Bellanca factory in northwest Wisconsin earlier in the year. My dad had taught me early on to fly the Citabria out of the Elgin Illinois airport. The north/south runway there was very narrow and there always seemed to be a crosswind. And I learned in the winter. It was a perfect place to learn to fly a taildragger! By Oshkosh time, still 13, I was quite proficient with the airplane and felt comfortable flying it in various conditions.

 This trip to Oshkosh was a bit unusual. My dad was in the back seat for our flight from Elgin to Oshkosh, which was about an hour and a half long. But today, he was really in the middle seat. My dad had a habit of bending rules whenever it suited him, and for this trip, our Citabria was a 3-seater. My sorta girlfriend/neighbor Cindy, who was also 13, was riding in the baggage compartment along with a small tent and some basic Oshkosh supplies. I think we were still within the CG limits since she was probably only about 80 pounds, but I'm guessing the lack of a seat and seatbelt made this trip a little on the outside of the FAR's.

 Me at 13 with my sorta girlfriend/neighbor (Cindy) in the donut tent at Oshkosh 1974

 Since we had left Elgin with quite a bit of fuel onboard, and with Cindy in the baggage compartment, the airplane definitely was heavier on the tail. If I had been really thinking I would have added 5 mph to the approach speed to compensate, but I didn't. No worries tho, the tail was just a little low as I squeaked the mains on the nice big and very wide runway 27 at Oshkosh.

 I should probably mention that the view from the baggage area in a Citabria is fantastic. The large rear windows extend all the way to the back so Cindy had a great view for the ride. However, the trip back home a few days later was pretty bumpy and she wound up tossing her cookies. It wasn't a big mess tho and we continued on with her feeling better after the upchucking. She was a great friend back in those days and a real trooper for being willing to sit in the back seat of our 3-seat Citabria!

 Below are more pix I found from that Oshkosh 74 trip. There's some pretty cool stuff to see. And of course by now you should now that OSH14 will be the best Oshkosh ever... because the best Oshkosh ever is the one you are at right now! (previous best OSH ever posts: OSH09 / OSH10 / OSH11 / OSH12 / OSH13)

Oshkosh 1974 the day we arrived when I made my first landing at Wittman Field

First year for the War Aircraft Replicas (W.A.R.) and the VW powered FW190

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CoolPix: Precious Metal Shines In A Perfect Blue Sky - Reno 2013 Gold Race

(click pic for hi-res)  Thom Richard and Precious Metal in the Gold race at Reno 2013

 I'm a big fan of Thom Richard and his Griffon powered mixmaster P-51 Precious Metal because he's got a team moving forward making great progress on getter faster every year... and because he's a really nice guy. Follow Thom on facebook and also the Precious Metal Air Racing Fan page on facebook.

 I had the chance to prep up some hi-res pix for him to possibly use and in the process found this one from the Gold race at last year's Reno Air Races and realized I'd never done anything with it. So I prepped it up this morning for him, and I'm sharing it with you as a CoolPix. Enjoy!

Reno Air Races

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Poll: Is The Northrop T-38 Talon One Of The Most Beautiful Airplanes Ever Built?

Can't get much better... T-38 in Thunderbirds paint! (photo: unknown)

 There are some creations of mankind that are so far ahead of their time, and so perfect in their design that it's hard to believe they are the work of mere mortals. The Northrop T-38, first flown in 1959, is one of them. 1959? Really? It still looks so awesome that you could totally believe is was something fresh for 2015 from the sharpest designers in the world.

The T-38 has been a valuable asset to NASA... and a fun toy too!   (photo: NASA) 

 So you can tell where I stand on the T-38, it's about as close to avgeek perfect as we get. But I wondered if you agree with me, so I put this poll together to see what your thoughts are. Often I find that about 70% of you agree with my line of thinking, but I'm pretty sure the numbers will be much higher this time around : )

Lean, mean, supersonic machine... the Northrop T-38 Talon  (photo: Air Force)

 So, what do YOU think? Is the Northrop T-38 Talon one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built?

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Videos: Boeing Goes Public With 7 Pax 'Space Station Taxi'... The CST-100

 I admit that I don't follow modern manned-spacecraft development very closely, and you can tell because I didn't even realize Boeing was developing a 7 seat spacecraft to serve as a low Earth orbit taxi!

 This video released yesterday gives a nice overview of the CST-100 project... and the one I found below shows a capsule drop-test from an Air-Crane where systems like the very critical parachute system and the air bag cushioning system used for terra firma landings were put to the test.

Video screenshot: Boeing CST-100 manned spacecraft capsule recovery drop test

 If I understand the information correctly, these drop tests actually took place in 2012, and they appear to have been very successful. The CST-100 is part of the NASA Commercial Crew Development program which is investing money in various projects from several manufacturers, and it shows that at the very least America is headed the right direction in having some form of successor to the Space Shuttle for getting our people up into space and back. Looks like I need to be paying more attention to what's going on!

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Video: Hey, The Harrier Jump Jet Don't Need No Stinkin' Nose Gear!

 This recently released video shows the details behind a unique vertical landing conducted earlier in the month by U.S. Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney in an AV-8B Harrier II aboard the USS Bataan. Turns out when your Harrier nose gear won't extend - there's and app for that! They've got a stool designed to catch the aircraft nose, and as is seen in the video it works great. Capt. Mahoney explains that he never saw the stool at any time during the approach which certainly makes it an exciting event not knowing if it's really there and if you've got the aircraft, for certain, in the correct position.

USMC Capt. William Mahoney landing an AV-8B Harrier II without a nose gear

 I'm not sure how much damage would have been incurred even without the cradle since it appears that it would have made contact in pretty much the same spot on the fuselage without it, and with no additional damage to the area behind the engine intake. Regardless tho, the stool seems to have insured no damage, and put the aircraft in a position where work to get the nose gear down could be fairly easily accomplished. Job well done all the way around!

The USS Bataan in 2003 with a full compliment of AV-8B Harrier II jump jets

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Video: Fascinating Historical Account Of The 1965 Reno Air Races (Progress In The Air)

 This recently uploaded gem of a video is an old-school professionally produced film that chronicled the wide variety of aviation related activities taking place during the 1965 Reno Air Races. It's 21 minutes long but very well worth your time if you have any interest in the era that defined so much of what modern aviation is all about today.

A young Bob Hoover talks about how the 23 year old P-51 design still flies beautifully

 National air racing had just returned the year before in 1964 when the first Reno Air Races took place at the Sky Ranch airport just north of Sparks Nevada. Bill Stead was the driving force behind the rebirth of national air racing and it's great to see him in this video.

 Lots of dirt and a short runway were pretty much all they had, but the event included aerobatics, parachuting, hot air ballooning, the US Air Force Thunderbirds in the F-100D Super Sabre, and of course various classes of air racing. Those first two years of the Reno Air Races were an amazing celebration of a love for flight no matter the machine used to accomplish it.

Before the Red Devils, before the Eagles Aerobatic Team... a young Charlie Hillard

 I was fortunate as a young kid to experience Reno from 1967 thru 1970, and much of what is seen at the Sky Ranch in this video reminds me of the early years at Stead Airfield. It's interesting to note several things about the Stead name as it relates to these early Reno years. Bill Stead, a late 1950's world speed boat champion, pulled the first two events together after retiring from boats and moving on to racing airplanes. The location for these first two years was the Sky Ranch, but the airport was barely up to the task of handling the larger aircraft. Tragically, Bill Stead was killed a short time later in 1966 in a Florida crash of his midget racer in preparation for the St Petersburg races. The airplane was the newly acquired Deer Fly racer that had been the winner in the 1965 races at Sky ranch, as seen in the video.

A fascinating look at the early days of the modern hot air balloon movement

 For 1966, the National Air Races moved from Sky Ranch to what had been Stead Air Force base, named in honor of Bill Stead's brother Croston Stead who had been killed in a P-51 training accident at the base in 1951. When the base was deactivated in 1966 and turned over to the city of Reno, it was renamed Stead Airfield. Today it's known as Reno Stead Airport. The excellent facilities of Reno Stead have served the races well for nearly all of the 50 year history of the modern National Championship Air Races, known simply as the Reno Air Races... and the memory of two Reno brothers lives on.

Mira Slovak trying to win again, but Darryl Greenamyer started his win streak instead

This is definitely a must see video if you're interested in sport aviation history!

The Thunderbirds after replacing the short run F-105's with the F-100D Super Sabre

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Hot Air Balloons... Are Hot! (4 CoolPix Of Fire)

(click pic for hi-res) My son-in-law's balloon during the Saturday evening 'glow'

 This last Friday thru Sunday I went with my son-in-law Mitch as part of his High Life Ballooning crew to Huntington Indiana for the balloon festival that's part of their Heritage Days. The plan was to fly Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening, and then finish with another flight Sunday morning. There was also a planned 'glow' for after dark on Saturday night. Unfortunately the weather wound up being just barely unacceptable and the only thing we accomplished was taking part in the glow with 12 other balloons on Saturday night.

(click pic for hi-res)  It's hard to beat beautiful colors and a big blast of fire!

 A balloon glow is a beautiful thing to see, and it's just as beautiful to participate in, but since you never really leave the ground it still takes second place to actually going flying. Regardless, for the sake of the festival and the local community, I'm really glad the weather was more than acceptable for the glow to take place. An added bonus of a being right there in the thick of the glow is taking pictures of the fire coming out of the burners... and since there's a pyromaniac living inside me, I get a lot pleasure out of the experience : )

(click pic for hi-res) Yep, it gets kinda hot when you're helping a balloon fill with hot air!

 As it turned out, two local pilots did fly on Saturday evening with their commercially sponsored balloons, but all the other pilots elected to stay on the ground since the weather was a tad uncertain and they weren't familiar with the local surroundings and landing sites. I was able to get some pix as these two balloons inflated and it's no surprise that my focus was on catching the fire.

(click pic for hi-res) Millions of BTU's get the envelope off the ground pretty quickly!

 All things considered it was a great weekend even tho we didn't get Mitch's balloon off the ground. With two official training flights in the last 5 weeks in my logbook now, I'm on the way to attempting to get my balloon rating this summer... and the truth is, even if we don't get off the ground, I'm happy anytime I get to be around a couple hundred pounds of beautiful fabric, some wicker, and lots and lots of fire!

check out over 160 posts in the AirPigz CoolPix category

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CoolPix: What A View Looking Up At The 434th ARW KC-135 From The 445th AW C-17!

(click pic for hi-res) My view from the cockpit of the C-17 as we took on 20,000 pounds

 I had a perfect day riding along in a C-17 Globemaster III from the 445th AW out of Wright-Patterson AFB as it was refueled by my Indiana friends in a KC-135 from the 434th ARW based at Grissom ARB. Both aircraft departed WPAFB before noon today and then we met up over Kentucky to pump some petrol. YeeHaw! It was aswesome!

 The KC-135 would normally have been operating out of Grissom in north central Indiana but runway work there has the 434th temporarily flying out of Wright-Patterson in Dayton Ohio. This presented the unique opportunity to have both aircraft carrying about 8 media representatives each. Typically only aircraft at a time would have guests like this onboard. It was an incredible opportunity to see Air Force reserve personnel at work... and just like back in 2010 when I rode in a 434th KC-135, everyone today represented the United States and the Air Force at the highest level of professionalism and performance. I am very impressed! 

 I captured lots of images and quite a bit of video on the 3-hour flight but I only have the energy tonight to share this one great CoolPix image. Each of us on the flight had several opportunities to view the refueling action from inside the C-17 cockpit, which is quite roomy actually, and this pic is from the eyebrow window above the left seat. The boom extends back over the cockpit to the refueling receptacle which puts us very close to the KC-135! That sight looking up is, as you should imagine, totally stunning.

 I hope you enjoy this pic (remember to click it to open it up, and then click the image again to make it even bigger) and then watch in a week or so as I put together a lengthy and detailed post about being right there for the inflight refueling exercise.

 A huge Thank You to everyone involved for allowing us to come along and see such excellent work in progress!

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Wednesday, This Pig's Gonna Ride A Thirsty Globemaster !!! (Check Out This C-17 Video)

 Wednesday morning June 18, 2014 I'm scheduled to be onboard a C-17 departing from Wright-Patterson AFB on a training mission that will include inflight refueling with a KC-135 from the 434th Air Refueling Wing based at Grissom ARB in northern Indiana. This trip is operating out of WPAFB because the 434th has temporarily relocated there while the runway at Grissom is getting some repairs.

Video screenshot: this USAF video shows a C-17 flying over northern California

 I was fortunate to ride in a KC-135 from the 434th on a B-52 refueling mission back in 2010, and once again I've been blessed with the opportunity to watch the Air Force at work from inside one of their fabulous flying machines. I must admit I'm very excited to see what a ride in a C-17 is like! You might wanna check out the 56 pix and info from the 2010 KC-135 ride and then expect to see a similar post on the C-17 ride in a week or so.

Video screenshot: front view of a C-17 over the California coast

 The video above and these screenshots are a USAF video of a Globemaster III operating out of Travis AFB in California. There's no audio but it's full of really great views of this impressive aircraft. The sweeping view from behind that starts at 2:17 is awesome! It's fascinating in that view to see how much spoiler there is on the wing that's used for roll control... and I'm gonna have to ask someone tomorrow if that's really one small spoiler on the right wing deploying when the hard roll left is in progress. Interesting.

Video screenshot: sweeping view from behind is a must see part of the video above!

  I doubt I'll have the chance to get any pix that are as impressive as the nearly directly overhead view of the B-52 from that KC-135 flight, but I do expect to be able to capture the general awesomeness of what it looks like when the crew tucks our C-17 right up under the hiney of the KC-135.

 A big Thank You goes out to the Public Affairs Department at Grissom Air Reserve Base for the invite to watch the 434th ARW in action. YeeHaw!

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