Monday, September 12, 2011 at 10:45PM This video is fantastic - watch it now!
(fullscreen mode is best - click lower button, second from the right - enjoy!)
MustSee, Oshkosh, P-51, WWII, airshow, historical, military Email Article Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 09:00AM 
I think there are more crazy pix from way back in the day of helicopters than anything else... and I've used quite a few of them in caption contests: (here, here, here, here, and here) - rotorheads and the people who design and build helos are just a little different breed!
This week's winner was 'Alan' with the wife-on-the-phone caption. Congrats for coming out on top! And of course thanx to everyone for playing along.
Next week I'll be at the Reno Air Races so there probably won't be any caption contest, but there's gonna be some awesome fastest-motorsport-in-the-world coverage - don't miss it!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 07:24PM 
(15 pix - click pic to enlarge)
My wife and I recently made a short and fast road trip from Indiana to Charlotte North Carolina to visit our daughter and her husband. We traveled on Friday and Monday, so we had just the weekend to visit. Fortunately we packed quite a bit into those two days, including a hot air balloon ride for me (son-in-law runs High Life Ballooning - ride post coming soon), and a stop at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte to see the Miracle on the Hudson, the US Airways Airbus A320 made famous by Sully Sullenberger and crew. As it turns out, the crew was based in Charlotte, the airplane was headed there when they ingested the geese that shut down both engines, and over 100 of the 150 passengers were from Charlotte. Charlotte seems the perfect place for the airplane to be on display.
The successful ditching of the aircraft in the Hudson River not only kept everyone on board alive, but it really captured the attention of the nation. Being able to see the airframe in person and imagine what the experience was like for those involved was very cool. The display currently has just the fuselage, but plans include re-attaching the wings to bring the airplane back to pretty much the condition it was in right after the water landing. The exhibit is planned to be officially opened on January 15, 2012 - exactly three years after the incident.
The largish A320 has replaced a lot of the aircraft that were on display inside the Carolinas Aviation Museum. Hopefully they'll be able to enlarge the facility at some point in the future to make room for a lot more of the other aircraft. They do have many interesting aircraft still on display, including the beautiful Piedmont DC-3, you just don't see much of them in these pictures.
As you can see in the first pic above, they have a small seating area with a continuous presentation of the ditching event. It's important to remember that this is really just a temporary display as work is being carried out preparing the airframe for a more complete and thorough presentation. There's no doubt tho, even in this temporary configuration, seeing the Miracle on the Hudson aircraft in person is a great experience - I highly recommend it.
(click pic to enlarge)
It's no surprise that the wings had been cut off the airplane for both the initial transport as well as what would be the eventual trip to Charlotte. I immediately gravitated to the wing attach area because this was a great opportunity to see the design and engineering of this critical and complex area of the airframe. More pix on this farther down (on my second trip around)
(click pic to enlarge)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 10:48PM 
Click the pic to see it over at flickr - or click this link to see it there in its largest size
Strega: theseeminglyunbeatablesuperduperP-51flownbythesuperduperSteveHintonjr!
2011 Reno Air Races - September 14-18
(2010 QuickPic image from flickr.com/photos/99832812@N00 - more great pix over there!)
Monday, September 5, 2011 at 08:55AM 
You've probably got Labor Day off which means it should be easier than ever to come up with a fabulously funny caption to go with this unusual aircraft picture... best of all, the winner will snag a bacon sandwich at Oshkosh 2012!
You've actually got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EDT to submit your clever/funny/cool captions. Then, I’ll pick the best 5 and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on for all day Thursday and Friday so we can find the winner.
The Rules:
1) Max of 3 submissions per person
2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area
3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EDT
4) Keep it clean!
Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EDT Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 9-10-11. And, keep in mind that rotorheads are unusual people, please don't say anything to offend them :D
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 10:01PM
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 10:22PM My first thought is: don't try this at home... and my second thought is: man, that was beautifully executed! That's Billy Werth from Grayout Aerosports (Indianapolis) in the Pitts S2C and his brother David Werth doing the tail touch from the motorcycle. If you didn't know, Billy has been performing as the opposing solo in the Red Eagles performances at airshows this summer. He definitely knows what he's doing! And David has spent a lot of time on a motorcycle at high speed and close to a flying airplane. I'm guessing this trick is at least 12 and a half times harder than it appears!
If things go well, before too long I'll have my very own pilot report and video from spending some time upside down in N126BB with Billy... but I don't think we'll be flying quite that low!
Billy Werth in a Red Eagles promo pic (from the Red Eagles facebook page)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 10:54PM 
Recent test flight of the ungreened Precious Metal, the Griffon powered P-51 racer
(3 pix, all from Precious Metal pilot Thom Richard's facebook page)
The Unlimited racers for Reno 2011 (Sept 14-18) are lining up to make this an incredible year of racing. While I'm certainly no expert on all the aircraft that'll be racing, I have spent some time soaking up some info on several of the most notable... and the Rolls Royce Griffon powered mixmaster P-51 (with counter-rotating props) known as Precious Metal is certainly one of them. The airplane is now based at the Kissimmee Air Museum in Florida, where it can be seen when it's not at Reno. I had the pleasure of talking with PM's race pilot Thom Richard on the phone Wednesday about how progress is coming along for one of the most unique P-51 racers ever built. Here's some of what I found out.
On Wednesday 8-30-11, the PM team put two test flights on the airplane totalling about an hour of flight time. They were testing out a variety of mods to the airplane that they've been working on for a while (sorry, no specifics to share) and everything worked! That's a pretty critical test to pass with the races starting in about two weeks. You may know that PM has been around for quite a few years but it's never really lived up to the potential that's packed into the front end... and the dreams that Don Whittington had for the airplane. The new Precious Metal team is hoping that these mods they've been working on will move the airplane from being a fascinating and entertaining novelty at Reno to being a real contender in the fast pack along with Strega, Voodoo, Rare Bear and last year's new kid on the block: Galloping Ghost...
(click pic to enlarge) Precious Metal... highly modified P-51 looking pretty mean in flight
P-51, Racing, Reno, WWII, engine, taildragger Email Article Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 10:29PM 
Looking for a really hot ride? Buy 'Relentless' on eBay during the Reno Air Races!
Kevin Eldredge is brewing up a plan to auction off his incredible Nemesis NXT racer known as Relentless during the 2011 Reno Air Races: September 14-18. The airplane is now hanging a Lycoming 720 cubic inch (8 cylinder) engine off the nose... and that engine appears to be good for about 428 hp!
It'll take a starting bid of at least $100,000 to get in on the fun. You might wanna get your house and spare car sold asap so you've got a little extra cash on hand to keep up with the other bidders. You don't wanna lose your chance to own one of the coolest airplanes on the planet! I'll be sure to post the eBay link when it's available so you don't miss out : )
Nemesis, Racing, Reno, video Email Article Monday, August 29, 2011 at 07:56PM 
(click pic to enlarge) The Radial Rocket RG will race in the Sport Class at Reno 2011
I'm running behind getting some cool info up on some of the exciting racers planning to fly low - go fast - turn left at the 2011 Reno Air Races: September 14-18. One of the racers that has me drooling for the amazing sounds of the Russian M-14 radial is the all composite Radial Rocket RG. Now I don't expect the airplane to wind up with any trophies, but honestly I don't even care... just hearing this beast is gonna be worth the trip! Check out the short cell phone video below to get a really good feel for how the M-14 makes every flat engine from Lycoming or Continental sound like a loser : )
The reality is that the Sport class was won in 2010 by Jeff LaVelle in a Glasair III running a tic over 339 mph. The Radial Rocket RG posts a Vne of 280 mph. So, unless the guys from Kansas have gone hog wild making some serious airframe mods, the Rocket will be more entertainment than hardcore competitor. But for my money, I don't think anything else in the Sport Class will provide this awesome level of entertainment. I just love round engine airplanes that sit the pilot on the centerline! The only thing that could make the Radial Rocket RG any better would be a taildragger version. If you're up on your RR info you know that the fixed gear version is a taildragger but the RG is a trike. You can learn more about why in my extensive post of the RR from late last year.
If I had a box of gold buried in the backyard I'd be digging it up about now to buy me a Radial Rocket kit. Glasair's and Lancair's are really nice, but tandem seating and an affordable (and perfect sounding) M-14 on the nose get the nod from me every time.
More Reno preview info coming soon...
