Quite a while ago I posted about N733HF, the Cessna 172 I piloted on my first solo flight. Well, I got a comment today that a Rio Ranchonite purchased N733HF and has recently refitted it with a newer engine, which is good because as I remember, it was awfully underpowerd—even...
I got to see a B-17 fly overhead in Kirkland today. I [heart] this city....
This is another cameraphone picture of the Boeing 747 LCF. I took this picture because I didn't think I had a shot of the LCF flying overhead. I realize now that I'm a huge dork and already posted about it. And note that I'm really surprised that this picture came...
I can't articulate why, exactly, but I've always loved the PBY Catalina, a flying boat built in the years leading up to WWII. It's ugly and slow, but it's also amphibious and looks like a hell of a good time. Functional Catalinas are assuredly multi-million-dollar machines. Odds are really good...
I can't recall exactly where I heard the above quote, but it's been used to describe the Boeing 747 LCF, an enlarged plane used to haul the composite fuselage sections of the 787. Although you can't really tell from this photograph, a 747 LCF overflew our townhouse a few days...
Freakin' sweet. Courtesy of English Russia....
Pardon my YouTube. The short version: some yahoo in his Cessna Citation jet tries to land at an airport that's closed to jet traffic. And that's not even the dumbest thing he did that day. It's a long video, but gets really good around the 0:30 and 2:15 marks. For...
That's right—this Boeing B-1B Lancer landed with its gear retracted. More after the jump....
Mouser posted a while back about two Beechcraft Bonanzas landing on top of one another out at Los Alamos airport. Today, I ran across the most fantastic "oops" list, which has three more pictures of small aircraft in compromising positions. Now, the landing in Los Alamos was somewhat unique in...
Absolutely, positively mute your speakers before you start this clip. And then marvel in the sideways nuttiness. I particularly like the 747 landings—they had to be built with castering main wheels because the low-hanging outside engines precluded the extreme bank angles needed to land straight in severe crosswinds. Most of...
Federal officials on Friday wound up an onsite investigation of a Wednesday's crash that killed Lidle and Tyler Stanger, a 26-year-old [driving] instructor from California. The FAA said a review of operations and procedures in the East River corridor prompted the rule change, which will require [drivers] of small [automobiles]...
Keeping in line with the ... exciting elevator post from last night, I'm going to talk today about fasteners. I spotted these on the wing of the Airbus A319 which was flying us from Tucson to Denver on Friday. They're tri-bladed screw things, and I've got no idea why they're...
The traditional way to land a plane is with the nose waaay up in the air. The idea is that you're moving slowest when you're approaching the runway with a hefty angle of attack, and you plant most of the plane's weight down on the big main landing gear, which...
Layla and I each get the same amount of vacation—three weeks a year, earned like pay alongside the rest of the digits in our paychecks. Due to a few extra trips here and there, however, she's used more of it than I have. So in order to catch back up,...
Does anyone out there have any recommendations for a good textbook set to getting a Private license and an IFR? I've been using the Cessna Pilot Center "textbook" + video-on-CD course material (pictured at right) but the textbook leaves a lot of stuff out and the videos are great at...
I've been back up in the air twice (and out to the airport thrice) but I'm already struck by how damned long it takes to get from the work or house all the way out to Crest Airpark. Crest is way far south—it's almost all the way down in Auburn,...
For the first time ... ever, I'm flying planes near sea level. In the cold, and in the drizzle. So things are a bit different here. Here's a list of the things I noticed today, during my first flight out at Crest Airpark.Check the weather reports. For the first time...
After a three-year hiatus, I'm going to get back in the air to finish my private pilot's license. I've finally unblocked the only issue that was holding me back before (i.e., money) and now it's my chance to finish up what I started. I've wanted to get my license since...
There's not a lot in common between Aikido, flying, and auto racing. The setting is different, the people are different, and the philosophies behind each are very different. It takes a different attitude to succeed in each, and each results in a markedly different understanding of the way the art...
I snapped a shot of this at around 8am Monday in Albuquerque. Of the 34 flights shown here departing the Albuquerque Sunport from the "A" set of gates (which is ... half of them) a whopping 29 are Southwest flights. Part of the reason here is that Southwest doesn't consolidate...
Earlier, I promised to post pictures of the Boeing assembly facility in Everett. Let's get to it. Big doors on the Boeing assembly plant. You can see here three of the bigass doors on the side of the assembly plant. I think these three are for the 747, although I'm...
For Valentine's Day Layla got tickets for the factory tour over at the Boeing plant in Everett. It turns out that Everett—much like a number of other cities in Washington which aren't Seattle—happens to look an awful lot like Roswell, New Mexico. Eerie. Back to the point: the Boeing plant...
Since I've had a long day and am tired (and am filled with filet mignon—another story), I'll keep this short. For Valentine's Day Layla got us tickets to go on the Future of Flight tour at the Boeing factory near town here. Hot. I'm not quite sure what to expect...
One of the highlights of the summer I spent working in Washington D.C. was my close proximity to the National Air & Space Museum. Over the fourteen-odd weeks I spent out there, I suspect that I made it out to the museum for at least a half-dozen day-long trips on...
Taildraggers are a class of aircraft which are largely ignored in contemporary aviation. As the name implies, taildraggers rest their tails on the ground on a small wheel (or, in extreme cases, a skid) and prop themselves up primarily with two main wheels—in contrast to nearly every other land-going plane...
I wanted to post this because I just talked about my history in flight and didn't mention the plane in which I first solo'd. Since the company I flew with no longer lists the plane on their aircraft for rent page, I figured I'd mention it here so it isn't...
I started flying when I was, well, 10 years old—or thereabouts. I only went on two flights around that time, but second only to my first solo flight, they were the most memorable I've ever had. The first one was on a red-and-white 1970s-something Cessna 172. I actually have a...
More aero fun. Can you tell what's wrong with this 747? Besides the fact that it's decorated like a Saint Patrick's Day float? Well, it's got five engines. Sortof. It turns out that 747s are equipped from the factory to support a fifth, but disabled, engine under the port wing...
Back on my plane kick, I'd like to relate how I nearly shit myself flying on the CRJ-70. Here it is. Sweet little plane, actually. It seats four across (three in first class—I got the single) and what seemed like 12 or 15 rows. My flight involved the quietest takeoff...
I just spotted a Boeing 777. These planes are big. Unbelievably big. So big that if you really know how big a 777 was, your brain would try to suffocate itself. Sorry. I saw the HGTTG movie recently. Back to the topic at hand. Anyway, the B777. The interesting thing...
Airbus just completed the maiden flight of the A380 superjumbo. Sweet. I don't think that the A380 is interesting because it's a full double-decker jumbo jet—this is the sort of thing which pops up from time to time and from a technology standpoint, it's simply not all that unique. In...
More pictures! I figured I'd post this too, because it's one of the sweetest airplanes I've ever flown. It's the Diamond Katana, and it's essentially a glider that's been converted into a plane. Actually, that's a lie—motor gliders are gliders with engines, whereas the Katana is an airplane that's been...
...because I couldn't think of a good title. So my attention has strayed back into flying again, because I can't seem to concentrate on one given thing for more than an hour or so. Really, though, you should see the stacks of different projects I've got. I'll be wandering back...
