The Land of Ozz

A Blue Angels F/A-18 jet crashed this afternoon in Beaufort, SC.  The Blue Angels have been participating in a two day air show at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station this weekend in conjunction with Low Country Blues Festival.

I am grieved to see a fellow aviator die.  Initial reports say that no one else was hurt.  This is a miracle given the fact that this jet went down in a residential neighborhood in Beaufort, SC.

It’s not like me to miss an air show in the local area.  My participation in the Charleston GFI Alumni Picnic had me busy today.  I took my son Riley to see the Blue Angels last spring at Charleston Air Force Base, but this is one show that I am thankful I did not take my son too see.  I would not want to explain to my Little Flying Ace what happened to this pilot and his plane.  Riley has enjoyed flying since his first flight at 11 months of age.  I got to experience one of my favorite moments as a dad that day.  I got to pilot the plane as my son took his first airplane ride.

Everywhere I turn I see blog posts with YouTube clips in them. I am not a big TV or video fan now, but I gave in and took a look at YouTube. I even created an account to see how difficult it would be to share videos. I posted one video from my trip to Alaska last fall. I got to fly a SuperCub and I took a little bit of video during part of the flight, when I was not flying the plane of course.

The YouTube experience is okay as a viewer. There’s a lot of weird stuff out there. On the other hand, my experience as a YouTube broadcaster was very pleasant. There are lots of options for how to show your video.

Here is a clip of my first YouTube video broadcast:

I was recently part of a VIP tour of the Charleston Air Force Base (CAFB). Tours like this are intended to inform community leaders with the hope that they will spread the word to the local community about the missions of the CAFB and the positive impact the base has on the local area and the country. This trip took our group through some of the logistics services that supply airmen with the gear they need for war. The gear has improved by leaps and bounds in the past twenty years. That’s how long it has been since I was issued some of the same gear. We saw a working dog demonstration that offered us a close up look at some of the members of the CAFB security services group and the dogs they are responsible for as handlers. These dogs and their handlers often help the local law enforcement officials with searched that pertain to public safety. We then took a trip over to the shop where the parachutes and pallets get packed. These rigs are used to train local C-17 crews for combat and humanitarian aid air drops. These folks have been known to drop tanks out of the back of these planes from 500 feet above the ground. They also drop supplies and troops when called to do so. We ended our tour out on the flight line where we got to take a close look at a C-17. A crew including a pilot, co-pilot, and loadmaster met us by the plane. This three man team is all that is “required” to put this bird in the air. The crew was very friendly and patient with our slow moving and very inquisitive group.

I didn’t get to fly the USAF C-17, but I did get to hang out with some of the top notch personnel from the CAFB who fly and support the missions of these awesome aircraft. This was my second time touring the CAFB with a VIP group. The last time I got to do this was a few months before my son Caden was born. The first tour afforded me a opportunity to fly the full motion Boeing C-17 simulator with an instructor sitting next to me talking me through the take-off and landing(s). The “s” is for all you pilot types and frequent flyers who understand what I mean by one take-off and many landings. The instructor said the plane would have survived my landing in the real world, but the passengers would not have been happy with me. We also got to tour some of the maintenance facilities last time. The last trip also gave us a tour of the dormitories. The standard amenities for the nicer rooms has not changed much since I was in the Air Force back in the 80s. There are just more dorms with the nicer stuff now.

Go to the offical site of the Charleston Air Force Base to learn more.

I have always said that I would be happy if I died at the controls of an airplane because I would be doing what I loved. I am not sure that Eric Beard ever said anything like that, but he did leave this world doing what he loved. He was not flying the famous RUSSIAN YAK 54 that he was best know for flying, but rather was hauling fright in a twin Piper in Washington State. There are some great links to stories about him and some links to stories about the crash on Russian Thunder.

It looks like the Blue Angels will be in the Lowcountry this spring. The Island Packet Online reports that the hot rod flying aces of the Navy and Marine Corps will strut their stuff in Charleston on April 8, 2006 and will pass up an invitation to visit the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, SC this year. Also noted in the article was an announcement that the Air Force Thunderbirds will perform at Shaw AFB in Sumter, SC just two weeks later on April 23, 2006. How cool would that be to see the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels in the same month? I might just have to give that a try this year.

A passenger blogs about his experiences as a passenger on Alaska Airlines flight 536. This is the Alaska Airlines flight that did an emergency landing last week after depressurizing at 30 thousand feet. He has been bombarded with comments on his story. The most interesting comments are showing Alaska Airlines IP addresses as the Internet location of the visitors. You can read more about this part of the story here.

Other interesting facts are that this passenger/blogger is a general aviation pilot and used his Treo 650 to take pictures during the emergency.

HangarFlying.net is a new web site devoted to the promotion of aviation by aviators and others who are interested in aviation. You will also find a forum where you can share experiences, ask questions, or answer questions posted by other forum members. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Update: I have contacted a few aviation bloggers to see if I can get some traffic into Hangar Flying. I hope this track into my friends over at OTA Weekend will help.

This is one of the most rewarding things about being both a dad and a pilot. I get to share my passion with my son. Check out the Big Brother Riley page for pictures and the story.

The month of October was perfect timing for me dust off my wings and take to the air again. My upcoming trip to Alaska was the perfect motivator for me to get back in the air. I hoped that my trip to Alaska would involve a small plane with me at the controls and my wish came true. I had to get brushed up on my skills before I left for Alaska.

I called up a flying friend who is an instructor and asked him if he would fly with me until I got polished up enough on my flying skills to keep from hurting anyone and anything. We spent a couple of hours in a Cessna doing the standard touch and go maneuvers as well as practicing everything from straight and level flight to stalls. It came back to me much faster than I thought it would.

I was put in contact with an experienced aviator in Fairbanks, AK by the name of Pete Haggland. Mr. Haggland was born and raised in Alaska and has been flying for most of his life. He is a certified flight instructor, president of EAA Chapter 1129 and he owns several aircraft. Mr. Haggland has a private air strip next to his house. He offered to take me up in his Super Cub if the weather cooperated while I was there. The weather did cooperate and I did get to go up in the Supper Cub. As a matter of fact, I got to log almost two hours of tail dragger time for the first time. I must say that while it was not the easy to land a tail dragger for the first time it was a load of fun. I am hooked and plan to get my tail wheel sign off in the near future.

We left the snow covered private strip next to Mr. Haggland’s house and flew down to Fairbanks International (FAI) to fuel the plane and do some practice landings on the hard surface where landing a tail dragger is a little less forgiving than on grass or snow. After fueling the plane I climbed into the front of the Super Cub. I felt like I was in paradise even though the temperature hand only climbed into the teens and I was wearing bunny boots, gloves, and a parka. I completed more than a half dozen three point landings with different flap settings. I then tried a couple of wheel landings. I must not have scared Mr. Haggland too much because he let me land back at his private strip which was covered with a few inches of fresh show.

I can not begin to tell you how much fun this was. This is still not number one on my list of Best Days of Flying, but it definitely ranks up there pretty high.