Great Performances at the Chicago Air and Water Show

I had a great day of aviation fun on Saturday. As I described in the previous post I got up early and went flying on Saturday morning. I made sure to return from the skies in time to get downtown for the 11am start of the 49th Annual Chicago Air & Water Show. We arrived right as the U.S. Army Golden Knights were delivering the American Flag to the lakefront to kick-off the event.

The air show was well organized to break up military and civilian acts through-out the day. There were several highlights to the day. Probably the neatest individual demonstration was that of the F-22 Raptor. I had seen this fighter at last year's air show but it simply performed a few brief passes and did not show-off its amazing capabilities. On Saturday during a full demonstration the crowd got a chance to see why this is the most advanced aircraft in the United States Air Force. I was absolutely amazed by its maneuverability.

Sean Tucker, as usual provided a great flying demonstration. During his performance they broadcast his voice over the public address system where you can clearly here his enthusiasm for flying. What was wonderful was later in the day when he came to show center and shook hands with fans. He took time to talk to some kids about aviation and give each a hat. It surely made the kids day and maybe the combination of the event and meeting Sean Tucker will inspire some of them to become pilots. I too, enjoyed getting a chance to thank Sean for the great show he put on for Chicago.

I also really enjoyed the precision flying of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. They roared through the city showing off great teamwork flying at times within a few feet of each other. They gave a performance worth of the U.S. Air Force's 60th Anniversary celebration.

For Sunday's show I was scheduled to fly along with the U.S. Army Golden Knights in their C-31 for their afternoon jump. Unfortunately, low ceilings and poor visibility caused officials to cancel the show midway through the afternoon so our flight was scrubbed. Although, I did not get to fly with them I did enjoy spending 30 minutes touring their plane and talking to two members of the Golden Knights. I can tell you that they really love their jobs.

Photos that I took from this weekend’s events can be found on Flickr. Here is hoping for two rain free days for next year’s 50th Annual Air and Water Show!

Flying Around the Pattern

I headed out to Chicagoland Executive Airport early this morning to get a flight in before heading back to the city for the 49th Annual Chicago Air & Water Show. It was a nice cool morning with a threat of storms, but after a call to the Flight Service Station I was confident I could get in a flight before storms would arrive.

I spent the entire day in the pattern working on my towered field radio calls and more importantly my landings. During the day I worked on a variety of different scenarios including simulated turf takeoffs and short field takeoffs and landings. A few months back I had been disappointed with my landings but as of late I am feeling like I am back in a groove. As any instructor will tell you it is really about the preparation. As long as I fly a nice stable approach it makes greasing a nice landing so much easier.

It was a very enjoyable flight and I enjoyed sharing the patter with a variety of aircraft including jets and prop planes. All in all I fit in seven takeoffs and landings and logged another 1.7 hours today. I will next get a chance to go flying next Saturday afternoon. Although, flying would have been enough to fill my aviation addict today I also enjoyed taking in the 49th Annual Chicago Air & Water Show which was amazing despite periodic rain. I will write more on the Air Show after tomorrow’s show.

49th Chicago Air & Water Show

It is that time of year again in Chicago where the skies rumble for the return of the Chicago Air & Water Show. This year is the 49th year of the free event that is expected to draw nearly 2.5 million people making it the largest two-day spectator event in the United States. A great line-up of military and civilian aircraft will be participating in this years event.

This is the third year that I have been invited down to the media day at the Gary Jet Center at the Gary International Airport. In 2005 I had my first air show flying experience flying with Lima Lima. Last year I had a fun flight with Aeroshell Aerobatic Team. This year I was lined up to fly with the Red Baron Pizza Squadron in one of their Stearman bi-planes. I had flown in a Waco bi-plan before but was looking forward to getting inverted in the Stearman. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards as the cloud cover and haze did not give a high enough ceiling for acrobatics.

Instead we flew in formation out over Lake Michigan and did a few steep turns. The most exciting part of the flight was when we returned to the airport to land and my pilot made a steep diving turn towards the runway and the wind really blew through my hair and I could feel the joint pull of the strong Stearman engine and gravity, I could imagine how much fun doing acrobatics in an open cockpit plane must be. I might have to try again with them next year.

About an hour later there was an opening in the back seat of one of the T-34s flown by the Lima Lima Flight Team so I jumped at the opportunity to get back in the air with Lima Lima. They are a really nice group of men that love flying and demonstrating precision flying. The ceiling was a little better and we got to do some fun performing Wifferdills and Pop-Top Breaks.

Shortly after returning from this flight the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds arrived from their survey flight over the Chicago. I enjoyed watching them land and taxi in. I had the opportunity to talk to the two female pilots in the team for an article I posted on Chicagoist.com. My photos from the day are available on Flickr

As for this weekend I am hoping the weather holds out and we get two rain free days with unrestricted visibility and high ceilings. I enjoy all the air show acts but this year I am anxious to see two new acts for me, the Firebirds & the full demonstration of the the F-22 Raptor.

Chicago Aviation Group - August Meeting

I recently became the manager of the Chicago Aviation Group at Meetup.com. The point of the group is to bring local aviation enthusiast together once a month to talk about aviation or embark on some sort of aviation adventure.

We have scheduled our first get together for Saturday, August 25th at Chicago Executive Airport (Formerly Palwaukee) where we will take a tour of their control tower. For pilots it is a great learning experience to see what the Controllers life is like. While I was training for my private pilots license I toured the tower at Lunken Field in Cincinnati and found it very beneficial. For an aviation enthusiast it is a rare opportunity to see how a controlled airport works and how the airport tower controllers manage the airport operations.

If you are interested in joining the Chicago Aviation Group visit the group page on Meetup.com. You can learn more about this first event on the event detail page.

Pilot Getaways Visits Sturgeon Bay

I am an avid reader of Pilot Getaways Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine featuring great destinations for pilots. After reading their 2005 article about flying the Hudson River Corridor I followed some of their advice and enjoyed an amazing flight along the New York skyline. In addition to enjoying learning about new places to fly, I like seeing how they cover airports I have flown in or out of. They have covered some of my favorite airports like Ephraim Gibraltar Airport (Summer 2004) and Cincinnati's Lunken Field(Nov./Dec. 2005). The July/August issue just arrived and I was excited to see this issue has an article Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, one of my favorite places to fly.

For the past few summers I have flown several flights out of Door County Cherryland Airport (Sturgeon Bay, WI) and enjoyed the aerial views of the Door County Peninsula. Flying over the peninsula offers wonderful views of Lake Michigan, Sturgeon and Green Bay, corn mazes and shipwrecks. The article gave some great tips on places to visit while visiting the Door Peninsula. I recommend a flight to the Door County area to any pilot. The folks at Orion Flight Service are sure to take good care of you during your visit.

If you are not already a Pilot Getaways subscriber, visit their website today to subscribe.

Tally the Aviation Enthusiast

I thought I would share a photo of my favorite new aviation enthusiast TallyDog. She is seen here playing with her new favorite toy, a plush bi-plane, which we have named “Barney the Barnstormer”.

Tally is my six month old Golden Retriever puppy. She is named after my favorite little town in Alaska, Talkeetna. Talkeetna is home of a great general aviation airstrip and Talkeetna Air Taxi which offers amazing site seeing flights of Denali is based there. Supposedly Talkeetna that inspired the fictitious town of Cicely from Northern Exposure.

I am not sure if I will push aviation further on her and get her in a plane anytime soon. I have always kind laughed in the pilot catalogs with those headsets made specifically to protect a dogs ears like Mutt Muffs.

The B-17 Flying Fortress Flight Experience

I had the amazing opportunity to ride along in a B-17 Flying Fortress flying as part of the Wings of Freedom tour, made its way from Porter County Municipal Airport in Valparaiso, IN to Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, Illinois. The Wing of Freedom Tour is currently made up of three planes that served as the backbone to Allied air attacks in World War II, the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell.

When I arrived at the airport there was a nice crowd of people taking tours of the three planes. Visitors can tour the planes for $10 ($5 for children under 12). Though standing out from the crowd were several veterans that seemed content sitting and looking at these historic aircraft that many had flown in during the Second World War.

As the Collings Foundation, founded to help preserve living history, started breaking down the sales tables and preparing the planes for flight I was filled with anticipation for the flight. As we boarded I found my seat a spot on the floor on a pad leaning against the wall right next to the left tail gun. We received a short briefing explaining that we should remained belted in until airborne at which point we could have the freedom to move about the aircraft providing we did not get in the way of the pilots, lean on any doors that might not be completely secure or put our hands on the wires running through the inside of the fuselage that are responsible for moving the control surfaces.

A few minutes later the engines made a magnificent noise as they roared to life. We rolled down the runway and smoothly lifted into the air. There were ten of us aboard like there would have been for a combat mission. For us the flight would be all enjoyment for the crew that flew during the war it was much different. A typical crew of a B-17 aircraft included a Bombardier, Navigator, Pilot, Co-Pilot, Flight Engineer, Radio Operator, Ball Turret, Left & Right Waist Gunners and Tail Gunner. I started off the flight enjoying the view from the tail of the plane from the waist gunner's vantage point. Then as the flight progressed made my way to the Radio Room which had a section of the roof opened up providing a nice breeze. After that I checked out one of the better vantage points on the plane, from the Flight Engineers turret at the top of the plane. This gave a clear view 360 degrees around from the top of the plane. As beautiful a view as it was it was nothing compared to that provided from the Bombardier's space at the nose of the plane.

I climbed down below the pilots and crawled to the front into the Bombardier nose section of the plane to the best view in the house. The nose is made of plexiglass giving a wonderful view from the very front of the plane. I enjoyed watching the Chicago skyline go by from this great vantage point.

Also on board for this flight was former B-17 Pilot Dave Weinberg who flew 28 missions in the B-17. He was joined by his Son-in-Law and Grandson on his first flight in a B-17 since the war. I am sure this was a memorable flight for them all. I had previously heard legendary stories of this planes ability to take a beating but still bring the crew home safely. Weinberg shared a story to support the legend commenting that the B-17 had about the same ability to glide as a brick yet during one of his missions he lost three of the four engines but was still able to bring the plane home safely.

It was special to hear a few short stories of his about the war and specifically the B-17. That is part of why it is so special that these planes fly on allowing those stories to continue to be told and shared with generation after generation. Despite nearly 12,000 B-17 being built there are now only 9 still in flying condition in the United States. This aircraft is an amazing aircraft but not nearly as amazing as the young men that flew it to preserve freedom. Check out the Collings Foundation website and see when this aircraft will be visiting an airfield near you. I guarantee you will not regret taking the time to visit with it and the people that share the love for it.

I have also uploaded some photos of the flight to Flickr and a few short video clips to YouTube for viewing.

Flying in the Virtual Skies of Microsoft Flight Simulator

I recently upgraded my home computer and finally have the processing power to play the most recent versions of popular Flight Simulators. I know that X-Plane is extremely popular but I opted for Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition mainly for one reason. I grew up playing the first version of SubLogic Flight Simulator then moved into the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2 (Right). I remember fondly reading a flight simulator manual that gave me my first taste of aviation and started to not only build my love affair with flying but also my aviation knowledge. I recall flying out of Meigs field and joy riding over pixelized lines that showed a few of the sites of Chicago. I decided to reward Microsoft for the years of enjoyment they provided me back then by trying out the latest installment in the series.

Boy, have times changed. I had fun today looking at a history of Microsoft Flight Simulators on Wikipedia. Amazing to see the changes in the quality of animations. I can only imagine how much more realistic flight simulators will be like in the future.

I have really enjoyed flying around my favorite airports this past week. To improve the game play I have been using a xBox 360 controller but may someday have to invest in a yoke and rudder pedals. Last night I decided to conduct a comparison experiment in which I would fly a virtual flight mimicking a an actual flight I had flown and documented.

A little over a year ago I took a flight from Lincoln Park Airport in New Jersey, through the Hudson river corridor to New York City and back in a glass cockpit Cessna 172SP. When I did the original flight I took several photos, so I loaded up the glass cockpit Cessna 172SP in the simulator and flew an almost exact route hoping to capture similar photos from the virtual world. Below I have put photos from the actual flight with a similar photo from the virtual flight. I was amazed how realistic the scenery is, especially the cockpit imagery.

Fourth of July Solo Flight over Door County

I spent a wonderful Fourth of July holiday in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. On my last visit to the Door County Peninsula I flew a checkout ride with Orion Flight Services clearing me to rent their Cessna 172 throughout the summer. On the Fourth of July I was able to find a large enough pocket of nice weather between two storms to get in a flight over Door County.

It had been over a year since I had flown solo, when my Dad and I took in a flight from the very same airport. Since that time I have bounced around FBOs in Chicago trying to find a place to fly and am currently checking out with Windy City Flyers.

I took off from runway 28 and was airborne after a short roll due to the wind coming straight down the centerline of the shorter of two runways at Cherryland Airport (KSUE). From their I flew northeast over the town of Sturgeon Bay then out over Lake Michigan taking in a view of the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Station and an aerial view of "The City of Glasgow" a sunken ship off the coast of Lake Michigan.

During the flight I also flew over one of my favorite golf courses, Cherry Hills Golf Course, which looked like it could benefit from the distant storm that was slowly approaching the area. I also enjoyed flying over the Dairy View Corn Maze. A pirate ship had been mowed into the crop which, surely kept maze goers lost for hours trying to navigate their way through.

I returned to Cherryland and made a single full stop landing which was one of my best landing in months. I logged 1.3 hours of solo flight and had a great time. After taxing back to the tarmac I saw an Extra 300, an plane designed for aerobatic flight, on the tarmac. The pilot was in town for a family reunion and was taking members of the family up for flights in which he performed barrel rolls and loops. So, I stayed at the airport for 15 minutes to enjoy a free airshow. All in all a great day at the airport!

You can view a few of my photos that I took during the flight on Flickr.

Flying Over Sturgeon Bay

I checked out to fly the Cessna 172 with Orion Flight Service in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin this past weekend. My wife and I traveled up there for a four day weekend to relax on the lake and teach Tally, our golden retriever to swim. While up there I took the time to perform the checkout flight so on subsequent trips north to Door County this summer I can rent their Cessna.

I flew with Chris who manages the FBO at Cherryland Airport. Friday's flight was much shorter than that previous time I flew with Chris when he came along on a cross-country flight from Cherryland to Oshkosh last summer. Cherryland Airport is one of my favorite airports and a great example of a general aviation airport. It has two runways both of adequate length it always seems to have some activity but is never too busy. Plus it has a great location situated on a peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan with a state park at one end of the airport making for great scenery for flying.

This time we flew north east of the airport and performed several common check-out maneuvers including stalls, steep turns, slow flight and and reviewing emergency landing procedures. After that we returned to Cherryland Airport for four landings. I was happy with all four as was Chris. He signed me off to rent for the rest of the summer with Orion Flight Service. I am looking forward to checking out some neighboring airports this summer.