I have a 45-minute daily commute on Chicago's El. Lately, I have been taking advantage of the time to watch aviation videos on my video iPod. There are several sources of videos that I have enjoyed thus far.
I started off by downloading iSquint which allowed me to easily convert my Sporty�s Private Pilot Flight Training Course, a series of six DVDs dedicated to the techniques and knowledge needed to earn your private pilots license. These were a powerful resource while learning to fly and I continue to refer to them from time to time to keep current.
Sporty's recently created a Download Center on their site where training videos can be downloaded for use on personal computers or mobile devices. I downloaded the 25-minute Descent & Landing Air Facts video. I enjoyed the content and having the ability to watch it on my iPod but wished they could provide this quality content for less than $9.95, which is a bit steep for less than 30 minutes of content.
For more than a year I have been enjoying Jason Miller's "The Finer Points" aviation podcast. I have always enjoyed listening to his podcasts during my commute. From time to time his podcast includes video content as well. He recently launched a new site, OnTheFlightLine.com, where he is publishing some aviation videos. So far there is limited content there but I look forward to seeing future videos.
On Wednesday I attended an advance screeing of the the award-winning IMAX Film, Fighter Pilot Operation Red Flag, that debuts in Chicago today. While living in Cincinnati I saw a promo for this but never had the opportunity to check out the film. The movie follows Captain John "Otter Stratton", pilot of a U.S. Air Force F-15, through his experience at the Red Flag Training program at Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas. Red Flag is a two-week, realistic combat training exercise that involves the best pilots from our Air Force and allied air forces like Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The goal of Red Flag is to maximize combat readiness, capability, and survivability of participating units through realistic training.
The film takes full advantage of the large screen format of the IMAX theater. Director Stephen Low explains how this is different from traditional aviation films, “So many films on fighter aircraft essentially fake the interaction between the planes using a lot of quick cutting, simulated cockpit photography, and special effects. Working with the Air Force made it possible for us to shoot actual dog-fighting for the first time between a dozen aircraft at once. Altogether we were working with more than one hundred aircraft of all types. This is the closet an audience will ever get to flying in the middle of a massive air combat mission."
Low is exactly right, as the film made me feel like I was right in the heart of all the action. I flew along during simulated close contact air-to-air combat missions, simulated bombing runs, humanitarian food drops, and rescue missions.
Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, winner of the Large Format Cinema Association 2005 "Best of Festival", opens in Chicago at the Navy Pier Imax today. The IMAX Theater at Navy Pier is "Chicago's largest flat movie screen-a soaring six-story, 60 x 80-foot screen designed to enhance both 2D and 3D films."
Anyone with a nugget of interest in aviation will love this film!
As I mentioned in my last post I was planning on flying today. All week it looked like the best weather would fall on Saturday. The temps were supposed to rise up into the 50s with no forecast for rain. But, when I woke up and looked out the window it was overcast. I pulled up the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to check the weather for Palwaukee Municipal Airport (KPWK) and saw the weather was not any better there and not forecasted to improve.
It is just after 2pm and I was due to fly at 3pm. The current METAR report (METeorological Aerodrome Report) stated "KPWK 161952Z 20012KT 6SM HZ OVC014". Which translates to "Conditions at Palwaukee Airport on December 16th at 1952 Zulu (1:52pm Central) - winds from 200 degrees at 12 knots with 6 miles of visibility, haze, and overcast at 1,400 feet. Since, I don't have an instrument license I fly under VFR (Visual Flight Rules) and for the type of VFR manuevers and flying I was hoping to do today would require a ceiling higher than 1,400 feet. So, I have rescheduled my flight for next weekend. Always a bummer to have to cancel a flight but it is part of general aviation.
Maybe I will stop by the book store to check out one of Clyde Edgerton's other books. I asked him as pilot what other books of his I might enjoy. He suggested "For aviation people, The Floatplane Notebooks and In Memory of Junior are the two I'd recommend. They each have some significant flying in them."
I have been doing a fair amount of commercial traveling as of late and often find myself in the airport terminal bookstores. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a book with an airplane on it and the title "Solo: My Adventures in the Air" by Clyde Edgerton. On the back cover was a quote from Men's Journal "Either the best living novelist to fly planes or the best living pilot to write novels". Since I love aviation and enjoy reading about aviation related books I decided to hand over my $12.95 to find out if this was true.
I just finished reading Clyde Edgerton's Solo less than a week after picking it up. The book takes you through Edgerton's flying experiences starting at age four with a visit to a local airstrip, to flying in the United States Air Force and finally to his flights in a PA-12 Super Cruiser he named "Annabelle".
The book was an enjoyable read if you are a pilot or an aspiring pilot I recommend you check it out. I plan on looking at some of his other titles in the near future.
As for my own flight adventures...I plan to return to the wild blue yonder on Saturday.
I will spare the detailed excuses and simply say Thirty Eight.
It has been a month since my last flight and man do I have the itch to get out to the airport. But, a busy travel schedule combined with inconsistent weather in Chicago has kept me grounded. My goal is to get an hour or two of flying in sometime in the next seven days.
Memorial Day signifies the start of a busier flying season for me. Since moving to Chicago it has been harder to fly as it takes more time to get out to the airport and to find aircraft rental availability. Though it gets easier as summer starts and the sun is out longer giving more time for daytime VFR. I also take several long weekends to head up to Northern Wisconsin where I will often fly a few times over the weekend. I love flying out of the small airports in Wisconsin.
While on the ground I have been filling my aviation needs with my magazine subscriptions: AOPA Pilot, AOPA Flight Training and Flying Magazine. I also have been enjoying reading many of the aviation blogs listed in my blogroll to the right, checking out podcasts like Finer Points and answering e-mails from my readers.
An aspiring pilot from Michigan wrote me to see what I thought of the Sporty's DVD Pilot Courses. I told him they were well worth the investment and that I found them extremely beneficial while learning to fly but also a great as a refresher between flights. I also had a conversation with a pilot in the UK who has put up an interesting site and blog at ModernPilot.com, check it out.
Well, I am off to look at the seven day forecast and figure out when I log some time in the 172.
I am back from a wonderful vacation in Australia. I highly recommend a trip there if ever you have the chance to visit. During the trip I had several occasions to think about aviation. How can you not when you lift off in a 747 from Los Angeles for a 14+ hour flight that is over the Pacific Ocean for all but 15 minutes of the flight to Sydney?
I had recently read about Australian Aviation Hero Charles Kingsford Smith who was the first to fly across the pacific in 1928. He was an aviator that has largely been overlooked by many historians despite many remarkable accomplishments. One that came to mind while flying to Australia was his flight in the Southern Cross, a Fokker FVIIb-3m with Wright Whirlwind engines, from Oakland to Hawaii on to Fiji then the final leg to Brisbane, Australia. In 1928 it took him over 3 days of flying spread out over nine days. We made our flight in fourteen hours in the comfort of a United Boeing 747.
After arriving in Sydney we had a brief layover before departing for Melbourne. I took the opportunity to head upstairs to the flight deck and introduce myself to the pilots who showed me around the cockpit before our flight. It was fun to see the view from the cockpit of this enormous plane. The pilot mentioned that prior to 9/11 knowing I was a pilot they would have invited me up to the cockpit to enjoy the flight, now that would have been a great time.
Australia is an active country in which the Australians make sure to enjoy their passions whether it be footy, rugby, running, motor sports or flying. While driving the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne (an absolutely amazing and beautiful drive). We came across about 8-10 hang gliders floating over a mountain ridge along the ocean. They must have had the most amazing views. Driving a little further we came across their beach front landing zone. I think I might have to give that type of flying a try some time.
While in the Outback we visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Museum in Alice Springs. The RFDS is a not-for-profit charitable service that provides emergency and primary health care services to people who are in remote areas of Australia. Australia is a vast nation with many of the people living in remote locations and the only way for them to receive primary and emergency health care is via airplane. Annually, the RFDS attends to nearly 200,000 patients and provides over 25,000 aerial evacuations using their 40 aircraft fleet.
The RFDS museum is located at the Alice Springs Base one of 22 in Australia. You get to view the operations center from which they plan their scheduled daily flights to provide clinics in different regions of the Northern Territory and where when necessary emergency flights are planned.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to do any flying of my own while in Australia. I can imagine it would be a great place to be a private pilot. National Geographic has an interesting article online about Tom Clynes who learned to fly on a 1,700 mile aerial tour of Eastern Australia.
During our return flight from Sydney we learned that this was the final flight for the Captain as he would be retiring after a 21 year career with United Airlines. Upon arrival into Los Angeles the L.A. Fire Department provided a water cannon salute to the Captain and his 747 in honor of his career. Water cannon salutes are a tradition for the completion of a commercial pilot’s last flight.
Speaking of flying, I reserved a plane for tomorrow night and am looking forward to doing some flying of my own. I plan to fly out of Schaumburg in the same Cessna 172 that I flew last time. This plane is equipped with GPS navigation and autopilot both I which I look forward to becoming better familiarized with.
I have scheduled a plane for Friday evening. For the first time in weeks I have some free time and the weather looks like it will be nice enough to go flying. According to LogbookPro I have not made well on my New Years resolution to fly 24+ hours in 2006 or 2 hours per month. I have only flown .7 hours since January first. I am sure I will have no trouble meeting or exceeding my hours goal as I prefer to fly as it starts to get a little warmer and the days start to get longer.
Heading to the airport on a Friday evening is a perfect way to start a weekend. I look forward to getting back in the air. Since I have not flown much over the winter I plan to take a few refresher flights with a flight instructor. Additionally, I plan to spend a few hours reviewing some of my aviation books and my Sporty's Private Pilot Training DVDs.
I recently posted about Jerrie Mock's record-setting flight around the world. When she completed her 29 1/2 day flight that covered over 23,000 miles she became the first woman to fly solo around the world. I have been captivated by this story. Since I prefer pictures over words I decided to make a Google Map that shows the route she flew and lists each checkpoint along the route. I also provide the time it took to fly the leg and the miles flown per leg. I hope the map and my recent post drives you to your nearest library to check out the book about her flight - Three-Eight Charlie.
Do you know who the first woman to fly solo around the world was? Up until a few weeks ago I could not have answered that question. Many mistakenly answer the question with Amelia Earhart, but she sadly was lost after completing 75% of her journey and she had a navigator along with her.
The correct answer is Jerrie Mock, a 38 year old woman from Ohio. I just finished reading about her historic 1964 flight. She flew over 23,000 miles in 29 days through terrible conditions including: sandstorms, thunderstorms, icing, rain and excessive heat. Her only companion on this flight was Charlie, a Cessna 180 Skywagon with an FAA Registration of N1538C (November one five three eight charlie) and title the Spirit of Columbus.
I learned about Jerrie Mock from Dan Pimentel "Av8rDan" who has the exclusive movie rights to Jerrie's story and he has developed a screenplay based on his research and interviews. You can learn more about his screenplay project on the Three Eight Charlie website or the project blog.
After reading about the project I decided I needed to learn more so I went to the library and checked out Jerrie's book on the historic flight, Three-Eight Charlie, which was an enjoyable read. During her flight she had to battle fatigue, equipment problems (radio malfunctions, rough engines and electrical fires) in addition to the afore mentioned difficult weather conditions. If all that was not enough to make it exciting, Jerrie has to leave earlier than planned as another woman aviator decided to make a race of it.
It was interesting to learn about the state of aviation in the 60s from her perspective, as Jerrie visited 14 countries including places like: Casablanca, Calcutta, Bangkok, Cairo and Wake Island that had varying levels of sophistication towards aviation. She did a nice job of balancing stories about the flights themselves with tales of her time on the ground at each checkpoint. The trip was filled with exciting moments that concluded on April 17, 1964 when she flew into the history books by completing the 29 day, 23, 206.36 mile journey around the world.
I encourage you all to check this book out of your library. Then spend some time checking out Dan's sites about Three Eight Charlie and Jerrie Mock. I would love to see this story be told on the big screen!
You may notice some new tools and features on the website. First, I have added several new aviation based blogs to the blogroll on the right. My favorite new blog is Av8rdan's World of Flying. If you have not checked it out, do so today.
Additionally, I have added a sidebar section called "Sharing My Learning to Fly Knowledge". Here you will find links to other sites where I share my experiences of learning to fly. The first site linked to is Squidoo.com which allows people to host a page about something they are passionate or knowledgeable about. My Learn to Fly page is currently featured in their Top 100 list.
Another place I am sharing my experiences regarding learning to fly is on offered a favor in which I offer to share my thoughts on what it takes to earn a license and to help explain how to decide where and how to train. I signed up today and have already helped one gentleman from Ontario with a few questions he had about the steps needed to earn a private pilots license.
Lastly, I came across a cool site yesterday for viewing sectionals online - www.skyvector.com. The site also allows you to add a mini-map to your own website. I have added a map showing the Chicago area where I fly. Dave, the owner of the site, does warn not to use the online maps for flying and I would have to agree with him. But it is a great use of technology and fun to look at. Nice work, Dave!
