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In Flight USA Articles
Editorial: Meet Genny
By Ed Downs
No, this writer has not misspelled the name of the legendary Curtis JN-4 training plane of WWI. The “Genny” in question is a drone, or more specifically, the Lily Next-Gen (https://www.lily.camera/), marketed as a “personal camera drone.” Naming a drone? Sure, I also owned an airplane named “Whiskey” and a pistol named “Mike.” My stuff gets names. When you can take your drone for a walk, following you like a puppy, it gets a name… so there! But I am ahead of the intent of this article, so let’s go back to the beginning.
Several issues ago, In Flight USA recognized that our National Airspace System had a new arrival, by the tens of thousands… drones. This writer obtained a sUAS Pilot Certificate in 2016 and began teaching FAR 107 sUAS classes shortly thereafter. Following attendance at a major drone trade show in 2017, the management of In Flight USA decided to embrace this new side of aviation and include a dedicated drone section in our publication. Knowing that the first major trade show of the 2018 flying season (Sun ‘n Fun) would probably have many drone manufacturers represented, it was felt that having an sUAS certified pilot on staff who also had actual drone flying experience would be a good idea.
Go figure, the boss wanted genuine drone flying experience to back up our new column. This writer got the nod to saddle up and learn how one of these things works. In Flight USA recognizes that our readers are contemporary pilots and airplane owners, not necessarily computer lovers or gamers. So, the assignment, should I choose to accept it, was to share the experience of learning how to fly and use a drone from the perspective of a contemporary CFI, while at the same time, learning more about the integration of this new-fangled technology into our world of flying. Yep, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
To be a Pilot or Not to be a Pilot
By Ed Downs
No, not trashing Shakespeare, but there is a question to be answered when launching your pet drone, be it a classic model airplane or a modern quad. Prior to the quad, as we know it today, the term “drone” primarily applied to military type aircraft, often used for unpleasant duties, such as target practice or espionage by military forces. The hobby of flying model airplanes via remote control sort of automatically made one an “RC Pilot.” These model airplanes can be quite expensive and require a definite learning curve.
While “ready-to-fly” RC models have expanded contemporary RC flying, such flying is usually associated with a defined model airplane airport, and most participants are members of some form of local or national organization such as the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). Common-sense rules created by local model airplane clubs have resulted in an excellent safety record. The FAA issued an Advisory Circular in the early days of RC flying, which did little more than restrict flight altitudes to less than 400 feet above ground level (AGL).
The model airplane side of “drones” has done an excellent job of taking care of itself for years, served by hobby shops with highly skilled and informed personnel. Now, enter the more recent world of the camera equipped, auto stabilized, and programmable “quads” that can be purchased from your local box store and airborne in the length of time it takes to charge the batteries. Times have changed.
Editorial: In Flight USA Hereby Resolves ….
By In Flight USA Staff
Yep, it is time for those New Year’s resolutions. We all make them, sometimes we even remember them, but the tone turned a bit more serious for the Team at In Flight USA this year. To be sure, our annual “what’s up for the new year” roundtable started off with the usual resolution thoughts, lose 10 pounds, get more exercise, eat healthier food, and be kind to needy flight instructors, but then we got down to business. And 2018 has a lot of business to deal with. We would like to share our thoughts for 2018, as they will possibly affect all our readers.
First, In Flight USA commits to maintaining a format that is more like a monthly aviation newspaper than a slick newsstand magazine. The vast majority of aviation publications have article and news cutoff dates that are as much as 90 days before distribution date. This means such publications are fine for reading about past events but do not carry timely news. In Flight USA typically has an editorial cutoff date that is within five days of distribution, meaning what you read in our pages is happening NOW! We encourage our advertisers, aviation event planners, and those pursuing newsworthy activities to contact In Flight USA by phone or email to let us know what they have going on, so we can help promote your event at no cost.
Our staff monitors aviation press releases daily and stays in tune with news from the Washington “swamp,” so you will be kept up to date. Sure, this means we go through a process every month that looks something like Lois Lane turning in that last-minute report about Superman to her somewhat erasable editor, Perry White, at the Daily Planet (yeah, we are nerds), but it is worth it. Fortunately, our editors are not erasable (depending upon who you ask). So, our tradition of timely ads and news remains, but we have spotted some areas for improvement and expansion.
Editorial: The Mother Tongue
By Ed Downs
Is this going to be an English lesson… in an aviation magazine? Yep, and by the time you’re finished reading this, you will hear the long-ago voice of your fifth grade English teacher reminding your bored and disinterested self that, “someday you will need to know this stuff!” It may also interest the reader to know that the title of this editorial view is, in fact, plagiarized from one of the most fun books about English ever written, Mother Tongue, authored by famed satirist/humorist, Bill Bryson, who knows more than a little bit about just about everything. But English, the “mother tongue?” Isn’t that a bit disrespectful in a western world bent on nurturing “multi-culturalism,” meaning the support of separate languages and social structures within the borders of a given country? The short answer is no. In our world of aviation, English IS the mother tongue.
Let’s start at the beginning. A short time ago, the editorial crew at In Flight USA received a news announcement from Embry Riddle University announcing a new program and area of research. The contention of this announcement is that inflight communication difficulties, meaning language, have been a contributing cause to more accidents than previously thought. That research is just one part of Embry-Riddle’s overall Language as a Human Factor in Aviation Safety (LHUFT) Initiative to heighten awareness, improve aviation safety, and enhance future investigations. Two examples were given involving language-related confusion. Three new courses—Language as a Factor in Aviation Safety, Aviation Topics, and English for VFR Flight – are also being offered at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus to increase awareness and improve communication with the goal of expanding to Embry-Riddle’s worldwide campuses. Embry Riddle points out that English is the world standard for aviation, a fact that is technically defined by both international law and the FARs.
Big Names and Small Towns
Golden Age Air Tours: See the Bay Area From a Totally New Perspective!
By Bert Botta
DC-3 DNA
N341A Golden Age Air Tours DC-3 (Courtesy Bert Botta)The seed of DC-3 passion was planted in me early. As a four-year-old boy, my mother and I flew on a United Airlines DC-3 from SFO to FAT (Fresno Air Terminal) to see relatives. During that flight I was feeling cramped so I asked mom if I could get out on the wing so I could see better.
For years after that flight, and after seeing way too many WWII movies, I found myself fantasizing about flying a DC3 over Africa, with my white scarf flowing out the window, landing on a dirt strip carved out of the jungle and having the kind of adventures that only a young boy can dream up.
Many years later, I would finally be able to see really well from the front seat of, first the Boeing 707 and then many more aircraft types as a pilot for TWA. But, after a few short years in the co-pilot’s seat when the airline industry began a steady decline, I was bumped back to the flight engineer seat for ten years. That left me itching to spread my wings as a “real pilot” and look out the front window again.
Fast forward to April 4, 1975 when I flew the final leg of my DC-3 Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating ride on a LOC (localizer) Runway 10R approach to the Monterey, Calif., airport. Because the government was generous enough to grant me 30 hours of GI Bill money toward my DC-3 type rating I was able to pursue my dream of flying the grand old dame and, once again, see really well from up front.
The memories of those days lingered dormant somewhere deep inside until recently when I was fortunate enough to get a ride in the Golden Age Air Tour’s DC-3, N341A out of Oakland Airport. And the memories came flooding back.
I never did get the white scarf but 26 years at TWA, the greatest airline in the world, sufficed as a pretty good substitute for those misplaced African adventures.
Author Julian Guthrie Chronicles The Pioneering Flight Of Spaceshipone In How To Make A Spaceship
By Mark Rhodes
(Image courtesy Julian Guthrie, Penguin Books)New York Times Best-Selling Author Julian Guthrie’s recently released paperback version of How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight (Penguin Books) chronicles the unlikely partnership of several larger than life characters who, motivated by the promise of the $10 million “XPIZE” to be awarded to the first re-usable manned aircraft created and flown into space twice within a two week period. The result of this aspiration was SpaceShipOne; an experimental, air launched, rocket powered aircraft with suborbital flight capacity.
The initial flight on Dec. 17, 2003 (appropriately the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight) saw SpaceShipOne become the first privately built craft to achieve supersonic speed. Ms. Guthrie was nice enough to be interviewed by Mark Rhodes via email about the dream of civilian space flight; the characters that are the heart of her story, the role of NASA in these kind of endeavors and the future of private space flight.
IF USA: How long has the dream of private spaceflight been around?
JG: “Probably since the beginning of time, when humans looked at the night sky and wondered what was out there. Think about our earliest astronomers and scientists, whether Copernicus or Kepler or Galileo Galilei, with the questions posed and answers advanced. And look at the captivating science fiction of Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and many others. All of these storytellers fueled an interest in the great beyond. They certainly inspired the dreams of my book’s protagonist, Peter Diamandis. He was an avid reader of science fiction and set out to make science fiction science fact.”
Editorial: Student Pilots… Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth?
By Ed Downs
Yes, we start with a very open-ended question, so let’s narrow it down. “Student Pilots” come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the newbies who are just getting into flying to advance pro’s going for type ratings in large turbojet aircraft. In fact, every pilot is, or should be, a “student” any time they are exercising the privileges of being a pilot in command. This writer has been at it for 60 years and has yet to land from any flight without having learned something from the experience. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s stick to newbies who are just getting into the art of flying and even narrow it down a bit more by talking about the cost and quality of flight instruction.
Now, you may ask, who made Ed Downs the know-it-all of flight instruction quality? Plainly stated, this writer does not claim to be the top expert in the field of instructing, but circumstances have given this writer an interesting look into the national window of what is going on, at least in the sector of flying with small, independent schools and part-time CFIs. As a long time CFI, and regular instructor for Aviation Seminars, a company that specializes in weekend training programs for a variety of written examinations and Flight Instructor Revalidation Courses (FIRCs), this writer works with hundreds of students every year. Additionally, Aviation Seminars guarantees results, providing private tutoring to those who have a tough time with written exams. That “guarantee” is, you guessed it, this writer.
Contrails: Oh, The Places You’ll Go
By Steve Weaver
When most pilots consider the hours they have logged in the air, the time usually remains just hours to them. The recorded flights are remembered as a cross-country, as an instrument flight, or as the hour spent learning recovery from unusual attitudes. But as time aloft accumulates, it can also be viewed using other measurements. By the time a student pilot has qualified for his or her private license, he or she has gained a bit of experience and is ready to begin learning to fly the airplane on instruments. He or she has probably spent about a week apart from the surface of the earth. That would be a total of seven 24-hour days spent hanging suspended above the earth or 168 hours total. Later, at the 500-hour milestone, our pilot has been missing from the earth for over two and a half weeks, and on the day he or she logs his or her one thousandth hour, he will have spent a total of more than 41 24-hour days some place other than on the planet where he was born.
Those of us who have flown most of our lives as a profession, rack up a prodigious amount of hours in the air, and the high timers among us have lived aloft literally for years.
Skies to Stars: Christmas Stars
By Ed Downs
No, there is no mistake in titling this column in the plural, that is to say “stars” as opposed to “star.” To be sure, the “Star of Bethlehem” is a cherished part of the Christmas tradition, as are the Three Wise Men. These three searchers are said to have used that star to guide them in their search for the Savior. Biblical historians have long argued as to who these “Wise Men” might have been and how it was that they, presumed to be of Babylonian origins, would have known about Hebrew prophesies of a coming of a Savior. Some have guessed that these “scholars” may have been what we would today call astrologers, a possibility often shunned by those who think of astrology as a superstitious form of divination.
Flying With Faber - September 2013
Cooking Chinese Cuisine at Home
By Stuart J. Faber
Chinese restaurants and Chinese fast food joints seem to be popping up in every city. As an admitted food snob, I have been disappointed in most of the places I’ve sampled. Of course, there are some outstanding Chinese restaurants in some of America’s China Towns, or venerable places like Tommy Toy’s in San Francisco – but a number of Chinese restaurants overcook the food and litter the ingredients with MSG.
I love Chinese and other Asian cuisine. It would be impractical to satisfy each urge by running off to China to get take-out, so I often prepare my favorite dishes at home. Besides, my airplane on a good day has a range of 900 NM, and I doubt that the DOD would respond favorably to my request to provide a KC-10 to refuel me in midair.
Before I ventured upon the task of making my own Chinese cuisine at home, I was under the impression that the preparation would be an esoteric and daunting task. As a food and travel writer, part of my duties consists of working in restaurant kitchens with chefs. Over the past five years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with chefs in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. I discovered that there is no mystery to Asian cooking – the freshest ingredients are mandatory.
Celebrating 30 Years of In Flight USA
A pica is a unit of measurement that most people know little about. A pica pole is a ruler that measures in pica units. As I am sitting at my desk, I can see my dad’s old layout board where he would lay out In Flight USA, using razor knives and pica poles.
Soaring With Sagar: Of Men and Models
By Sagar Pathak
Sagar Pathak with the TU-U2S that the model was designed after. (Sagar Pathak)Ever since I was little, my parents had always bought me toy airplanes as gifts. While some kids love to collect baseball cards or matchbox cars, model airplanes (and aviation in general) have always been my passion for as long as I can remember. Some of my favorite toys growing up were my Ertl Force One F-14 Tomcat, Micro Machines Airport play sets, and any dozen of my Dyna-Flites metal jets. They looked more like blobs of metal than actual airplanes but details really didn’t matter much back then. As long as that plane had rolling wheels and wings, I supplied all the thrust, engine noises, and imagination necessary to make those planes come alive in my living room.
Joseph Flint's Rescue From Innocence
A combination of aviation thrills, ripped from the headlines intrigue and romance make for a satisfactory late summer beach read.
By S. Mark Rhodes
Author Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world. He has tested all variety of aircraft and has now added ‘author’ to his impressive resume. (Courtesy of Joseph Flint)Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world with more than 30 years experience testing and flying experimental aircraft all over the globe. He has tested all variety of aircraft including the Chinook, Apache, as well as the Boeing 737, 777, 787 and 747. To this impressive resume Mr. Flint has just added author with the recent publication of Rescue From Innocence (Xlibris Corp.), which was inspired by Mr. Flint’s own experiences working within the realm of global politics more than two decades ago. The book reads as a satisfying thriller with some welcome romance and soap opera elements (as well as a charismatic protagonist named Walter Judge) thrown in for good measure, Mr. Flint was nice enough to check in with In Flight’s Mark Rhodes about his colorful and accomplished life and his recently published book.
Contrails: An Errant Airman
By Steve Weaver
This shot of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza was taken at the Aurora, IL airport in 1987. (Glenn E. Chatfield)In my early days in aviation, many of the errant airmen that I happened upon were WWII vets and sometimes ex Army Air Corps flyers; as a young pilot, their age and experience seemed to me to afford them a certain license to be… well, different.
One of those types that come readily to mind would be Richard. Richard B. was the owner of a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza and he and the airplane were memorable to me, since they were the only twin/pilot combo that dared to frequent our 1,600-foot sod strip. He was from Elkins, just a few miles to the east of us and he flew the mighty Twin Bo in pursuit of his business as a lumber broker. He also flew it in pursuit of a covert heart’s interest that happened to reside in our town, hence the frequent visits by the big twin.
What's Up - July 2013
The Perfect “10”
By Larry Shapiro
The only thing better than a 10 is an 11 when it’s a little young man around four-feet-nothing tall and carrying the usual ton of new pilot stuff over his shoulder. When I asked him whom he was caddying for, the joke went right over his very young head and he informed with great confidence that he was not a caddy, but a student pilot and whipped out his logbook and flashed his more than a dozen logged flight hours.
I immediately fell to my knees and begged forgiveness and quickly congratulated him on being the youngest student pilot I have ever met during this current life of mine. We chatted about the wait to solo and he said it wouldn’t be a problem … he knew he’d be facing that issue and was fully prepared to do so. With that said Mr. Eleven Year Old, (Whose name I forgot to get) congratulations and many happy landings. Keep me posted when you get to the moon.
While We’re On The Subject of 10…
Larry Shapiro with Eric on moving day for the Sky Scooter. (Courtesy Larry Shapio)It was about 10 years ago that I met a little airplane called a Thorp (Sky Scooter). It was very yellow, very neglected, but very cute. It greeted me every morning when I arrived at PAO, and I said good night to it as I departed the field every evening. I didn’t know then the amazing history and story behind it and wouldn’t for another five years.
Fast-forward five years and as I arrived at the field one morning, low and behold there was some tall dude standing next to the Little Sky Scooter and he was undressing it. That led to cranking it up and making it breath again. Being the shy and reserved gent that I am, I gently slid up to the tall suntanned dude playing with the little beauty and started with a few hundred questions.
Editorial: Angry Skies
By Ed Downs
Moore, Oklahoma has become a symbol of both tragedy and courage. In Flight USA sends our heartfelt sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones and to those for whom rebuilding is an almost unbearable challenge. Our prayers are with all who have lost so much to the terror of tornadoes in the weeks preceding this June issue.
Like many, this writer was glued to the television as the story of Moore, Okla. unfolded. Just one day before, Shawnee, Okla. was hit, with the loss of two lives and millions in property damage. An entire mobile home park was leveled. Shortly after the monster tornado hit Moore, a well know television news anchor for a popular national cable news network initiated a telephone interview with a well-known, Oklahoma-based, meteorologist and storm chaser. This Manhattan dwelling anchor somewhat flippantly asked, “So, how do you guys get these great tornado shots from your cars and helicopters. Do you just drive and fly around with a camera sticking out the window hoping for something to happen?” Fortunately, the storm chaser in question is a real pro. Although on the job for almost 48 hours straight, he politely told the anchor exactly what role ground and airborne chasers actually perform. This man had just saved hundreds of lives, yet our New York-based anchor (for whom Central Park represents rural America) continued to address a true hero as if he were little more than a thrill seeker. But wait, I am getting ahead of a personal narrative I would like to share about these terrible events of May 19 and 20. Let me get back to the heroic services offered by local television and weather departments a bit later in this editorial comment.
Contrails: Bending Metal
By Steve Weaver
The one occasion where the retail worth of the plane in which Weaver was flying was rapidly and substantially reduced. The Ercoupe was later repaired and flown by Joe-Joe for another 20 years. (Courtesy of Steve Weaver)In recent years, even I have had to acknowledge that I have entered, albeit reluctantly, the category of the mature airman. As such, I have joined the ranks of those with a successful (read survived) flying history spanning fifty years or so and it is natural for the August members who inhabit this strata to be occasionally asked by our younger brethren about things that they consider worrisome in their own flying career. Crashing would be one.
How many times, they will ask, have I been involved in occasions where the retail worth of the airplane I was flying was rapidly and substantially reduced?
It’s a complicated question to answer, especially if you take the Clinton-esque approach to it and say it depends on what your definition of crashing is. I choose to do that, since it reduces my record of shame by 50 percent if I don’t count flying the Super Cruiser through the top of a large oak tree as a crash. My point there being that the airplane did not come to a complete stop, which I maintain is a basic requirement for a certifiable airplane crash.
Warbird Adventures, Inc. Exciting from the Ground Up!
(Cover Photo by Michael Jorgensen. Provided by Warbird Adventures, Inc)The idea behind Warbird Adventures, Inc. came to shape on a cocktail napkin back in 1997. Founders Graham Meise and Thom Richard decided to max out all their credit cards and buy a T-6.
By Jan. 7, 1998 the company had been formed and the first aircraft purchased in California. It took six days to bring it home to Zephyrhills, Florida after which extensive modification had to be done. Four months later, the proud owners sat on the ramp with a shiny T-6 waiting for people to come by.
The original plan was to barnstorm around the country, but they ended up in Kissimmee by accident and set up shop out of the Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Museum instead. The rest is history.
From Skies to Stars - April 2013
The Comet Cometh
By Ed Downs
First a meteor smacks into Russia, and then, just a few days later, we get a close flyby of a good sized asteroid. In cosmic terms, that asteroid came close enough to give “doomsday preppers” reason to celebrate their decisions. It was close. But it is not all scary news. Astronomers who work with visible light, versus those light bands that can be seen only through the use of special instrumentation, have something to celebrate. It seems as though the summit of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui, at 10,000 feet above sea level, now sports a telescopic array that promises to be the most powerful survey telescope ever built. “Survey” means a telescope that specifically looks for things, all sorts of things, which may be heading our way. It’s called Pan-STARRS, short for Panchromatic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System. And is the first of a four telescopes array planned.