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No Second Chances: AFE Airmen Ensure Pilot Safety
By Senior Airman Michael Cossaboom
20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Airman 1st Class Kyle Denzine, a 20th Operations Support Squadron aircrew flight equipment specialist, checks the seal of his gas mask. (US Air Force Photo)Pilots rush into the locker room, preparing for another day of flying. Laughing and joking, they throw on their gear and grab their helmets. To them, it is just another day, but the Airmen that serviced their equipment look on slightly anxiously as they see the pilots walk out the door to their aircraft.
Confident yet tense, thoughts of the pilot’s safety linger in their heads as they continue to work. All they can do now is wait.
Aircrew flight equipment Airmen assigned to the 20th Operations Support Squadron are responsible for the maintenance, inspections, and servicing of all equipment that aircrew personnel require while performing their duties.
Aviation Gifts
NAHA, Partners Schedule First Flight Anniversary Events
Podcast 1
What's Up: Service
By Larry Shapiro
I’ve had so much fun thinking about how many times and places we see and use the word: “service.” Here are a few of my thoughts on this important word. (Please feel free to share some of your favorites and not so favorites).
I know I’ll miss some, but for starters, I was in the Service … and I’m very proud of it. How many times have you heard the word used when there is a uniform involved?
I couldn’t guess the amount of service stations I’ve used, and how I evaluated each of them. I still do. Ever wonder why they’re called “Service Stations?”
A great meal at your favorite restaurant with bad service becomes a least favorite place. On the other hand, great service at your favorite greasy spoon or drive through becomes a regular. I’ve always loved this: A good meal served badly ends up being a bad meal. Bad food coupled with good service is what you remember and will go back to.
In conversations about retail stores, hotels, and other places of pleasure, the questions of service always comes up. We can’t help ourselves; we all are aware of the “service” provided.
What's Up: Service
Airman Author Brings Fictional, Real Heroes to Life
By Staff Sgt. Darren Scott, 460th Space Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)
Senior Airman, Brian McLean, an 11th Space Warning Squadron, Future Operations Flight staff instructor, is the main point of contact for HEO-3 training and operations. In his spare time, he writes fictional short stories. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Darren Scott)In stories, the hero is often called upon to accomplish a great task, to take on the weight of a burden they did not anticipate, even though they know that hardships may plague every step of their journey. For storytellers, joy often comes from seeing the hero overcome the many obstacles placed in front of them to emerge strong and victorious against the odds.
Senior Airman Brian McLean is the author of such stories. He is also, in his own way, the hero.
As an 11th Space Warning Squadron Future Operations Flight staff instructor, McLean has been handed some heavy responsibility of his own, becoming the main point of contact for all things HEO-3, the newest highly elliptical orbit satellite in the Space Based Infrared System.
Memphis Belle Gets Her Instrument Panel, 2018 Display Date
By Ron Kaplan
Officials from the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force donated the pilot’s instrument panel from the Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force during a ceremony last month.
The Memphis Belle is one of the most famous aircraft in World War II history. In May 1943, it became the first U.S. Army Air Force’s heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States.
Several decades later, in Oct. 2005, the historic aircraft arrived at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, near Dayton, Ohio, where staff began a careful, multi-year conservation and restoration effort, including corrosion treatment, the full outfitting of missing equipment, and accurate markings, to bring the aircraft back to pristine condition.
Contrails: Adventures in Vertigo
By Steve Weaver
Being unsure of your aircraft’s attitude is one of the most stressful situations that one can encounter in an airplane. Whether the occasion is due to failure of the aircraft’s instruments to accurately give situational information or due to your own false sensations, it makes short work of one’s peace of mind in the air.
I have been lucky in my flying with only two occasions when I wasn’t sure exactly what the aircraft was doing. The first time was during a night approach to a mountain airport, done very early in my instrument flying career. At a critical moment on that flight, every nerve and sensation in my body screamed that the Grumman I was flying had decided to finish the approach while lying on its right side. Only the stern words of my instrument instructor echoing in my head saved me. “This will happen, and when it does, ignore everything else and believe your instruments!” I did that and soon the airplane returned to flying with the right side up.
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou Makes Top Secret Visit to Yanks Air Museum in Chino, Calif.
By Donia Moore
(Courtesy of Yanks Air Museum)Most people love surprises. The people at Yanks Air Museum in Chino, Calif. received a double whammy of a surprise when officials recently arranged a top-secret visit of Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou to the museum. A fan of aviation history and vintage aircraft, Ma came to meet with 92-year-old retired Lieutenant Colonel Harold Javitt, USAF. Javitt is a former member of the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force. Nicknamed the Flying Tigers, the group consisted of three squadrons with approximately 30 aircraft each. It was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC), recruited under presidential authority and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The fierce shark-faced nose art of the Flying Tigers remains one of the most recognizable images of any individual combat aircraft or combat unit of World War II. The Flying Tigers were responsible for defending China against Japanese forces during World War II. Javitt and his family members have been invited to participate in Taiwan’s military parade held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan.
365 Aircraft You Must Fly
Outlines the Bucket List for the Serious Aviator
By Mark Rhodes
The De Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle was meant to enable “Fighting Soldiers from the Sky”A fun, educational, and definitely inspirational read, 365 Aircraft You Must Fly By Robert Dorr (Zenith Press) is well within the vein of “bucket list” works such as 1,001 Books/Movies/Places you must read/see/visit before you die. As one would expect, there is a lot of aviation exotica in this work, such as the 1909 French Bleriot XI of which two restored examples exist and are distinguished as the oldest flyable aircraft in the world at present. Also here is the De Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle from the mid-50s, which was intended to be a kind of “personal helicopter” to be piloted by the everyday soldier on the front lines. A few were produced and even tested. Ultimately, they were considered too unreliable and unrealistic for real world military applications.
What's Up:
I know I get credit for more than my share of headaches bending your ears over my favorite subject; “No more third class medical.” I’ve shortened the words for space reasons, but I had little or no support from many of you that it might actually happen. Well, if I were a bettingman,who come to think of it I am, I believe it’s going to happen.
If you know me, you’ve probably heard me use the words, “Pilots have no common sense!” Well, in the end, I am going to be right; we just don’t have too much common sense, and I wish we had more, heck, I’d be happy if we just had some.
Keep your logbooks crossed that I’m right on this one … I have to be. It just makes good common sense.
What's Up:
Editorial: Something Has Changed
By Ed Downs
Another birthday, another reason to reflect. This writer and his twin brother have made it through another year with an evening spent with family, giving “the twins” a chance to reflect on careers in aviation that span 60 years. Yes, twins often have much in common and our choice of careers certainly points that out. While considerably beyond a traditional retirement age, this writer and his brother, Earl, continue to fly as active CFIs, work in the aviation industry, and deal heavily in subjects relating to flight safety, training, the promotion of recreational flying, and the future of general aviation through a direct interface with the FAA and government. As the evening’s musings of past adventures turned to reflecting upon “the good old days,” we realized that both of us were concluding that, “something has changed.”
Recreational flying is certainly not what it was 50 or 60 years ago. Expense has gone up dramatically, and the technological sophistication of GA airplanes, even old planes that have been retrofitted with modern avionics, is absolutely amazing. Having started flight training in the mid 1950s, we concluded that much has improved since we first flew in an Aeronca Champ with a wind driven generator and a two channel, low frequency radio. Mind you, that was considered to be a well-equipped trainer, being flown from busy Van Nuys Airport in Southern California. The training was rigorous, with maneuvers like 720 steep turns, spins, accelerated (and aggravated) stalls, and steep spiral descents all included in the CAA approved curriculum. No training flight was conducted without a simulated engine failure, frequently followed with a landing to a full stop. Of course, almost all private training done in this timeframe used planes like Champs, Cubs, T-crafts and other tail draggers, so both full stall and wheel landings were the order of the day.
Mentor In a Poopy Suit
By Bert Botta
The USS Randolph (CVS-15) underway on February 27, 1962. (USN Photo)In June of 1957, with the ink still wet on my high school diploma, the U.S. Navy shipped me off to my first duty station, Barin Field, Alabama.
As part of the agreement I made with the Navy as a reserve sailor, I committed to serve two years active duty immediately upon graduation from high school.
One year later, after serving my time at “Bloody Barin” as it was known throughout the Pensacola Training Command because of the frequent aircraft accidents among cadet pilot trainees, I received orders to report to Antisubmarine Squadron VS39 in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
After arriving at Quonset, I spent a few months finding my niche in the squadron and preparing for my first deployment to the north Atlantic with VS39 aboard the U.S.S. Randolph, an aircraft carrier based out of Norfolk, Virginia.
Contrails: A Hand Me Down Flying School
By Steve Weaver
When I think about the aircraft that populated our flying business in the late ‘60s, I realize what an eclectic mix of airplanes it was. We had two, four, and six place airplanes, very old airplanes, one almost new airplane, and even a twin in the person of an old Aztec. Each had a role in the business, and each one had a distinct personality that I still remember.
At birth, except for colors and optional equipment, airplanes are pretty much identical to the brethren that share the production line. In 1977, while working for Cessna, I parked my new 310 demonstrator on the ramp at Allegheny Airport in Pittsburgh while I went inside to meet with someone. I returned a half hour later just in time to see a gentleman thoroughly pre-flighting my 310. I watched from a distance while he did a textbook preflight inspection. He drained all the sumps and inspected the fuel sample for dirt or water, he checked the oil in both engines, then slowly circled the airplane, poking this and wiggling that.
“Connectivity or Distractibility: One Pilot’s take on Smart Devices in the Cockpit”
By Shanon Kern
As a “Millennial,” my generation has grown accustomed to seeking out and purchasing the latest and greatest smart technology.
We are a connected generation who depend on technology to pay for our coffee, buy our music, reserve an airplane, and control the appliances in our homes. The cockpit, for me, provided a new space to connect with my devices. With a phone and a tablet, I had instant en-route access to my connected world. In theory, I could book a plane, check the weather, and navigate across the country with the same device I use to write this article. Until recently, the use of connected technology in the cockpit seemed like a no-brainer. I found a plethora of different “apps” that allowed me to do almost everything flight related digitally. Soon, I had no need for my analog E6B flight computer. My tablet was much lighter and easier to manage in-flight than sectionals, approach plates, and AFDs. My access to information seemed to be limitless.
Bravo for Adventure Celebrates the Romance of Early Aviation in Graphic Novel Style
Gustave Whitehead Announcement
Almost There
By Evan Isenstein-Brand
The engine starved and sputtered to a halt in my shaky hands. After several practice laps in the pattern, my instructor gave me a final handshake before neatly buckling his seatbelt across the seat and trotting over to join the crowd. I entered my focus mode, carefully examining my checklist before starting the engine again and receiving permission from the sympathetic tower operator to taxi out to the ramp.
Just like I had done dozens of times before, I made sure the plane was fit to fly and promptly received clearance to take off. The conditions were beautiful: little wind, few clouds in the sky, and only several other aircraft around the airport. It was the 4th of July. Of course the conditions were perfect.