I Spent The Day With The Blue Angels, and Here Are the Photos

Cali Lewis, Dave Curlee and I had the good fortune to spend a day with the US Navy Blue Angels at the Alliance Air Show last weekend (thanks to our friend Rachel Medley). Among the highlights was the invitation to actually ride along with the Blue Angels – but not in their standard F/A-18… instead in their C-130 Hercules cargo plane (crewed by an all-Marine Corp staff)!

US Navy Blue Angels C-130 Hercules, Fat Albert

Now, when you first hear this you might be like – that’s awesome! Of course I’d do it! At least that is what I thought. But then I learned that they were going to fly that C-130 the same way they fly those fighter jets! Seriously. Like crazy takeoffs and landings and 60 degree banks, etc. They described it as “worse than a roller coaster”, even though the plane, affectionately named “Fat Albert” weighs 100,000 pounds!
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Chinese Farmer Builds Kick-Ass Homemade Airplane

Chinese Homemade AirplaneOk folks, this video is awesome! An unknown Chinese farmer built a small airplane called the “Shanzhai Glider” out of what look like lawn mower parts!

Frankly, there is no way this guy could get a certification from the FAA for this flying death trap, but I guess it wouldn’t phase him a bit anyway. He’s obviously perfectly happy risking his life so he can buzz all his neighbors and show them how ingenious he is.
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What It’s Like to Land on an Aircraft Carrier

Aircraft Carrier Landing VideoSo, after a stressful last few days of watching the stock market, I thought it might be fun to take a look at something really, really stressful. Like how about trying to land an airplane on an aircraft carrier!

So, the next time you’re feeling like you’re having a tough day, just remember what it would be like to try and spot a boat in the middle of the Pacific and then maneuver your tiny little plane to land on it while it’s in motion.
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Smoothest Crash Landing I’ve Ever Seen

Plane Crash LandingHere is an amazing clip of a small plane crash landing in California when one of its landing gears refused to function properly. Funny thing is, there wasn’t really any “crash” in the landing.

What makes this especially interesting is that someone apparently got another plane up in the air in time to film what was going on, and they did a really good job of capturing the entire event.

POINT MUGU, California
Monday Jul 30, 2007
A twin-engine turboprop aircraft with its left main landing gear stuck in the up position skidded to a safe landing at a Navy air station Monday.Twelve people were aboard.

The civilian Grumman G-159 was on a shuttle flight from the military’s San Nicolas Island to Point Mugu.

The Phoenix Air plane carrying nine passengers and three flight crew members circled for about an hour to burn off excess fuel.

The airplane came in with its left engine feathered ”the propeller slowly turning” and it set down gently before settling onto its left wing, then skidded to its left off the runway and onto an unpaved area.

Everyone aboard jumped out of the aircraft as fire trucks sprayed the craft.
There was no fire and the plane appeared to be repairable.

San Nicolas is a Navy-owned island off Southern California. The plane is leased to shuttle military personnel and civilian workers between the mainland and the island.

Point Mugu Naval Air Station is part of the Navy base in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles.

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Plane Crash Party Commercial

Plane Crash PartyFor anyone sensitive to plane crashes, you won’t find this funny… but for everyone else, the surprise ending on this commercial will make you laugh.

This one apparently comes from a European travel agency. Enjoy.
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Russian Bombers in British Airspace

RAF Intercepts Russian BombersCan someone please tell me why the Russians are taunting the British by flying bomber/reconnaissance planes to the border of British airspace?

With relations between Russia and Britain deteriorating, the number of incidents in which Russia’s submarines have been found close to British shores or in contact with Royal Navy warships has also risen, reports said yesterday. London’s Daily Telegraph said there was a suggestion Russia could be testing the West’s air detection systems and response times.

Diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow — already stretched by the murder in London of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko — intensified as the Bear bombers headed towards Britain. It was the first time Russian bombers had threatened to penetrate British airspace since President Vladimir Putin indicated, with no little chutzpah, that he had ordered his bomber force to resume long-range patrols around the world.

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Air Travel is Getting More and More Pathetic

I’ve been talking about how crappy airline service has become lately, and I just read this article from the Wharton School which I thought I’d share:

Wharton professor Serguei Netessine’s trip from Philadelphia to Dallas in May was an all-too-typical day in the sky.

After circling Dallas for an hour because of stormy weather, his flight was diverted to San Antonio where he spent several hours on the runway waiting for the storms in Dallas to clear and eating a bag of peanuts for lunch. He arrived in Dallas five hours late and missed most of his scheduled meetings, rescheduled his appointments for later in the day and succeeded in booking — actually overbooking, as it turned out — what he thought would be an evening flight back to Philadelphia. He had no choice but to fly home the next day after paying $400 for the only room available at the airport Park Hyatt.

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9 Rules for Air Travel (This Means You!)

Rude PassengersI travel. A lot! What’s a lot? Well, in the last 8 weeks I’ve been on 20 different airplanes. (And I’m writing this while waiting for a flight now…) And you know what I’m sick of even more than the overpriced airlines and late arrivals? The other passengers.

I’ve developed the following list of rules that people need to follow for the general betterment of mankind when traveling by air. If you violate them, just know that I – and probably everyone else – am cursing you and wishing horrible things upon your bloodline.
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The Best Remote Control Pilots on the Web

Blade R/C HelicopterLast Christmas I got both a remote control helicopter and plane, and I’ve been practicing a lot. So when my buddy Bruce sent me one of these YouTube video clips I realized just how much more practice I need.

The following are some of the finest remote control pilots I’ve seen. I cannot express to you how much dexterity and concentration this takes, because these guys make it look much too easy.
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