Memory Leak » Flying

The open road: 2010 summer trip day 11 & 12

john — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:52:04 +0000

Day 11-12: EAA Airventure, or, the trip’s official “destination”.

If you are just finding this, go here to start at the beginning.

For those that have never been to Airventure, held in Oshkosh, WI, it’s truly a spectacle that warrants a visit even for non-aviation enthusiasts. Anything and everything about general aviation and aircraft construction is there, with a non-stop air show going on in the background. It’s too much to see everything in 2 days, but, that’s the time we had. The following is a brief taste of what I found interesting over the course of 2 days.

B-17G — The Flying Fortress

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/6.3, 1/160sec, 35mm focal L.

and, another B-17

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.2, 1/640sec, 35mm focal L.

This being my third year attending Airventure, I had never taken the ride out to the seaplane base. It was fairly quiet out there, and I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t any “big iron” floating around.

Gorgeous Piper Cub on floats

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/4.5, 1/250sec, 24mm focal L.

The people having the most fun were the ferry boat drivers. On the deadhead trip without passengers, they barely had but a few feet of hull touching the water as they zipped around the lagoon.

Ground transportation at the sea plane base.

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/7.1, 1/200sec, 40mm focal L.

The week prior, Oshkosh received an incredible amount of rain, to the point that most of the airplane camping area was largely empty due to the soggy conditions. The RV campgrounds were more occupied, but, at the detriment to the grounds.

What a mess

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/7.1, 1/160sec, 70mm focal L.

The beast — Note the backwards rotating prop.

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/7.1, 1/125sec, 30mm focal L.

Below is the throttle quadrant to the “Beast”. Pilot humor.

For those not familiar: the prop lever indirectly controls the pitch of the prop, or, how much “bite” the blades take. The flatter the pitch, the higher the engine RPM will be, which results in the highest thrust, but, also the most noise, err, “roar”.

Unleash the full roar!

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/7.1, 1/160sec, 55mm focal L.

DC-3/C-47

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/22.0, 1/13sec, 28mm focal L.

I didn’t get any pictures of it, but, 2010 brought more DC-3′s flying in a loose trailing formation than has probably ever happened since war times. They had a mass arrival of some 30′ish planes that was quite the sight, and sound, to behold.

Duggy, the happy DC-3

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 170mm focal L.

A crazy new winglet design that can save even more fuel than the “traditional” designs.

Crazy winglet design

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/4.0, 1/800sec, 28mm focal L.

SNJ / T-6′s — One of my favorites to see racing in Reno.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 300mm focal L.

Gaggle of T-28 Trojans

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/200sec, 70mm focal L.

Aeroshell T-6 Show

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/400sec, 300mm focal L.

Even though I’ve seen this T6 routine a number of times, it never ceases to capture my attention. You can actually hear the subtle throttle changes called upon each of the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engines as the pilots adjust their position against the lead.

Aeroshell T-6 Show

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/400sec, 300mm focal L.

Aeroshell T-6 Show

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/320sec, 300mm focal L.

Aeroshell T-6 Show

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/400sec, 300mm focal L.

Look Ma, no hands!

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L.

It’s quite easy to remove your hands from the controls of a well trimmed airplane. The elevator has a trim adjustment that is used to reduce/eliminate any input required from the pilot to hold “straight and level” flight. The above photo is interesting in that he’s trimmed for inverted, which is a markedly different setting than trimming for normal flight. Maybe he’s holding the stick between his knees?

However, the picture below is interesting in that by standing up, he’s actually changing the center of gravity (moving it aft), which upsets the trim.

That’s what you call a “well trimmed” airplane

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 300mm focal L.

There’s a saying that the best you can ever do is tie the record for lowest flight altitude. This guy was doing his best to match that record during his routine in the Stearman.

Low altitude routine

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L.

P-51 did a full acro routine

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 300mm focal L.

Douglas DC-7B

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/4.0, 1/1000sec, 35mm focal L.

I can just imagine that travel in the era of pressurized pistons must have made for quite a journey. It’s ~5000 mi range will easily take you non-stop coast to coast, but, it’d be a 7-8 hour journey from New York to LA. Which, really, is cruising right along for a piston plane.

Douglas DC-7B

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/400sec, 28mm focal L.

DC-7 Cockpit — I’m surprised there was no flight engineer’s station.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/30sec, 18mm focal L.

DC-7 Cabin — Look at all that legroom!

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/30sec, 25mm focal L.

Royal Aircraft S.E.5a — Or, as replicated from original drawings.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.0, 1/800sec, 18mm focal L.

The gun and sights are from the Royal above. Clever way to handle the reloading problem.

In flight reloading — Note the track to slide the gun down for changing the magazine.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.0, 1/2000sec, 29mm focal L.

F-16 — Love that paint job. Fresh out of the paint shop.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.0, 1/1000sec, 24mm focal L.

UAV — The future of military aviation.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.0, 1/400sec, 18mm focal L.

Not going to be launching any Maverick Missiles from this tiny platform, but, it certainly makes a nice eye-in-the-sky.

UAV launcher — No runway required. Would make for a sporting recovery, though.

Nikon D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.0, 1/250sec, 18mm focal L.

Take a ride with Martin-Baker — They’ll certainly give you a kick in the butt.

Nikon D70, ISO 200, ƒ/4.8, 1/100sec, 60mm focal L.

Flying circles around the other

Nikon D70, ISO 320, ƒ/6.3, 1/1000sec, 300mm focal L.

Curtis P-40 Warhawk

Nikon D70, ISO 320, ƒ/6.3, 1/1000sec, 300mm focal L., map

Parked for the night.

iPhone

Continue on to the day 13: the start of the burn home.

Oshkosh Trip: Day 8

john — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:48:39 +0000

Second day of Airventure 2009

Today promised to be a good day weather wise. The sun was out, the temps were perfect, the humidity was down — it was just a beautiful show day.

Manly engine — How does 600HP (500HP continuous use) of turbo-charged V8 oomph tickle your fancy?

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/1000sec, 42mm focal L., map

Avro Lancaster — from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Ontario, Canada

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/4.5, 1/800sec, 28mm focal L.

Some info Andrew Mynarski if you re wondering why it’s flying the Canadian flag.

Steady Here — What exactly does that mean? Is that the Brit’s way of saying “don’t go past this line if you want to stay out of the props”?

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/250sec, 92mm focal L.

White Night II

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/320sec, 50mm focal L.

When we arrived the White Night II was just a bustle with activity. Supposedly Sir Branson was there getting a lesson and systems overview so he could participate in the afternoon’s flight.

White Night II — There was a flurry of workers doing all sorts of stuff to it, for some reason…

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/400sec, 28mm focal L.

In the photo above, note the large aluminum I beams that form the tow apparatus. They can’t pull on the nose wheel like normal since each one is so far off centerline.

The area of the wing above the scissor lift is shown in the photo below.

After thought? — I can only hope that these have something to do with connecting to SSII. I can’t think of any other reason they’d be hanging on the outside of the wing like that. Maybe there’s a cover that they are supposed to hide inside of?

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/80sec, 210mm focal L.

Progression

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/200sec, 110mm focal L.

Vortex generators on the tail of the White Night II — With 600MPH aluminized “duct tape” holding them on. Last minute fix for some problem?

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/250sec, 70mm focal L.

Corporate whore

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/640sec, 60mm focal L.

Departing for the mass RV formation flight — More of this to come…

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/250sec, 120mm focal L.

Cessna 195

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/160sec, 28mm focal L.

Mass RV formation — They’re just gett’n warmed up…

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/9.0, 1/250sec, 155mm focal L.

Part gyro copter, part motorcycle — They Butterfly Super Sky Cycle

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/10.0, 1/125sec, 30mm focal L.

Getting it together

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/10.0, 1/100sec, 155mm focal L.

Safari Helicopters — Homebuilt chopper. The one on the right won the Lindy award.

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/10.0, 1/125sec, 28mm focal L.

Dialed in! — Now they’re just showing off…

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/10.0, 1/250sec, 300mm focal L.

Lots of practice to make that happen — They make it look easy to fly 37 planes in formation.

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/6.3, 1/320sec, 300mm focal L.

Turbine DC-3

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/6.3, 1/160sec, 28mm focal L.

Best look’n Albatross I’ve ever seen — Love that paint job.

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/8.0, 1/200sec, 28mm focal L.

Rows of Swifts — This one makes my elbows hurt just look’n at it.

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/11.0, 1/125sec, 110mm focal L.

P-51C

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/11.0, 1/200sec, 28mm focal L.

Venture Model 20 — Tiny little wings, yet 61 knot stall speed and and a scream’n fast cruise.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/7.1, 1/500sec, 155mm focal L.

Predator — Never realized how big they were.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/7.1, 1/400sec, 50mm focal L.

Buisness end of the Predator — why do I feal like, somebody’s watching me?

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/7.1, 1/320sec, 28mm focal L.

Just a small bomb — Also known as a “cookie”

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/7.1, 1/400sec, 28mm focal L.

P-51D ammo feed — Note that every 5th round is incendiary tipped (tracer)

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/500sec, 28mm focal L.

Yours truly — Having a seat in a gorgeous P-51D

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/500sec, 55mm focal L.

Panel of the P-51D — Fairl well equiped and IFR capable.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/5.0, 1/500sec, 28mm focal L.

Rows of P-51Ds — Big frick’n prop that the Rolls-Merlin swings.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/400sec, 65mm focal L.

Rows of Boeing Stearmen

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/640sec, 28mm focal L.

Not a real Zero — But, a pretty good likeness.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/6.3, 1/1250sec, 92mm focal L.

Rows of T6′s / SNJ’s — The T6 category is my favorite at the Reno Air Races — the competition is fierce!

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/200sec, 46mm focal L.

B-25 Mitchell — Can you believe it was found abandoned in Wilmington, DE in 1975

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/80sec, 28mm focal L.

Get your graffiti on

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/400sec, 135mm focal L.

Rows of T-28′s

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/250sec, 42mm focal L.

Double-Decker — Airbus A380

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/200sec, 300mm focal L.

Just a few tires to change — not exactly a shocker that they use Michelin’s…

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/13.0, 1/200sec, 300mm focal L.

Stunt it! — No camera tricks being played here. Note the hard left rudder deflection.

NIKON D70, ISO 400, ƒ/7.1, 1/1000sec, 300mm focal L.

On the binders

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/500sec, 300mm focal L.

Like a sore thumb

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/640sec, 220mm focal L.

Who says choppers can’t do tricks?

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/400sec, 300mm focal L.

Twin Beech Model 18

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/500sec, 300mm focal L.

This was truly an elegant show to watch. Very graceful maneuvers.

Twin Beech Model 18

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 300mm focal L.

Look Ma, no hands!

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/800sec, 300mm focal L.

Arrr! Thar be a treasure that’away

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/500sec, 300mm focal L.

T6 team heads in to show center

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/10.0, 1/400sec, 300mm focal L.

Opposing loops

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L.

The sound is awesome — You can hear the throttle adjustments being made as each pilot works to keep the same speed as their lead.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L.

T-28′s are look’n good — Thus, starts the hour of warbirds.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/640sec, 170mm focal L., map

A Mustang feels for the runway

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/6.3, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

Corsair flyby — All sorts of stuff during the warbird hour.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

Ford Tri-motor — Love the tail-cone on the landing light.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/11.0, 1/125sec, 42mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

Heritage flight — P-51, A-10, F-86

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/11.0, 1/320sec, 155mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

T-28 puts on an aerobatic show

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/9.0, 1/320sec, 300mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

Smoke rings — The T-28 was doing aileron rolls and left these behind.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/640sec, 300mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

And so concludes our time at the show. It went on for another 4 days, but, that was all we’d get to see.

The next day we hit the road and started east.

Oshkosh Trip: Day 7

john — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:45:03 +0000

Opening day of Airventure 2009

I know you’re all hungry to see airplane pics, so, let’s just get to it…

Name that airplane — It’s the plane I shall buy when I win the lottery — the *big* lottery! Seats about 12 (depending on configuration).

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/4.5, 1/800sec, 48mm focal L., map

I wonder if she has to buy her own plane or does Cirrus write it off?

Indeed — Patty Wagstaff does kick ass.

NIKON D70, ISO 200, ƒ/22.0, 1/25sec, 27mm focal L. ~0ft from prev photo, map

Icon dubs this the “jet ski of aircraft”.

The new Icon amphibious 2 seater — with car-like interior.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/200sec, 55mm focal L.

F86 leading L39′s

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/1600sec, 300mm focal L.

Dirty Wing on the DC-3 — All those rivets and bolts add drag.

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/16.0, 1/80sec, 35mm focal L.

I have a thing for flying boats. The Albatross has always been a favorite. This would be the second plane I’d get upon winning the lottery. You know, you need a well stocked hangar to properly support the mission for the day.

Grumman HU-16 Albatross — my other dream airplane

NIKON D70, ISO 320, ƒ/9.0, 1/125sec, 28mm focal L.

Grumman HU-16 Albatross — There’s literally a bed in the nose.

NIKON D70, ISO 250, ƒ/9.0, 1/160sec, 30mm focal L.

Grumman Goose — with turbine conversion — nice!

NIKON D70, ISO 250, ƒ/9.0, 1/200sec, 38mm focal L.

Retractable pontoons on the Goose

NIKON D70, ISO 250, ƒ/9.0, 1/160sec, 28mm focal L.

They aren’t joking about busiest tower. In 2000, I flew in with the Mooney Caravan that is fortunate enough to have an FAA sanctioned group arrival plan. During the arrival, the group “owns” 2 parallel runways (OK, one is actually a taxiway) for a few minutes time; long enough to get 70ish planes landed, two at a time with each group separated ~4 seconds apart. Sounds tricky, but, it’s better than the standard arrival.

The other way to fly in requires following certain land marks in until spotters on the ground call you on the radio a few miles away from the airport and space you out with other traffic doing the same thing. Nearing the runway, a different controller assigns a landing location on the runway and they land 2, sometimes 3 planes at a time on the same runway! They have giant colored “dots” on the runways and you are instructed to land accordingly to keep the traffic flowing. Typically, all this happens without the pilots talking to the controllers — it’s one-way communication to insure the frequency stays open for the controller’s usage. They often ask the plane to rock their wings if they understood the instructions. It’s a well choreographed ballet.

Worlds busiest control tower — At least for that 1 week period

NIKON D70, ISO 1000, ƒ/8.0, 1/200sec, 300mm focal L.

No appearance was made by SpaceShipTwo.

Scaled Composites White Night II makes a fly by — Was Burt on drugs when he designed this?

NIKON D70, ISO 1000, ƒ/8.0, 1/3200sec, 300mm focal L.

This was all we saw of the Thunderbirds. I’m not sure what the deal was or if they were schedule for later in the week.

The back seater appears to be having a blast — what a lucky bastard

NIKON D70, ISO 1000, ƒ/8.0, 1/5000sec, 300mm focal L.

Pull’n Gs — need more zoom for that distance

NIKON D70, ISO 1000, ƒ/8.0, 1/5000sec, 300mm focal L.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/2500sec, 300mm focal L.

This was a bittersweet sight. More info here.

P-51C — “Red Tail” — I’m happy to see this very rare bird flying again. I’m sure Don Hinz would be too.

NIKON D70, ISO 1000, ƒ/8.0, 1/4000sec, 55mm focal L.

This looks like a hoot to fly

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/20.0, 1/400sec, 28mm focal L.

Got 25,000 pounds to hoist up to a remote location or a massive fire to douse? Give these guys a call…

Reborn Sikorsky Skycrane

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/7.1, 1/2000sec, 300mm focal L.

Ungainly contraption

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/2000sec, 55mm focal L.

Just a few T-34′s — The Navy paint schemes are holding a tighter formation than those in Air Force colors.

NIKON D70, ISO 500, ƒ/8.0, 1/800sec, 200mm focal L., map

Unfortunately, the air show was cancelled for the day due to weather and we got rained on riding back to the hotel. First actual rain of the trip.

Contine on to the second day of the show…

Motorcycle riding leads to coding

john — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:15:02 +0000

Got a quick ride in today — 112 miles. Quickly coming up on the 1K mile mark on the odometer.

First time taking the new bike up highway 9. Must have had half a dozen riders signal to warn that the police were up ahead; this part of the ride was none too spirited.

152 from Watsonville over Hecker pass was loads of fun, even if the road was a bit rough in spots. After the left turn northward toward, Uvas road was also very interesting. I truly enjoy the ride up these “hidden” valley roads that most folks don’t realize exist so close to their suburbs.

Click here for the map

Got tired of hand-editing the GPX files to merge the routes. Started to write a sed script to do it for me, but, just had all kinds of trouble trying to get the version of sed that ships with Mac OS X to insert a newline — which a quick search of ‘sed newline’ reveals that perhaps sed doesn’t much like to do this any case. So, scratched some rust off my once budding Python and decided to learn how to do a regular expression with it.

And for the first time with Python, it underwhelmed me. The simplicity of a regex is burdened by the fact that (I only now realized) Python doesn’t have any in-built regex abilities; I just assumed it did, and it would work like Perl. It most certainly does not:

#! /usr/bin/python

import sys
import re

if len(sys.argv) < 3:
  print "usage:"
  print "  gpx.py  "
  sys.exit(1)

f_read  = open(sys.argv[1], 'r')
f_write = open(sys.argv[2], 'w')

for line in f_read:
  p = re.compile('')
  line = p.sub('',line)

  p = re.compile('
  p = re.compile('
  p = re.compile('.*')
  line = p.sub('',line)
  p = re.compile('\n')
  [line,count] = p.subn('',line)
  print "Removed", count," points from the track"
  f_write.write(line)
f_read.close()
f_write.close()
sys.exit(0)

Which does the following:

Removes all waypoints from the file.
Adds newlines in front of some key xml tags which makes it trivial to merge multiple tracks together using a text editor
Removes the timestamp from each track data point
Removes any data point that are near my house

All simple stuff, but tedious to do on the XML source file that has no line feeds as generated from the Garmin Nuvi GPS.

With the munged GPX file, this is uploaded to the very handy GPSVisualizer.com site that dumps the track into the map you see above.

FAA Medical

john — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:13:31 +0000

I was worried about this go around of my FAA Medical because of the following new things that came up since my last visit to the AME 3 years ago:

Diagnosed with a benign heart arrhythmia — atrial premature contractions (APCs)
Started on blood pressure meds since the last medical
Also started on cholesterol meds too

I thought the first one was going to be the kicker (it wasn’t). The process wasn’t as bad as I had thought with much help from reading all that AOPA had to say about the subject. Here’s some tips that I learned…

Starting new meds and ‘the letter’: The FAA and your AME are going to look carefully at all new medications you start since your last exam. You’ll need an open letter from your normal doctor to your AME that says, amongst other things: what condition you have been diagnosed with, what the treatment is including meds and dosages, your response to the treatment, side effects, and a statement of limitations (or lack there of). AOPA has a good article with details on what the letter needs to say, but I found it much too verbose to give to my doctor. I’d suggest summarizing it down to short bullet points so your doctor doesn’t miss something important when writing it.

Have copies of test results: Whenever your doctor performs any test (blood, EKG, etc), make sure you get a copy of the results and/or interpretations and show them to your AME. If you are being treated for something ongoing (i.e. my BP and cholesterol meds), then schedule your AME visit to coincide shortly after a routine check-up with your doctor. Use this check-up to get your letter and also make sure your doctor orders any tests to confirm the lack of side effects and/or positive control of the condition. Your AME will likely need these recent (< 60 days old) test results for a passing exam.

In my case, I’m on a diuretic BP medicine which commonly causes potassium depletion as a side effect. My doctor claimed this version is potassium neutral, but this was insufficient for the AME and he required a test to prove it. Curiously, the AME would not order the test or arrange for me to get it through his office (I presume because he was not the treating doctor). Fortunately, all I had to do was call my doctor’s office and I was approved over the phone without too much hesitation. A quick visit to the laboratory office and 24 hours later I was able to get the results to my AME. And, time was indeed of critical importance …

Your AME has 10 days to complete the medical: If you don’t have all the results your AME requires, the FAA only allows 10 days from the exam date to complete the process. After that, the it must go to Oklahoma City as “incomplete” and you get scrutinized by the bureaucrats there. I’m told this takes a couple of months in the best case!

Use AOPA’s resources: The AOPA has detailed information about all of the meds and conditions that people are typically diagnosed with and what extra steps are likely to be required because of. It’s a great resource, but, I found it to be very conservative (overly pessimistic) in some areas …

About that arrhythmia: It was diagnosed 2.5 years ago. AOPA claimed it would likely require dealing directly with the FAA and jumping through their hoops. I had all the test results from the cardiologist that diagnosed it as benign. I didn’t, however, have the good sense to ask him to put this statement in writing as an open letter to my AME and when I recently asked him to do so (I even provided him a sample letter of the basic facts), he outright refused because I had no follow-up visits since then. There was no reason to — he told me it was benign! Fortunately, the arrhythmia only happens during exercize and does not show up on a resting EKG, which I was able to provide to my AME from the recent check-up. My AME wasn’t at all concerned about it; a total non-event.

After delivering the missing test result, I walked away with a third-class medical in hand.

Flying with an infant

john — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:30:12 +0000

We’ve taken baby Maia up for half a dozen flights now and each time we figure out new things. We use 2 forms of hearing protection:

Mack’s Kids Size ear plugs – These soft silicone ear plugs are worn over the ear opening, but don’t actually go inside the ear canal like adult ear plugs do. They claim to offer 22dB of noise reduction. To hold them in place, we use the neoprene Ear Band-It (purple band in the pic), around her head.
AO Safety Peltor Junior Earmuffs – tiny infant sized earmuffs then go over the top of the Ear Band-It to offer a bit more noise reduction. These are also rated at 22dB.

The combined result provides more than sufficient hearing protection for the relatively loud environment in the plane. She doesn’t seem to mind all the head gear at all. Here’s Maia at 5 months old.

The first couple of flights were troubling and Maia was quite fussy during some of the departures. We’ve found that maintaining shallow climb and descent profiles helps tremendously; maintaining rates of 500 fpm or less allows for trouble free altitude changes of 10K ft without any tears being shed. It also helps greatly if she is suckling on a bottle or pacifier. Additionally, as obvious as this may sound, don’t forget about all the other basic infant needs — most of the time we had a fussy flight, it could be traced to something simple like a pooey diaper.

One nice thing about air travel is once leveled off at sufficient altitude, we don’t have any hesitation (or legal issue) about taking her out of the restraints while in smooth air. That helps tremendously on long flights after she awakes from a snooze and wants to play. So far, our longest leg traveled was 3 hours and she took it all in stride. It’s hard to tell, but, I think she does get frustrated not being able to hear our voices. When she’s a bit bigger, we’ll get her a proper headset so she can hear us talking.

If you have any other tips, or found this helpful, please leave a comment.

Let’s go to San Diego

john — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:22:37 +0000

Saturday we made a quick flight down to Paso Robles for our third attempt to eat at Matthews at the Airport (our first attempt was a turn back due to screaming baby, and our second attempt was a turn back due to generator failure). We’d heard such good things about the restaurant and that it’s anything but a typical $100 hamburger joint. Indeed it is everything people speak of. We stumbled in at noon and still managed to get breakfast. They really have “redefined french toast”, as a fellow flier in the area remarked, stuffing it with raisins, walnuts, apples, and mascarpone cheese. The mushroom risotto frittata was savory delicious with a side of rosemary potatoes. They even brought a bowl of sliced banana for the kiddo to gum on.

As we finished our coffee after eating, we jokingly toyed, “hey, the weather’s beautiful, let’s just toodle on down to San Diego for the weekend! We can pick up any necessities we need when we get there …” My aunt and uncle snow bird there for the winter, and we’ve yet to ever visit them, so, what better time than now? Several phone calls later we had a rental car arranged for the weekend ($23 from Hertz!). The place to stay took a few more calls since it turned out there was a big Chargers game on Sunday.

For dinner, we ate at our favorite sushi place, Sushi Deli 2 on Broadway. After visiting my relatives, we arrived around 8:30 and were told it would be about a half-hour wait. We finally got a table at closing time, just before 10. Sushi Deli is becoming a love/hate restaurant for me. Unless you go early, or on a week night, it’s just miserable to get in. But, where else can two people waddle away from ala-carte sushi ordering, including rounds of sake and Saporro and only rack up a $52 tab? It’s a mandatory stop for us when we make it to town.

The next mandatory stop is breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. Another place that you need to go early or on a weekday. Of course, we didn’t get the early start we optimistically talked of the night before and there was another “half-hour wait” to get in. However, they’ve opened a new venue just a block away called the Tractor Room with a similar menu and, in our case, no waiting — which was just enough incentive to try it out. The Tractor Room, for those that haven’t ventured to it yet, utilizes a hunter’s theme from the antler chandelier, to the wild game dishes on the menu. It has the unmistakable sibling characteristics of Hash House, but it is much more subdued with dark lighting, a quieter atmosphere, and generally seems to cater to the more “uppity-up” crowd. I’d estimate the menu is $2-4 more per plate. The food is equally good, although the raspberry, macadamia nut pancake was much too big and would benefit from a less starchy flour like buckwheat or whole oat flour. The bottom line is that Hash House is better, but the Tractor Room is a reasonable alternative if there is no wait to get in.

Next stop was to finally tour the USS Midway. Since none of the trip was planned, I didn’t have my camera* and there are a number of things I’d comment on if only I had a photo to go with it. As it turns out, 3 hours wasn’t nearly enough time to see the whole thing, so we’ll be back again. Compared to the USS Hornet in Alameda, Midway is generally in much better condition. Of course, San Diego with its active military community compared to (parts of) the Bay Area’s anti-military community, it is no surprise that Midway generates considerably more attendance revenue to fund the endless maintenance and brightwork.

While we were on deck of Midway, we rather accidentally found ourselves in prime viewing location for a mock battle between ships from a century long gone. While they only fired empty charges at each other, they still made quite the concussive thump that startled many and reverberated off the buildings. It was good fun to watch, and I’m sure it was even better on deck. (update: h/t to Lex for the link which made me realize this wasn’t exactly a regular weekend event on the bay).

Maia slept for most of the flight back and the conclusion of our unplanned weekend. I never would have thought such would be possible before we had kids and I think it just goes to show that life with kids is just what you make of it. You can choose to use them as an excuse to be tied down, and in fairness there are babies that just don’t travel well at all, but, I think most people just don’t live spontaneously enough.

*Please pardon my usage of the cell-phone camera pictures above. I abhor the quality and promise not to make a habit of it.

Upgrading to a solid-state voltage regulator

john — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:37:14 +0000

My 1967 Mooney M20F had the original style voltage regulator with vibrating points that opened and closed the field circuit in order to provide a relatively constant generator output voltage. This 50+ year old technology leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to performing the job of voltage regulation. Not only was the regulation poor, but the set-point seamed like it constantly needed adjustment.

There’s really 2 solutions to this problem: 1) remove the generator system completely and install an alternator. Or 2) replace the regulator with a solid-state unit.

Since the first option requires different mounting brackets, engine baffle modifications, re-wiring, new circuit breakers, FAA approvals, yadda yadda … it’s never been a modification that I’ve been highly motivated to take on. After all, there’s really nothing inherently wrong with a generator — it does a fine job of translating kinetic energy into electric potential when controlled appropriately.
So, I ordered up a Zeftronics G1500N Generator Controller Unit (50 Amp GCU). It is a PMA replacement part for most airplanes from the generator era, and as such only requires a log book entry to install (i.e. no FAA 337 Field Approval required). Installation is nothing more than remove the old one and bolt the new one in place — as a direct replacement part, it’s the same form-factor right down to the bolt pattern and wire locations. After some simple checks, it was time to fire it up and see how it performed.

I was quite surprised what an improvement it made in regulation stability. Even at relatively low RPM, the voltage is held at a constant 14.1 volts. At normal engine RPM’s, turning on full electrical load only causes a 0.1 to 0.2 V drop while the old regulator would easily allow 0.5 V or more drop. I’m quite pleased.

Cost: $140 and ~1 hour install time.
Installed 9/10/2006 @ 5071 hours. At the same time, the generator was also replaced.

Mooney Homecoming

john — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:49:31 +0000

My Dad and I flew to Kerrville, Texas, home of Mooney Aircraft and they host an annual homecoming event that draws people from all over the world — 2 guys actually flew their Mooney in from Switzerland!

We made 1 fuel stop in Show Low, AZ, which is a wonderful regional airport with cheep fuel ($3.20). Total flight time was <8 hours — we had a solid 30 kt tail wind for almost half the flight.

Kerrville is located in the “hill country” of Texas. There’s the old adage that, “everything is bigger in Texas,” and I’d have to agree in most cases. Take, for example, their convenience stores: they are drive through. And not like McDonalds with a small window. No, you actually drive inside the building because it is, after all, so terribly inconvenient having to walk into the store for a beer run. Much easier to look sober just sitting in your idling car while your beer is brought to you and placed on the passenger seat for easy access during the drive home. But I digress. They missed the mark in their slogan the moment they called the area “hill country”. I don’t care what you call this area, the state is FLAT.*[1] Hills or not, the hospitality here is fantastic. People are just friendly and I actually find “Y’all” to be rather endearing — it’s that southern blood in me, what can I say?

The convention was quite interesting. Got all the gouge about why the Mooney CEO, Gretchen Jahn, “left” expectantly. Hmmm, promised delivery of the new Acclaim at AirVenture in Osh Kosh by the end of Sept, 2006 — oops — missed that one. The flight tests are not done. The engine certification isn’t ready and rumor says several months away. And on top of all of that, they built about a dozen airframes that are all just sitting around waiting for the above to be finished, tying up all thier capital resources. Yes folks, she indeed was fired.

The other highlight of the convention was meeting Brian Shul — photographer, author, ohh, and he used to fly the SR-71. It’s only the fastest air breathing jet in the world, even to this day. Not shabby for being designed and built with slide-rule technology in the early 60′s over a period of 18 months! During its 35 years of service, over 4000 missiles have tried and failed to inflict damage upon it. The plane generated a double sonic boom, one from the nose and one from the engine spikes. Ronald Reagan used this feature as a political tool to remind his enemies that we were watching them. He once order the Blackbird to do figure 8′s over a communist summit in North Korea, rattling their windows every 13 minutes of the meeting! I could go on. Brian was truly a delightful guest speaker that had as much to say about living life to its fullest as he did about all things flying.

The flight back was interesting. Dad’s Garmin 496 saved the day and we were able to pick our way through the build-ups without any major excitement. The XM weather down link is the only reason we made it home in one day. A head wind the entire way made for a long day — 9.5 hours of flight time with a stop at Ryan Field, in Tuscon. We did, however, get clearance through Edwards AFB restricted area and flew directly over the top of the base. I should have snapped some photos, but, I was too busy looking.

*[1] On the return trip back, just east of El Paso, I did note some peaks that fully qualified as hills and even a few features that could be called mountains. I now affirm that the VAST MAJORITY of state is flat.