Flyboy

I would love to do that

Love that game

Here's some more footage of airplanes flying. Sadly this must have been the next day after we were there as the winds were pretty bad on Saturday. Check out how they are hand spinning the props to start them!

Someone took a video of this (probably flew the day after we were there). It is a full scale replica of a Santos Dumont Demoiselle airplane. This was the first airplane bought by and flown by Rolland Garros (WW1's "first fighter pilot") around 1909, with which he taught himself how to fly and used in for air races and traveling "flying circus" shows across Europe and America prior to WW1. The original used wing warping for roll control, but on the RC version there are two very small servo ailerons in the upper wing that you can just barely make out. It's amazing how these early pioneers of aviation put their lives at severe risk in these early days. Many died horribly and Garros himself crashed several times but survived. There were no seat belts early on because the early aviators thought it was better to be thrown clear of the crash so they wouldn't be burned in the fire. However, the risk of no seat belt was coming to a sudden and being thrown into the spinning propeller! Garros later was the first to try the machine gun that was synchronized to shoot through the propeller which he successfully used to shoot down enemy airplanes. Shortly after developing, (weeks or a month?) he had engine problems and had to land behind enemy lines. He tried to set fire to the airplane but the German soldiers put it out and they captured the technology. He spent nearly three years as a POW before escaping. When he got back he insisted on rejoining his combat unit (imagine how the airplanes, technology and flying had drastically changed in those three years!). After only a few weeks he was shot down and killed about a month before the end of the war.

That Demoiselle (third to last pic) was actually a full sized RC airplane. The Demoiselle was the first airplane bought by Rolland Garros and the one he learned to fly in (1909). I just read a biography on him called “The First Fighter Pilot” and highly recommend. A lot of history on the events leading up to the war including the early pre war flying days. The last pic was a guy who makes and sells authentic WW1 flight controls for home PC sims. The D7 that has Julie on the top wing was significantly larger than the other D7’s that were there. I couldn’t find the pilot or staff to ask about it. Seemed unusually large.

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Very fun time today. Lots of planes and even more RC planes. Winds were a little strong and mostly crosswind so a lot of the pilots were hesitant to take their birds up. A few flew around the pattern in the morning but mostly RC airplanes in the afternoon. Got to talk to a couple of the pilots also.

Schedule of activities and airplanes now up. We are going Friday and will post pics. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/WWI-Dawn-Patrol/

There was a guy at CVG a couple years ago that was in a hurry and didn’t wait for a longer interphone cord, then tripped and got run over by 747 nose tire during pushback. Lost both his legs but survived.

Or someone taking off with the gear pins still in. Has happened at my company and other airlines before.

I’m pretty sure I signed up and should be able to make it at least the first two Saturday’s with the third a maybe.

I should be able to do the first two saturdays with the third one 50/50. Is this similar to the Bloody April with the cold engines and 15 min timeout when killed?

Hawg is bringing his wife and father also from Puerto Rico. We should be able to arrange a tour at the Wilmington facility (about 45 min or less from the museum) which would include getting into a B-767 airplane and simulator. If we are really lucky we might even get to fly the sim a few minutes but it is usually booked pretty solid and if it happened would prob be in between sim sessions or during a break. Just need to get an idea of who would be interested.

This is coming up Oct 7-8. We've talked about a 30 year anniversary meetup so how perfect would this be? http://ohio.org/festivals-and-events/events/dawn-patrol-rendezvous-wwi-fly-in

Thank you everyone for a great event! It was my first time commanding and was a bit overwhelming at times, especially trying to listen to both J30 on Teamspeak and everyone else on Discord, but we managed and I thought everyone worked well together. Got out to a bit of a slow start at first as I was having trouble locating enough bomber pilots. I put J5_Daedallus in command of 8 pilots for the interceptors/defense. The rest of us finally were able to get up into 3 Gotha's with J30 and NobiWan as escorts. Unfortunately in my haste I neglected to deslect a bomb load and have my power up in the airstart spawn, so I started to lose control of the aircraft. I dropped my bombs and recovered but lost 1,000 meters altitude. I managed to catch up some and regain some of my altitude but never got to be in close formation as intended. It actually worked out ok as it split some of the attackers. Kaiser got wounded and Maus had some damage, but we were able to trip the target goal and we all were able to make it back. I've attached the Tacview I was able to record on this one. I am also attaching my ops plans for the missions we ended up doing. After all of us were able to land successfully and get our point, we switched to the DFW's with the intention of hitting the Arty North target. We met up with our escort and hit our initial waypoint ok, but after crossing the mud we ran into heavy flak. Maus got a direct hit and was destroyed, so knowing there was no way we were going to be able to finish the mission with only two bombers in the time left we head south to get their balloon cluster. We ran into some serious resistance but were able to knock down three balloons and score our second point. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to overcome Entente's 4 point win but everyone did well, had fun and I especially learned a lot. Thank you all again and hope we can do it again soon! dogfight.2022-08-13_13-48-25_00.acmi Strat Bomb 1.pdf Arty Bomb North DFW.pdf

Excited

He said link cable

My friend Hawg wanted me to pass this on to anyone with an Oculus. He was getting super frustrated with a limited play time due to the Oculus not charging while playing and having to wait several hours to recharge. He said this fixes that problem. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TN25765/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_dl_TNA2W9VF0Y033WVMDNJZ_1?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

That’s crazy

This was hanging in my flt doc’s office and has been passed after retirement on to my current doc I’ve been seeing for over 10 years. My doc has helped many ppl get or keep their medical (including me when I had issues years ago with kidney stones). I’ve heard horror stories about other flight docs though so like I said it’s important to research who you go to.

I have known others who thought this but were surprised when they finally went in and were able to get their medical. Never assume! The worst thing that can happen is they say no, but even worse is not to ever know if they might say yes and you miss the opportunity. The key here is to go to the right flight doc. Some of them don't care, so you have to find the right doc who will work with you and has real experience working with the FAA. These docs are also usually recreational pilots themselves with a love for flying. If you are interested, we could PM and we can discuss this further. I could probably help you find a doc like this in your area through the sources I might have (union, pilot forums, etc.). 28 is certainly not to old to start!!!! I've known people 10 years older than you start from nothing and change to a pilot career. Plus, did you know that the Air Force is now waiving the pilot training age from 28 to 32 (one of our new pilots just got accepted to the AZ National Guard for KC-135 training who told me this)? They don't think it's too old. Look at it this way - lets say it takes you six years before you land at your final "major" airline (training, building hours, etc) and now you're 35. That means if you go to 65 you have 30 year career worth several million dollars! So no, you are definitely not too late. The key is to get going and get in now while the opportunities abound.

I just flew with an FO over a week ago who completed his training in about six months down in Tampa area while working. He spent 70k to do it, but now his first year pay is 70k and he'll easily double that in the next few years so good return on investment. Another FO about a month ago spent a year to get his ratings while paying for it and working (he is six feet eleven and gave up a possible NBA career to do what he's always wanted to do). Like like Ludwig said, now there are opportunities to have other people pay for your training also.

In this industry, things can change dramatically overnight. I've seen it swing both ways in this industry. Right before 9-11 there was a huge hiring boon and several people at my company left for United, Delta, etc only to find themselves out on the street a few months later. Not to be discouraging, but to encourage others who want to get in to do it soon but also have a backup career/skills you can fall back on if things go bad. There is a competition and good times for pilots today, but that won't always be there. I thought this was good advice given by a guy on one of the pilot forums: "I have been around the flying business long enough to see it go boom-bust-boom with a long period of blaaaaah interspersed in there when the retirement age was raised from 60 to 65. I have generally made my career decisions by asking myself the question, "Do I want to be there if the music stops?" Because the next bust is coming. The music always stops, but nobody knows when it might happen. Nobody foresaw the late 90s hiring boom going bust at the end of 2001. Nobody made their career plans based on five years of stagnation due to few retirements and minimal hiring. We may already be in a recession. Where will you be on the day it's officially called? Will you be happy in that seat if you're in it for several years?"