Flying with Dale Klapmeier I’m sure Dale Klapmeier needs no introduction here. However (or perhaps ‘And so’) the chance to spend 40 minutes with the co-founder and now ex-CEO of Cirrus Design Corporation is not to be missed. The treat comes to us courtesy of London-based management consultancy ELIXIRR Consulting Limited, whose own founder and CEO, Stephen Newton, is an enthusiastic pilot himself. That, by … Continue reading Airtime
Valuable lesson Everyone should watch the video clip below. Just over half a million people already have, but ‘everyone’ is over 14 thousand times more people than that. Even the world’s piloting community is a more than 500,000 people strong, and they should definitely all watch it. Besides, I’ve watched it three times already so two people are missing out right there. Mustang down In … Continue reading Decisions, decisions
Lessons from the lighter side Let me begin with a mea culpa: I admit, I only started watching the clip below for a bit of a laugh. Don’t get me wrong – I have profound respect for the skill, patience and resilience of the people who build and fly model planes. Especially the resilience: Hundreds of hours on the workbench; tens of seconds on the … Continue reading Hard landing
Italian F-104S It’s been a long while since I indulged my affection for the US ‘Century Series’ fighters, and Kelly Johnson’s superb ‘Zipper’ in particular. Time to address that now, with a long look at the last of the line. F-104 Starfighter: History of a myth This is the English-language release of Aeronautica Militare’s F-104 Starfighter: Storia di un mito. The translation is fairly obvious, but I’d … Continue reading addio, Spillone
F**king f**k! I know you’ve probably seen this clip before (and if you haven’t you’re in for a treat!) but I just couldn’t spend a month celebrating Spitfires and not include it. It never gets old. I’m sure the presenter, noted racing driver Alain de Cadenet, has never forgotten his brush with that high-performance vehicle! It’s fun to note that the Spitfire was climbing by the … Continue reading The inimitable Mr. Hanna
The Arnold AR-5 In August 1992, an ex film-maker from Northern California set the normally studious world of aerodynamics ablaze. It wasn’t just that Mike Arnold had designed and built his own plane in a cramped former restaurant, or that he’d set an official world speed record for aircraft under 300kg (FAI Sub-class C-1a/0) of 343.08 km/h over a 3km straight course. It wasn’t even … Continue reading Why It Goes So Fast
airscape has a long-standing tension with poetry. I like it, but I know a lot of other people like it less. And so I restrain myself. Usually. The following clip is simply too good to miss though. And while the star of the show is undoubtedly the English Electric Lightning, Hawker Hunters and Slingsby Swallow sailplanes also feature. There’s also a wonderful PoV sequence of … Continue reading Write flyers
This is just a short post to tide you over (i.e. buy me extra time) while I research and write some bigger stories I’m working on. I also wanted to bring a great short film to your attention – one that should be required viewing for anyone with an interest in Australia’s aviation history. Big Sky Country Aircraft At Work was part of a Transport in … Continue reading Time Flies
I’m delighted to share a couple of fantastic film clips from 1960s Britain with you. Shot on glowing 35mm Eastmancolor film, the Rank Organisation’s Look At Life series was designed as a lighter replacement for traditional cinema newsreels, as TV gave people easier access to visual news. Flying to work From 1959 to 1969, Look At Life crews roamed the UK (and beyond) documenting lifestyles, … Continue reading Back to looking forward
Feature photo (above) by Ron Kroetz | Flickr.com CC-BY-SD 2.0 The views of aircraft arrivals over (or should that be across?) Maho Beach, Sint Maarten are hardly a revelation anymore. Although they don’t get any less spectacular with time. What is news (for me at least) is this video, which details the arrival of a KLM 747-406M from the cockpit side of things… More … Continue reading Take a closer look
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