It's New Year's Eve!

Let's put down serious talk about flight, reminiscing and everything else and play a few games. I've embedded a fun little game gadget at the bottom of the blog, and here are a few links to other online flying games.

Airfox Squadron Angel A quick fun game of Helicopter, A site for Many free flying games A site to Demo games before purchase and this site is good for kids of all ages. Enjoy!

Onwards & Upwards!

Rob Bremmer

Flying and the Presidential Bullet-Proof Podium

The airshow, the DC-9, a ramp helper, the Secret Service and President Bush's bullet-proof podium - or how I helped save some Secret Service guy's job - or at least prevent a reprimand!

Not all stories of interest occur in the cockpit. I realize now, thinking back from the position of a pilot sitting at a computer in a 40-year snowstorm, to an interesting period of mini-history which occurred in a warm sunny place, about two decades ago.

You wouldn't expect all of these elements to come together in one place, yet in the late 80's in San Diego, it happened. The Soviet Union was over. It was the end of the Reagan era and President -to-be, Bush-the-first was campaigning. Some Admiral thought it would be great to have a huge airshow and to invite the world, and have it at Brown field in San Diego. And what a success it was! AN-124's, the Concorde, and a variety of other very unusual aircraft, all the subject of other stories yet to be told.

This story, as promised, is about one very heavy bullet proof podium. I know it was heavy because I helped lift it. The airshow was ending and one of the final speakers was the vice president and soon-to-be president, campaigning away with a typical entourage. I got into the airshow for free because I volunteered to help guide people and drive a golf cart, doing whatever was required. They used us lowly flight instructors because they knew at least we would have the common sense not to walk into a propeller and probably enough common sense to prevent the average attendee from doing the same.

Bush finished speaking, and was hustled off the podium into a waiting black limo, which immediately moved towards the row of idling aircraft, followed by a host of boxy black cars and vans. I watched from the back, enjoying the view from my golf cart seat, as one, then a second plane in the entourage took off, and a third began to taxi.

At that moment, several very distraught looking gentlemen, very fit, and running, with black jackets and ties and sunglasses came towards me. One flashed a badge. "We need your help!" he panted (I am not making this up - somewhere is a retired SS agent who might verify all this). He pointed to a box that looked like a funny shaped coffin. "That's the vice president's bullet proof podium, and it was supposed to be on the plane!"

"Which plane?" I asked.

"That one!" and he pointed to the second jet taking off, wheels going up into the wells and heading east. It needs to be there for his next appearance!"
Another agent spoke up, pointing to the taxiing third aircraft. "We need to get it on the press plane, he said. "Come on, let's go!"

A moment later, the agents had the encased podium on the back of the golf cart and two of us sat in the front, one on the back and one jogging along side, we headed towards the press plane on the taxi way.

"Hurry!" the one stated, but I did not have a radio to the tower or ground control.

"We can't just get too close to that plane, we have to contact the tower, I told them, and one of them spoke into some radio and about a minute later the DC-9 stopped, and the rear air stair dropped open and down came the first officer. And that is where it got really interesting, and a little surreal.

The agents told the first officer of the need to get the podium on board, and he pointed out they had no loading ramp, but he thought they could get it into a baggage space near the right engine nacelle. He opened that panel, and we tried lifting it in. I can tell you, one athletic CFI, and three agents struggled with that sucker, it was heavy. The helpful first officer suggested "someone skinny" climb into the baggage compartment and pull while the others pushed. I was the skinniest. All eyes turned to me.

We positioned the golf cart so I could stand on it and jump into the cargo bay, and there I was, jet engine whining over my head, pulling on the VP's bullet proof podium while the Secret Service pushed, and it dawned on me if this thing angled over and tipped onto me, there I'd be, trapped in the howling belly of a DC-9 while the press in the compartment overhead wondered about the delay.

Finally we got the box into position and I squirmed out. There was a quick round of hand-shakes and smiles, and I tell you, those Secret Service guys sure looked relieved. The first officer disappeared back into the plane, up went the stairs, and a minute or two later, they were wheels-up heading east, chasing the first two jets.

Since I never read anything about it I assume it all worked out well. I also assume that's not the regular way to load a bullet proof presidential podium onto a plane!

Onwards & Upwards!
Rob Bremmer

Environmentally Friendly Airplanes are Better than Cars!

Small aircraft can be greener, more eco-friendly and sustainable than cars! Here’s the argument for the case.
Just out of curiosity, why don’t more environmentalists support flying? Especially flying small general aviation planes. Think about it. A four seat aircraft weighs less than a four seat car and less materials are used. An aircraft going from point A to B will get there faster, therefore the engine and systems run for less time than a car over the same distance. While we are on point A and B, a car travels a squiggly circuitous route to get from A to B while a plane can fly relatively straight, so the plane travels less distance to get there. Airplanes travel in three dimensions while a car travels in two, so aircraft can distribute congestion over altitude. Let’s compare fuel consumption over the trip and see how that works out. We’ll compare and contrast a car and a plane over two distances, 100 miles and 1000 miles.
Plane:
Miles traveled : 100 1000
Speed: 120mph 120mph
Time traveled: 50min (.833h) 8h30min (8.5h)
Fuel consumption @ 6gph: 5gal 50 gal

Car:
Miles traveled : 100 1000
Speed: 65mph 65mph
Time traveled: 1h32min (1.53h) 15h20min (15.38h)
Fuel consumption @ 20mpg: 5gal 50 gal


As you can see, the fuel consumption is the same yet the time traveled is much less for the aircraft. There are other benefits too; including wear and tear on the two vehicles, which will be less for the aircraft over the same distance. There is just less friction in play to wear down the aircraft than there is friction wearing down the ground vehicle.
Now the naysayers can quibble over all this. Some will say the fuel consumption is off, and will create a scenario to prove that. Others will say the cost of production is off, or there are fewer landing places which is true, but this is more a factor of aircraft design and zoning rather than anything else. Yet any argument the naysayers construct will be dwarfed by the one, elephant-sized issue, always overlooked, which is in the favor of the aircraft; the car needs 1,000 miles of highway built and maintained while the airplane needs only 1 mile for the same 1,000 mile flight, with a half mile for take-off and a half mile for the landing.
Let’s just say, conservatively, that it costs $10,000 dollars per mile of runway or finished highway. So our mile of runway costs $10,000 while the highway would cost $10,000,000. And this does not even include the environmental destruction which occurs with those extra 999 miles of highway!

So why aren’t more people flying and saving time and the environment? That’s a good question! In today’s environment; costs, legal, cultural and bureaucratic blocks, thwart progress and growth, but the good news is none of these are insurmountable.
If you love aviation and you care about the environment, we ought to start advancing discussion on this and similar arguments. It is possible, with design enhancements within existing technology to make aircraft more flexible for use. Zoning changes can make airports more practical to build and maintain. Improved aircraft design using known technology and design can improve aircraft performance for airport operations. Training changes can make pilot proficiency better, marketing can increase the value of general aviation in the public eye and political strength can help fight for better utilization of general aviation. If you are interested, you can help start the dialog needed to begin making the changes.

onwards and upwards!
Rob Bremmer

How to make aerial photos from the window of an airliner even better

This is a response to the comments posted earlier. It seems there is a lot of interest in this subject! Besides setting a low ASA, (which reduces the graininess) you want to get the best f stop at the highest shutter speed. I find any shutter speed ove 250th of a second guarantees I'll get rid of any vibrations (higher speeds are better in turbulence) and then I set the f stop for the smallest aperture possible without driving the shutter speed lower. As for focus, my camera, a mid - level Canon digital SLR style camera, will usually work fine on auto focus, but if it does not I set it to manual and set it to infinity.Hopefully the sun angle is low, like you would get from sunrise to around 10 am or 3 pm to sunset. The lower the angle, the more dramatic the shot as their will be more color possibilities and better contrast from shadow detail. Alas, we cannot always choose our flight for the sun angle!Your goal is to get the target image in or near the center of the image, with no parts of the airplane in sight. Try to shoot through clear sections of class if your window is smudgy, and if it is smudgy on the inside, you may be able to clean it a bit with a blanket or cloth. Yet capturing the image i just half the story. Think of it as capturing the 'raw data.' When you bring the image up on you computer, it will typically have a bluish sheen from reflectivity and shooting through the Plexiglas. If the details on the ground are strong enough you can significantly or even completely 'tune out' this image problem by increasing the brightness and contrast in even the most basic photo editor. The Google Picasa editor (free download) can do this for you, or you can use the Microsoft Photo edit suite, which I also use. The three areas I usually use to tweak a photo and dial out the glare are contrast, brightness and color temperature. Sometimes I sharpen the image with focus, if necessary. I hope that helps! If anyone gets an interesting shot they would like to share, email me at rob.bremmer@gmail.com and I'll post your photo and give you photo credits.

onwards and upwards!
Rob Bremmer

Aerial photos of an active Volcano

Aerials on a Friday afternoon in summer are good ~ Aerials of an active volcano are better!
Part of the fun of taking aerial photographs is introducing a friend to the fun of it. Recently I flew a friend around Mt. St. Helens. These photos were taken by Michael R, his first aerial photos, taken from a C-172 open window. The contrast was increased slightly and brightness decreased slightly in Photo edit suite.
The flight was an hour and a half round trip, with 25 minutes lingering on-station, circling the remnant mountain top. The most dramatic images were shooting towards the sun with the dark foreground and colorful background and shooting east, with the wall of the crater illuminated by the setting sun and revealing the mineral complexities on it's slope, along with some ash and sheets of ice. There was no turbulence during the flight, which made for a more stable shooting platform.

onwards and upwards!

Rob Bremmer

How to make aerial photos from the window of an airliner 'more better.'
This is a response to the comments posted earlier. It seems there is a lot of interest in this subject! Besides setting a low ASA, (which reduces the graininess) you want to get the best f stop at the highest shutter speed. I find any shutter speed over 250th of a second guarantees I'll get rid of any vibrations (higher speeds are better in turbulence) and then I set the f stop for the smallest aperture possible without driving the shutter speed lower. As for focus, my camera, a mid - level Canon digital SLR style camera, will usually work fine on auto focus, but if it does not I set it to manual and set it to infinity.Hopefully the sun angle is low, like you would get from sunrise to around 10 am or 3 pm to sunset. The lower the angle, the more dramatic the shot as their will be more color possibilities and better contrast from shadow detail. Alas, we cannot always choose our flight for the sun angle!Your goal is to get the target image in or near the center of the image, with no parts of the airplane in sight. Try to shoot through clear sections of class if your window is smudgy, and if it is smudgy on the inside, you may be able to clean it a bit with a blanket or cloth. Yet capturing the image i just half the story. Think of it as capturing the 'raw data.' When you bring the image up on you computer, it will typically have a bluish sheen from reflectivity and shooting through the Plexiglas. If the details on the ground are strong enough you can significantly or even completley 'tune out' this image problem by increasing the brightness and contrast in even the most basic photo editor. The Google Picasa editor (free download) can do this for you, or you can use the Microsoft Photo edit suite, which I also use. The three ares I usually use to tweak a photo and dial out the glare are contrast, brightness and color temperature. Sometimes I sharpen the image with focus, if necessary. I hope that helps! If anyone gets an interesting shot they would like to share, email me at rob.bremmer@gmail.com and I'll post your photo an give you photo credits. I hope ths helps those who are interested.
onwards and upwards!
Rob Bremmer

Crater Lake - Aerial photos from airliner window seat

You might think you need a small plane or a big budget to take interesting aerial photographs but that isn't true! Photos taken from the seat of any airliner, with a little planning, can yield spectacular results.
These photos of Crater Lake were taken from a right-side passenger window seat in front of the wing of a Horizon Air RJ Regional Jet on a flight from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. It does require a little planning ahead to capture such shots, for example, having a window seat is very helpful, and a clean window is important too! You also want to sit in front of the wing, as far in front as possible to maximize opportunities to see the ground. Behind the wing can be interesting, but the wing will limit your view forward and if the aircraft has wing mounted engines the thrust and exhaust gases will distort the air, ruining a clean view of any object on the ground. Sitting over the wing renders ground shots useless, but interesting cloud shots can still be obtained!

Any digital camera will work, but the better ones allow you to set a lower ASA number and maximize the quality of the photo in terms of photo size which equates to more megabytes per image. A zoom lens is helpful but not necessary. Sometimes a wide angle will give more interesting shots encompassing sky and land, yet a telephoto, while allowing the appearance of closeups, can highlight haze in the atmosphere and is more inclined to pick up shaky vibrations which blur the shot.

Don't conserve shots! Shoot like crazy; it's digital, so after the opportunity has passed by the window, you can edit away the weaker images. Remember you are traveling at over 200 miles per hour so when you see look as far ahead of the plane as you can and when you see something that looks interesting get your camera ready and start taking pictures!

I could mention that while I was taking these images I was being served complimentary chilled northwest micro-brews, a unique and classy service on the last remaining civilized airline in the United States, but that would be an entirely different story!

onwards and upwards!

Rob Bremmer

Please take the SURVEY about flying

I've added a small survey to uncover the predominant reason people don't fly as much as they could.Please take the survey, and check back later for the results.

onward and upward!
~ rob bremmer

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now!"

As the old song suggests, the visual beauty of clouds may be appreciated from the top looking down as well as the more traditional bottom looking up. This post is in honor of John Day, a physicist who recently passed away, and spent his life studying clouds and promoting cloud watching. I feel certain he would have enjoyed flying, leaning out an open airplane window and taking photographs of clouds from the top to compliment the view from the ground.

I only just learned of Dr. Day and his work recently. He studied clouds, wrote about clouds and cloud physics, turned cloud photos into art and even got the US Postal service to put one of his cloud photos on a postage stamp.

Knowing this I am convinced I would have enjoyed talking to the man and I believe he would have enjoyed discussing and comparing images and stories about clouds. As a pilot, I've always watched clouds and whenever possible, taken photos from an airliner window as well as open cockpit and open window small planes. Clouds can be just as fascinating when viewed from the top looking down, as they can be from the bottom looking up!

The three photos here are my favorite cloud images recently shot. The orange mammatus cloud shapes were at Sunriver after a thunderstorm. The striation lines of clouds cast interesting shadows over the Bitterroot mountain range while flying east, and Mount Hood makes an early summer roadblock for a mid-level line of stratus, forced to curve around the shape of the mountain.

You can view Dr. Day's images and read more about him and his work on his website, at www.cloudman.com.

onwards and upwards,

Rob Bremmer

An American Pilot flying on the 4th of July

7-4-08
America is unique in many ways and certainly one of the most special and precious is the freedom to fly. As I think back over the years of flying aircraft I can recall a few flights taken on the 4th of July and I can recall the surge of feeling which arises when flying and seeing fireworks displays. One memory stands clearer than all the others.
It was the mid 1980’s and I was flying from San Diego north through the LA basin. The plane was a Grumman Tiger, an AA-5B, an aircraft with exceptional visibility through the bubble windscreen and the side windows, despite the low wing which often can block a view. The day was warm and the departure from Gillespie field was just after sunset, which put us inside the Los Angeles basin well after dark. We were flying low and wide, to skirt the Class B Airspace (A TCA to those of you who flew with the older designations). Flying under the shoulder of a controlled airspace is best accomplished by charting a distant landmark and a nearer landmark that create a line clear of the controlled area, So that you can keep your eyes outside the cockpit and just concentrate on holding your altitude and enjoying the view as you stay on track on your courseline.
This technique frees you to keep a maximum lookout for other traffic, which is easier to see at night than in the daytime since you need only look for anti-collision, landing, and navigational lights. This also means your eyes are drawn quickly to assess moving lights, and on this evening, with clear nighttime air, fireworks displays popped out in stark contrast to the black hills to the east of the valley.
The effect of seeing the displays all around us, in front, to the rear quadrants and to the sides both near and far was inspirational. My passenger and I were Americans, flying an aircraft on our own, in free and clear skies and seeing the celebration of that national freedom surrounding us with dazzling and sparkling displays of lights, bursting and shimmering like rapidly blooming and fading flowers of brilliant light.
Soon we were through the valley and on into the darkness of the terrain enroute to San Luis Obispo. The radio chatter was nearly gone and the sights to look at were nearly non-existent, so much so we were using the instruments as much as outside reference to aid our VFR flight into the black night. Above us the stars filled the sky and my only thought for a while was the good fortune I held as pilot controlling an aircraft in flight.
The instrument panel glowed with a warm red light and the white wings caught the alternating flash of the anti-collision light from the top of the vertical stabilizer. A deep breath in and a long gentle exhale while I soaked in the scene around me. My wish was that others might be able to feel the sense of incredible satisfaction, joy and a calm resolute peace which comes at such a moment, a moment I am certain occurs more often for pilots than anyone else on earth.

onward & upwards!

r. bremmer

SunRiver - Flying and Nature

What could be better than a Jet, a Biplane, a Soarplane and a river with a blue canoe, all one summer day? (Summer 2007)

We are in a canoe, a blue canoe, and paddling slowly down the Deschutes, along the right bank, following the current. We are in a natural areas of astonishing beauty. Riders on horseback kick up puffs of dust along a riverside trail. Overhead, a red and white Travelair, with “Bi-plane Rides” stenciled beneath the bottom wing purrs along the river, the unmistakable sound of the rotary engine thock-thocking into the distance. A few lazy paddle strokes and we watch the now-distant biplane enter a steep bank and turn back, descending for a landing, the site seeing flight over. The Bi-plane disappears behind the low trees towards the airport. A few more lazy paddle strokes and a Cessna Citation, approaching from the north on a descent for the airport whistle –hums along, quietly for a jet, and very very smooth. It’s fuselage glistens and the sun catches the shining leading edge of the wing. It too disappears behind the trees. We stop and admire a flowering plant along the marshline, purple and white on a thick stalk. The sky is cobalt blue and the river is clear and translucent, a blue so dark it is nearly black. A dragonfly zips by. I angle the canoe away from the eddy and push towards the main current flowing around the bend.
Overhead a high performance soarplane appears, white long winged and slender, whistling through the wind. The soarplane is low, very low yet also very fast. They are playing with energy, storing it in airspeed for a conversion into altitude. They whistle over the footbridge, so close you could touch them, you think, though they are probably over 100 feet above us. We in our slow moving canoe, they in their speeding soarplane, a contrast in vehicles and ways to move. They hit an invisible marker at the tall pine tree and pull up steeply, slowing, airspeed dwindling while altitude gains. They tip back to level by dropping the nose and they are suddenly at pattern altitude, lazily floating along at 50 mile per hour, a thousand feet higher overhead. The high performance craft seems alive, shimmering with energy from the wind and the sun, dancing a balance between gravity, lift, thrust and drag. Approaching the pattern entry point, the soarplane abruptly pulls up, converting airspeed energy into altitude energy. Now at pattern altitude, perhaps 300 feet higher and significantly slower, the soarplane meanders out of site behind the treeline, established on downwind for their pattern and landing.
I take another paddle stroke, realigning the canoe with the Deschutes current and marvel at how aviation and a wilderness river area can fit so well together. At SunRiver, the airport is a harmonious and integrated component. It provides an open area where in winter coyotes hunt mice beneath the snow in the fields around the airport and in summer deer and horses roam the same fields. The airport provides an alternative transportation source to the area, an income source for some businesses directly and indirectly, if customers who land then spend money off the airport at a restaurant or other establishment.
Soon the airport and pattern area disappear from sight, and my mind drifts with the current and the canoe, and the simple joys of a river on a sunny summer day. Today it is the slow route on the river, discovering what may be around the next bend. It’s not too different from flights taken where the discoveries are beyond the next ridgeline or over the mountain range on the horizon.
Our natural environment is awe inspiring, and SunRiver is one of those rare places where different ways to explore and come to understand our environment all come together in one location. Nature attracted me to flying, the opportunity to be immersed in the environment enjoy it moment by moment. Some of my best inspiration arose while flying and SunRiver is the type of place where pilots and those who simply love to fly and experience the outdoors can spend time relaxing and remembering why they became involved in flying and exploring the great outdoors.

onwards & upwards!
r bremmer

rob.bremmer@gmail.com