The Future is Upon Us and I Was Wrong about It

For those who have been to busy with life to take notice there has been a modest yet significant milestone in history recently.  Burt Rutan and company did the first glide test of the Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic commercial suborbital spacecraft. 

At first I quasi-ignored it until I saw the footage of it take off and land. I was still smarting from the President's cancellation of NASA'a Constellation program.  But then I watched the attached four minute Youtube video of the event and I realized something about the Virgin Galactic vehicle.  It hit me just how much it looked like the 'futuristic' space vehicles of 1950s-1990s science fiction.  It really is a sight to behold.  Even the takeoff in that purposed built mother ship looked like an episode of Thunderbirds or UFO or Buck Rogers.  For those who recall Walt Disney's Man in Space episode the landing is eerily similar. ( I have attached that Youtube video as well; the landing scene is at the 3:30 minute point).

Not long ago I did a post that blasted the administration for canning the Constellation program and effectively leaving us without a domestic manned space flight ability.  While I still feel it is a mistake to deny ourselves local access to manned lift, I have since come to learn that the Constellation program had way to many issues and was not the right path.  That aside I also made the following commentary:

But my real sense of loss is for the young stargazers.  I grew up in the era of Apollo and watched the moon walks on TV.  Later generations had the Shuttle (STS) to hang their collective nation pride on.  Many of us pursued aerospace careers with fantasies about being astronauts fueling our dreams.  Kids growing up now will have no such kindling to fire their imaginations.  Without a new crop of 'space cadets', America will likely lose her grand place as a true space faring nation.  It could not happen at a worse time.  With regional hegemons like China just getting their programs ramped up and Russia selling seats to anyone who needs lift, we have picked a curious time to just 'up and surrender' the lead.

But when I see that ship glide in from an azure blue sky and lightly touchdown on a runway, kissing the ground with the grace of a ballerina and throwing nothing away in the process; when I see grown men in macho flight suits hop out with smiles on their faces that would shame a kid on Christmas morning, pearly white grins that could blind a Gila Monster, I realize something important.  I was wrong.  I was looking backwards. I am so in love with the dream that NASA promised but was never able to fulfill, the dream of space exploration and the common man in space.

I also compare the swan like arrival of this painfully sexy ship to the ungainly flop of the parachuteborne capsules.  I finally get it.  The future is not the return to throw away rockets.  That is what the Russians do (and do well) but it is not the future, it is making do with relics of the past.  The future is touching down on a New Mexico runway and saying "Here I am, come and get me".

I realize this is a puddle jump compared to NASA's accomplishments but with the government focused on more earthly issues this is very likely the future of manned spaceflight in America (and it really is a beautiful ship ta'boot).  We are back at a doorstep we were at 50 years ago and this tme without the political pressures to make the impossible possible and to drag tomorrow into today.  This time we can proceed at an economically viable pace.  Now that is something today's young stargazers and space cadets can get excited about.  They can get a historical 'do over' with the experience and 20-20 hindsight and half of a century of experience.  Combine that with modern technology and the natural human desire to peek over the next horizon and the sky in NOT the limit.

I am pretty sure Burt Rutan will be to civilian space flight what Werner Von Braun was to NASA.

This video is 4 minutes long and I encourage you to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjDhE_65_Fo&feature=sub

Then compare it to this Disney episode!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVD11FE3oQ&feature=related

"To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.".......Plutarch

Different Issues for Different Pilot Groups

There are different issues for different kinds of flying.  I have a few basic observations here about the habits various pilot groups.

Private pilots:
Make excuses to wife why flying there is a better idea (on smooth days only).
Start an excuse start with 'It wouldn't be safe'.
Call every FBO enroute to get prices on avgas.
Attend FAA seminars and ask about their mistakes by saying 'I heard about a guy....'
Tell friends how they can fly them there for 'gas money'.
Tell stories of their misdeeds with the opening 'I heard about a guy....'
Wear WW2 bomber jackets and look very cool in sunglasses.

Corporate pilots:
Look very cool in sunglasses.
Always blame ATC.
Keep the plane spotlessly clean.
Pack a Speedo.
Check their hair in mirror.
Look very cool in sunglasses.

Airline pilots:
Make sure their tie is straight and shirt is tucked in.
Never piss off the flight attendant who makes their coffee.
Take the smoothest altitude as there are often fragile old people in the back.
Ask for PIREPs because one report is worth 1,000 forecasts.
Take Febreeze since they plan to use the same uniform on a 4 day trip,
Shave the night before because nothing hurts their image like paper bits on their face.
Put 5% of their pay in furlough fund.
Look very cool in sunglasses.

US Army Pilots: 
Fly below 50 feet and near obstacles.
Locate dangerous areas.
Deploy troops or kill bad guys in dangerous areas.
Curse bitterly when bad guys shoot at their expensive helicopter.
Flyout on a different route wearing a flak vest but no parachute.
Look very cool in sunglasses.

US Air Force Rules: 
Look very cool in sunglasses while having a cocktail.
Adjust temperature on the air-conditioner at the Hilton or Marriott.
See what's on HBO (hopefully Top Gun).
Ask 'What is a dogfight?'
Request more funding from Congress with a 'killer' Power Point presentation.
Wine & dine ''key' Congressmen, invite DOD & defense industry executives.
Hurry to make 13:45 tee-time.
Make sure the base is as far as possible from the conflict but close enough to have tax exemption.
Use a pilot in New Mexico, flying a drone 10,000 miles away over Iraq, to drop bombs on bad guys 200 yards from the Army.
Look very cool in sunglasses.


US Navy Pilots: 
Go to Sea.
Drink Coffee.
Fly MIGCAP while deploying the Marines.
Bomb bad guys who get close to Marines.
Trap on carrier then drink coffee
Watch 'Top Gun'.
Lament the retirement of the F-14.
Watch 'Top Gun' again.
Look very cool in sunglasses while drinking more coffee.

Marine Pilots:
Bomb bad guys who get even closer to Marines.
Steal spare parts from the Navy.
Work out.
Rag on Navy for thier 'purdy white uniforms'.
Work out again.
Cheer the retirement of the F-14.
Work out more while Looking very cool in sunglasses. 

Coast Guard pilots:
Go out in weather that got others in trouble.
Find those others in trouble and fish them out.
Try to find their way back to land while looking very cool in sunglasses.

Ag Pilots (Crop Dusters):
Apply chemicals on what is hopefully the right field
Try not to hit anything.
Look very cool in sunglasses while sweating through their clothes.

CFIs (instructor pilots):
Cannot afford sunglasses

Student Pilots:
Are prohibited from wearing sunglasses or even trying to look cool until successful completion of checkride.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front!

I flew four revenue airline legs full of passengers on 9-11-10, one of them into New York (actually it was White Plains-Westchester county about 20 miles northwest of the city, but it is New York!).  Yes, the mighty Nine-Eleven did not even slow down business in the aviation trade. In fact it was quite brisk.

What does this tell us? That Americans are resilient, hard to scare and dare I actually say.....going on with their lives without these terrorist cretans in the front of our minds?  Yeah, pretty much. America has done a fair job of putting the islamo-fascists on their heels.  It is a might harder to export terror when you are afraid to come out of your cave for fear of a Predator drone 'lighting you up'. It also helps that any moron who jumps up with a box opener or tries to breach the cockpit door is likely to get his head handed to him (I am not being metaphorical here).

All in all, it was a quiet day on the east coast of America.  Good weather prevailed and I even had a cordial chat with the Cuban air traffic controllers on the Cancun round trip out of Ft. Lauderdale (it takes us through Cuban airspace over the Gulf of Mexico).  In fact three of my four flights were international.  Nassau - Ft. Lauderdale - Cancun - Ft. Lauderdale - White Plains, NY or in airline parlance:

NAS-FLL, FLL-CUN, CUN-FLL, FLL-HPN.

The next morning we had the Oh-dark-thirty departure. The sun was just cresting the horizon as we taxied out and I was able to get a beautiful shot of the sunrise over Jamaica Bay and JFK as we climbed out towards Orlando. 

New York City was still alseep this early on a Sunday morning. Sleeping safe and sound under the blanket of security provided by countless people both in and out of uniform.  Sharp, dedicated people who stay alert and stand ready to what deeds may be required of them in the name of a common cause. Freedom.  Thanks to them, and all who support them, it was all quiet on the eastern front.

The Baltimore Whore

The Martin B-26 Marauder was a built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Martin-Marietta). Due to the early models' small wings, the Marauder had to be flown by exact airspeeds, particularly on final approach and when one engine was out. The 150mph speed on short final was intimidating to pilots of the era. Until crews were re-trained and aerodynamic modifications were made (primarily an increase of wing span and a larger fin and rudder) it earned some very colorful nicknames;: "Widowmaker", "The Flying Coffin" and perhaps its best known "The Flying Prostitute" (so-named because it had "no visible means of support," referring to its small wings). The "Baltimore Whore" (a reference to where it was built) was another beauty.

The first B-26 was flown in November of 1940. Deliveries to the U.S. Army Air Corps began in February, 1941. The B-26 was a fast aircraft with better performance than the contemporary medium bombers but its relatively small wing area resulted in its unprecedented landing speed. The B-26s suffered hard landings and damaged landing gears, engine mounts, props and even fuselage damage. Improper weight distribution was a problem as well. The 'short coupled bomber was very particular about weight and balance. But a weak strut lock system was also to blame for the landing gear failures.

Another Bug-a-boo was the Curtiss electric prop. If it failed the prop would stick in its current pitch and the engine could over speed it for that setting. A blade disintegration could result.

The B-26 was not an aircraft for novices but due to the wartime need to train many pilots quickly, a number of relatively inexperienced pilots got into the cockpit and the accident rate increased accordingly.

By 1942, pilots in training believed that the Marauder could not be flown single-engine, especially during take-off,  but this was disproved by experienced pilots (One of whom was none other than Jimmy Doolittle). Regardless, the regularity of crashes by pilots training in Tampa at McDill Field (as much as one every other day for a while) led to the catchphrase, "One a day in Tampa Bay". Over a dozen B-26s ditched in Tampa Bay in less than a year and a half (this number does not reflect over land losses).

FLAK BAIT at the NASM

There was a pay-off however. The B-26 is said to have had the lowest combat loss rate of any U.S. aircraft used during the war.   In fact, the record of missions flown by a U.S. bomber is held by a B-26 named (ironically), FLAK BAIT!  The forward section of this aircraft currently resides in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Nevertheless, it remained a challenging aircraft to fly and continued to be unpopular with some pilots throughout its military career. By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 100,000 sorties and had been used by British, French and South African forces in addition to U.S. units. When B-26 production halted in 1945 over 5,200 had been built.

A wonderfully restored training film on the B-26 is available on Youtube at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSIsoj1QPAc&feature=channel

Now What?

With no manned space program,
what will future space kids in
America look to for inspiration?

With President Obama's effective death sentence on any future American manned space launch platform I, like many others, am given to wonder abouth the future of Americans in space.  Are we to be paying passengers of Russia's Energia company for the remaining life of the ISS (international space station)?

Although I do fear a loss in the technological edge for America I also see this as a narrow opportunity.  Currently there are several private companies funding low cost spaceflight.  Space X's Falcon rocket, Virgin Galactic's suborbital tour ship and Armadillo Aerospace are showing progress as long as the money keeps flowing but only one of these is a truly American project.  Others are in the works but these three seem to be leading the pack.

But my real sense of loss is for the young stargazers.  I grew up in the era of Apollo and watched the moon walks on TV.  Later generations had the Shuttle (STS) to hang their collective nation pride on.  Many of us pursued aerospace careers with fantasies about being astronauts fueling our dreams.  Kids growing up now will have no such kindling to fire their imaginations.  Without a new crop 'space cadets', America will likely loose her grand place as a true spacefaring nation.  It could not happen at a worse time.  With regional hegemons like China just getting their programs ramped up and Russia selling seats to anyuone who needs lift, we have picked a curious time to just 'up and surrender' the lead.

As Vice -president Johnson once lamented, we may yet go to sleep by the light of a communist moon. All the 'been there, done that' bravado will not mean squat when China and Russia are busy dominating manned space and all we can do is toss up tourists on a 15 minute suborbital flight in a British owned thrill ride. If we as a nation allow this to happen, we deserve to look at the night sky and feel second rate.

The salvation, if it comes, will be at the hands of private business.  The up side of this is that they will be free of government meddling and will be able to go where they are needed.  The military will rise to whatever threat is presented by foreign dominance in manned space but we will need to make our civilian programs commercially viable.  Lunar exploration for Helium 3 is a personal favorite of mine (Helium 3 is used in clean fusion).  But it will still take truckloads of cash to make it happen.  If American industry has the sack to make it happen, then we may yet realize out rightful place as the world's leader in technology, space faring and clean energy.  It is our place, do you hear me OUR PLACE; OUR'S! We are holding it in our hands as I write this, unless we let it slip away.

The Much Maligned C-133 Cargomaster

In 1956 Douglas Aircraft debuted their new "do-all" transport plane. The C-133 Cargomaster. With its shiny new turbine engines it was a radical departure from the old radial engine C-54s and C-124s. It was big and long and could carry anything from an Atlas missile to artillery pieces. If you could squeeze the door shut, you could fly. All was right with the universe...until.

Looking like a stretched C-130 the plane had what at first seems to be a common cargo plane layout, but that is when looked at with modern eyes. It was the first straight tail plane to have aft clamshell doors that sat low to the ground so that cargo could easily roll on/off. The wings are actually above the fuselage and the main landing gears are in pods on the outside of it making the entire body of the plane a void space (critical for moving the ICBMs of the era). The turbine engines let it fly in pressurized comfort above much of the weather and at much improved speeds. So what was the problem with Douglas's new gem?

Unlike most new planes there was no prototype phase for this plane. There was some test flying but essentially to speed up deliveries the USAF took them right off the drawing board. To get the plane light enough designers used thinner gauge aluminum. The only turbine engine available had to run at a constant speed which meant prop controllers were constantly moving to keep up with power demands. The plane was around less than two years when the first one crashed.

It would later be learned that the plane stalled with no warning, the tail could get blanked out by the airflow. One wing stalled before the other resulting in a violent roll. A simple stall strip solved the problem. Also, it could ice up and stall and in one case (the last crash) the thin aluminum gave up the fight and there was a decompression. Some were lost mid ocean with no ability to research the cause. Metal fatigue, stall and prop/engine failure are the usual suspects.

Despite impressive load hauling abilities, many people were scared to fly in them. The accident rate was higher than the C-130, but the Hercules could not carry the same payloads. The plane was retired in 1971 after 10 of the 50 built had crashed. One continued to operate in Alaska until 2008 and the crew stand by it. It is arguable that a normal prototype phase may have uncovered some of the mysteries that claimed the lives of 61 men.

The Smithsonian Air & Space magazine just published a wonderfully detailed article in the Sept. 2010 issue.

The World's Best Pilot

Ask most pilots who is the world's best pilot and they will look in a miiror and grin. Press the subject and you will often get a list of pilots they respect.  The usual famous names will top the list, Lindberg, Yeager, Crossfield, Von Richtofen, Bong, Gabreski, McConnell, Olds or Rickenbacker.  The occassional astronaut makes the list as well. This is to be expected as these men are all famous names within aviation.  But ask the same question around an airshow crowd and you may get names like Hoover, Loudenslager, Scholl or even Gaffeny or Skelton.  Ask the same question on a duster strip and some may say Vencil or Burnett. Ask around Hollywood and you may hear Mantz, Tallman or Scholl (again).  Ask an old school airline pilot and you may hear Musick, Buck, Haynes or Sullenberger. And of course Jimmy Doolittle could be on any of those lists. So where does that leave us?

The short story is that the world's best pilot is a unicorn.  A mythical beast that has not existed since aviation has had more than one pilot.  Why do I draw this conclusion? Simple.  Every type of aviation has its own set of requirements that are unique to its function.  All pilots are expected to be technically savvy and able to complete the mission. But what does that entail?

For the airline pilot it is mastery of the highest certificate, the ATP, along with certain soft skills such as CRM and fuel management.  Also being able to read the tea leaves and know when to divert or just how much creedence to give an unusual situation.  Primarily it is simply to move the plane on time.  It is an industry that does not really allow a pilot to stand out of the crowd unless the situation becomes critical.  It takes exaclty one bad decision to kill people (KLM/PAN AM crash at Tennerife). The KLM pilot had a flawless record right up until he decided to take off without proper clearance.  That crash is all he will be remembered for.

The military heroes have usually been fighter pilots.  The dashing figure of the lone gunslinger doing mano-y- mano combat dates back to WW1.  The reality is that the best fighter pilot kills his enemy from behind without warning or mercy.  That's the job. The Red Baron and his mentor Oswald Boelcke obeyed this dicta and it worked well for them.  French ace Rene Fonck was known for superior marksmanship.  American ace Frank Luke for reckless aggressiveness.  So is the best pilot the bravest, the quickest on the controls, the smartest or the best shot? And what about those who had those talents but never saw combat?

An all but overlooked group are the ag pilots, crop dusters.  They fly within feet of the ground and countless obstacles in heavily laden planes at low airspeed.  They do this all day long during the seasons. It is as much a test of stamina as it is piloting prowess.

Then there are the airshow performers and Hollywood stunt pilots. The stunts and routines they perform are nothing short of eye popping yet some of them are not even instrument rated.  But every year somebody invents a new manuver and the old show is passe.  Then of course there are the demstration teams that have to do it all in formation.  Which is harder, doing it in an F-16 at high speed or a Stearman with little power reserve?

Then we have carrier pilots. But there are alot of carrier qualified pilots and we are looking for the best pilot.  That means one, numero uno and we have not even talked about helicopter pilots, balloonists, sailplane pilots, flight instructors etc, etc.

So if you have not guessed by now, the greatest pilot is a myth.  You might be able to quantify the greatest fighter pilot by numeric total.   Richtofen and Erich Hartman because they had the most kills of their respective wars, but one must also take into account for the quality of the adversary.  You can talk about the best test pilot by looking at how many planes he successfully tested without loss.  Crossfield and Yeager usually top the list but by Yeager's own admission that is largely due to their being in the right place at the right time. The list goes on but here are my choices.

Best test pilots of all time: The Wright brothers
Best fighter pilot: Canadian Billy Bishop
Best pioneer pilot: Charles Lindbergh
Best race/engineer pilot: Jimmy Doolittle
Best Bomber pilot: Guy Gibb, RAF
Best dive bomber/attack pilot: Hans Ulrich Rudel
Best recon pilot: Unknown due to secrecy
Best cargo pilot: Anyone who survived flying the hump.
Best interceptor pilot: Rex T. Barber (Yamamoto mission)
Best creative pilot in the field: Phil Cochran
Best airline pilot: Robert Buck
Best jet fighter pilot: Joe McConnell
Best Stunt pilot (Hollywood): Paul Mantz
Best lunar/space pilot: Neil Armstrong
Best Airshow pilot: Bob Hoover
Best aerobatic pilot: Art Scholl
Best airship pilot: Hugo Eckener
Best gas balloonist: Joe Kittinger

Best current pilot.......where's my mirror?