Category Archives: Flying

October 17, 2023 · 23:13

You Can’t Take A Bad Picture Here – October 17th

Up at the point end of the plane there are generally two seats. The left one is a fantastic place to be any time. Sometimes you have a moment to take in the view and take a picture. (When it’s safe to do so, of course.)

This is at the north end of the San Fernando Valley, with the 405 Freeway on the left going to the center of the picture over the Newhall Pass into the Santa Clarita Valley beyond. Probably at about 2,000′. Not sure of the details, it was thirteen-plus years ago.

That’s the only thing wrong with this picture. It’s been way, WAY too damn long since I’ve had a chance to take another one like it.

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October 10, 2023 · 23:10

Random Old Photos – October 10th

What are you passionate about? What really, really makes it all worthwhile?

Sure, romantic passion is likely to be high on the list for most of us, whether we have it or not, but that’s not all. What else?

Can you list five things? Ten? Travel? Music? Books? Sports? Flying?

Do you have those things in your life? A smidgen? A bunch? None at all?

Why not? Are you working on getting more? Are you just going to settle on doing without?

Why?

What are you passionate about?

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Flying, Photography, Weather

September 28, 2023 · 23:39

SWA3514 SAN To SFO

Sunset tonight, off the coast of Ventura, approaching Santa Barbara, heading northwest at 38,000 feet.

Southwest Airlines 737-7H4, registration N221WN, at 435 knots from San Diego to San Francisco. (ID from FlightRadar 24 app)

I might not be travelling enough. By an order of magnitude or more.

“A rut is just a grave with the ends knocked out.” I have no idea who said that, but I remember it from when I was about 12 or 13.

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September 6, 2023 · 23:05

You Can’t Take A Bad Picture Here – August 37th

Thirty-seven thousand feet is a pretty great place to be taking pictures.

Sometimes, if you’re prepared and really, really lucky, you can see truly amazing things.

I absolutely do NOT understand how folks can fly with the window shade shut all of the time.

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September 4, 2023 · 23:26

Wandering Star

The word “planet” comes from the Greek word for “wanderer” and indicated that the “star” in question wasn’t fixed, but instead moved relative to the other stars.

In our western, sunset sky we often see bright planets. Search this site for “conjunction” or “Venus” and you’ll find plenty of pictures. So I wasn’t surprised to go out the front door the other day and see something bright just above the horizon.

See it? Just to the right of the batch of palm trees, between the mountain (Castle Peak) and the lowest cable? Here’s a close up.

Not bright enough to be Venus. And wait… Venus is in the morning sky, not the evening sky. Jupiter might be that bright in the sunset sky, but it rises around midnight these days.

So what is it?

Well, around here, the way to check for the next most likely object is to wait a minute. Is it “wandering” toward the horizon as the planet rotates, or is it “wandering” in the wrong direction and a bit faster than anything ever seen by the Greeks?

Right. It’s moving too slow to be the ISS (although the direction fits) but shortly after this picture was taken it got close enough overhead to see the other green and red navigation lights.

The new LED navigation and landing lights are really bright. When I first saw him he was probably out to the west of the 23 Freeway, near the edge of this image or even somewhere off to the left, just climbing out of CMA.

Wandering, yes. A star, no.

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Filed under Astronomy, Flying, Photography, Sunsets

July 8, 2023 · 23:49

July 4th Condor Squadron

On July 4th we had nice weather and the day off work, so before the local bombardment started (and, for the record, it’s still going on out there tonight, four freakin’ days later!) I had opportunities to get out the big camera and lens and take pictures of hummingbirds and lizards. Then, just before sunset, I heard the unmistakable sound of a group of Texans.

No, not the citizens of that US state between New Mexico and Louisiana. The WW2 training aircraft!

While scrambling to grab the camera and get outside I missed their first pass overhead, but they’re often on training flights over us so I figured they would loop back over. They did! With smoke on, so they were performing for someone!

To my delight, they then came back right overhead for a third pass, still in the diamond formation.

And a fourth pass!! This time in trail. And then it was off to the northeast, back toward their home at Van Nuys Airport.

I can only assume that someone paid them to put on a show for their party somewhere in the neighborhood nearby. There were a number of big parties going on and I don’t know who hired them, but we all enjoyed the show.

Gotta love that “sound of round” from those big old radial engines!

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June 23, 2023 · 23:37

Not A Comet

Sunset. Clear skies. A white dagger moving slowly toward the horizon.

Not a comet. A jet headed out to sea over Ventura County. High and fast.

Destination Hawaii was my first guess. Going to Asia, Tokyo or Shanghai or Seoul, they would be heading north or northwest, up the coast toward Alaska on a great circle route. Headed out to sea in this direction there’s a LOT of nothing except Hawaii unless you’re going to Singapore or Australia.

The dot is another jet, this one headed south down the coast from Asia into LAX. There’s a whole stream of them, 24/7/365.

(Image: Flightradar24)

As expected. Have fun, folks!

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June 3, 2023 · 22:55

Staggerwing

It’s a Beech 17 to be exact, but they’re referred to as Staggerwings. A bi-plane with a negative bias in the alignment of the wings, which improved the stability quite a bit near stall speeds. A stunningly gorgeous plane.

It made a couple of passes over our house today, giving me time to grab the camera as it took off back towards Van Nuys Airport.

Image credit: FlightRadar24

I suspect that this is the aircraft that used to be owned by Clay Lacy. The current aircraft registration shows a different owner, which doesn’t surprise me, given Clay’s age.

There are only about 200 of these aircraft left flying, and there’s only one dark red one out at Van Nuys that I’m aware of. It was out at Camarillo a couple of times when I was a regular at the CAF hangar there and I think I’ve got some close-up pictures of it. I’m surprised I haven’t posted them here already, but that can be fixed.

 

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May 15, 2023 · 23:47

Random Old Photos – May 15th

From a 2000 airshow at Point Mugu.

The resolution on my early digital point-and-shoot camera was small. So were my kids.

This was a few years before I joined the CAF myself, but a lot of the warbirds look familiar.

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March 11, 2023 · 23:45

Scud Running

If you’re a pilot, you’ll be familiar with the term “scud running.” In more formal terms, it means trying to squeeze between low clouds (scud) and the ground or minimum altitude restrictions. (That “hard deck” they’re always talking about in “Top Gun?” It’s that.) One’s often flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) where you’re not necessarily talking to Air Traffic Control (ATC). One might not be rated for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). One might not want to be bothered with all of the paperwork and control and planning involved in IFR flight and want to stay in the “easier” VFR flight rules.

In more snarky terms, it means “maintaining visual contact with the ground while avoiding physical contact with it.” To be legal in most controlled airspace you need to be 500 feet away from the clouds and 1,200 feet above the ground (depending on what airspace you’re in) with three miles of visibility. But if you can get into Class G (uncontrolled) airspace it’s 500 feet from the clouds and one mile of visibility. So if you get down low and can squeeze between those hills and mountains and the ground and that lowering cloud deck…

This is dangerous. Often VERY dangerous. Legal? Probably. Sometimes. Maybe. -ish.

Lots of things can go very wrong very fast. There are more and more things like cell towers, power lines, wind turbine towers, and buildings out there to make something very hard and very bad to fly into. At such a low altitude, if anything goes wrong (like engine problems) you have very little room for error or maneuvering. Scud is often found near the edges of thunderstorms and that can mean downdrafts that just reach out and slap you out of the sky. The clouds can close in and leave you in IFR conditions, blind, close to the ground, and in a world of hurt.

Got the picture?

The same thing happens in life. You take a “small” chance and get away with it. You know better, but it’s convenient and you just need to bend the rules a little bit, not really break them. Then the next time it’s easier to do it again. And the next time you bend the rules just a little bit more. You keep getting away with it. Again, and again, and…

…and then things go pear-shaped and sideways and you’re seriously up the creek.

I think this is basically the overall story arc of “Breaking Bad.”

Admire the scud in the sunset. Avoid the scud running in a plane or in everyday life.

Just something to think about.

 

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Filed under Flying, Photography, Sunsets, Weather