Aviation Video: F-16 Dead Stick Landing
The most amazing thing I’ve seen this week was via Jetwhine: this amazing video of an F-16 landing dead stick with an engine out.Jetwhine writes:

For those of you who may not be familiar with a Head Up Display used in the F-16, the pilot essentially views the information while still being able to look out the cockpit. The airspeed is the tape along the left side in hundreds of knots, while the altitude unwinds on the right side tape.

24 Hour Air Traffic Around the World Blows Minds, Eyeballs
Not surprising that the US and Europe are the hotspots but it’s interesting to actually see the big circle:

Here’s a video displaying all commercial air traffic in the world during a 24-hour period. Seriously, I’m moving to New York City tomorrow and seeing the flight density in this computer simulation scares me a bit. Thankfully, it’s a big planet with plenty of space to fly. But then, pilot friends tell me that sometimes they get close enough to wave at each other, so maybe it’s not as big as to accommodate the 7.4 billion passengers that will travel by air in 2020.

The Pitch/Power Debate: It’s the Trim, Stupid
The House of Rapp pitches in rather powerfully on a popular discussion:

I’ve never understood the dogmatic attitudes you’ll find among some pilots on this issue, although I’ve definitely seen those vociferous arguments out in the real world.

You can’t say it’s JUST power which determines altitude, because let’s face it, some aircraft don’t even have engines. And those aircraft happen to fly higher than aircraft which do have engines.

Good Captain / Bad Captain Revisited
Sam from Blogging at FL250 wrote Good Captain Bad Captain from the right seat. A few years later, he considers his point of view now that he’s in the left seat:

Having been in the left seat for about 300 hours, I can say that it’s a quite different experience than I thought it’d be when I was an FO.

BBC News: Pilot completes jetpack challenge
Fusionman crosses the English Channel with a jetpack:

The 49-year-old flew on a plane to more than 8,200ft (2,500m), ignited jets on a wing on his back, and jumped out.

Mr Rossy had hoped to reach speeds of 125mph. It felt “great, really great.”

Cockpit Chronicles: Flying around Hanna and Ike
Meanwhile, Kent Wien of Gadling is routing around hurricanes:

I couldn’t believe my timing. A four-day trip to the Caribbean with Hurricanes Hanna and Ike scheduled to be right in our way for almost every leg.

Monstrous Aviation: World’s Biggest Airplanes
I’m not sure monstrous is the word I’d use but it’s an interesting round-up nevertheless:

Talking about big planes is very much like talking about who should get the credit for man’s first flight - it all depends on who you talk to. As the brilliant James Burke has pointed out, inventors rarely create something from nothing - their successes are often the result of combining the partial successes, or learning from the downright failures, of other inventors. In some cases, it’s just pure dumb luck.

Cliff taxied the plane over to the pumps and I hopped out to get us some fuel.

“I’ll get out in a moment,” Cliff said. “I just want to put our route into the GPS first.”

“No problem.”

I walked over to the tiny booth behind the pumps and tapped at the door. A pale round face peered out at me.

“Hi,” I grinned. “We radio’d to say we needed some fuel?”

He chewed his bottom lip and then nodded. “How are you going to pay?”

I paused for a quarter second and he started listing the payment methods they would accept.

“Credit card,” I interjected quickly.

“We only take VISA and Mastercard,” he said with a frown.

“VISA is fine.”

“OK,” he said and finally came out of the hut. “We don’t take American Express though.”

I presumed he’d had a bad experience with a previous client. I nodded in what I hoped was a reassuring manner.

He put on a large pair of goggles and walked over to the tanks. Then he stopped and stared at the plane. I scuttled over to him.

He nodded at Cliff. “The pilot will need to disembark,” he said, distaste dripping from every word. “I can not start until he exits the plane.”

I nodded and walked to the plane to tap in the window. Cliff climbed out of the plane and then watched as the man reset the pumps. He glanced around to make sure no one was near the plane and then hooked the earth wire to the front before wandering back to the pumps to pulling the hose out.

“Could have finished by now,” muttered Cliff.

One last look around to make sure everyone was in position and finally he was ready to offer us fuel.

He filled one side and called Cliff over. He handed him the cap to screw in and watched Cliff close the tank. “You should have checked it,” he said.

Cliff looked at him blankly.

“The fuel. You didn’t check the level before closing the tank.”

“I did,” growled Cliff. The man shrugged and moved over to the other wing. He then smiled at Cliff and held up the cap.

“Check the level and then close it!”

I sniggered as Cliff stalked over and closed the tank under the man’s watchful eyes. Once he was happy that Cliff had done his job correctly, he rolled up the hose, took off his goggles and asked us to follow him to the hut.

He smiled as the credit card transaction went through without a hitch. Another potential crisis averted through proper planning. Cliff signed and we turned to go back to the plane when the man put his hand on Cliff’s shoulder.

“Your safety stickers,” he said, shaking his head. “They are old.”

Surprised, we walked out to the plane to look at our decals. They seem fine: big print stating AVGAS ONLY, a picture of a pump and Grade 100LL written underneath. Everyone you need to know to to ensure someone doesn’t fill the tanks full of jet fuel.

The man waved a sheet at us with two bright red squares saying AVGAS. “It says AVGAS on our stickers already,” complained Cliff.

“Yes, but they are getting dirty around the edges. These are new.” He pressed the stickers into my hand. “You can put them next to yours if you want but I think replacing them would be better.”

I searched for a response that would get us out of here. “I will,” I told him. “But the wings are so dirty now. I will go wash the wings and put the stickers on once they are clean.”

His chest swelled with satisfaction. He patted me on the arm. “That’s a good idea,” he said and retreated back to his hut.

We arrived home yesterday after a lovely trip getting caught up with everyone. We went to England to drop Connor off at school (*sniffle*) and to see Cliff’s mum then on to Strasbourg to check out Tony’s new digs, from there a quick jaunt to Mannheim to visit with my grandmother and then last night we flew home again to Spain.

Here’s my quick-pick favourite photographs from the flying:

Taking off from Málaga airport. It’s rare that the sky is so crystal clear, usually everything is in a dull haze and you consider yourself lucky if you can see where the sea ends and the sky begins. I wish I could have taken more photographs while it was so clear.

The weather was variable - Cliff did all the flights IFR. The streaky clouds and hazy skies made for some interesting views.

Cliff’s perfect landing at Strasbourg. I held the camera up and snapped, hoping that I had the angle right. I was surprised to find out it worked!

The view flying over the Alps at 10,000 feet. We flew over Lake Geneva but it is always odd to me to be that high and still see mountains higher than us.

Angouleme Tower last night, while Cliff was radioing for clearance. The initial hour of the flight passed quickly as we watched the sun set into dark red clouds. Then we ran into 30 knot headwinds which lasted most of the way home. We finally arrived at Málaga at midnight.

The following morning, we left our hotel to do some exploring. Our hotel was in Hugh Town, known locally as just the Town.

‘The Town’ has a feeling unlike any other part of Scilly - built-up and almost urbanised. But there is usually a friendly feel to the place with people stopping in the street (and the road!) to stop and talk…. Whilst off-islanders hate to admit it, Hugh Town is the centre of society on Scilly!

From North-East Sole, or Thereabouts, Island Life on Scilly by Jonathan Smith and Jinny Stevens.

With a population just over one thousand, it was a bit too hectic for us. We walked from Hugh Town to Old Town, which is not the same as the Town, lest you be getting confused. Old Town was the principle seat of population in the Middle Ages and the location of Castle Ennor. It currently has a population of just over 300.

The Old Town Church, with 800 years of history, is home to the beautiful Old Town Churchyard, the resting place of Sir Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister in the 1960s and 70s.

Against the wall is the grave of the naval surgeon Abraham Leggatt who, at his own instructions, was buried upright in 1809 in a strong granite coffin that doubles as his headstone…. Curiously (or perhaps carelessly) the mason has inscribed one word twice.

From The Scilly Guidebook

This obelisk, perched on the highest point of the Old Church graveyard on St Mary’s, was raised in memory of Louise Holzmeister by her husband. The monument serves as a testament to his grief but also as a reminder of the terrible shipwreck of the Schiller.

It was the 7th of May 1875. The Schiller was an iron screw steamer sailing from New York with passengers and freight destined for Plymouth, Cherbourg and Hamburg. There were around 372 people on board

They were running ahead of schedule but, as they passed the Isles of Scilly, they ran into thick fog. The crew immediately took in the sails, reduced speed and kept a good look out. However, they missed the lighthouse at Bishop’s Rock and ended up to the east of it, within the dangerous waters of the archipelago.

They struck the rocks and between the heavy sea and the angle of the ship, they were unable to launch all the life boats. In the end they launched three of the eight available. The bulk of the survivors remained on the sinking ship and hoped for rescue. They shot their signal gun half a dozen times and then sent rockets up but the thick fog blanketed out the results. Only one shot was heard on St. Mary’s and that was misinterpreted as meaning that the Schiller had passed Bishop’s Rock and was clear of the Isles of Scilly.

At daybreak, ships from St. Agnes went to try to help but they were not able to get near the Schiller, owing to the weather. Seven men who were swimming in the water were rescued but the rest were trapped on the wreck. By the time the lifeboat from St Mary’s made it to the location, the ship had sunk and there was nothing left to do but collect the bodies.

One of the three lifeboats capsized. The other two made it to Tresco with 27 survivors.

Louise Holzmeister was a passenger on the Schiller. She was 23 years old and travelling to Germany to join her husband. Her body was never recovered.

(References: Ships, Shipwrecks and Maritime Incidents around the Isles of Scilly and The Scilly Guidebook)

From that sobering story, we wandered out of the graveyard to Nowhere. I can’t help but consider the local naming conventions.

The name Scilly (or Sully) is ancient and of unknown origin. The first recorded reference is in the first century AD with the c being added in the 16th.

St Mary’s was fairly obviously named after the Virgin Mary and thus must stem from a later date.

Hugh Town comes from the Hew Hill which probably comes from Old English “spur of land”

I can’t be bothered to research how Old Town got its name. I can guess.

I don’t know why there’s a part of Old Town called Nowhere. And I’m not sure how to find out. It’s not like I can google it. Go on, try!

But I do know that if you are a parent driver, that’s where you should park.