All Things

I wrote recently at AeroGo about Inexpensive Ways to Start Learning to Fly. I cover a number of ways to get started, such as the EAA’s Young Eagle Program, Discovery Flights, the Civil Air Patrol, BEAPILOT, and Cessna Pilot Centers.

For those not quite ready to hop in a plane, I also mentioned a number of good publications to check out, such as Flying magazine, AOPA Pilot, Plane & Pilot, etc., as well as some good sources for video/DVD pilot courses. There’s also a link to EAA’s AeroScholars online educational program.

To make the most of this ongoing discussion, see my suggestions from last time.

I’ve written about Aviation Week’s just-released article on the supposed Blackstar spaceplane project, possibly run by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and aerospace contractors.

Long-rumored, apparently incorrectly, to be code-named Aurora, the project may have been cancelled but reportedly involved a mothership, a modified XB-70 Mach-3 bomber designated the SR-3, and several lifting body manned orbiters designated XOV-1, XOV-2, etc. The SR-3 was said to have been built using long-lead structural items for a third XB-70 that had been kept in storage.

In my AeroGo post I discuss some of the noteworthy features reported about the orbiters, in particular the report of a high-energy boron-based gel propellant that may have powered linear aerospike engines, a promising rocket technology that NASA was developing in the 1990s for the X-33/VentureStar shuttle replacement, which was ultimately cancelled.

I also note a few questions that may now be answered, and others that remain.

I’ve written some about the Tuskegee Airmen on my site AeroGo, and about efforts underway to preserve their history.

I also noted how I’ve been surprised journalists haven’t given much coverage to Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas’ indications in interviews (such as with Charlie Rose) that he’s working on a film about the airmen, and that it’s something he’s wanted to do a long time.

Friday I finally got around to taking out our birthday boys (2 in July). One stop was to see the fairly new Imax film Fighter Pilot. We saw it in a 2-D theatre; I don’t know if it’s also in 3-D or not. It’s about the U.S. Air Force’s Red Flag exercises, which are based at Nellis AFB in Nevada and similar to the Navy’s better-known Top Gun school.

I was impressed with how many aircraft they managed to fit in roughly a 48-minute film. Of course there were F-15s, -16s, and -18s, but the A-10 also got a lot of coverage, as well as an E-? AWACS aircraft. The AWACS displays were really impressive, but it still looked like it would be hard to keep track of all those aircraft in the sky.

Apparently Red Flag is a substantially larger-scale wargaming operation than Top Gun, or maybe the film just didn’t distinguish that from the training. There were quite a few other aircraft shown briefly. Some of my favorites were of the B-1, the F-117 (I like its looks more and more over time!), and of course the cockpit views.

One thing I couldn’t help notice is how many flares are used nowadays, to counter potential IR missile threats. I wonder whether all that is controlled by software or just the pilot. One thing they were trying hard to convey was the sense of how much firepower these machines carry, but I don’t really think they succeeded there.

Helicopter gunships and A-10s are awesome fighting machines, though now increasingly vulnerable to ground attack. I have seen A-10s doing a lot of low-level maneuvering in Louisiana, near Ft. Polk (perhaps the aircraft were from Barksdale). Those aircraft can make a run, turn and come right back. It must be truly awful to be attacked by A-10s or some of the big helicopters such as the Russians used in Afghanistan. After going through that I don’t doubt that a lot of those fighters (some now our enemies) really are tough.

It’s hard to complain much about what wasn’t covered because of the film’s length. Overall, I liked it quite a bit. The best parts were definitely scenes of aircraft in flight. If you like aerospace, and have been working too long lately, it might just be the something different you need for a break. I definitely would like to see it again if in 3-D.