It is fascinating what photography has allowed us to learn. A horse is momentarily airborne when it runs, lightning actually travels up and down the same path many times, and most people can’t take good pictures even with all the automatic settings.

So lightning does strike the same place repeatedly.

I caught this bolt after a storm at the local airport and was fascinated to see what looked like a fire that started at the impact point. Supposedly there is more heat in a lightning bolt than is contained in the sun although I can’t imagine holding the thermometer for that science experiment.

I wonder if old Ben Franklin would have sent that kite up if he had seen this picture?

We do our best to avoid this stuff when flying, nevertheless, most pilots have been zapped a couple times in their careers, especially flying down south. Other than having the radios knocked off once I have not experienced anything life changing.

One of the benefits of modern aviation is the advances in avionics. Even the low end radios have the ability to help detect and avoid hazards. This shot came from a Garmin handheld GPS with weather data. All the lightning bolts may not be striking twice but they sure are covering the area well!

This is typical weather for summertime in Florida, and since the activity is mostly found over the land heading out to sea will often bypass the nastiness.

Sometimes though, you just have to forge ahead and pick your way around the storms. The goal is to stay at least ten miles away from thunderstorms. Below is a shot of a flight to Haiti. Either we are going to dodge the storms and land, hold and wait for better weather, or go somewhere else. For non-aviators, the magenta line is the flight path to the blue dot which is the airport. Lightning bolts and red splotches should be self-explanatory!

The direct path to the airport will take us through some future unpleasantness, so the pilot has wisely begun a diversion in order to stay out of harms way. You’re welcome!

The nice thing about airborne radar and GPS weather overlays is that they add so much information to what the eyeballs are gathering. Is that hole you are thinking about flying through an escape hatch or a sucker hole? In the old days I guess you had to just go find out the hard way. Now when you look through the front office windows and see nothing but clouds, you have a lot more useful information to help turn hunches into fully advised decisions.

Kind of nice knowing if there is light at the end of the tunnel!

It’s quite hilarious to me that when I first started flying in 1981 a weather briefing required a local phone call. Then we got an 800 number we could call. Now I can instantly call up the weather in approved FAA format from my mobile phone. With pictures fer cryin’ out loud! And the ipad in the cockpit updates it for me as we fly. Used to be a pilot had to call over the radio for a weather update and try to form a mental picture of what was ahead. Now the mental picture isn’t necessary. Just look at the picture picture… or something like that.

Well we eventually made it to Haiti and I am not completely sure that things weren’t uglier on the ground than they were in that line of thunderstorms we went around. But that’s going to be another story.

SOS Oasis Haiti

Pilots have always carried a lot of charts in order to navigate and shoot instrument approaches when landing. The airline pilots carry a few books in a case and have to lug them everywhere. The corporate and charter pilots have a lot more books (because we go to a lot more airports) but they generally stay in the plane. The biggest hassle with these charts, which we call “Jepps” after the publisher Jeppesen, is updating them. It’s cheaper to replace each page as a new one comes out, but it is a pain to do it, especially if you are having to update the books for the whole US and other countries as well. It can be a lot of books! Each of these binders are two inches thick and contain hundreds of pages.

Of course, there is the government version. The charts are nowhere near as good, but you get to throw the whole mess out every 56 days when they ship the new ones to you. At least it complies with the Paperwork Reduction Act…sort of.

There is a nice little lesson in how corporate solutions are better than government solutions in the examinations of these two different approaches to “approach charts” but I will save that lesson for later.

Enter the ipad. Now all the charts you care to pay for are loaded on the little magic tablet.

But there’s more! Since GPS came along navigation has changed. Gone are the days when pilots formed a mental picture of where they were in time and space….now they just look at the picture! That’s not completely true, but student pilots have got it made with all the new gadgets. That is, until a Flight Instructor turns that gee whiz stuff off and makes them do it the old fashioned way. I have a professional pilot friend who calls these navigate by following the magenta line pilots “pilotrons.” (Tip of the hat to DP!!) The ability to navigate has been compromised by all the technology, but I will save that for a later date as well.

But if you want to understand the problem you can get an idea by looking at all the people driving around staring at their dashboard GPS units, who wouldn’t be able to navigate from the counter to the washroom if they bought a Rand McNally map at the corner gas station… if there was such a thing as a corner gas station.

Get this. Charles Lindbergh used a Rand McNally map to navigate across the US when he began laying out air routes for the fledgling air transportation industry! Beginning pilots still do basically the same thing, only with a much better official version called a sectional chart.

So now, in addition to all the stuff we use ipads for we can even use them to supplement our on board navigation equipment. My setup employs a wifi antenna on a suction cup on the window and a mount for the ipad. Pretty slick. The added benefit is that my aircraft (shown in blue) is now pictured as it clips along on the chart. It’s really helpful when taxiing around. The safety enhancement is huge as there is no doubt as to position.

ipad in LaGaurdia NY

Now if I could just afford to get in flight internet…

DC3

Just the other day on a flight to Atlantic City, New Jersey, I also ran across this classic aircraft. Definitely something one does not see every day.

Boeing 707

This is a beautiful Boeing 707 (just like the caption says!). Now if you want an old airplane with a million flight hours on it..this is it! By the time the airlines went to jets they flew the fool out of them. Unlike the corporate/charter airplane they were always parked outside, flew through all kinds of weather (there wasn’t much for radar detection in those days) and when you look real close the engine compressors made you swear they flew through hammers!!

Here is another multi-million-miler, now restored and still doing duty! What a classy bird. Watching it fly, hearing the thunderous noise, and seeing it pour more smoke than the space shuttle…well, that’s just plane fun.

It really doesn’t matter what an airplane’s age is; far more important to know the maintenance currently being performed. Today’s modern charter aircraft are some of the most pampered aircraft out there and that should inspire a lot of confidence.

Over the years you see some cool things through an aircraft windscreen. Meteors, stars, sun and moon risings and settings, weather phenomena, and occasionally other aircraft, just hopefully not too close!

Most of the time it is not that exciting. Lots of clouds, blue sky, and the occasional passing airplane. Still you can’t beat it.

And no matter what, the view on landing is always great. I usually tell passengers what time we will arrive and point out that I will get there about two seconds before they do.  All pilots enjoy the view on landing and none want to think about the last time they ever get to line up an aircraft on final approach. It is the reward for having successfully moved through time and space to another location.

Here is a view that will help one concentrate. Too low just isn’t going to cut it! Sometimes it’s good that the folks in back don’t see what we see. It is also interesting to see where airports end up. Most people don’t want to live near one, so out near a quarry works out pretty well. Talk about hitting the wall! Could be too literal on this approach.

Now this picture I used to have as a screen saver. Got it from Airliners.net. This is where I want my final landing to occur. I will park the plane and walk to my beach house and then I will be done. Well, maybe not. Wouldn’t mind ending up here, but I think I will be flying until I forget how to get to the airport! Can’t even imagine not flying at this point in life.

Hope you enjoyed the view! Hopefully, there is a lot more to come.

Would’ve liked to have seen that landing. Looks like a 45 degree crab to the runway at touchdown followed by a quick trip toward the weeds before getting it straightened back out.

Gotta be fun explaining that one to the passengers! Oh well, we all learn from each other’s mistakes. Mental reminder to always make sure to line up on the centerline and ride it like a rail to touchdown. One of those lessons you learn: fly the plane, don’t let the plane fly itself. You are not done until the engines are shut down and the chocks are on the wheels.  And please, don’t ever let me leave a set of skid marks like those!

Pilots get judged by the quality of their landings. It doesn’t matter how many thunderstorms you avoided enroute, or how much time you saved by choosing the right altitude. If you botch the landing it’s a Down grade. On the other hand, if you do make some less than stellar decision on the flight but turn in a greaser of a landing… Well, you are one master manipulator of machinery!

So, even though we often say “any landing you can walk away from is a good one” we still try as hard as we can to make a silky smooth touchdown. It’s as close as pilots usually get to a command performance. Which is why the applause is always nice!

Like the other day I flew to Abingdon, Virginia and walked into the FBO (that’s the terminal for private aircraft) and expected to be greeted by the usual friendly guy or gal working the counter. But this Customer Representative was a Dog! And I am not trying to be mean as the picture clearly shows. It was pretty funny being greeted by the local airport dog actually standing at the counter.

And no, I am not going to make any jokes about the job going to the dogs. Or the fact that dogs make better airport pets than cats, even if they do. And besides, any Customer Rep who licks your hand can’t be all bad!

So, book a flight on AirStat, Inc and fly with us. You never know what you’ll see.

Billions of tiny water droplets.  Now that is something pilots do care about. Especially since the temps up high can be as low as -40C!  Water droplets can turn to hail and nobody likes flying through ball peen hammers. Most of the time you just pick up a little ice (see the white line on the black part on the front of the wing) and if you build up enough of it, you just flip the deice switch.. inflate the rubber boots on the leading edge and the ice pops off! Pretty neat.

Nothing like looking back through the Valley of the Shadow at a line of storms you safely navigated through. Especially at night. A great big light show as lightning causes the storms to flash light huge strobes. I love storms, just prefer them at a distance.

Bob and weave trying to stay away from the storms which show up as red spots on radar. A good weather briefing and some experience will keep you on the safe side. Sometimes the answer is a long deviation out of the way, or maybe a landing at a nearby airport while things calm down. Sometimes, it better to not takeoff at all, go get dinner and be glad you are not up there in the Valley of the Shadow wishing you were down here having an early unplanned dinner.

That unplanned dinner lets you know you have a safe pilot. Make the decision that keeps you from having to display your superior skills getting out of an uncomfortable situation. They say there are old pilots, and bold pilots, but not many old and bold ones.

When you have time to kill a bookstore/coffee shop combination can’t be beat. I’ve also noticed that hair salons and coffeeshops have the most creative names in the business world. So, if you are in Fairhope, Alabama with time to kill you will eventually find the Latte Da which is connected to the Page and Palette bookstore.

Sunset on Mobile Bay

Doug in the bookstore was very personable and helpful with the search for the right book. Plus he likes photography which is cool. Check him out on http://www.douglasandersonphotography.com .  Jamie and Jessica managed to get me hooked on the Dark Chocolate Latte (with very little resistance on my part). Pastor Chris Aho and I had a great conversation as well.

Fairhope is situated on the hill on the eastern side of the Mobile Bay. With the preponderance of restaurants and art stores, it is obvious that a lot of people have avoided the Florida/Arizona retirement scene and transplanted themselves to Fairhope.

But other than being a quaint town, the oyster houses and gumbo shops and genuine southern hospitality make it a great place to be. The people exude the relaxed atmosphere that one would expect being so close to Mobile, where contrary to popular opinion, the whole Mardi Gras experience began. I have met more people in the few days I spent here than anywhere I can remember.

How many places can you go and have a store owner step outside to tell you that you are in danger of getting a ticket for less than legally correct parking in front of her store? Or bump into a first class author while checking into your hotel. Get your hair cut from a filmaker. Eat gumbo, oysters, and the best authentic Mexican food at La Cocina.

And it was great meeting Kenneth Cain, who is learning to fly now that he has retired. I admire people who just won’t stop.

So, if you get a chance visit Fairhope and enjoying sailing on the bay, fishing, and relaxing Southern style. Besides, any town that doesn’t have parking meters is a great town.

Often you will hear a pilot broadcast in the blind to see if the controller is still there because it’s been so long since anyone said anything. Pilots will say “Is anyone there?” and the controller will answer that indeed someone is minding the store.

It is amazing how many planes are flying every day in the US. Aviation is a great industry that has done huge things for the growth of this country. Often corporate aviation gets attacked as if it is merely some plaything for fat cats. Some of that occurs but mostly it’s a business tool.

So there is room for a lot more flying. And there is no better way than to fly with a private company. So… check out using AirStat for your business or pleasure trip.

The skies are fine! Come on in!