It was a great day of racing on Friday September 15th at Reno 2012, and it was capped off with an Unlimited Heat at the end of the day. I had the golden opportunity to be out at pylon 4 for that race to work on my photographic skills shooting airplanes going almost 500 mph that aren't very far away! I have so much to learn to do a really great job, but I did get several decent images that I'll be sharing before long. I really liked this one of Strega tho, partly because it shows off the view that all the other race pilots had of Strega... the one from behind!
The consistent front-of-the-pack running of Steven Hinton and Strega is truly remarkable. In this race, Steven pulled away from Rare Bear, September Fury and Precious Metal with amazing ease, and he stayed well out in front the whole race. Strega finished with a speed of 473.257, with September Fury in second with 450.943, Rare Bear in third at 435.822 and Precious Metal in fourth at 420.700. However, we know that these other guys have the potential this year to be right there, and with the stakes low in this race, it's hard to separate out the mind games from the functional realities of the airplanes. Saturday and Sunday racing should be spectacular!
I have a lot of images that I wanna share with you but there's just not enough time in the day so I've chosen to share this image of Strega in the CoolPix size in three different forms. Playing around in photoshop allowed me to stylize the image in a couple of really cool ways. You may not like what I've done here with the extra two, but I think these additional versions are pretty hot. Be sure to click the pix to open them up big. Then take a moment to enjoy Strega showing why she's still the one to beat : )
(click pic for hi-res) As the sun was low I found Rare Bear & Strega together on the ramp
The evening sun was wonderful at Reno last evening (as it often is here) and while a really sweet photo op that had been planned for Rare Bear and Strega kinda fell apart, there were a few moments where the two were in a pretty nice frame together. So, here's a great view of the top two qualifiers in the Unlimited Gold, both qualifying less than 10 mph away from 500 mph! There's an Unlimited Heat coming up late this afternoon that I actually have the opportunity to be out at a key pylon for to get some really good pix... that's why this is a pretty simple post, I need to get myself ready to be shuttled out there.
I've been busy fetching pix all day already and should have something more detailed for you to check out before long. Until then, I hope you enjoy this hi-res CoolPix picture of two of the most fascinating airplanes on the planet : )
A year ago when the 2011 Reno Air Races suddenly came to an end on Friday with the tragic accident with the Galloping Ghost that took 11 lives, it was very hard to speculate on whether we'd be here again this year or not. I'm very happy to be able to report that not only are we here, but the mood is good, strong and it just feels right. The event is acknowledging what happened last year, including a presentation mid day today that praised the heroic efforts of the first-responders and others that were involved in dealing directly with the tragedy. And of course, expressing care and concern for the families of those who were lost and for the many injured who will forever deal with the outcome of the accident.
A great human spirit rose up when the accident occured to help those in need, and that spirit is very much alive and well here today at the races. I absolutely believe is was right to pursue moving forward for 2012, and based on what I've seen so far, we are all stronger for the determined effort that has made it all a reality.
I arrived on-site at Stead Airport just as the sun was setting Wednesday evening. I quickly found myself with the opportunity to hang out with Thom Richard (the pilot and driving force behind the Precious Metal P-51) and his crew at their spot in the pit area. Wow, what a great way to experience coming back to Reno... a great group of people passionately pursuing life and their dreams. And then today I had the chance to sit down with Thom and talk about the significant changes to the 6-blades on the counter-rotating props on Precious Metal for this year. If things go well I'll share those details soon. Btw, if you think that PM looks kinda purple in the pic above, that's just a multi-color party light shining off the polished skin. (check out another pic I took that Thom posted on his facebook page : )
The following are some pix from today (Thursday) with short captions. As a one-man-show, it's hard to get pix and info and then get them posted with lots of details. Hopefully the pix are enough to make it clear that you should be here too! I know for me that it sure feels good being part of the process of keeping the Reno Air Races alive!
Here's a great video (with some awesome stills thrown in) of Thom Richard and Precious Metal stopping off for some camera time with Scott Slocum. Precious Metal is now at Reno preparing for racing next week after a year of several improvements including an amazing prop upgrade. Given that this P-51 is powered by a Rolls Royce Griffon and spins two counter-rotating props, and upgraded prop is a pretty big deal!
I hope to be on-site at Reno by Wednesday or Thursday and you can count on lots of coverage of PM : )
Video screenshot showing Precious Metal looking better than ever!
(click pic for hi-res) Mike Porter's beautiful Stearman about to depart Antique Airfield
My journey over to the Antique Airplane Association Fly-In near Blakesburg Iowa would have been completely worth it if the only thing I saw was the big Boeing 40C biplane, but wow, have I seen a fantastic collection of antique airplanes in the last 30 hours! And even tho there wasn't much happening in the air on Saturday with the drizzly sky and higher winds, Sunday brought much better weather and lots of flying at Antique Airfield. As it turns out, most of the aircraft moving Sunday morning were actually heading home from the event, but that still allowed me to get a lot of images with spinning props and airplanes off the ground. I'll have more posts with those pix soon.
This unique CoolPix is of Mike Porter and his Stearman as they were about to depart Antique Airfield, but he wasn't headed for home... he was heading east a bit to Galesburg Illinois and the National Steaman Fly-In. And since Galesburg is right on my way back home to Indiana, I think I just might stop by to check out the aircraft that are already on hand as they prepare for the first day of their fly-in tomorrow. Maybe I can even snag a ride in that beautiful Stearman since I've featured it in a CoolPix!
Btw, I used a really slow shutter speed to get that prop in one nice big disc, and then I did a few unique things to the image in photoshop to give it a special look. The enhanced contrast and shadows were a bit of an experiment for me but I really like they way it turned out. If you like the effect, feel free to let me know... and if you don't like it, feel free to remain silent : )
Wow. Can an airplane really get any better than being a Pratt and Whitney R-985 radial twin... that also happens to be a taildragger... and is perfectly happy to land on the water too? I don't think it can get any better than that. Long live the Grumman Goose! And of course I wanna apply that longevity statement to the smaller Grumman Widgeon (inverted Ranger powered), to the bigger Grumman Mallard (P&W R-1340 powered), and also to the much bigger Grumman Albatross (Wright R-1820 powered) - a truly amazing family of amphibious aircraft from the 30's and 40's.
I stumbled onto the video above and fell in love after about 3 seconds of hearing those two 450hp radials that are right outside the cockpit. Those fabulous radials are even nicer than on a Twin Beech because they are set a little closer to the aircraft centerline, putting the prop arc closer to the forward field of view... what a beautiful sight. And then the video gives you that sweet approach to landing onto nearly calm water, flying low over the trees and then low over the boats. Wow, that's some seriously cool flying right there. Amphibians just might be the most perfect aircraft. I guess it's easy to see why so many people are expressing interest in the ICON A5. I did get a ride in Goose once when I was a kid... probably 7 or 8 years old riding from Long Beach out to Catalina Island and back. Loved it, especially since we buzzed the ship that made the trips back and forth!
I hope that video above gives you at least half as much pleasure as it did me. And then, for something completely different, check out the fascinating military test video below. In the 50's and 60's, EDO Corporation did testing on several Grumman amphibians, like the Goose, to see if hydrofoils or skis could be used to shorten the takeoff distance of seaplanes. The video has narration and is quite informative. It's extremely cool to see this footage and how the takeoff-assisting contraptions functioned. Mostly tho, it just makes me want to get a seaplane rating really really bad : )
Grumman Goose hydrofoil testing film from the late 50's or early 60's
(click pic for hi-res) The flipped version of the amazing Pensacola Beach airshow pic
You might remember that I had a poll up back in July to see if y'all liked the original version of this amazing pic that the Blue Angels posted on their facebook page, or the one that I flipped over so that the world was right-side-up. I felt that the flipped image somehow had more impact, and interesting, so did 71% of the people who voted in the poll. The whole point of the poll was to determine which version I would re-post as 'desktop' images so you could easily put this awesome pic on your computer screen.
So, here ya go, this perfect pic for desktop use in four of the most popular sizes. Enjoy!
Even with some nagging development delays, Northrop Grumman's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) still went thru the design/prototype/first flight process in the pretty short time frame of just over 24 months. Working with several partner organizations (most notably Hybrid Air Vehicles in England) and pulling together the latest hybrid airship technology, NoGr has taken a giant step forward in creating the first truly viable military airship concept. Some critics out there see this as just a batch of hot air, but a closer look at the capabilities and operating costs associated with the helium filled LEMV point to this being an impressive project.
The first flight, over 90 minutes in duration, was conducted on Tuesday August 7, 2012 at Lakehurst, New Jersey (sound familiar?) and it appears it was a great success. The plan at this point is for the LEMV to complete all testing and be deployed to Afghanistan by the U.S. Army in early 2013 as an airborne platform for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The ability to remain airborne for up to 21 days radically transforms the capability of an ISR platform. And, with the ability to operate with a manned crew, as a UAV, or completely autonomously, the LEMV adds significant versatility to the method in which it operates.
Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) first flight video - August 7, 2012
One of the most valuable capabilities of the 302' long LEMV is the enhanced payload. By using the helium in the advanced envelope to drastically reduce takeoff weight, the LEMV then uses the shape of the envelope (with forward airspeed) to generate 40% it's overall lift and the vectored thrust from four engines with ducted fans to generate about 25% of it. It's still unclear to me if the engines are Thielert 350hp diesel V8 engines, or turboprops, or a combination of the two. For heavy payloads (2,750 pounds), and especially for extremely heavy payloads (15,000 punds - Heavy Lift Configuration) the LEMV requires a takeoff roll to become airborne. It appears tho that the takeoff distance is at or below 1000 feet even at the heaviest weights.
The hybrid airship can operate as high 20,000 feet and has a loiter speed of 30 kts with a dash speed of 80kts. Airships have always been challenged by the difficulty of landing in strong and gusty winds, but the impressive vectored thrust capabilities on the LEMV, combined with its long endurance would mean that landing frequency would be greatly reduced and also far easier to accomplish. Additionally, landings could be more easily scheduled to occur during more desirable weather conditions. The Zeppelin NT airship has certainly shown how much more versatile a 3-axis vectored thrust airship can be in the takeoff and landing phase.
Front view of the LEMV on first flight (photo: US Army Space & Missile Def Command)
Overall, the LEMV appears to headed toward a successful deployment, despite the past attempts and failures of a variety of heavy lift airship concepts, and the ever challenging world of acquiring defense funds and operational support. The next few months of this program will really tell if the LEMV can live up to its potential.
Lastly, you should note that the first flight video shows the LEMV flying at a very light weight where a takeoff run isn't required. And, instead of rotating the entire duct and prop, the LEMV appears to use movable vanes behind the ducts to vector the thrust. I also noticed in the hi-res CoolPix image, when looking at the nose of the airship, the right envelope body looks to be a different shape than the left body. When you look at the image just above here that shows a more frontal view, you can see what appears to be a larger radius nose on the right body, and it may actually protrude forward of the left body. I'm not really sure what exactly is going on there, or why, but it does look intentional. There will be lots more interesting details to learn about this very unusual airship in the coming months!
(click pic for hi-res) The back side of a massive P-51 prop in the morning sun at OSH12
My inop computer problem from a surprise OSH12 rain won't be under control until Tuesday, so I'm still limping along on under-powered resources... so once again I'm taking the easy way out by posting another OSH12 CoolPix.
I left CampBacon with a few friends early Friday morning (5am) at Oshkosh for another 'dawn patrol' photo shoot in the warbird area. It was last year on a similar adventure that I captured that amazing image of the B-25 Lady Luck with the rising sun behind it. The effort on Friday wasn't nearly as successful since the clouds way off to the east were in the way for part of the sunrise and there weren't the stunning clouds overhead like the B-25 image had. I now realize just how awesome that pic of Lady Luck really is! Anyway, I got some nice pictures, but one of the best was taken after the sun was well above the horizon, but still casting its light more horizontally on the airplanes. I was just finished with breakfast in the warbird area, standing at the edge of the tent ready to get back to walking, when I saw this P-51 in the distance that had just fired up. I've been working on using a much slower shutter speed to improve the spinning prop results in my pictures and this looked like a great chance to experiment a little more... and this one paid off pretty well!
With that morning sun lighting up the back of the prop, that big spinning disc really came alive here. Plus, the low sun was really making the all the warbirds in the pic look vibrant with so much light on them. So I thought the combination of the big prop and the layering of two additional P-51's and a P-40 made for a pretty interesting image. And while jets are really cool, I just don't think you can beat a massive prop to sit behind!
After I get my computer issues remedied, I may come back and make this CoolPix available as a desktop pic in a variety of sizes. For now tho, I hope you'll just enjoy seeing my slow shutter speed experiment of a P-51 in the morning sun at Oshkosh 2012.
(click pic for hi-res) A great pic of a great airplane at a great place! Super Corsair at OSH12
AirPigz is still running in 'safe mode' after my primary computer (laptop) got rained on at Oshkosh last Thursday. It's still currently reduced to being not much more than a really big paperweight. I thought I had it worked out for a new one to be here today, but I hit another snag... hopefully by Monday I'll have a solution.
To make my work easier today (because I'm also buried in 'everyday' work this week) I decided I'd put up a CoolPix from OSH12 instead of the string of pix I wanted to get up from Thursday there. I think this pic of a Super Corsair racer pointed toward the 'world's busiest control tower' makes a pretty nice substitute! Be sure to click the pic for the hi-res version.
I was just walking by when I looked over and saw this view of the Oshkosh control tower and the Super Corsair in the relatively early morning sun. The combo of having this amazing airplane, the interesting angle, the great sunlight and the tower in the background makes a great Oshkosh image to enjoy. When time and energy allow I'll try to format this pic for desktop use... but for now you'll just have to enjoy it as a basic CoolPix : )
Saturday, September 15, 2012 at 11:44AM 
(click pic for hi-res) Strega way out in front in Unlimited Heat 2A on Friday at Reno
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