Unbelievable! A Kit For The Rutan Boomerang Now Available!

(click pic to enlarge) The Burt Rutan designed and built Boomerang at Oshkosh 2011

 After all the excitement we had seeing Burt Rutan's old mid 90's era Boomerang (the wild and super asymmetrical twin) at Oshkosh this summer, I was recently stunned to find a kit for the airplane is now available... and it's only $3.95! Ok, true, the Boomerang homebuilt you would construct from this kit is scaled down some (a lot), it's built from a revolutionary new material (it's paper), and it's performance in the air is not up to Burt's original (it doesn't fly at all) - but hey, it's only $3.95!

 Seriously tho, this paper Boomerang model, available from EcardModels.com, is really very impressive. At 1:29 scale, it looks like that'll work out to a little over a 15" wingspan - certainly big enough to look pretty fantastic sitting on a shelf. A couple weeks ago I bought and downloaded the six page pdf 'kit', and I figure it'll make a great weekend project once the snow starts to fly. I've never built a paper model before, but after checking out the EcardModels website, I'm really impressed with what can be done in paper. The Boomerang is a difficulty level of 3/5 - I may be in over my head for a first project! There's a wide range of aircraft to check out, in a range of difficulty, and pictures of most all of them completed for you to see. 

 I'll put a detailed post together later after my own Boomerang is built. But I'm hoping maybe some of y'all out there will build something cool in paper as well. If you do send some pix and I'll post 'em : )

The very awesome paper model of the Rutan Boomerang from EcardModels.com

It Takes Three Common Hose Clamps To Fly The Prototype 787!

(click pic to enlarge)  3 common hose clamps used in the 787 trailing cone installation

 Now that ANA has taken possession of their first completed 787 Dreamliner, and it's less than a month before it hauls real life paying passengers, I figure it's a good time to look back at the good ole days of the prototype 787. And one of those really good ole days was Friday July 29th... that's the day that Boeing brought the very first 787, ZA001, and put it on public display at Oshkosh 2011 for a handful of hours. I took hundreds of pix of the airplane that day, and many of them were a little different than your typical images.

 One thing I enjoyed getting pix of was the 'trailing cone', that little cone that dangles behind the rudder when the airplane is one the ground. That cone is attached to some plastic tubing that exits the trailing edge of the vertical fin tip. In the air it's extended to a point well behind the airplane (a wingspan distance or more) and it's used to fetch up a really good and untainted static source so that the instruments that need a static source are calibrated and providing data that's completely accurate. It's interesting that the existence of the static cone has been a real topic of interest in the last few years for those who didn't know what it was.

(click pic to enlarge)  The full trailing cone assembly on the Dreamliner prototype

 For the certification process, the FAA requires that the instruments are calibrated, and the trailing cone is often the most cost effective way to accomplish this. The one element that really points to how down-to-earth this installation is the three common hose clamps used to hold that approximately one-foot long piece of semi-rigid rubber tubing in place. I assume it's there to provide some support when the cone isn't actually trailing behind the airplane in flight, keeping the hollow translucent white tubing from kinking. Seems like it functions much like a strain-relief on an electrical cord on a power tool. I was just struck by how un-aerospace it seems... but in reality, it looks like it's exactly what's needed, and no money was wasted in the effort. It can't hurt to count your pennies when your dropping $30 billion+ into a new airliner project!

 If I understand the 'trailing cone' components correctly, the cone is there to keep everything trailing nice and stable behind the aircraft, and the actual static ports are positioned forward of the cone. I assume they are in that rigid looking piece that's at the end of the translucent tubing.

(click pic to enlarge)  The 787 fly-by before landing at OSH11 - trailing cone extended

 The picture directly above shows the Dreamliner as it made a fly-by before landing at Oshkosh... you can see the trailing cone extended well behind the aircraft. Those three little hose clamps are hanging on and doing their job! Looking again at the first pic at the top above, it looks like that rubber hose was about due for changing. And I wonder if there's a reason one clamp points one way and the other two point the opposite way. I'd be inclined to put 'em all on the same way.

 Anyway, I found it all pretty fascinating... I hope you do too : )

CoolPix: Lady Luck B-25 At OSH11 Dawn Patrol - Wow!

(click pic for hi-res)      Lady Luck B-25 in the early morning at Oshkosh 2011

 I know a great picture when I see it, but I have to work really hard sometimes to capture a great image. I've been working at it more lately, and with the recent upgrade to a Canon T3i camera, I'm trying to take everything up several levels. Ultimately, I hope to be able to create images that are compelling enough for some of y'all to consider buying high quality prints of them... AirPigz needs financial support! Anyway, this amazing picture that I took during a sunrise at Oshkosh 2011 is definitely moving in the right direction. What do you think? Please give me some feedback.

 I have my friend @adamcanfly to thank for the idea of getting up well before the sun and heading out to get early sunrise pix. He's been doing these dawn patrol expeditions at OSH for a couple years now, but the day I caught this image was my very first time out. And it's especially funny to me that I didn't even notice how awesome the clouds were until later when I was looking at the pix on the computer. I was so intent on framing and getting the sun to look good that I completely missed that amazing sky!

 So, I hope you click the pic to see it fill your screen... and I hope it makes you go (wow!) like it does me : )

Boeing Hands First 787 Dreamliner Keys To ANA (+ CoolPix)

First 787 in special livery handed over to ANA in 9.26.11 ceremony (photo: Boeing)

Watch the official ceremony at noon eastern at:
http://www.newairplane.com/787/firstDelivery

 It's way behind schedule but still light years ahead of anything else in the commercial sky... the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is finally delivered to launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways) and you can watch the official delivery ceremony at noon eastern time by following the link above. The keys to this first 787 may have actually been handed over on Sunday as the paperwork was signed to get both the airline closer to scheduled Dreamliner service and the airframer in the 787 delivery business.

 The first scheduled passenger flight is set for October 26th between Tokyo (Narita) and Hong Kong. This actually appears to be a charter flight with the first regularly scheduled commercial passenger flight scheduled for November 1st.

 It's been a really long and difficult road, but I still stand by my view from years back that believes the 787 will eventually replace the 747 as the most important and successful aircraft in Boeing history. Time will tell.

(click pic for hi-res)

 Here's an interesting hi-res CoolPix I took of the prototype 787 at Oshkosh 2011. Seeing the airplane up close, and getting to walk thru it convinced me all the more that this is one great aircraft. I can't wait to get the chance to ride one!

Video: B-29 FIFI To Oshkosh (Behind The Scenes) - The Spirit Of Aviation!

 This video is fantastic - watch it now!

(fullscreen mode is best - click lower button, second from the right - enjoy!)

Dream No More - 787 Receives FAA Certification! (CoolPix Triple Play)

(click pic for hi-res)     Boeing 787 Dreamliner certified by the FAA on Friday 8-26-11

 It's been a long slow process, but after seeing the 787 at Oshkosh, I think the wait has definitely been worth it. I'm pretty sure Boeing investors will think so too before long as deliveries begin to be fulfilled. The first delivery to launch customer ANA will take place on September 26, 2011 with the first scheduled revenue flight set for October 26th from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Dream. On.

 To celebrate the huge accomplishment of official certification, I offer you three hi-res CoolPix images of the beautiful Dreamliner. Today, the sun is definitely shining on the 787 - Enjoy!

(click pic for hi-res)    787 making a pass thru the sun before landing at Oshkosh 2011

(click pic for hi-res)    The gorgeous Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoing flight testing

QuickPic: Restored Rutan Boomerang At Oshkosh 2011 (+ Video)

Click the pic to see it over at flickr - or click this link to see it there in its largest size

 Burt Rutan designed and built the Boomerang in the mid 1990's as a way to make a twin engine tractor aircraft fly almost as easily on one engine as it does on two. The very asymmetrical airframe actually helps the airplane fly nearly as if the engines were both mounted on the centerline. While Burt considers this airplane to be one of his greatest accomplishments, the airplane sat for many years after Burt lost his medical certificate. But the Boomerang was recently resurrected by a team of volunteers headed up by Tres Clements (who works at Scaled Composites) and the airplane was a huge hit at Oshkosh 2011.

 For many people at OSH, seeing the Boomerang was a real blast from the past, and for many others it was their first look at one of the few airplanes designed by Burt that is actually very conventional in its main-wing-forward and tail in the rear design. I sure got a lot of pictures of the airplane on the ground... but I didn't do a very good job of getting it in the air at OSH. Fortunately, a friend of mine from Canada (flickr: Eyeno) captured this great image of the Boomerang in the air.

 I'm hoping to get a lot more details on the airplane's design features, the way it flies, and the restoration process sometime in the coming months... stay tuned : ) 

(QuickPic image from flickr.com/photos/eyeno - more great pix over there!)

 I found a short video on youtube taken from inside the Boomerang at Oshkosh when it and the Catbird went out on a photoshoot. It's pretty cool to see the takeoff looking over the shoulder of pilot Mike Melvill.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Tires: Up Close At OSH11 (Triple Play)

(click pic to enlarge)

 Seeing the original Boeing 787 at Oshkosh 2011 up-close with essentially no barriers for several hours on Friday July 29th was a truly fantastic experience. You may know that I'd been angling for over a year to get the 787 on the ramp at OSH. It was awesome knowing that this was the first time that everyday people had ever been allowed to walk through, under, around, and even peek into every little open space of this revolutionary airliner. I couldn't stop looking at it. I literally took hundreds and hundreds of pictures. And for fun, I took some of them up really close. I hope to post a photo essay before long on the airplane with 30 or 40 of the best and most uniqie pix that I got.

 But for now, and just for fun, I present you the closest look you've ever had of the Bridgstone tires on the Boeing 787 prototype, ZA001. These tires are size 50x20.0R22, and have 34 plys. Their speed rating is 235 mph, and the rated load is 65,525 pounds. Each tire weighs about 219 pounds and they are considered a 'revolutionary reinforced radial', which is a new technology radial tire according to the Bridgestone website. Honestly, all those details don't interest me as much as being able to see that little bulge in the sidewall in the pic above. I find it just a tad boggling that some reinforced rubber inflated with air can support the weight of something so big. In some kind of weird way, seeing that little bulge just makes it all the more real to me... somehow it all makes sense because of the little bulge : )

(click pic to enlarge)

 I thought it interesting that they had the info seen above stenciled on each tire. I guess it's there to make sure you feel really guilty if you just happen to have one of these sitting in the corner of the den back home!

(click pic to enlarge)

 And here's a wider view showing a couple of tires from a main gear leg along with some of the axle and braking components. I took several pix at OSH this year with the camera on the monopod, but turned upside down positioned on my foot right above the ground. This unique perspective is actually pretty easy to get with a flip-out live-view screen and a wireless remote shutter release. And here, it gives you the chance to actually look up at the electric brakes. I really like the unusual point of view... especially when it's of such a special aircraft.

 Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for that big-time photo essay with loads of interesting 787 images - I think it's gonna turn out pretty cool.

Heaven On Earth: 2011 Oshkosh Video Recap From 'Slick'

 Youtuber slickhutto has just completed his 2011 Oshkosh recap video. He's got skills, so you're sure to enjoy this look back at the greatest aviation event in the world. If you haven't seen his past work, check out Video: Oshkosh 2010 Recap Music Video - Wow! (Hot Stuff)

 And goodness sake, if you weren't at OSH11, will you please start making serious plans right now to work this amazing, inspiring, and satisfying extravaganza-of-the-skies into your summer 2012 plans. No more excuses! OSH12: July 23-29

CoolPix: Cockpit Of CAF B-29 FIFI Thru Side Window At OSH11

(click pic for hi-res)

 Oshkosh 2011 saw the triumphant return of FIFI, the Commemorative Air Force's B-29, the only flyable B-29 in the world. As expected, she attracted a crowd the whole time she was on display. They also ran a lot of people thru the cockpit tour ($5 for kids, $10 for adults) which had you entering the airplane thru the bomb bay and then exiting out the bottom of the cockpit thru the nose gear well. I made the trip thru on the last day of OSH11, and of course it was an awesome experience. Everyone should do this when given the chance.

 But a couple days earlier I got a little creative getting a cockpit picture from the outside of the airplane. With my camera on a pole (exercising extreme caution), I used a remote shutter release, a flip out live-view screen and a loaner extra-wide-angle lens from Canon (at 10mm, 16mm effective) to get this very cool view of FIFI's cockpit looking thru the left seat's open side window. The combination of the very wide angle and so much cool stuff to see inside made for a pretty cool pic. Be sure to click this CoolPix to see it fill your screen. I just made the switch to Canon cameras, and my T3i worked fantastic for its first time out.

 FIFI is such an important part of remembering and honoring the courageous people who served in WWII... what a blessing to see her up close again!

Please help support the effort to keep FIFI flying.

Wide angle view of the CAF B-29 FIFI on the ramp at Oshkosh 2011