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George Lucas’ new movie Red Tails open today, about the exploits of the unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. Before you see it, read the real story of Tuskegee Airman Dr. Roscoe Brown.
“The most difficult part is something that the movie refers to: overcoming the negative beliefs about blacks that we couldn’t do certain things. Our training was relatively fair; however, once we went into combat, initially they didn’t want us to be in the high-responsibility positions escorting the bombers. Once they realized they were losing so many bombers, they wanted as many people as possible to escort them; we were given that mission, and we did it extremely well. Then, once people began to hear about us, they said, ‘We want those guys, they’re really good!’ We were probably as good as many of the white pilots, but many of the white pilots would leave the bombers and shoot down planes to become heroes; our commander insisted that we stay with the bombers, which is why the bombers would like seeing our Red Tails flying over them.
Brown also talks about how he came to be a pilot, some close calls, and the indignities the Airmen endured in the military. Link
The airline industry will have to put together a new set of procedures to cover the event of a pilot getting stuck in the toilet. A Delta Airlines flight from Asheville, North Caroline to New York City was the scene of a security alert yesterday. While the pilot was in the lavatory, the door latch became stuck. Unable to alert a flight attendant, the pilot asked a passenger to go to the cockpit and use a secret code to alert the co-pilot. The co-pilot did not believe what he heard and called ground control.
“The captain has disappeared in the back and, uh, I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit right now…,” the co-pilot reported.
“What I’m being told is he’s stuck in the lav,” the co-pilot continued. “Someone with a thick foreign accent is giving me a password to access the cockpit, and I’m not about to let him in.”
Not willing to take any chances themselves, air controllers on the ground ordered the plane, operated by regional carrier Chautauqua Airlines, to make an emergency landing.
Before the co-pilot was forced to make that emergency landing, however, the pilot was able to open the bathroom door, and calm his anxious colleagues.
The plane landed safely and no one was charged in the incident. Link -via The Daily What
In 1959, Marine Corps pilot William Rankin was cruising at nine miles above the earth in an F-8 Crusader combat jet when something went wrong and he had to eject. Between him and the ground was a big, black storm.
After falling through damp darkness for an interminable time, Rankin began to grow concerned that the automatic switch on his parachute had malfunctioned. He felt certain that he had been descending for several minutes, though he was aware that one’s sense of time is a fickle thing under such distracting circumstances. He fingered the rip cord anxiously, wondering whether to give it a yank. He’d lost all feeling in his left hand, and his other limbs weren’t faring much better. It was then that he felt a sharp and familiar upward tug on his harness–his parachute had deployed. It was too dark to see the chute’s canopy above him, but he tugged on the risers and concluded that it had indeed inflated properly. This was a welcome reprieve from the wet-and-windy free-fall.
Unfortunately for the impaired pilot, he was nowhere near the 10,000 foot altitude he expected. Strong updrafts in the cell had decreased his terminal velocity substantially, and the volatile storm had triggered his barometric parachute switch prematurely. Bill Rankin was still far from the earth, and he was now dangling helplessly in the belly of an oblivious monstrosity.
A cumulonimbus “anvil” cloud.“I’d see lightning,” Rankin would later muse, “Boy, do I remember that lightning. I never exactly heard the thunder; I felt it.” Amidst the electrical spectacle, the storm’s capricious winds pressed Rankin downward until he encountered the powerful updrafts—the same updrafts that keep hailstones aloft as they accumulate ice–which dragged him and his chute thousands of feet back up into the storm. This dangerous effect is familiar to paragliding enthusiasts, who unaffectionately refer to it as cloud suck. At the apex Rankin caught up with his parachute, causing it to drape over him like a wet blanket and stir worries that he would become entangled with it and drop from the sky at a truly terminal velocity. Again he fell, and again the updrafts yanked him skyward in the darkness. He lost count of how many times this up-and-down cycle repeated. “At one point I got seasick and heaved,” he once retold.
After that, it gets interesting. Damn Interesting, in fact, which is where you can read the whole story. Link
Neatoramanaut Minnesotastan was helping out his mom sort through some old memorabilia when he came across this gem: a pilot's note to communicate news to passengers in flight. Sort of like an inflight tweet from the 1940s.
The note above, stating "Our naval base at Guam is destroyed" must've been a doozy!
The Terrafugia Transition has received exemptions from the NHTSA that make it legal to drive on the road. With polycarbonate windows instead of automotive safety glass and tires not normally considered street legal, it has nevertheless passed muster for both the sky and the highway in terms of weight and safety. Alex last reported on Terrafugia’s innovation on June 29th, 2010 and the company has been doing lots of fine tuning since then to attain the proper licensing and exemptions needed to ensure these roadable aircraft are ready for delivery by the end of 2012.
ROFLCOPTER Pilot T-Shirt – $14.95
ZOMGBBQPIZZA! Here’s a T-shirt for all of you ROFLCOPTER Pilots, by one of our favorite NeatoShop designers Chris Murphy.
Link | More Funny T-Shirts (cheap!) | Science T-Shirts | Web Lingo T-Shirts
Jessica Cox was born without arms, but that hasn’t prevented her from becoming the first licensed pilot to fly with only her feet:
With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.
“She’s a good pilot. She’s rock solid,” said Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel’s Ray Blair Airport.
At the link, you can find many amazing pictures of all of the things that Cox can do, like wield nunchucks with her toes.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Cox’s Website | Photo: Nitin Singh
A 65-year-old amateur pilot was arrested for flying drunk after a rescue helicopter had to guide him to the airfield in Schoengleida, Germany. He had drunk wine and beer before taking off, and continued to drink while flying.
”Come on, I know you’re down there,” he radioed. ”Where the bloody hell have you hidden yourself?”
Control tower staff say he also sang a few songs, cracked a mother-in-law joke and told them to ”pull their fingers out as I’ve got a party to go to”.
Fearing instrument failure, the tower scrambled a rescue helicopter, which homed in on the man in clear-blue skies west of the airport, and gave instructions for the pilot to follow it back.
The unnamed man was able to land the Cessna, and “wobbled” to his car. Airfield authorities called police, who arrested the man on his way home. He tested over four times the legal limit for driving. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Flickr user jon gos)
Our web pal Asylum sent one of their editors, Brian Childs, to the Red Bull Air Race, and had him not only interview pilots, but also go up in a plane.
Brian, being Brian, had an … um, shall we say, unusual reaction to the whole adventure, which he described in a colorful (a tad bit NSFW if you’re prudish) language: Link [embedded video clip] – Thanks Alex!
Machu Picchu Post from Machu Picchu Post Team on Vimeo.
A gorgeous 3D film by Clement Crocq, Margaux Durand-Rival and Nicolas Novali for the “Supinfocom Arles” in 2008. It depicts the antics of a young Peruvian boy, his Llama and a Pilot who goes through a psychedelic experience filled with Peruvian iconography and mysticism. Also check out the making of the film on CGSociety as it details the fascinating steps into creating a 3D short film.
TGIF!
Machu Picchu Post Website – Link
The Making of the film on CGSociety – Link
When the pilot of the twin-engine Beech aircraft passed out and died mid-flight, passenger Doug White of Archibald, Louisiana, took over the plane and landed it safely:
"We’ve had situations where passengers land airplanes before, but this is the first time I actually heard a controller actually tell the passenger to push this button and turn this knob," said Steve Wallace, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers in Miami. "It’s a heck of an Easter story."
Wallace was working in the Miami air traffic control center when his air controllers couldn’t reach the plane’s pilot at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Miami center deals with planes at high altitude – 10,000 or more feet – in South Florida.
"We tried a couple times and didn’t hear anything," Wallace said. "Then all of a sudden, we hear a passenger say, ‘This is November 55 Niner Delta Whisky and my pilot is passed out. We need help now.’"
Link – Thanks Sharyn!
To the horror of spectators, this stunt plane begins to tailspin toward the ground when it loses its right wing in midair. Amazingly, at the last second the pilot is able to land safely.
– via holeinthedonut
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by baweibel.
Grab your barf bag and get ready to strap yourself into the Buzzball. Best described as a hamster ball for humans, the Buzzball delivers a unique rollercoaster ride where the pilot is in complete control of the ride experience.
The product is still in the development phase but looks like a blast. The Buzzball is a dual motor configuration that enables its pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via control triggers and provides power to the driving wheels. The amount of power each wheel receives determines the Buzzball’s direction of movement.
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.
