June 18, 2019 Waterjets and Water Crossings

The Liberty Gazette

June 18, 2019

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: I had a dental check-up last week. My hygienist, Lynn, is a dear friend, but bless her heart, she is so fearful of flying. She asks lots of questions, but I suspect she might not remember my answers after I leave because, after all, that’s not something in her daily life.

Cleaning teeth, however, is quite important to her. She’s made a career out of dental hygiene and she’s quite good at it. I trust her with my… teeth.

There is just one thing though that makes me very nervous. I thought it was a water-blasting device she uses for cleaning. The first time I told her it scares me, she laughed and asked why. Well, there was this time we toured Ace Machine in Baytown. It’s owned by our friend and fellow pilot Jim Kubik. He hosted a whole group of us at his business on a Saturday and took us from one huge machine to another, explaining what all they can do with these monsters. The men (which was most of the group) were practically frothing at the mouth. But I thought it was fascinating, too.

One of those machines uses water to cut steel. Ironically, it’s called a waterjet. Jim fired it up, told everyone to keep their hands down, and demonstrated the astounding precision and power, cutting an eight-inch piece of steel. I stood there mesmerized by the needle-like water, knowing it could slice a hand off. My trips to the dentist have never been the same since.

Actually, Lynn uses is an ultrasonic tool called a cavitron. It sprays a mist, but the effect is often described as giving teeth a power wash. It feels like a waterjet. I tense up when she grabs that tool, probably just like she does at the thought of flying.

Mike: The customer service representatives who work with me are not pilots. Their job is to schedule clients for training in jets. Pilots who fly high performance aircraft are required to pass evaluation every six to twelve months. But those who set the calendar that commits instructor time for customers from around the world don’t have a background in aviation. Theirs is administration. A co-worker has found he can take advantage of the knowledge gap.

Every time Linda and I travel to another continent, David finds it amusing to see the reaction when he tells the customer service staff that we are flying our little single-engine airplane “across the pond.” The unsuspecting employees have bought into David’s joke that we fly the Elyminator the same distance as airliners.

Truth is, the shortest distance from Gander, Newfoundland to Shannon, Ireland is almost 2,000 miles over cold water. The Elyminator’s maximum range is less than half that. Airliners also travel more than three times our plane’s speed. But all is fair in work and play, even when co-workers don’t realize that if we flew the Elyminator to Europe, we would arrive there a week after our vacation ended.

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