November 24, 2020 To The Stars

The Liberty Gazette

November 24, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The young Indian girl, Mary Ross, was good at math. Really good. In the early part of the 20th century. Before calculators. Born of smart stock, her great-grandfather the longest serving Cherokee Chief ever, Mary was never given a list of things “girls can’t do.” Instead, she was sent to school. Teaching other Indian children math and science was one way she spread her encouragement and determination.

She became the first Native American female engineer, and in 1942, the first female engineer in the history of the Lockheed Corporation. I don’t think they had to fill any predetermined minority headcounts back then. She was the star they needed. Not just any engineer. An aerospace engineer, one of the 40 founding engineers hired to work at the renowned and highly secretive Skunk Works. 

A few years after helping design the P-38 “Lightning” jet fighter, she designed rockets and created concepts for interplanetary space travel. Decades ago, she was figuring out how to make Earth-orbiting flights in a variety of vehicles for crew and satellites. Imagine the work it took to get a rocket outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Her contributions benefit both the defense and civilian space industries and laid the groundwork for missions that haven’t happened yet.

And so how fitting when last year she was featured on the Sacagawea gold dollar. Since much of her work is still classified, the team designing the coin chose one of the known equations she would have used. To figure the velocity needed to break free from the Earth’s atmosphere and beyond, she had to calculate the requirements for that distance of interplanetary space travel, determine plane orbit and transfer orbit energy. The formula on the coin is this: 

V2∞ = V2- 2μ / r where V is the speed of an orbiting body.

V∞ is the orbit velocity when the orbit distance tends to infinity.

μ = GM, the standard gravitational parameter of the primary body with mass M.

r is the distance of the orbiting body center. 

Got it? That’s a simple one.

Also on the coin is an image of an astronaut closely resembling American Indian (Chickasaw) astronaut John Herrington. We happened to meet him in Houston in September last year when he joined the Apollo Chamber Orchestra for a night of fantastic space-themed storytelling and music. We had a blast talking airplanes with him after the concert. And to think that so much of his story unfolded because of the work of Mary Golda Ross. It’s satisfying to know she lived to almost 100 and got to see some of the fruits of her labors.

Mary never had a desire to go into space herself. She loved conquering the challenges of figuring out how to get it done. She did, however, believe that women would make wonderful astronauts. She’d just stay down here and analyze all the data.

Was she “one of the guys”? No. She was “one of the engineers.” A darn good one. A stellar one.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 17, 2020 Wintersmith Park

The Liberty Gazette

November 17, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Saturday morning the weather looked promising for the day, short as they are this time of year. A return trip to Mustang Beach with our bikes was a contender, but not the one that won this time. We skimmed the aeronautical map to find airports depicted very close to their host cities, and no more than three hours flight time to get to. Pauls Valley and Ada, Oklahoma competed with Mustang Beach for airport-to-city proximity. Ada won the coin toss, so we loaded up our picnic lunches and bikes and departed to the northwest with a tailwind and clear skies at 6,500’. 

The FBO at the Ada Municipal Airport is Heartland Aviation. There’s a young line boy there who will drive the fuel truck over if you call. I think he lives in an RV there on the airport. We were second in line for fuel (we like to fuel when we arrive, rather than wait until it’s time to depart), so while we waited, we re-assembled our bikes for the ride into town. Usually, all that means is putting the wheels on and connecting the brakes. But we had bought new, more cushy seats. Mike’s had gone on last week with no problem, but we needed a different tool for mine. Final action before hopping on and riding off: attach and adjust my new seat. 

One would think that shouldn’t be such a problem. However, as Mike adjusted the bracket, it cracked in two, leaving me seat-less. No worries, they have a courtesy car. A nice Ford Expedition. And the tank was full. We threw the bikes back in the Elyminator and our backpacks in the Expedition, and off we went to Wintersmith Park. And what a beautiful setting it is!

Mike: We stopped first at a picnic table and unpacked our vegan lunch as we surveyed the scene spread out before us. Brilliant fall colors set in stark contrast to the cool blue waters of the small lake and its grassy green banks. Above, a bright blue cloudless sky, and around us, a cool breeze. T-shirt weather without sweating.

A path meanders around the lake, and we sauntered along it, eking the most out of our getaway, crossing bridges that traversed fingers of the lake and one that spanned the brief dam. The rolling hills around the city park added depth and texture, and crunchy-looking leaves flittered across our path. And then there were the ducks and geese, dense flocks of them frolicking. The moments here so lovely, they gave us a brief respite from worldly concerns. 

 

On the way home, we’d cross back over the Red River, with a headwind to slow us, and the sun setting behind us. It would be dark by the time we landed. But an airport beacon and runway lights helped us find the spot where the music of our wheels chirped as we touched down at our home airport.

Autumn offers great flying weather, and we should have Linda’s bike seat ready for adventure next weekend.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

November 10, 2020 Local Sky Touring

The Liberty Gazette

November 10, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: With a beautiful weekend, we had plenty of choices where we could go, what we could do. We could fly somewhere we haven’t been yet with the bikes. We could practice approaches (legal requirements to maintain instrument currency require a minimum of six approaches every six months, plus holding, intercepting, and tracking). Or, we could go sight-seeing. That was the winning decision a couple of Saturdays ago when it was Mike’s turn in the left seat. “Let’s just fly around,” he said (some call it, ‘JFA’). “I think I’ll give you an air tour.” Sounded good to me. No pressure to be anywhere, just up in the sky, looking around with a different perspective.

Mike: I had just finished a mind-numbing and intense two-week, six-day-a-week work schedule. I needed to relax, and the Elyminator beckoned. I wanted to soar above the countryside and enjoy whatever scenes floated into view, my eyes like a camera lens, my mind storing the film I can replay whenever I want. 

Linda: We stayed local, no more than 60 miles around. Over Liberty, we peered down on the high school, with a great view of the baseball diamond, the track, and the tennis courts. Over Dayton, one of the most obvious eye-catchers is the ginormous train parking area.

The construction of 99 in progress was also an attraction worthy of our examination. Lots of it is carved out in the dirt, some bridges already poured, and you can easily see its footprint from the air. 

Mike: Lazily flying along the shore, we were spotting and telling tales of historical landmarks along the ship channels and intercoastal waterway. I made a couple slow turns over Fort Travis Park, checking out the circular foundations where the gun turrets were mounted, and the bunkers. A great place for a picnic. Viewing historical places from aloft adds depth to stories—like having a living, breathing map laid out in front of us. 

Linda: Probably one of my favorite sights on Mike’s tour was the Navy’s WWII blimp facility south of Hitchcock. Brought back memories growing up in Indianapolis where every May, the Goodyear blimp would arrive and hover over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was near our house. Because the blimp would appear before opening day, it was always a beautiful sign of the fun days to come. There’s nothing like Indy in May. And flying a blimp would be cool. So would sailing. Believe it or not, I have never been sailing. 

Here and there, lovely sails dotted Galveston Bay, seemingly gently meandering, although I know there is work involved. Others gathered in tight groups, clearly students of a sailing school. I suppose if I’m drawn to flying something as slow as a blimp, maybe I would enjoy sailing, too. That’s actually a new thought for me, the one from Indy who loves high speed. 

Mike: This is kind of a gypsy trip in microcosm, going no place, with no need to get there fast, just enjoying the ride.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

November 3, 2020 Birthday Trips, Part 2

The Liberty Gazette

November 3, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Picking up where I left off last week, our birthday trip, a fly-bike jaunt to Lafayette, Louisiana, there were some clouds along the route, so we filed an IFR flight plan. This requires we talk with air traffic controllers, as opposed to flying VFR, where it can be optional.

Anyway, this story is about what it’s like when you come across someone who really stands out. As we scooted east, the first controller handed us off with a frequency change to the one handling the next patch of airspace. It was that moment when I heard the most vivacious, friendly, welcoming voice I have ever heard on the radio. So upbeat, charming, and engaging. And all she did was say the usual things a controller says to a pilot. But after I answered, which gave away that I’m a female pilot, she gave the “secret” handshake we have, we women in aviation. “…And happy Saturday!” 

When I got home, I asked around, who was working that sector that day? My description elicited only one possibility—Anna Mitchell. I had to know more about this lady who outshines the rest. 

Anna takes her job seriously and loves what she does. She’s been doing it 32 years, since graduating with a degree in biology.

“Communications can seem like the hardest part of flying,” she says. “Some pilots are terrified of talking to controllers, afraid they might say something wrong. I want to do everything I can to put them at ease.”

She grew up around airplanes. Getting in one was as normal as getting in a car. Her father had flown B-52s and flew several small airplanes, in which Anna often rode along. She and I have that in common; I call it “Daddy’s little shadow.” Her father and mine had something in common, too. He always told her, “There’s nothing you can’t do that a man can. Do what you want and do it well.” 

Anna’s first job directing pilots was in the tower at a small airport in Columbia, Missouri. Not everyone starts like that, and Anna values that experience because it allowed her to see things, such as the effect of wake turbulence on small aircraft. “I saw a Cessna 172 following a C130, and flip in the air from its wake turbulence. I know how important my warnings are!”

While some may think of her as a nameless, faceless voice, she can never forget how critical her job is. “There may be hundreds of people on an airliner, and what I say to their pilots matters.” 

For some, her voice has been the one that comforted them when they lost their way and became disoriented late at night. “You know, doctors make a difference. Researchers who fight cancer make a difference. I wanted to make a difference, too. When I get off work and head home from Houston Intercontinental, and I look up and see the lines of airliners funneling in from the east, I think to myself, I did that! It’s so satisfying to see it in action, knowing people are coming home safely.”

And happy. Thank you, Anna.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com