December 21, 2021 The Giving Season, Part III - AIM Air

The Liberty Gazette

December 21, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: There are signs in yards around town proclaiming that Jesus is the reason. Indeed, Christmas isn’t about trees, Santa Claus, and reindeer. If we are going to celebrate the birth of Christ, supporting people and organizations who are committed to doing his work deserve our attention. We can make a difference. 

As we journey further along in the Giving Season, we aim to create awareness and present opportunities for your heart to change lives around the world. This week, we highlight the Christian mission organization, AIM Air. AIM stands for Africa Inland Missions.

AIM Air has two bases in Africa. The main base is at Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The other is a remote base in Arua, a large town in northwest Uganda bordering South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This base serves the missionaries who work “beyond the end of the road.” 

Donations to AIM Air become a lifeline for missionaries serving people in remote places. They provide critical support by air, and that keeps missionaries safer and serving longer in Africa in the most isolated and vulnerable places. Sometimes missionaries or the people they serve need immediate care. There have been scares with poisonous snakes, and there have been civil wars. Through these, and all kinds of emergencies in between, it has just taken one phone call to AIM Air to begin evacuation. 

Because of the kinds of aircraft they fly, often generically referred to as “bush planes,” AIM Air pilots can land just about anywhere, load up, and take off, getting people to safety. 

They also bring supplies to those on the front lines. Items such as mail, food, audio bibles and literacy materials, car parts and building supplies have made their way to the most remote places on AIM Air’s planes. 

I flew with AIM Air a couple of times years ago. A Cessna 206 and a Caravan. We flew out of Nairobi and landed in South Sudan and Congo, ever mindful of guerrillas hiding in the trees. The kind that carry guns.

Mike: In 1982, the flight instructor who worked with me for my commercial pilot certificate was an AIM Air pilot. In 1985, this pilot who trained me to do canyon turns flew four hostages out of hostile territory after being released by Sudanese rebels that had held them captive for over a year. They sometimes are called upon to do these things. 

AIM Air invites us all to join their “Half Ton Team”. By sending $50 a month, they can fly an extra 1,100 pounds of goods or people. There’s a special joy this brings to givers. For me, it’s one of anticipation for the future, because while I may not see the impact of what one flight with one little box on board may mean this side of eternity, on the other side… I can just imagine. If you’ve ever dreamed of launching a flight without being a pilot, supporting AIM Air will allow you to do that. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 14, 2021 The Giving Season, Part II - Samaritan's Purse

The Liberty Gazette

December 14, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Here we are, in the Giving Season. This month, we aim to create awareness and present opportunities for you to change lives around the world. This week, we highlight the Christian humanitarian organization, Samaritan’s Purse.

Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37? After sharing this story, Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” The story gives a clear picture of God’s desire for us to help those in desperate need, wherever we find them. That is the mission of Samaritan's Purse.

For over 50 years, Samaritan’s Purse has done their utmost to follow Christ’s command by going to the aid of the world’s poor, sick, and suffering. The organization has reached hurting people in countries around the world with food, medicine, and other assistance, and much of the work is accomplished by airplane.

The Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 allows them to respond to global disasters at a moment’s notice. Since it first deployed in April of 2016, the DC-8 has carried more than 5.6 million pounds of cargo on 147 missions around the world.

You may already be familiar with Samaritan’s Purse because of their incredibly generous Shoebox program through Operation Christmas Child, or because you know of Franklin Graham, son of the late Rev. Billy Graham. But Samaritan’s Purse was actually started by someone else.

 After visiting suffering children on the Korean island of Koje-do, Bob Pierce wrote in his Bible, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” This impassioned prayer is what guided him as he founded Samaritan’s Purse in 1970.

Then Pierce came across some courageous women who were living among lepers and orphans in China, sacrificing everything to share Christ’s love. That’s when he received a vision for ministry and dedicated himself to finding and supporting Christians who were caring for the poor and suffering in the distant corners of the world.

In the summer of 1973, Pierce met Franklin Graham, who was then an adventurous young student with a growing heart for world missions. They spent a lot of time together, and in 1975, Graham accompanied Pierce to some of the world's neediest mission fields. He saw the poverty of pagan religions and the utter despair of the people they enslave.

After Bob Pierce died of leukemia in 1978, Franklin Graham took the reins of Samaritan's Purse. Through over 40 years of earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, and famine, Samaritan’s Purse has continued the Biblical example, flying medicine, supplies, food, and personnel all across the globe.

Their DC-8 is also used to send Shoebox gifts to children in some of the hardest-to-reach places—whether deep jungles, city slums, steep mountainsides, or one of 1,000 remote Pacific islands. When you build a Shoebox online, it provides a creative way to share the Good News in remote areas in a culturally sensitive manner. 

“Go and do likewise.” No matter where they go or what they do, they offer more than help. They offer hope to suffering people in a broken world.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 7, 2021 The Giving Season, Part I - JAARS

The Liberty Gazette

December 7, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

With another Thanksgiving celebrated, giving thanks for all we’ve been given, we enter again into the Giving Season. This time of year, people who celebrate Christmas and people who don’t find common ground in giving. During this time, we aim to create awareness and present opportunities for your heart to change lives around the world. We’ll start with the Christian mission organization, JAARS, sharing information from their website.

Seventy years ago, Cameron Townsend acted on his belief that all people should have God’s Word in their own language. His action was to create JAARS – Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, SIL International (a literacy organization), and Wycliff Bible Translators as Christian change agencies with a goal to permeate cultures without destroying them.

Through JAARS, Townsend set out to accomplish the Great Commission goal of providing Scripture to every people group on earth in a language and form they clearly understand. In his words, “Airplanes and radios don’t just make translation easier; they make it possible.”

He devoted his life to that vision, trusting that God would make the impossible possible. Reaching and working in minority language communities—sometimes in the most remote, dangerous corners of the world—had to be overcome with logistical support. 

Today, JAARS is a multidisciplinary team of problem-solvers committed to the belief that people’s lives and communities are transformed as they experience God’s Word in their own language. Their commitment is to support their translation partners with locally appropriate and sustainable solutions until the Gospel has reached the whole world. These solutions come in transportation, technology, media, and training. And being there requires a strong ministry so that the translation projects underway or yet to begin in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas are not hindered by lack of support in the areas where God has blessed JAARS to serve.

Major transportation tools, like aircraft and boats, are critical for JAARS to overcome logistical barriers around the world. But these tools are becoming increasingly expensive and take longer to fund, even as translation plans begin to focus on the last, most remote language communities.

With the expansion of transportation systems and infrastructure globally, along with the pace of technology and communications innovation, it’s tempting to wonder whether any place, any longer, is truly “off the grid.” The reality is yes. Missionaries intently focused on translation efforts are increasingly challenged by the responsibility to manage mission-critical transportation operations. JAARS continues to help fill these gaps, but not without support from private donors. 

At the JAARS Center in Waxhaw, North Carolina, missionaries and other volunteers depend on the research and development, training, manufacturing, repairs, medical services, housing, food service, childcare, and spiritual encouragement to help make Scripture translation possible. They depend on this support to have a sustainable impact when they are working in the field. Ultimately, the work is for the millions of people still eagerly waiting to hear and grasp the Gospel in the language they understand best.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 30, 2021 What Hits the Airwaves Doesn't Always Fly

The Liberty Gazette

November 30, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Here’s hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and called to mind many things for which you’re thankful, whether they fly or not. 

Remember the 1970’s sitcom about a radio station, WKRP in Cincinnati? The cast and crew had a lot to be thankful for with the episode, “Turkeys Away.” The show had been on the air only four months and was about to be canned, but this one saved it as audiences gobbled it up, and TV Guide marked it as the fortieth greatest episode of any series in television history.

Feeling job insecurity with the hiring of a new program director, station manager, Arthur Carlson (played by Gordon Jump), comes up with a holiday promotion idea to be the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie: twenty turkeys would drop out of the sky – gifts that would bless some lucky people out shopping in the mall.

“Dr. Johnny Fever,” the popular DJ (played by Howard Hessman), closes out the last notes of a song and cuts to Les Nessman (played by Richard Sanders), the station’s news reporter, who positioned himself in the mall parking lot for the big surprise. The beat of rotor blades (which sound like a Bell-47 bubble-type helicopter) accompany Les as he begins his play-by-play, first reporting an object falling from the aircraft, and openly wondering if it’s a parachutist. Realizing it’s a turkey, and more are following, the scene unfolds into chaos, with turkeys hitting the parking lot “like bags of wet cement,” and people running for cover. 

Back at the station, the staff who huddled around Johnny Fever anticipating a live, feel-good report, quickly realize the plan has run afoul. Fever cuts back in with, “For those of you who have just tuned in, the Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys.” 

Not to worry, fellow animal lovers, no turkeys were injured in the making of the show. It all fell to the nerdy Nessman to ignite listeners’ imaginations, as one must do in radio. The actors all said it was difficult to keep from laughing while filming that segment. 

WKRP went on to complete a four-year run and was later revived for another three years. It was nominated for eighteen awards, including Emmy, Golden Globe, Humanitas, and TV Land, scoring wins twice.

This much-loved script was written by Bill Dial, who wrote and produced many television shows, including some Star Trek episodes. He even appeared occasionally in WKRP as the radio station’s engineer, Bucky Dornster, and acted small parts in other shows, too. 

But Episode 7 of Season 1 went down in history as his best, the fan favorite, which ends as Les Nessman returns to the office in a daze and explains the rest of the story. “The turkeys mounted a sort of counter-attack. It’s as if they were somehow organized.” 

While Nessman served up the meat of the show, the real gravy came in the closing line by Mr. Carlson. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 23, 2021 Keys to the Bank

The Liberty Gazette

November 23, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: We were in the bank the other day and our business kept us there til near closing time. There weren’t many people around, and it brought back memories of flying to Blythe, California, back in the days of cancelled checks. In Blythe, I was not only the pilot delivering bank and courier mail to the airport, I also drove into town to drop it off at individual businesses and banks. 

In 1985, Blythe was a small farming community. It’s in the middle of the desert that rests on the bank of the Colorado River. During the winter months its population grows nearly three times because of “snowbirds.” There were three banks in Blythe, and I delivered and picked up all their cancelled checks and bank mail and transported it to the processing centers and clearing houses in Los Angeles. 

I would fly in from Burbank early in the morning, stopping along the way to hand off bags of bank work to drivers who met me at the Riverside and Twentynine Palms airports. After landing at Blythe, I loaded my remaining cargo into an old Chevy Chevette and made the rounds through town. By then, all the businesses were open and bustling. After my deliveries, I’d wait out the day by the pool at the layover motel, and then trek back through town to pick up anything the banks had going out. 

Most days all the businesses were still open in the afternoon. Except on Fridays when the banks closed before I came back through. Therefore, I had the keys to all the banks in Blythe. Seems shocking nowadays, what with the unpatriotic “Patriot Act” and all. 

No, back in the day, a man’s integrity meant something. I’d turn off the alarm before unlocking the door and enter the quiet, empty bank lobby. Piled in the middle of the floor was my “loot” – bags which I picked up and stacked in my car. Locking the door behind me and re-arming the alarm, I proceeded to the next bank, and the next, committing the same heist, and finally on to the airport to load my winged get-away.

In the year 2004, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (“Check 21”) changed the way banks processed checks. Now it’s all done electronically, removing the need for airplanes to transport the paper.

I couldn’t help but tell my story as we stood at the teller’s window, the last customers of the day. I bet she wasn’t even born yet when I was turning off bank alarms every Friday night. You should have seen her face when I got to the part about having the keys. That always surprises people. And I thought about what today’s security measures are like. Background checks, fingerprinting, bio-identification, cameras, and who knows what else. 

The days are short this time of year. We left with just a hint of sunlight still on the western horizon, just like it was when I departed Blythe, loaded with bank work, keys, and trust.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 16, 2021 FAA vs FCC

The Liberty Gazette

November 16, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

A couple of common questions we hear are: how does a pilot know how to land at an airport without an air traffic control tower, and how do conditions in the air or on the ground affect our flight? Legally, pilots are charged with the full responsibility of knowing “all available information” that affects their flight – all of it. 

One of the new pieces of information will come from the FAA on December 5. Note that this is the date that the FCC said 5G service is supposed to be available. But 5G is scary, even to the FAA. So now those two oversized government agencies will have to duke it out. Which does the American public want more? Increased bandwidth or safe flights? Pick one.

Washington, D.C. is where problems are born. The FCC sold little slices of the frequency pie to investors of a private 5G network. Unfortunately, these little slices are in a frequency range dangerously close to the radio band dedicated to aircraft radar altimeters, used with instrument landing systems.

Since the FCC isn’t willing to restrict 5G antennas from placement near 46 major U.S. airports, the FAA will issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin and an Airworthiness Directive. Both are strong actions, and what they mean is that if a certain condition becomes true, then pilots and crew must take certain actions. 

That “certain condition” is the aircraft’s radar altimeter indicating erroneous altitudes due to 5G signals between towers and satellites. And that “certain action” will affect the possibility of landing using the instrument landing system.

Think about the times you’ve been on an airliner, descending to land, and you go through a low cloud layer. For each runway, there is an altitude which an aircraft cannot go below if the pilots cannot see the runway. Therefore, a decision has to be made when reaching that land/don’t land minimum altitude. 

While there are airliners are equipped to auto-land in near-zero visibility at specific airports, this feature can only be used by pilots who are trained to use that system. These approaches require radar altimeters to determine the aircraft’s height above the runway. But if the instrument that provides this information suddenly receives signal interference, the radar altimeter can become unreliable, and the landing cannot be completed. 

Since we cannot have airplanes taking off if their ability to land is uncertain, this could lead to many delays and cancellations, because right now, 5G appears to wield a significant threat to safety of flight.

Even if it is possible to modify the altimeters to shake off the stray energy that will come from 5G cell phones, that will come at an enormous cost, and the FCC isn’t offering to pay for it. It’s a fair bet that airlines may not be in a position to refit the instruments in their entire fleet. Certainly not by December 5. Interestingly, Canadians have solved the problem by structuring no-5G-zones near major Canadian airports. That may be the only thing Canada is doing right these days.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 9, 2021 Weather Phobias

The Liberty Gazette

November 9, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The 2022 Old Farmer’s Almanac is out. I picked up my copy at Tractor Supply. Thumbing through it, near the end, I found a list of weather phobias. I hadn’t considered such a category of things would actually have names, but now that I think about it, sure, why not? For instance, our dog Abby, and many other dogs as well, have astraphobia, a fear of lightning and thunder. It’s also known as tonitrophobia, brontophobia, and keraunophobia. Keraunos is ancient Greek for lightning or thunderbolt. Bronte is another Greek word for thunder. While I don’t harbor this fear, I certainly respect it when flying and stay far from thunderstorms in the Elyminator. Lately, we’ve had some gorgeous flying weather, with a few dud-days sprinkled in between. 

Oh, those beautiful days, when the crisp blue sky looks like it needs a little red and white airplane with black and white checkered wingtips! We cannot resist. Plus, we peek in at the progress of various construction projects, such as the railroad, completion of 99, and River Ranch, the neighborhood under construction in Dayton.

Mike: A few years back, we had some conversations with one of the developers, Eddie Gray, about building a runway as part of River Ranch. He approached us one morning after church looking for suggestions on ways to improve the planned development. He had an idea that an airport would be a worthwhile addition. That conversation led to a meeting at his offices in Baytown where he unveiled what is now under construction.

Near the development, there’s a grass strip called Gum Island. It’s still officially charted by the FAA, meaning it isn’t closed. M&M Air Service from Beaumont and other crop duster companies used it when they worked fields in the area, but much of the time the grass was overgrown. Eddie thought the runway could be extended and paved, and we thought so too. Our conversations mostly centered around what that it would look like and how it would benefit the community. 

Taking into consideration how underserved the east side of Houston is by airports, I must admit my creative juices flowed with the idea of building a new airport, something rare in today’s world. I drew up several concept pictures for Mr. Gray, and we discussed what would work and what wouldn’t. We talked about safety, noise-filtering landscaping, the optimum runway length which would not be intrusive yet adequately serve the area, and necessary infrastructure and construction investments.

Unfortunately, the other partners nixed the deal on a new runway for River Ranch. I was disappointed but not really surprised. A new airport is a hard idea to sell even if it does make economic sense. 

Surveying the progress from above, one has to wonder, with such a major project, where plans can be hindered by nature, do the workers and investors have any weather phobias? I couldn’t blame them if they were lilapsophobes (fearing hurricanes and tornadoes), or antlophobes (afraid of floods). So here’s wishing them good weather and great success.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 2, 2021 The Rain in Spain

The Liberty Gazette

November 2, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Prior to moving to Liberty, I was the manager and chief pilot of a corporate flight department based in Miami. The company I worked for had entities on three continents, and I spent more time flying to destinations outside our country than in it. I flew the company’s Learjet, and later a Gulfstream, to some rather exotic locations, many with challenging conditions. 

One such destination was Santiago de Compostela in the northwest corner of Spain. We didn’t stay in Santiago, rather, we used it as a technical refueling stop when we flew the Learjet across the Atlantic. A tech stop is an allowable, provisional stop and does not include clearing customs, although customs officials often met the airplane there to save time. Otherwise, Rosalia de Castro airport was where we would land for customs on our way to Madrid, which was our primary base of operations in Europe. By contrast, the Gulfstream, with its longer fuel range, could bypass Santiago and go straight to Madrid or Paris when we crossed the pond from St. Johns, Newfoundland. 

Regardless which aircraft we flew, the complexities of flying across the Atlantic required logistical planning. For instance, there are one-way “tracks” to follow depending on which direction you’re flying over the ocean. Eastbound flights start in the afternoon from the U.S. and Canada, fly all night, and land in Europe early to mid-morning. Westbound flights leave Europe in the afternoon and arrive at night in North America. However, because the Learjet lacked the range, our flight times were different from those following the tracks. We’d leave Florida in the morning, and after fueling in Canada, fly across the ocean in between the usual morning and afternoon flights, giving us the benefit of a more direct route. We would make landfall in Spain around 10:00 pm. It seemed it was always raining, with turbulence blowing in from the Atlantic. 

Once landed, we’d have less than an hour to refuel and take off for Madrid before they closed the airport for the night. Often, I could be seen standing next to the jet on the dark, wet ramp in Santiago, holding a flashlight for the fueler while trying to keep the umbrella in my other hand from collapsing as I held it over him and the open tank while wind and rain whipped and pummeled us.

Sometimes that job was demanding, but the significant memory of flying into Santiago that remains with me today is their approach lighting system, and how they built it to adapt to the conditions that were common there. Most major airports have very bright approach light systems that can be seen from 25 miles away. But Santiago far exceeds that. Their approach lights are visible a hundred miles out over the sea, even through all that rain. This is a huge help for pilots. Like the new weather reporting system at the Liberty Municipal Airport here, it’s like a kind of welcome mat, helping us find our way.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 26, 2021 Amarillo by Midday

The Liberty Gazette

October 26, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: We’ve been teased by the recent cooler weather, just a taste of lovely autumn (without the unparalleled leaf-peeping in the country’s northeast). We did that once, about a decade ago, made up our own “Fall Foliage Flying Tour” through New England states. In Maine, there’s an ice cream store on nearly every corner, and they all tout the best blueberry frozen treats. The folks in New Hampshire compete ferociously in the maple arena, claiming “those folks across the Connecticut River paint their leaves,” as they hand over a bottle of their best syrup. I would love to take another fall trip like that, but this time, Amarillo offered a divergent stand-in. Not for a whole week, thankfully, but a one-day jaunt. Just up and back in the Elyminator. 

When we plan a full day, we pack a lunch and plenty of water, in case we have unexpected delays. That happened once when we were flying out to visit some of Mike’s siblings in Arizona and Nevada. The vacuum pump began to fail somewhere between here and Midland, which was our planned fuel stop. Fortunately, there was a mechanic on the field there. Unfortunately, there was a storm coming. Fortunately, the mechanic worked fast. He must have replaced it in record time. But still unfortunately, the black sky was bearing down on Midland. Fortunately, we flew out just in time. 

But this day was sunny, with lower temps and less humidity. A check of the weather along our route showed we could snag a tailwind at a lower altitude on the way up and higher for the trip back. Before we could climb to 4,500 feet, we had to get past the arrivals into Intercontinental. An airliner descending from the east crossed above and ahead of us a few miles. The air was smooth until we went through their falling wake turbulence a few minutes later. The disrupted, swirling air gave us a nudge, but not too bad, as the wake was dissipating. 

Once past Houston’s airspace and back in smooth air, we climbed to our cruise altitude and pointed the nose toward “the yellow rose of Texas,” sometimes called, “Rotor City, USA” for its V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft assembly plant. In-flight dining service started at some point during the 475-nautical-mile trip. We unpacked cold spaghetti left-overs, careful to hold the containers close to the chin to avoid sprinkling the airplane with Rao’s spaghetti sauce. It was a good thing we finished before reaching Palo Duro Canyon, because the wind picked up about that point, and the ride turned bumpy. 

Mike: As the canyon seemingly slid beneath the wings of the Elyminator, my imagination took flight. Those wind-carved spires and water-worn washes had cut side canyons down from the caprock, meandering into the Red River. This is kind of place where the western novel would grow to epic proportions. And we, like an eagle or hawk, buzzed above the storied land as Terry Stafford’s famous song played in my head.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 19, 2021 Landing with an Audience

The Liberty Gazette

October 19, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Last week I storied on about the new James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” and the fun we found in my sister going to the show with a former U2 spy plane pilot. I happened to share that story with a Canadian pilot friend, who got a kick out of the fact that I had never heard of the actor who played Bond, Daniel Craig. My friend had once had the pleasure of having Mr. Craig as a passenger on his commercial flight. He said, “I remember looking back through the flight deck door and seeing him in the front row with his golfer hat on. He looked like he literally just walked off a movie set. I was all worried I was going to crunch the landing with James Bond on my flight. Luckily, I did not.” 

That’s kind of similar to what I’m thinking when we arrive at a fly-in, like we did last weekend for the annual fall Critters Lodge event in Centerville. It’s a 3,100-foot turf runway surrounded by trees. Nestled among those trees are coves cleared out for parking spots. People set up their tents and camp out next to their airplanes. It stands to reason then that unless you’re the first one there, you’ll have an audience. 

Mike: The first challenge is always finding the airstrip. The GPS gets us to the area, but the runway surrounded by piney woods isn’t easy to pick out. We can be deceived by the many small open patches in the furry green landscape until we are directly above it. This time, a glint of sunlight reflected from another airplane’s wing got our eyes focused on the right spot. Then we knew right where to join in the pattern.

The opening for the strip is not wide – about twice the wingspan of our airplane, so landing there can seem a bit daunting for some. Bright red balls mark the powerlines at the east end of the runway. Once we’re clear of those lines, we can reduce engine power and drop right down. Linda made a smooth landing for the spectators to envy.

Linda: Mike recorded it, too, so I inserted a few seconds of it at the beginning of my new Instagram video. I have experience with desktop video and audio editors, but this was my first experience using the app, InShot, recommended by my niece. It’s easy to use and offers a fairly nice variety of tools for moving, cutting, speeding and slowing, fading, and even reverse video. Free background music options only require that the artist be properly credited with embedded text on the video for a couple of seconds, and they make that easy, too. The music selection within InShot isn’t great, but their library is growing, and of course, if I had original music, I could use that instead. 

If you’re on Instagram, follow me at either @lindastreetely or @paperairplanepublishing, and boogie to the scenes from Critters Lodge.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 12, 2021 Bond. James Bond.

The Liberty Gazette

October 12, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Last week the new James Bond movie premiered, “No Time to Die.” I’m no movie-goer and have never seen a James Bond flick and don’t plan to. Poking around the internet, I learned this was Daniel Craig’s last stint as Bond. I’d never even heard of Daniel Craig. But I was curious how many aircraft have made an appearance in these films. 

There have been 6 lead actors in 27 Bond movies, but it’s hard to tell exactly how many aircraft. It kind of depends on how you count them. Air & Space Magazine ventured a guess in 2015, but they were counting ‘flying machines’ and added them up to 160. They included parachutes, missiles, and apparently there was an ejection seat in an Aston-Martin, which is an English-built sports car. Me, I would only count airplanes, helicopters, blimps, and hot air balloons. 

Speaking of Aston-Martin, my father was the man who introduced the British automobile to the United States, which he did before I was born, when he owned a foreign car dealership in Evanston, Illinois. But back to the counting of ‘flying machines.’ They also counted them more than once. For instance, every time a parachute was in a movie, they counted it. Therefore, I won’t agree with there having been over 160 aircraft in Bond films, but there have been many. 

One with which I have a distant but fun personal connection was the small, single-seat BD-5J. If you’re a fan, you might remember the scene where Bond escapes the bad guys, and flying this ‘world’s smallest jet,’ guides a heat-seeking missile into their hangar to blow up their research facilities. Then, seeing he’s low on fuel, he lands on a road and coasts to a gas station. That idea came from the stunt pilot, Corkey Fornof. Years ago, when I was introduced to him, he bowed and kissed my hand.

True story: Corkey had once found himself in a pickle when the overcast layer was pushing him lower and lower, just above a pine forest. He decided it would be smartest to land on the interstate. The speed limit was 70. He slowed to about 103 as he approached a semi. He thought about landing atop the truck, but the upcoming overpass nixed that plan. The driver saw him, blew his horn to slow others down, and let Corkey land in front of him. At the next exit, the stunt man coasted his microjet into the Sunoco station and over the “ding-ding” hose. After a half-minute stare-down, it took some work to convince the attendant he wasn’t on “Candid Camera.”

So, there it was, last week, the latest Bond premiering in IMAX theaters around the country. Family friend and US Air Force veteran, Zach, asked my sister if she wanted to go. Decked out in tux and sleek black pantsuit, the pair arrived early for martinis at the pre-show shindig, to which my observant mother quipped, “Perfect! She’s going to a James Bond party with a former U2 spy plane pilot.”

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 5, 2021 The Great (Flying) Pumpkin

The Liberty Gazette

October 5, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Welcome back, Autumn! You’re my favorite season. Great weather means loads of fly-ins, many with extra fun activities. A favorite flying game is to drop something from overhead, and the closest drop to the bullseye wins. One the best games is a ‘punkin-chunkin’ contest. I thought our Canadian friend Tom Martin was creative when he impaled a pumpkin on a knife and rigged it up to one wing of his airplane, with a trigger to let it go just above the port-a-potty target. Ingenious, but he didn’t win. Vietnam veteran Army paratrooper Bobby Bennet won. Go figure. 

Then just the other day I came across a video not to be missed. This time last year, the FliteTest team of Josh, Stefan, and Rob, had the wild idea to see if they could make a pumpkin fly. Stefan was tasked with finding a small pumpkin, under five pounds, around which airplane designer-builders Josh and Rob would build a drone. Unfortunately, Stefan returned with three large pumpkins because he couldn’t find any small ones. They weighed each one to the background of Stefan’s contagious, wide-mouthed laugh. The final pumpkin registered 20.4 pounds, which presented the ultimate challenge. 

Josh tasked Rob, the team’s “solution architect,” with reducing the weight by half and carving a jack-o-lantern face with a smile as big as Stefan’s. The idea nearly brought Stefan to his knees with laughter. 

Rob used a Snapchat pumpkin filter, took a picture of Stefan’s wildly smiling face, which brought the facial model to his knees in laughter again. 

Josh figured it would take four heavy-lift drone motors, each which can carry up to four pounds, for twenty pounds of thrust. The airframe, he estimated, would be five pounds. Rob would have to carve out as much of the guts as possible, yet not too much, to make the pumpkin strong, yet light. 

Meanwhile, Josh and Rob chose the perfect aircraft design: a B-24 Liberator. The laughing Stefan-faced pumpkin would replace the cockpit on their model. They built wing spars with foam, boxed in by strips of plywood and Poplar for strength, which joined a larger spar that went through the middle of the orange cockpit such that it would support the entire structure. Since every main component had to fasten to the structure inside the pumpkin, it was the fruit that became the airplane. They couldn’t take more than two days to complete this, as the carved cockpit was already getting squishy. Explaining the build, Josh was quick to say that viewers can take what they learned and apply it to building model aircraft. 

The seasonal black and orange paint job and the flashing LED lights inside the jack-o-lantern added pizzazz without much weight. Equipped with the latest Insta360 camera, FliteTest’s flying pumpkin took off, flew and landed successfully. The flight view was beautifully complemented by Ohio’s autumn trees at their Edgewater Airpark home. It’s a must-see on YouTube. Click, watch, and laugh along.

Flite Test's Flying Pumpkin

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 28, 2021 Advantage: SFA

The Liberty Gazette

September 28, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Great news! Stephen F. Austin State University is jumping in to help supply the next generation of airline pilots. Universities and smaller aviation companies across the United States and around the world are gearing back up to fill the void that has been developing for years. The disruption from biological warfare over the past couple years hasn’t changed the need. Airlines are expanding again after a pause, and many of their pilots are reaching mandatory retirement age, 65. 

Starting from scratch, there are a number of routes to the airline cockpit, and SFA’s Flight Initiative, starting this fall, helps make that process more direct and less time consuming. The university has partnered with HCH Aviation at A. L. Mangham Jr. Regional Airport, in Nacogdoches, to provide the professional flight training portion of the curriculum. The FAA has granted the company a provisional certificate to operate under the more stringent regulations. 

Students will train in state-of-the-art Redbird simulators that are interchangeable between single and twin-engine aircraft, and they will fly new Piper 100i airplanes.   

The Piper 100i Aircraft is an updated version of the Cherokee 180. It now has an advanced electronic flight information display with a GPS moving map and an autopilot, qualifying it as a Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA). The instruments are computer screens, termed “glass cockpit,” rather than the old-style round instruments that pilots refer to as “steam gauges.” Most light plane manufacturers are no longer making complex airplanes with retractable landing gear, yet one of the requirements a commercial pilot certificate is 10 hours of training in these airplanes. With a shortage of this type, in 2018, the FAA added the TAA class of airplane as an alternative to meet the commercial requirements.

  

HCH’s program is geared toward putting pilots in the cockpit of airliners as soon as possible after graduation. The students not only train in technically advanced aircraft but also learn the standard operating practices which airlines use. By introducing the students to these practices early, their progress toward a pilot seat in an airliner is greatly enhanced. 

They will still need to meet the minimum experience requirements for an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate to be hired by an airline. But those required hours will be reduced once HCH is established beyond the provisional, or probationary status, and the students earn a degree from SFA in Aviation Science.   

Since the airline industry has made something of a comeback, the pilot shortage has returned, meaning flights will continue to be canceled until there are enough qualified pilots allowed to fly. To meet the demand, several smaller aviation companies now partner with the major air carriers as part of the career pipeline, and they will be looking to hire pilots graduating from the program at SFA to keep the supply of pilots flowing. 

Visit their Facebook page, HCH Aviation, and their website, https://hchaviation.com where you’ll note a professional pilot median career earning potential as compared to other careers, as well as training cost comparisons. HCH comes out “Best in Class.” 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 21, 2021 Career Choices

The Liberty Gazette

September 21, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to be a test pilot, likely an influence of the Steve Canyon persona, sun glinting from mirrored glasses, fast jets, and standing out from the ordinary. Test pilots are no longer super stick-n-rudder, seat-of-the-pants flyers of the Golden Era of Aviation. Today’s test pilots are flight test engineers who spend a lot of time behind a desk. That sounded boring to me, so I changed paths for a flying career. Hours gained in my logbook gave me stories to write, rather than reports, which made the desk a friendlier place, and on my terms.

Due to a high, thin overcast, the stars were not visible. Billowing steam reflected in dim ramp lights as John blew into cupped hands, then alternately made fists and spread his fingers to stretch. He heard only his own breathing in the still air. Nothing but blackness existed past the white, blue, and red lights along the runway, but he knew the snowcapped peaks were there. As he moved along the slick surface, he steadied himself against the fuselage, occasionally ice and snow crunched under his feet. A quick hop onto the wing, in one smooth motion he slid into the cockpit, closed, and latched the door.

As a writer, I build scenes and encourage readers to interact with characters, meet interesting people, and explore exotic and wild places. Storytellers create worlds that are expressive and along the way, teach the reader about something maybe they didn’t already know. Building a picture and tension in the reader’s mind isn’t easy, and often goes through many revisions in descriptive prose. 

The rain wasn’t reaching the ground—virga. Sue anticipated some bumps and downdrafts, but nothing she could not handle; the showers were pretty spread out. Afternoon sun reflected from the sparsely spaced downbursts which turned dark gray as the droplets fell into the shadows of broken cumulus buildups. Tonight’s weather was unlike the storms she faced the previous evening, necessitating a stop in Dodge City. She could easily wiggle around these.

Someone without flying experience could attempt creating scenes like these, but they would need to conduct significant research for technical accuracy, yet would still miss the feel, the reality. Books, magazines, documentaries, and the internet are all great tools, but nothing will ever replace being there and experiencing similar moments first-hand. 

While some writers start early to develop observation and descriptive skills, several well-known writers didn’t start until later in life. One author commented in an interview that he waited until he was over 40 to start writing so he had enough experience to draw upon. The way I view and write about things now is different than thirty years ago, with all my flying and life experiences. And like a pilot, a writer should always be learning, trying new techniques, and developing their craft. 

I didn’t become a flight test engineer, but I’ve followed my dreams. Flying, and writing about these experiences, I consider myself fortunate. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 14, 2021 Autumn Aerial Adventures

The Liberty Gazette

September 14, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: As it was time for a much-needed vacation, we slipped away to my hometown, Indy, to visit family and friends. We’d have clear skies for the two-thirds of the flight up but would contend with unstable air as we approached our destination. A low-pressure system stretched for miles from Indianapolis to Dodge City, Kansas and was at least 75 miles wide. Our onboard weather displayed an elongated mosaic in green, yellow, red, and purple, severity in varying degrees. The red and purple areas are the ones to avoid. Embedded thunderstorms, strong downdrafts, and the potential for ice do not make for a pleasant environment for small planes. 

Nearing Bloomington in southern Indiana, we checked the radar more carefully. We would land there to wait out the weather ahead if we had to. But the red blotches over Indy were dissipating, and it looked like we could pass Bloomington and keep going. (Not that there’s anything wrong with landing in Bloomington. It’s a beautiful spot, it just isn’t where Mom lives.) Continuing northbound, we soon spied our final destination, the Hendricks County airport, about five miles away. 

In the traffic pattern, we turned downwind, base, to final and flew over a “sign” on the ground. In the corn was carved a Pokeman themed design with, “Gotta catch ‘em all. Beasley’s Orchard, 2021.” Last year’s corn maze gave tribute to healthcare workers, with symbols from the medical industry: a stethoscope, a heart with a beat, and the Caduceus, and the words, “Thank you for your relentless dedication. Beasley’s Orchard, 2020.” 

Now in the third generation of owners, the Beasley family has been growing and selling fruits and vegetables since 1946. From their humble beginning, selling tomatoes packed in little Johnny’s red wagon, their business has grown to today’s 165-acre farm focused on agritourism. 

The Civil War-era Old Barn Retail Market invites visitors to roam the stalls filled with fresh produce and products such as soaps, candles, and kitchen utensils. After sipping fruit-flavored honey sticks, we meandered outside, down between the rows of Jonathan and Gala apple trees. Mike, being the tallest in our group, reached high to pick the choicest fruit to fill a bag. Families also enjoy other popular pickings this time of year when they hop aboard for a hayride to the pumpkin patch or pick sunflowers for their fall gardens. 

Meanwhile, on the porch, near the antique farm plow, surrounded by beautifully potted mums, we perched upon rocking chairs and sipped apple cider smoothies. Haybales and picnic tables accented the scene, while children bounced atop a 75-foot long “air pillow,” like a colossal bubble covered in rubber. Others navigated the 8-acre corn maze, equipped with 10 multiple choice agricultural questions, which, answered correctly, led them in the right direction.

We didn’t have a specific plan in mind for the apples, until back in the barn, I happened upon a crumb cake mix, which gave me a good idea. That first evening, a delicious aroma filled the house as we celebrated being together. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 7, 20021 The Latest News on the Liberty Municipal Airport

The Liberty Gazette

September 7, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

In the Spring last year, the City of Liberty put out a notice asking for bids for a weather reporting system for the airport. The particular type they sought is referred to as an AWOS-3PT. That stands for Automatic Weather Observation System. This type of weather station collects and broadcasts weather on a minute-by-minute basis, so pilots have the most current automated weather report possible. Continuous, and in real time. 

Liberty's AWOS-3PT

Interested parties were given just under a month submit their bids, and the result was a year’s worth of work made possible in part by the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division. They provided 75% of the funding for the entire project. Since the AWOS also needed electrical service and
an access road in order to meet state and federal requirements, all those costs were included in the grant. The total came to $203,343.40. Hermann Memorial Life Flight contributed $50,000. That’s how important this weather station is. 

Responsibility for the welfare of the Liberty Municipal Airport comes under Assistant City Manager, Chris Jarmon. I can’t say enough of what a joy it is to hear Chris say, “We have an interest in the airport doing well, growing, and being a bigger contributor to our local economy.” His words are like long-awaited honey.

It took about a year to complete all the work. The Liberty Municipal Airport started the summer ready to give pilots valuable information.

Automatic weather reporting systems are required to meet FAA and National Weather Service accuracy and reliability standards before they can be used to support instrument flight rule operations. Liberty’s AWOS provides pilots with the current altimeter setting, density altitude, temperature, dew point, wind speed and direction with gust indication, visibility, cloud height and sky conditions, precipitation identification and intensity, and thunderstorm reporting with local-area lightning tracking. Plus, the city added a present weather sensor, thunderstrike alert, and an upgrade for an ultra-sonic wind sensor.

Pilots make critical decisions based on the weather, and the AWOS is a reliable guide through the ever-changing Texas weather conditions. When traveling to or from, or just over the area, knowing the weather helps us make decisions with confidence. It’s not just a huge benefit for anyone flying into the airport here, but for the region. We all know that the weather can change between Beaumont and Cleveland. There were previously no weather reports to be obtained on the east side of Houston between those cities. Even the Baytown airport does not have weather reporting.

What’s up next for our local airport? Twenty new T-hangars and resurfacing the runway and taxiway, also funded by grants, with the runway project at an even better rate of 90% of the $2.8 million cost being covered. Engineers are at work now developing the full scope, with a target date for construction to begin next summer. 

If scheduling works out well, about this time next year, TXDOT Aviation will rightfully boast another success story contributing to a local Texas economy. This time, it’s Liberty’s turn. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 31, 2021 Why We Travel

The Liberty Gazette

August 31, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Since aviation has such a significant role in travel, I think it is likely that most aviators are natural wanderlusts. We are people drawn to the awe of flight which fills us with something indescribable. But it’s not just pilots who long to see beyond the horizon. Millions of people cherish breaks from the routine of life for periods of nomadic wonder. Why do we leave home and all that is familiar? Various motives drive us to meander; the yearning to be amazed, to learn, to search for meaning, to enjoy life and make the unfamiliar familiar. If you followed your dreams, where would they take you? 

Dmitry, a Bulgarian artisan in Plovdiv

If you have traveled extensively, do you remember the feeling the first time you viewed an art masterpiece in person, went on your first castle tour, had your first exotic food experience, your first taste of the effects of war and poverty in a third-world country? Why does travel have such a powerful and deep impact on us? In large part it’s because of our humanity and this space and moment we share. It’s also because history, art, and people together create culture, and when we venture out to experience different cultures, we grow. We find differences and similarities in others and thank God for his variety in creation. Travel changes us. 

Ground Zero, NYC

We don’t have to agree with all cultures’ beliefs. The world includes evil, and with travel, we learn so much more firsthand about both good and evil. As a traveler, we learn to listen, because history speaks. We learn to value liberty and justice, and know they are not free. The cost is found among the losses and victories in the collective past of humanity. 

The triumph and tears I’ve found in Rwanda, Congo, Uganda and Sudan offer connection, compassion, and gratitude. Graffiti, bullet holes, and bombed building remains in Bosnia gifted me with candid, stark realness of people, like you and me, who sheltered their children in basements, their only toys the shards of destruction. Touching those ruined landmarks while listening to survivors, we struggle together to understand. In doing so, we sense the unseen connection of pain and hope. South Vietnamese citizens who still bravely call their city “My Saigon” inspire us and remind us how much we have in common. The people’s determination to rebuild war-ravaged Croatia proves how God strengthens us to rise again.

Celebration of Life, Batak, Bulgaria

Fish pedicure, Siem Reap, Cambodia

The beauty of the Julian Alps while flying over Slovenia, the landscape of my Scottish heritage, and the farms of rural Iceland under the aurora borealis fill me with a sense of peace and awe. In the Tyrolian region of Austria, tradition is kept alive with joyful dance and song. Within our own country, traveling teaches us to appreciate the past as if we had lived it, if we are open to learning the truth without the destructive need to re-write or erase it.

As the best example of all, Jesus’ disciples traveled to share the Good News, an answer to the search for meaning.

The Dying Lion Monument, Lucerne, Switzerland

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 24, 2021 Memories Are Made of These

The Liberty Gazette

August 24, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When I was young, long before my first flight, I filled out reader information service cards in aviation magazines. The postage-paid cards had numbers assigned to identify the advertisers sponsoring the information. I left my mark with circles around those I wanted more information from. These cards went to the magazines’ marketing departs, who forwarded my “interest” to their advertisers, who in turn sent brochures about their products. My free stuff became memorabilia. 

If I wrote the advertisers directly, some offered neat gifts. One of the first things I wrote for, after seeing an ad featuring maps, a plotter, and an E6B computer, was a flight plan folder. It was in the pictures’ background, so the advertisement made me think I was getting all that stuff. When I received it, the package was smaller than I expected. I was disappointed at first with the five-by-seven-inch black folder with a brass clip that held a pad of blank flight plans. They were embossed with the name of the company. After the initial shock, I was happy to just get some pilot stuff. 

Aircraft brochures were a big item. All the major manufacturers sent them. Cessna sent theirs for the 150 and their other planes. Piper sent Cherokee and Navajo brochures. Beechcraft sent them for their Bonanzas and Baron and included a map of the U.S. with a plastic overlay. The overlay had nine concentric circles in groups of three to show how far each airplane would fly in one, two, and three hours. Over time, these items piled up and were boxed away. Even after I started flying, I occasionally pulled out the boxes and went through them and dreamed a bit. 

I don’t know when most of the trinkets, advertising, and charts I collected, disappeared. There have been times when I had a thought or question about one of these pieces of my life and discovered I no longer had it. Pilot career opportunities sometimes require multiple moves, some across the country or on the other side of the world, and my path has been no different. It’s then that things naturally need to be shed. However, I still have the charts I did my initial pilot training with and some others that are special. I treasure every crease, smudge, and tear they’ve endured. 

These bits of the past are more than memories. While I have a connection, they are also powerful resources for research. Some of the information gleaned from them cannot be found online and is difficult to come by. Through eBay, the online garage sale, I’ve slowly rebuilt my library of old aircraft brochures, out-of-date aeronautical charts, and airport information. Memory has fooled me more than once, so I refer to these memorabilia as my form of fact-checking. They also nudge my mind about information I need to include but had not thought about for my next book. Plus, when I’m finished with research, I can reminisce with my pilot stuff.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 17, 2021 Venturing Out

The Liberty Gazette

August 17, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Just before school started up again, aviation lovers flocked to Oshkosh in east-central Wisconsin for the largest annual convention of any kind, anywhere: AirVenture. Hosted and managed by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), AirVenture was the place to be, for the 68th year. Many industry participants, including aircraft manufacturers, headset makers, avionics companies, and others reserve major company announcements for AirVenture. This year, there were 747 commercial exhibitors, and 1,055 workshops, presentations, and forums during the 10-day super-event. 

Stepping out with the theme, “The Wait is Over,” organizers weren’t sure what to expect, given the presence of biological warfare still floating around in the air. But propeller heads and jet jockeys alike made it clear. It’s time to live life. So they flew in, more than 10,000 aircraft making an average of 116 take-offs and landings per hour when the airport was open. A real lollapalooza! The airport closed for daily and nightly air shows as well as overnight. The night air shows are a fan favorite and include fireworks, some of which are popped off from the ground, but the most spectacular are those that are fired from wild aerobatic routines. 

More than 5,000 volunteers as well as a lean staff made it all happen. They welcomed guests, 40,000 of which set up in 12,000 campsites, and another 568,000 stayed in nearby dormitories, houses, or hotels. People from over 66 different countries were willing to put up with all the crazy travel restrictions just to be part of something that made them feel like things were normal again—the real normal, in a family-oriented atmosphere.

This event did indeed pump lots of much needed money into the area’s economy. Over $170 million, in just ten days. Pilots and friends were elated to put AirVenture back on the calendar and didn’t mind spending money during their long-awaited playtime. Venturers spread excitement and joy across the extensive airfield grounds, further fueled by those who couldn’t make it there, with over 20 million social media engagements sparked by EAA alone. That doesn’t even count all the tweets, Instagram and other posts by the rest of us.

Amid the thousands of show planes and hundreds of media representatives from around the globe, the EAA Aviation Foundation held its annual fundraising event for aviation education programs, and this year, they raised more than $1.7 million. Plus, there’s always KidVenture. Under 18 gets in free to all of AirVenture, and once inside, kids find a variety of hands-on STEM activities, can fly U.S. Air Force F-16 simulators with VR goggles, and build their own rockets. Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship winners show kids how to preflight an airplane, and those who complete aircraft mechanic activities receive an EAA toolset of their own. 

So now that school is back in, as those special children in your life think ahead about possibilities for their future, consider introducing them to the wonderful world of all things aeronautical. The scholarships are abundant, the camaraderie superb, and the job market is always taking off. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 10. 2021 The Shortest International Flight

The Liberty Gazette

August 10, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: The first time I landed at Brown Field near San Diego, I was a student pilot flying my long cross-country, approaching it from the northeast. I made a steep descent over the Otay Mesa straight in for Runway 26 Right. The terrain was steep on that side, and it felt like I was swooping down on the airport. 

Brown Field is one mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border. One mile south of the border is Gen. George Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana. The runways at these two airports parallel each other on an east-west alignment.

Years after my student solo flight, one of my coworkers, who was getting married, wanted to honeymoon in Mexico, on a budget. They found a great deal for airline tickets, but the flight started out in Tijuana. Driving there would have taken two hours, and they would have had a long wait to cross the border. I offered to fly them, my first time to fly internationally. 

Brown Field had a VOR approach from the north from which planes would circle right or left to land. If they were going into Mexico, they simply crossed over the airport and flew to Tijuana International, or so I thought.

The day after the wedding, the weather was instrument conditions when we started out but cleared as we got further south, turning into to a warm, sunny day. As I neared Brown Field on the instrument approach, after some confusing conversations with the tower controller, I cancelled my IFR flight plan, which I should have kept until I was in Mexican airspace. I flew over Brown Field, and the controller told me to contact Tijuana tower as I crossed the border.  

It is a fact that English is the international aviation language, but you might imagine how well that works in some places in the world. International airports are supposed to have English-speaking controllers available, but that doesn’t always happen unless they have advance notice. 

I called Tijuana tower for our landing clearance and got a reply in Spanish. I could not cross back into the United States because I didn’t have a flight plan filed for that. For twenty minutes, I circled over Tijuana Airport. A Mexicana DC-10 taxied down the runway – there were no taxiways. After the DC-10 turned around and departed, someone speaking English came on the radio and cleared me to land. Once on the ground, I learned that they had grabbed someone from the administration building to talk to me. 

The couple was whisked over to the terminal where they caught their flight with time to spare. I spent thirty minutes filling out a border-crossing flight plan and giving my ETA to U.S. Customs via an intercom that directly linked U.S. and Mexican Customs officials at the two airports. It took less time to make the flight. From Tijuana, I took off to the west and made an S-shaped pattern to land at Brown Field. Total five minutes to complete this international flight.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 3, 2021 Summer School

The Liberty Gazette

August 3, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: I’ve noticed a school bus passing by our house every weekday. I suppose summer school is in, and that made me think that all the adults sitting around, not in school, could use a lesson in something. I have just the thing: How to figure weight and balance of an airplane. 

Why would you want to know this? In addition to possibly learning something new, you will finish this article with a new appreciation (and forgiveness) for when the pilot of your next sightseeing flight asks how much you weigh and tells you where to sit.

Let’s think of a Cessna 172, the most popular training airplane. When aircraft are assembled, the weight of everything and its position are recorded. But there must be a reference point from which to measure. 

The way these small airplanes are built, there’s a firewall between the engine compartment and the rest of the airplane, e.g., where you sit. That firewall is, for weight and balance purposes, the reference (datum) point that Cessna uses. With the only variables being what you put into the plane, you can use this point to figure out how much weight you can put where. If you have too much weight too far forward, it will be hard for the nose to lift off the ground. Too far back and the airplane will nose up too fast. Think of it like the playground seesaw. But wait, we’re not ready for recess yet.

Here’s how you figure weight and balance: 

The pilot’s operating handbook will tell you the empty weight of the aircraft and its maximum gross weight. You figure out the weight of all the people who will climb into the airplane, plus any bags they’re carrying, and the weight of the fuel. Aviation fuel weighs six pounds per gallon. Let’s say your 172 has 30 gallons, and you’re a young couple with two children. (See fig.1)

Once you have all the weights jotted down, you multiply each by the arm. That is, the location where that “weight” will be in the airplane, which is measured by its distance from the datum. Do that little math problem and your answer is called the moment. 

Next, add the weights to get the total weight. Add the moments to find the total moment. Then divide the total moment by the total weight. This answer gives you the center of gravity.

Take the numbers that are total weight and center of gravity and find them on the chart supplied in the pilot’s operating handbook. (See fig. 2) As long as they fall within the limits shown on the chart, you’re good to go. Of course, you’ll burn fuel as you fly, so the airplane will be lighter when you land, so you should figure your anticipated landing weight and balance because that center of gravity will shift as fuel is used, but you get the idea.

Below is your homework. You may use a calculator. Turn it in to the Gazette office. Class dismissed!

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

	Weight	Arm	Moment
Basic empty weight	1600	x 39	=
Pilot (wife)	130	x 37.0	=
Pilot (husband)	185	x 37.0	=
Rear passenger (child)	50	x 73.0	=
Rear passenger (child)	40	x 73.0	=
Baggage area	50	x 95.0	=
Usable fuel (30 gal x 6 lbs per gal)	180	x 47.9	=
TOTAL WEIGHT & MOMENT		---

____________    X   __________   =   ____________

Total Moment   X   Total Weight   =  C.G.

 Go to graph (Figure 2)

                            Figure 2