February 23, 2021 Space Haggis

The Liberty Gazette

February 23, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Last year, in honor of my Scottish ancestry, we flew to Chicago for one of the biggest Burns Suppers in the U.S. This is an annual event that celebrates the birthdate of Scottish poet Robert Burns. It’s the same every January 25, everywhere around the world. This year, however, health fears prevented the gathering, so instead, I and millions of others around the globe celebrated online. 

There were some fantastic presentations, including special productions from Edinburgh and Ayr in Scotland. All, of course, included haggis. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, and at every Burns Supper, a haggis is paraded into the dining hall with great bagpipe fanfare and presented to the crowd, while someone recites Burns’ poem “Address to a Haggis.” Haggis is sheep’s or calf’s offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal’s stomach. However, one can find vegetarian haggis in a can at Spec’s in downtown Houston, in the “finer foods” section. 

This year, there was something special about one celebration that was not just out of the box, but out of the atmosphere. Starting early, on Friday, January 22, “the Scottish Butcher,” Simon Howie, launched the first ever haggis into space. Mr. Howie’s plan to promote his prepared product, which Scots can buy at any grocery store, was out-of-this-world-fun. His packaged haggis soared over 20 miles (107,293 feet) above the earth. That beats the world’s highest Burns Supper he hosted on the top of Kilimanjaro in 2010. It’s four times the height of Mt. Everest and 2.5 times higher than most jets fly. It’s the edge of space. 

Visibility on launch day was so good that in the video, at altitude, you can see at least as far as 250 miles away. Their media team reported that when the balloon burst, Simon’s haggis was safely transported back to the company’s Perthshire headquarters. Actually, it’s more like it fell to Earth at nearly 200 miles an hour before the parachute took over, surely making it as well the fastest haggis ever. They say it will be preserved for years to come, as the first haggis in space. Search “space haggis” on YouTube to find the video. Or just go to thescottishbutcher.com/spacehaggis. 

https://thescottishbutcher.com/spacehaggis/

Aside from creative marketing, Simon Howie hopes to spark intergalactic and scientific interest in young people. In partnership with Stratonauts, they will, once gathering restrictions are lifted, run workshops in local primary schools to encourage more kids into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) related careers. Stratonauts is a private organization that works to inspire students to become pioneers of the future.

Their record-breaking haggis made the flight in 2 hours and 37 minutes. The temperature got down to -60C, and the wind got up to 150.30 mph. This was done with a weather balloon, which expands as it rises. At its highest altitude, the balloon reached 10 meters in diameter. After that, it was a quick trip down. Robbie Burns would probably amend his address if he knew about this. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 16, 2021 Aerial Mapping

The Liberty Gazette

February 16, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Our story last week was about an archeological discovery from the Iron Age, spotted in an aerial photograph. Aerial mapping has become big business. Just a week or so ago, standing outside in the front lawn, I heard an airplane and naturally, I looked up. Overhead was a Cessna Caravan making precise circles. At first, I thought the large single-engine turboprop might be a jump plane from one of Houston’s parachute centers. Then I saw a large hole in the bottom of the plane’s body. That, I knew, was for taking pictures. The airplane was mapping Liberty. 

In 2001, Google began stitching high-definition satellite photos together to create their Google Earth software program. Other companies have followed. In 2012, Google added to their universe as they began 3-D modeling of select cities.

The way it works is, a camera mounted on the airplane takes pictures of an area from four or more sides. Tilted at a 45-degree angle, it takes a series of pictures at one altitude, then the airplane climbs to a higher altitude where more images are captured. With each increase in altitude, the airplane circles at a calculated wider path, so the camera position has the same view as at the previous altitude. The photo frames are connected using algorithms and fed into Google Earth, making a three-dimensional view available from the highest altitude the aircraft took the pictures. When the screen is zoomed out to an altitude above that, the format reverts to a 2-D satellite view.

Arial photography has been around since long before satellites. Airplanes make mountain-top views available everywhere, even where no mountains exist. With their lenses pointed straight down from the airplane’s belly, the early images produced were two-dimensional; flat. Over time, the airplanes flew higher, and the cameras got better. Hundreds of pictures were taken from high-flying military airplanes flying a grid-pattern over the countryside. 

In the 1930s through the 1950s, cartographers used these photos to create topographical maps and aeronautical charts. Curved and wavy lines on the maps illustrate elevation changes, but before mapmakers could draw those, they needed to see the relief—the steepness of the terrain. The cartographer would then view the pictures through a stereoscope device to see the land in three dimensions while drawing the maps. The elevations were verified by ground survey at specific points. 

The cameras aboard Air Force spy planes take high-resolution pictures so we can learn what adversaries may be planning. They say pictures taken from the cameras aboard the SR-71 and U-2 are so clear, that even taken from 70,000 feet, you can tell the time on someone’s watch.

Though major cities were the first to be mapped, the effort has expanded regionally over time. Eventually, the whole United States, and maybe someday the world, will be available for viewing on our computers in three dimensions.  Today, the world is shrinking as cameras are coupled with GPS and are mounted in airplanes flown by pilots who fly precise circles overhead. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 9, 2021 Ancient Discoveries from the Air

The Liberty Gazette

February 9, 2021

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Time Team was a wildly popular series that aired for 16 seasons, beginning in 1994. Hosted by British actor Tony Robinson, a team of archeologists has three days to excavate significant historical locations with the hope of finding cool stuff and great stories. Often, aircraft are involved.

Photo: Time Team

In early 2006, a pilot doing aerial surveying flew across the north coast of Wales over the island of Anglesey. The photographer on board spotted something strange about the contours of a field and took a photo which revealed a massive earthwork about the length of two football fields. Until then, says Sir Robinson, “No one knew there was anything there except a few lumps and bumps.”

Some Time Team members thought the bumps and lumps could be from the Roman occupation of 61 AD. But the strange outline in the aerial photo looked similar to two other sites on Anglesey that were found to be earlier than the Roman period. Those were from the middle to late Iron Age (500 BC-332 BC). 

Perhaps the image from the aerial photo represented more than one period in history. If so, then one would likely be Iron Age, and the other sometime later, which would take it right through the time of the Druids, one of history’s most mysterious groups. 

The Roman army arrived on this island to destroy the stronghold British resistance, an insurgency led by the Druids. If the team found Roman relics here, then this could be of one of the bloodiest sites in Welsh history. The Romans massacred the Druids. In fact, the Romans so obliterated them that many people think the Druids were a myth. But there are living Druids in Wales now. Local historians say the Druids were peacemakers. They tend to be artists—musicians and poets. Whatever you’ve read about them, remember that the natives didn’t do the writing. It was the Romans telling the story of who the Druids were.

Photo: Time Team

For three days, the Time Team dug. They worked mainly on the hill because that would be a highly 
likely place to find artifacts. Sure enough, they found a grave from the Bronze Age, 4,000 years old, covered by a heap of stones. From other evidence discovered, the team concluded that there had also been a traditional Iron Age community of thatched roof round houses on top of the hill. These people would have left that earlier burial site alone, respecting it when they built their round houses there. In the Iron Age, this hill would have been a power base for an important chief who had it all, until the Romans arrived. 

Photo: Time Team

That aerial photo gave enough clues for archeologists to pull the curtain back just enough to see a place that tells a story. Signs of the excavation are still visible on Google Earth, at 53°24'19.7"N 4°23'42.8"W.

You never know what mystery you might discover from the air. A view from above can lead to past lives, as Robinson says, now hidden beneath gentle pastures.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 2, 2021 Airborne Canvases

The Liberty Gazette

February 2, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: If the world ever opens up again and international travel resumes, be on the lookout for the coolest paint schemes on airliners. Alaska Airlines may still be sporting the characters from “Incredibles 2.” And look for the scene from “The Lord of the Rings” gracing Air New Zealand. One of WestJet’s planes carries Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from “Frozen” (out of 170 gallons of specialized aircraft paint) way up into cold altitudes. Speaking of cold, one of Iceland Air’s Boeing 757s sports a Northern Lights theme. And who could forget the beloved Shamu on Southwest Airlines? 

While we didn’t go to the expense of contracting with a major motion picture studio when we painted the Elyminator, considerable thought, design, and prep work went into our red and black-and-white checkered racing theme. 

Normally, aircraft paint shops remove old paint with chemical stripper before applying new coats. But Grummans are a bit different. Models like ours have bonded (glued) surfaces. Fewer rivet heads mean less drag and better performance. However, paint stripper could dissolve the bonding, so, we don’t use it. That means removal happens by hand sanding. It’s sanded wet, so the paint does not become dust, and that’s a lot of work. 

There’s also quite a process involved. Over the summer in 2011, we meticulously sanded the entire airplane, per our manufacturer’s maintenance manual. Wrapped in disposable paint overalls and masks, we got quite toasty during the July and August afternoons in the hangar that faced west. It took about 100 (wo)man-hours to sand it all.

Mike: Designing the paint scheme was the fun part. Linda wanted that racing look (plus the slightly sarcastic question on the belly, “Stuck In Traffic?”). I took the drawings for the airplane from the flight manual and created different designs and tried out various colors. With the final artwork in hand, we took it to a paint shop. Control surfaces (elevator, flaps) had to be removed to be painted, then balanced and reinstalled, requiring an FAA-certified airplane mechanic.

Unique paint schemes take time to create and apply, but eye-catching airplanes don’t fly different than others. Except maybe the 727 designed by Alexander Calder for Braniff for the 200th birthday of the United States of America. That airborne canvas was christened by Braniff, “Flying Colors of the United States,” but the crews who flew it called it “Sneaky Snake” because it had trim problems, which required them to hand-fly it a lot. Also, shortly before his death in 1976, artist Calder painted a little squiggly snake on an engine nacelle. 

Wet paint, of course, weighs more than dry paint. The number of layers is also a consideration for both the design and weight. The paint that goes onto our size airplane can weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. The paint that goes onto something like a Boeing 747, once it dries, would add between 500 to 550 pounds. But since that airplane weighs in at nearly a million pounds, I think it can handle it. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com