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