June 28, 2022 Get Your Kicks

The Liberty Gazette

June 28, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

We got our kicks, alright, and we did so over an extended weekend, because it only took about half the time to fly to Amarillo as it takes to drive. Plus, our flight wasn’t cancelled. Had there been a hurricane here or severe weather up there, we would have had to reschedule our plans, but being at the mercy of weather is less maddening than being at the mercy of airlines these days. 

With several choices for private aircraft to fly into Amarillo, we chose the big airport, Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, because it’s the easiest place to get a rental car delivered. The city honors its native son Rick Husband, the commander of the space shuttle Columbia. Four different runway orientations provide enough options, and with 13,000 feet of runway, even a Cessna 172 can ride those high winds on down. Bell Helicopter has a significant presence at the airport because this is where they built the V-22 Osprey, an amazing tilt-rotor aircraft that has capabilities of both helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft.

In 1929, Amarillo was a stop along the first continuous, scheduled air passenger and mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And within a year, the city of Amarillo had full-fledged air mail.

Other things for which the city is known, such as Route 66, and “gardens” of Cadillacs and combines, are unique, but for our weekend get-away, we prioritized hiking in Palo Duro Canyon and visiting the Amarillo Botanical Gardens. While we did spend a little time on Route 66, the most touristy part is lined with junk shops and kitschy things. What we found more interesting was the architecture. Not only of the buildings along the famous highway, but throughout Amarillo. Surprisingly, we were unable to find any architectural tours, as we have found in many other cities around the world. Here’s our pro tip for the folks there: start offering architectural tours. You have so much to share. 

From the time we left TAC Air, the FBO where we parked the Elyminator, we were noticing horse statues in front of business establishments all around town. Each horse was painted in a unique (usually branded) scheme, similar to the Liberty bells here. The horses make a good theme for the community and tourism since the American Quarter Horse Association’s headquarters has been there since 1948. However, horses are not the main draw for us. The second largest canyon in the country, on the other hand, offers spectacular scenery and the health benefits of fresh air and exercise. Similarly, we were snapping lots of pictures as we walked through the botanical gardens. Live entertainment is also staged at both of these attractions. Various singers and musical groups play at the gardens, and the Texas Outdoor Musical is a popular show at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

We haven’t yet set foot in the Texas Air & Space Museum, but we’ll do that and visit Sharpened Iron Studios and more on future trips. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

June 21, 2022 Aeropods

The Liberty Gazette

June 21, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

A couple of years ago, seven months into “two weeks to flatten the curve,” we explored inventive ways to repurpose aircraft. It was our way of contributing to some DYI projects you could try with all that idle time we all had when commies shut down the world. 

We started our look on the bright side with Dr. Cody Abshier’s Twin Beech, repurposed for “Tool School,” and ventured out to the Brit Steve Jones, who converted an engine nacelle into a camper, South Koreans, who turned a Boeing 747 into a restaurant, much like New Zealanders, who spruced up a C-47 for restaurant use, and the 1939 Boeing 307 Stratoliner that became a yacht named “Cosmic Muffin.” 

While most aircraft are cut up and the parts recycled for use in other industries, such as window frames and beverage cans, there are exceptions. Last year, a couple of brilliant Irishmen were also thinking about all the ways in which old airplanes could be reused, and out of their brainstorms popped Aeropod, a company that converts sections of jet airliners into work or living spaces and customizes them to their clients’ specifications. 

Kevin Regan and Shane Thornton have had careers in water leak detection and remediation, so they took their engineering and design skills and snagged a section of fuselage from a retired Airbus A320 at Cardiff Airport in neighboring Wales and built their first aeropod.

The fuselages are almost 13 feet wide, and they cut them into three different length options. You can choose to have five windows on each side (so, space equivalent to five rows of seats), which gets you a cool little building 9.35 feet long, or the medium size, which gets you eight windows per side for a 14.96 foot-long space, all the way up to the order of jumbo fries, ten windows on each side, giving you 18.7 feet of depth for your office, home extension, garden, or whatever whirs your jets. 

Your unique Aeropod is only limited by your imagination. One of these would definitely make a cool working environment. But what about a kids’ play space, a guest room, or a place to keep bikes and outdoor toys? You could have them make one into a small bar, coffee shop, or bookstore. You can choose your colors and paint schemes, or, consider a vinyl wrap for the exterior instead of paint. 

Kevin and Shane thought ahead, so if you might want to make it portable, that’s also possible, as they build in a lifting system so you can take it wherever you want. 

They call it “bespoke,” and offer these pods fully insulated, wired with USB sockets, LED lights, and large glass fronts for amazing panoramic viewing. 

Dr. Abshier could probably do the same thing with that twin Beech, but he since he has the whole air frame, he can create an even more awesome pod. Check out the Irish guys at aeropods.ie, and check out the local twin Beech along North San Jacinto. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

June 14, 2022 Inheritance

The Liberty Gazette

June 14, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Almeda Haldeman had a strong moral compass and a lot of grit. She was a survivor. Literally. Born prematurely in 1877, she incubated in an oven for the first few months of her life in the cold Minnesota springtime. While her father didn’t believe women should be educated, her husband’s diabetes sent her in search of a cure. Help came from a chiropractor, and her love for her husband drove her to learn how to adjust him at home. When the couple moved to Saskatchewan, Almeda became Canada’s first chiropractor. 

She passed down those genes of intelligence and determination to her children, one of which was Joshua, who also became a chiropractor and was active in local politics. At the age of 45, Joshua realized how much time he would save if he learned to fly, so he earned his private pilot certificate and bought a Bellanca and a Luscombe.

Learning to fly has a way of changing lives. Joshua, also an amateur archaeologist, became fascinated with the legend of the lost city of the Kalahari Desert in the south of Africa. Explorers had been searching for it since 1885, when William Hunt, a Canadian acrobat and showman who went by the moniker “the Great Farini,” said he had found ruins in the desert of a dead civilization. He published a report in which he described the rock formations as, “a half-buried ruin, a huge wreck of stones.”

In a matter of months, Joshua, and his wife, Wyn, decided to leave Canada to find adventure, and hopefully, a city. He continued his medical practice and flew his airplane around Europe, Asia, and Australia for conferences and lectures. But he and Wyn enjoyed somewhat of a celebrity status for their many hours of flying, looking for the lost city. Their first of twelve such expeditions, in 1953, covered 8,400 miles, flying only 200 feet off the ground over the uncharted desert. The next year, they flew over 30,000 miles, traveling for his profession and in search of the ruins.

While Joshua and Wyn never found the lost city, they did pass along the genetics for the spirit of adventure. They had a few children, who often flew with them, including a set of twin girls, Maye and Kaye. Maye enjoyed a 50-year career as a model and entrepreneur, and while she grew up accustomed to being in the public eye and flying high, we bet she hadn’t imagined life as the mother of that fascinating character, Elon Musk.

Elon has inherited the love of adventure, strong convictions, and grit. When he nearly lost a bout with malaria years ago, he decided life was too precarious to keep flying his Czech jet trainer, an L-39 “Albatross,” in aerobatic maneuvers. He loved the airplane and the fun he had in it, but he had children to raise and businesses to run.

Today, from the back of his Gulfstream G650, he works on making the world a better place, while professional pilots take him to his next adventure. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

June 7, 2022 Sweet Spontaneity

The Liberty Gazette

June 7, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: I thought I’d work on some books over the Memorial Day weekend. Writing, that is. I don’t get nearly enough time for leisure reading. Actually, we both need to catch up on several projects. But I bet it wasn’t a minute after saying the long weekend would be devoted to writing, that I had a sudden change of heart. We were overdue for another junket to feed our inner gypsy, and we hadn’t seen my mom and sister since last year. There was just enough time for a quick visit. 

We didn’t get off the ground until around noon on Saturday, but we arrived in Indy in time for dinner. We made just one stop, and that was in Kennett, Missouri. It’s a favorite stop for lots of folks crossing the country, as it’s so well situated and offers most everything you could need. Fuel is always available, and there’s a courtesy car if you want to go into town and get a bite to eat. The terminal is clean, cool, and comfortable. It has a good-sized kitchen, flight planning room with computer, Wi-Fi, and lots of oversized comfy chairs. There weren’t any storms on our route this time, so we checked to see what altitudes were likely to have the best tailwinds. 

While pumping fuel, a couple of locals who had landed ahead of us came over to chat. They asked if we were going to the race. It was kind of funny that I’d be going back on Race Day but not going to the race. That world-famous event was the whole reason I was born and raised there – Dad’s job. But I haven’t been to an Indy 500 in decades now. 

Mom was excited about our impromptu visit. She was waiting for us at a picnic table under a shady canopy at the small country airport west of Indianapolis. My sister helped us unload our stuff from the airplane, and we were on our way to our final destination. 

On Sunday, we timed it so that about the time the race should be over, we’d be at Rick’s Boatyard, the uber-popular restaurant next to Eagle Creek Airport. We got great seats on the patio, overlooking sailboats moored to the docks and facing the runway for a perfect profile view of every take-off. 

I cherish the hours of laughter and great conversation with my family. Too soon, we had to return. On Memorial Day, we faced strong headwinds. They would slow us down enough that I thought two fuel stops would be wise. We flew low to avoid as much wind as we could. Which gave us more turbulence and was a lot warmer. 

Southeast of Little Rock, our onboard traffic alert went off. The target wasn’t hard to find. Flagship-Detroit Foundation’s DC-3, dressed in classic 1930s American Airlines colors, lumbered over us eastbound, headed home to Shelbyville, Tennessee.  

Settling the airplane back in the nest before sunset, we hurried home to two happy dogs, thankful for the gift of spontaneous flying adventures.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

May 31, 2022 Avoiding a Costly Nose Job

The Liberty Gazette

May 31, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: It was a travel day for Dr. Kevin Klauer, CEO of the American Osteopathic Association. I don’t know where he was headed, but it doesn’t matter. He was waiting to board his flight at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. As travelers often are, he was drawn to the activity on the ramp on the other side of enormously grand picture windows.

Meanwhile, ramp workers went about their business directing airplanes to their gates or readying them for departure. Some were tootling around in golf carts modified with coolers on the back, bringing drinks and sandwiches to loaders, who would deposit the amenities in the galley for flight attendants to hand out above 10,000 feet. It was a busy day, as usual. 

Then, in front of an audience of hundreds, someone hopped off his golf cart momentarily. The approximate value of the customized cart was somewhere between $4,500 and $10,000. You’ll see why that matters momentarily. 

Dr. Klauer was quick on the draw to capture the drama on his phone as it unfolded, or, shall we say, unwound. The driverless cart had become stuck in reverse, the motor was running, and the steering was engaged. In a matter of seconds, it was spinning wildly out of control. Ramp workers gathered ‘round but kept a distance. The situation was too dangerous for anyone to try to grab the cart to stop it. With each counter-clockwise rotation, the cart filled with soda, beer, wine, Biscoff cookies, and Pringles came perilously closer to an American Airlines Embraer 145 regional jet parked at one of the gates. Possibly, the airplane Dr. Klauer was about to board.

The growing crowd of passengers witnessing the brewing catastrophe surmised that on the next full turn, there would be impact. The weight and velocity of the runaway vehicle threatened to take out the airliner’s nosewheel, putting the airplane out of service until it was repaired.  

Back when the Embraer 145 was in production, you could expect to spend around $13-$15 million for a new one. About half the cost of a Gulfstream. These days, you can probably find a deal on a pre-owned EMB145 for about $8 million. I don’t know what a nose gear assembly might have cost, but that would not have been the sum total. The cost of finding another aircraft, juggling gates, and moving passengers would have been added. 

Fortunately, those enormous bills were thwarted when one brave tug operator jumped on his tug and rammed the errant snack cart, spilling its contents all over the ramp. Even though the hero couldn’t have heard them through the thick glass, the crowd in the waiting area applauded and cheered. 

The cart was trashed, drink cans burst, and none of the perishables could be served, but the airplane was unscathed. The loss was minimal compared to what it would have been had no one intervened.

Bravo to the tug driver. You can see the video posted by Dr. Klauer, a/k/a @Emergidoc, on Twitter, where it went viral.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com