December 27, 2022 How Christmas Was Saved

The Liberty Gazette

December 27, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

The morning of December 20, 2022, the urgent call went out around the world to certified flight instructors who specialize in international procedures. It seemed there had been an oversight. A very important pilot with a sizable crew had been so busy with work that they missed the deadline for recurrent training, with just days left until their annual flight around the earth. To complicate the matter, there was no time to get to the usual training facility. But they couldn’t fly out of currency – that would be illegal! Oh, the border crossings! The permits! The flight plans to file! The Honorable Kris Kringle was going to be in a pickle! 

“Emergency!” read the memo from the Chief of Flight Training. “No time to wait! International Procedures Instructor needed. All expenses paid + bonus. Travel required. Client is at the North Pole.”

Ricky and Jessica were proud new parents. This would be four-month-old Grant’s first Christmas. They thought back to the excitement of Christmas in their own childhoods, anticipating an impressive rooftop landing, even if there was a crosswind and snow. Now, they were both pilots. They could help! 

In a flurry of thumbs, Jessica texted the Chief. “We’ll do it! Ricky and I! But we need to bring baby Grant with us – will that be okay?” 

The Chief was elated to get this message, but he wondered if bringing an infant would be a good idea. There was no time to spare. “Bring little Grant,” he replied. “It will be the most special first Christmas, and you can write about it in his baby book.” He blinked and shook his head. Did he really just write that? Well, there was no time to ponder. There was no way the Chief was going to be the cause of millions of children not getting their presents on time. There were puzzles and games, bikes and dolls, toy cars and trains, and so much to be done. While Professor Kringle and his team weighed all the gifts and completed their weight and balance calculations, the Chief would do his part. 

“Be at the airport tonight at 7:00 am sharp!” he texted back to Jessica. “It will take a day to get there, then you’ll have one day to give the crew their training. You will be back in time for Christmas. You, Ricky, and Grant are going to be heroes!” He hit send. Then he remembered one more thing. “Bundle up!”

The new family boarded a 737 and flew north. Little Grant cooed and smiled, entertaining the elves while the jolly man and his furry crew listened intently to all the knowledge Jessica and Ricky had to impart. At the end of a full day of training, the instructor-heroes signed the FAA documents, making Santa Claus and his eight crewmembers legal to fly around the globe. Then Ricky patted Rudolph on the head and said, “Remember to light up those landing-noses on final approach.” Then they all gathered ‘round for a group selfie for Grant’s baby book. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 20, 2022 My, How Time Flies

The Liberty Gazette

December 20, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since we pulled over on a freeway to watch the live broadcast of Austrian Felix Baumgartner making the ultimate base jump – from the edge of space. A space jump. He broke three records that day. His was the highest manned balloon flight and the highest freefall, and in that freefall, he was the first to break the speed of sound (without an aircraft), which is around 761 mph (depending on a few factors, such as temperature and humidity). Sixty-five years to the day after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, Felix dove 846 mph, breaking the sound barrier with his body before pulling his chute and landing in the New Mexico desert.

The extraordinary leap, which required the cooperation of the U.S. Air Force, the FAA, NASA, and other agencies, was seven years in the making. Red Bull sponsored the project called “Stratos” which contributed to technological advancements as difficult problems were solved on the turbulent path to success. 

The two-hour documentary, “Mission to the Edge of Space,” poignantly demonstrates team accomplishments versus solo accomplishments, something so important that it can mean the difference between life and death. Living and breathing the team concept so deeply that it is part of you will determine the success of any non-solo venture. And that’s where the crux of the problems arose, in lack of trust, because Felix had come from a solo career. But he learned through his mistakes, through his fears, claustrophobia and anxiety, that this was not like solo base jumping. At one point, several years into the project, he walked out – went back to Austria, because he could not handle being confined in the spacesuit. He had a lot to learn. 

The team was built with the best of the best experts in skydiving, ballooning, meteorology, space medicine, life support, capsule engineering, communications, and high performance. Dr. Jonathan Clark served as the Medical Director. He had been the Space Shuttle Crew Surgeon on six missions. He lost his wife, Dr. Laurel Clark, an astronaut on the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle. After that, he made it his mission to figure out ways to make it safer, and he had become an expert in understanding crew escape. He feels that the crew escape options they know about today could have potentially saved his wife and the rest of the Columbia crew. He was determined to implement everything he had learned for Felix’s safety.

The documentary also gives considerable airtime to Col. Joe Kittinger, USAF (Ret.), trained as a fighter pilot, and an aerospace legend whose world record set in 1960 was what Felix sought to break. Felix could not have made the jump without Joe.

You owe yourself the gift of watching what went on behind the scenes. For those who pay attention, the film graciously gives lessons on teamwork, duty and accountability, confidence and trust, all of which apply to so many aspects of life. Your two-hour investment could reap indefinite rewards. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/films/mission-to-the-edge-of-space.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 13, 2022 A Glimpse into the Heart of a Pilot

The Liberty Gazette

December 13, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: It wasn’t your everyday occurrence. My friend Susan had flown her boss in his Citation jet to a small island in the Bahamas and was relaxing on the beach when someone rushed to her saying her services were needed immediately to take a sick man off the island and to a hospital. The man had had a stroke. She headed back to the airport to get the jet ready, and the man arrived shortly thereafter in the back of a pick-up truck. One of the people who brought him held the oxygen bottle, trying to keep him alive. This was a personal airplane, not used for medical flights, not equipped for patients, and Susan had never flown a critically ill person before. But she got him to Fort Lauderdale quickly, and he was whisked away by ambulance. She never heard the outcome, and she hopes he survived. As stressful as it was to make that flight, it was also personally rewarding to be called upon in a time of need, to be trusted with somebody’s life.

That experience might top the list, but she’s made other feel-good flights as well. Flying Special Olympics athletes has been another highlight in her flying career. The first time, she picked up four athletes, along with their support persons and luggage. When she asked the loading crew in what sport these athletes competed, they shrugged, saying, “We don’t know, but their luggage is heavy!” It turned out to be a bowling team. She says it makes her heart happy to fly these special passengers. 

As a wife and mother of three, and co-owner of a Beechcraft Baron, she flies her family on vacations. As an avid runner, she treats herself to organized 5K runs at airports. She has flown her Baron to run on the runways of JFK in New York City, Miami International Airport, and others. She has invited me to join her. I didn’t know there was such a thing!

Susan began flight training at age 16 with encouragement from her father, who was a recreational pilot. She has fond memories of weekend trips to the beach, holding the charts, helping him navigate, and hanging out at the airport while he worked on the airplane. After graduating from Tufts University (majoring in child psychology and French), unsure of what to do next, she enrolled in Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach. Earning all her ratings within a year, she was flight instructing when one of her students offered her a job as a corporate pilot. He owned a company and had a small airplane, a Malibu. After a couple of years, she stepped up to the aforementioned Citation, which has given her a great deal of satisfaction. 

To be able to get off the ground, slip through the air, to view the world from above, the physical and mental challenges that flying brings, it takes her away from the everyday world and gives her opportunities to do extraordinary things for others. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 6, 2022 Match Game

The Liberty Gazette

December 6, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When pilots get together and talk shop, it’s like car fanatics when the names of makes and models of airplanes start to fly. Many of the names may be unrecognizable to the uninitiated, and they’re not likely to know the difference. So, we thought we might try and make a little sense out of it, just for fun. 

Among the companies that build airplanes is Textron, their brand name divisions being Cessna Aircraft Company, Beech Aircraft Company, and Bell Helicopters. Matching that aircraft manufacturer to a car builder, the closest comparison would be General Motors Corporation with its GMC, Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac divisions. 

Ford Motor Company, along with its Lincoln division, which is the next largest car company in the world, would be kind of equivalent to Piper Aircraft Corporation, though Cirrus may say they are number one in small planes. Cirrus, which some liken to the Mercedes of aircraft, may currently be putting out more planes than Piper, but I’m considering the total number of aircraft built.

Aircraft manufacturer Air Tractor of Olney, Texas, would get the John Deere match because they build crop dusters.

The Chrysler Corporation with its Dodge sports cars, Jeeps, and Ram pickups is kind of difficult to match with an aircraft manufacturer. Aviat with their Huskey bush airplanes and Maule Aircraft are good for the off-road types, but then, Cessna does a pretty good job in this category too. DeHavilland Aircraft of Canada sold its rough-country aircraft division to a company named Viking Aircraft which has been churning out an updated version of the Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) Twin Otter as well as supporting the older Beavers and Otters still in the field. Mooney Aircraft makes clean and quick airplanes, but you don’t want to take them into a rough strip. 

There are a lot of other airplane manufacturers. Like car builders, many have become divisions of other companies, a product line, or they have disappeared altogether. Recently, the last Learjet rolled off the assembly line, and Bombardier, Learjet’s owners, closed down the plant in Wichita. 

Now we come to the big plane builders, Boeing and Airbus. What can I say? They build mostly long-haul Greyhound and Trailways buses. The shorter and smaller “buses” are built by Bombardier, Embraer and Aerospatial. They all once had distinctive personalities, but these days it is becoming more difficult to tell them apart, as they are created by computer programs rather than the imaginations of their designers. 

The computer-designed future drone air mobility aircraft are going to be the Teslas.

Lockheed Martin made the aerial Peterbuilt and Kenworth trucks – the C-130 Hercules, C-141 Starlifter, and the C-5A Galaxy. 

McDonnel Douglas (now Boeing) built the Mack Truck – the C-17 Globemaster. 

Finally, for airplanes that look fast just sitting on the ramp, clean lines and crisp controls, yet economical, the flying match for the Mazda Miata is the Grumman American cats – the Tiger and Cheetah, which includes the Elyminator.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com