tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64223574970226111452024-03-15T20:13:00.045-05:00Ely Air LinesA weekly column in the Liberty Gazette on aviation for the general public.Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.comBlogger868125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-803238110752588152024-03-02T13:00:00.004-06:002024-03-02T13:00:47.250-06:00We've Moved to Substack!<p>Dear Family, Friends, and Followers,</p><p>We have moved our weekly column to <a href="https://elyairlines.substack.com/">Substack</a>. All of our articles have been imported there, and you can search for older articles just like you could here. It's still free and these are still the same articles published in the newspaper, the Liberty Gazette. </p><p>https://elyairlines.substack.com/</p><p>You've been reading us here, and we hope to see you over there!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu74Z_7e2jhyphenhyphenEy58eHMxfWuKfcJqKMPLdCmubnw2JE5rgYnBnuPk08s0Gu1Fw2kY9BuWc_GUj62akULXouLoibX8wLKBua2hEEYXHSPWAzpKbGAGeLH9PdMEILkyX5j2PFE7eOdWuItcbwr_lQRThlRLLe37yooKgQUVCimZ1-xtxDj0tYtUQvrqevSyNF/s640/stuck-in-traffic-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu74Z_7e2jhyphenhyphenEy58eHMxfWuKfcJqKMPLdCmubnw2JE5rgYnBnuPk08s0Gu1Fw2kY9BuWc_GUj62akULXouLoibX8wLKBua2hEEYXHSPWAzpKbGAGeLH9PdMEILkyX5j2PFE7eOdWuItcbwr_lQRThlRLLe37yooKgQUVCimZ1-xtxDj0tYtUQvrqevSyNF/w640-h429/stuck-in-traffic-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-29158917787832425102024-01-16T14:23:00.003-06:002024-01-16T14:23:49.100-06:00January 16, 2024 All-in Allender<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>January 16, 2024</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Faith, a supportive family, access to education and training, and an engulfing passion are important contributors to the journey into an aviation career. Just ask 18-year-old Jed Allender. The oldest of four children, all of them home-schooled, Jed is grateful for God’s providence and guidance as he learns more about the world of flight. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He showed an interest in airplanes at an early age, being that kid who always ran outside with binoculars when he heard an airplane; the one in the family who would identify an airplane by engine sound, the one they all look to when they have questions about airplanes. He’s the proverbial “kid at the airport fence,” except that he’s not just standing at the fence. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeDGjF6ppaLXEIm_tTTrK-LcwOK0ZLEaQJkAkWCWid45srsB4PODVmGGCk6zjHKAxdEIIAZKO6NE4I8ZBbyyAYrbbjYHsS6O1SPcbkU54fInwErdpzeEoT30mypmyLEiEseYHrk4X5-qV4dzSdsyciUNv3Sau-mmqq0YkvpSkJ6GX3gVUdKz7PX8exMD7/s640/Jed%20Allender%20with%20RV-12%20he%20is%20helping%20to%20build.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeDGjF6ppaLXEIm_tTTrK-LcwOK0ZLEaQJkAkWCWid45srsB4PODVmGGCk6zjHKAxdEIIAZKO6NE4I8ZBbyyAYrbbjYHsS6O1SPcbkU54fInwErdpzeEoT30mypmyLEiEseYHrk4X5-qV4dzSdsyciUNv3Sau-mmqq0YkvpSkJ6GX3gVUdKz7PX8exMD7/s320/Jed%20Allender%20with%20RV-12%20he%20is%20helping%20to%20build.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jed is enrolled in the <a href="https://www.aerotechcenter.org/">Aeronautical Center of Technology</a> (ACT) in Greenwood, Indiana, which offers dual-credit STEM-based courses for high school juniors and seniors and aviation themed after-school clubs for ages 12 and up. <a href="https://www.aerotechcenter.org/">ACT’s</a> multi-disciplinary aviation program has inspired him to pursue a career in the aviation industry as soon as he can decide which one. Two subjects that have really caught his attention are aircraft design – specifically aerodynamics – and flying. But they cover so much, it must be hard to make a decision. He’s getting ground school (both manned and unmanned flight), learning aircraft systems, rocketry, meteorology, aviation business, operations and management, safety, air traffic control, and 3-D printing. He’s also part of a small group of students building an airplane, a <a href="https://www.vansaircraft.com/rv-12is/">Van’s RV-12</a>. He’s riveted spars and wing ribs, assembled rudder, tail cone, and control surfaces.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLu4Osvn0UGkTTa-4kbKVJuooGaWRUk20-kGhKk2ziTkTlZ5KfzFuubflJ1MyRjK0-FORiv0aEGdu9uIIljEaKDMbX1-TabT6_fgoNo3t1VPrOm55TmIC0HH8c6Zp6vOFJW7rY6MU0K9eLsopcpJPXB8FwqfpPq2a8Ny3-0RhWPFtkosGZ32O1MRzHZGOw/s1447/Jed%20Allender%20receives%20Billy%20Mitchell%20Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1447" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLu4Osvn0UGkTTa-4kbKVJuooGaWRUk20-kGhKk2ziTkTlZ5KfzFuubflJ1MyRjK0-FORiv0aEGdu9uIIljEaKDMbX1-TabT6_fgoNo3t1VPrOm55TmIC0HH8c6Zp6vOFJW7rY6MU0K9eLsopcpJPXB8FwqfpPq2a8Ny3-0RhWPFtkosGZ32O1MRzHZGOw/s320/Jed%20Allender%20receives%20Billy%20Mitchell%20Award.jpg" width="183" /></a></div>Jed joined the <a href="https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/join/youth-in-cadet-program">Civil Air Patrol</a> a few years ago and is now a Second Lieutenant and leader of Bravo Flight, the newest cadets in the squadron. He’s the recipient of the Civil Air Patrol’s <a href="https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/programs/cadets/stripes-to-diamonds/mitchell">Billy Mitchell Award</a>, given for exemplary leadership, aerospace knowledge, and fitness. He watches air traffic on <a href="https://www.flightaware.com/">FlightAware</a> and reads accident reports to learn valuable lessons and analyze what went wrong. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.aerotechcenter.org/">ACT</a> says their mission is “to develop ethical standards that promote responsibility, good citizenship, respect for authority, and solid core values,” and it’s clear that Jed has taken that to heart. “It’s not all about machines,” he told us. “It’s people, too. I am blessed. God has guided me, and I am grateful.” He especially likes that there are others in this industry who share his faith What he does with God’s gifts is important.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jed is learning so much so quickly. When we asked him, “What’s your favorite airplane?” he immediately asked, “Do you mean civil or military? Vintage or modern?” Well, let’s just have them all, however you want to break it down. Here’s his list: modern military, F22 Raptor; older military, P47 Thunderbolt. For civilian aircraft, he loves twin turbo props and business jets, and the 747-800. And he can’t leave out the turbo Cessna Skylane.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It’s refreshing to see this industry from the eyes of a young, enthusiastic person. Jed Allender is going to be doing great things, and we’re excited for his future.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-46734547993255355182024-01-09T09:44:00.000-06:002024-01-09T09:44:47.799-06:00January 9, 2024 Where To in 2024?<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>January 9, 2024</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> Well, hello, 2024! How shall we shape you? We got off to a great start with a shindig at the posh penthouse home of Ben Price and Linda Pickens-Price. Linda, you may recall from previous installments, was a member of the Flying Queens basketball team from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, the phenomenal, most-game-winning-record-holders. Last February, the Flying Queens Foundation proudly hosted the grand opening of their shiny new interactive museum. Plus, air show celeb Debby Rihn-Harvey donated her Baron which is now on a pedestal at the entrance. If you haven’t been there yet and will be going to or passing through Plainview, be sure to make a visit. The designers of the museum should win some kind of award because it reflects the uniqueness and standard-setting legacy that is the Flying Queens. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are a women’s college basketball team, and they got their team’s name and a tremendous amount of support from the local FBO owner at the Plainview airport, Claude Hutcherson, who used to fly the ladies to all their away-games in his fleet of Beechcraft Barons and Bonanzas. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Linda Pickens-Price’s personal story is an inspiration. The little girl who was born into poverty, dirt floors, no indoor plumbing, and a difficult and sometime scary home life, has led an exemplary life, rising above pain and disadvantage, using her athletic skills (she played center for the Flying Queens) to gain access to a college education, then spent her career giving back to children in need. She became one of the most influential women in Houston as she worked to improve the CPS system. It was an honor to be counted among her delightful friends welcoming the new year and the endless new opportunities ahead. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the questions we often hear when we run into friends we haven’t seen in a while is, “Flying much?” Our answer is always the same: “Never enough!” That led us to think about the new year; new flight plans to make, new adventures to seek, new stories just waiting to be told. I’m betting Mike will want to continue racking up more badges for landing at airports in AOPA’s badge program. In the last quarter of 2023, we were focusing on airports in the state of Louisiana, because that’s one of a couple of states that invests more into celebrating and encouraging personal flying. I think we’d like to do more fly-and-bike trips as well. We made so many of those trips throughout that government-sponsored-Wuhan-flu-nonsense and had a great time. We researched airports with bike-friendly roads to parks and trails nearby, loaded our bikes and picnics in the back of the airplane, and shot out into the wild blue yonder to find adventure, fresh air, and exercise. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So where will we fly to in 2024? With over 19,000 landing facilities in the United States (airports, heliports, sea plane bases), we may never check off every single one, but we’ll have so much fun trying!</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-89586301639386979842024-01-08T18:58:00.000-06:002024-01-08T18:58:06.803-06:00January 2, 2024 Things You've Wondered<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>January 2, 2024</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you’ve traveled by air, you may have wondered about some of the rules and operational details. While we’ve covered some of these in previous editions, we thought a nice little list might help with understanding how to keep yourself off an airline’s naughty list, or just satisfy your curiosity. Here are some of the most common questions we’re asked regarding flying on an airliner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Why must seats be upright and tray tables stowed? For safety! While accidents are rare these days, those that do occur are most often during takeoff or landing. If there was an emergency, you may not have time to tuck that tray table away fast enough to escape a dangerous situation, and a reclined seat can prevent the person behind you from having the most room available to maneuver. Remember, Mom’s right arm wouldn’t have kept you from flying out the front window when you were a kid, even though that may have been the best safety equipment she had at the time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Why do I have to put my phone in airplane mode? Cell signals can produce a very bothersome noise through the headsets and right into the ears of your pilots. It’s also possible for the cell signal to interfere with the aircraft’s communication and navigation instruments. Face it. Your cell phone isn’t going to work at 38,000’, and you’ll just run your battery down if you keep it on. Besides, putting it in airplane mode is a federal regulation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Are turbulence and lightning dangerous? They can be. For the most part, lightning will be directed off the plane thanks to special lightning wicks installed to channel the electricity away. However, lightning comes with storms, as can turbulence. Sometimes, however, you may encounter clear air turbulence. While severely disrupted airflow can cause problems, airplanes are engineered for flexibility and well tested before they are ever released to haul passengers. Also, pilots know the limitations of the aircraft they fly. Just be sure to heed the warnings, like staying in your seat with your seatbelt fastened when the skyway gets bumpy. You won’t have to worry about losing your balance if you’re in your seat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do they ever have too much fuel or not enough? An aircraft will be filled with enough fuel for the flight, plus extra in case of diversion to land at an alternate airport (like if the weather’s bad at the destination). If pilots need to land sooner than expected, to avoid landing with more than the max gross landing weight limit, it may be necessary to fly a holding pattern to use up some fuel. If there’s an emergency though, they may jettison fuel if the airplane is capable. Landing overweight can cause structural damage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do airline pilots fly the same route every day? Seniority matters. Pilots (and flight attendants) bid each month for their schedules. Those who have been with the airline the longest will get preference. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here’s wishing you blue skies and tailwinds in 2024. Happy New Year!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-44635463996900165952024-01-08T18:45:00.004-06:002024-01-08T18:45:38.941-06:00December 26, 2023 Tracking History<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>December 26, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> In 1985, as a budding freight pilot, I flew a Piper Lance delivering checks and other bank mail. My route originated in Burbank with a layover in Blythe, California, on the banks of the Colorado River. I’d land at a few airports along the way, hopping from one to the next, where I’d pick up and drop off bags at locker vaults or with drivers who made local deliveries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To reach Blythe, I flew through mountain passes and over the eastern Mojave Desert. I mostly approached Blythe from the northwest after departing Twentynine Palms and crossing Joshua Tree National Monument, which is now a National Park. This leg of my journey wasn’t very long, so I flew at a fairly low altitude.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On approach to Blythe one day, I noticed tracks etched into the sand below and assumed they’d come from motorcycles. Everyone I knew had seen the movie “On Any Sunday,” where Steve McQueen and others rode dirt bikes in off-road races, and the activity was all the rage. I saw that the trails and tracks were widespread and extensive, so the bikers must have been digging up the terrain for some time. Thereafter, each morning, I looked for those tracks and found more of them. Big circles, straight lines, and hundreds of donuts in the sand. They were everywhere. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One day, while on my layover, I went to the airport to take an FAA written test. The test examiner operated the flight school at Blythe. I mentioned how much damage those dirt bikers had done to the desert. The examiner seemed to glare at me. Then his facial features relaxed, and he explained. “They weren’t motorcycles,” he said. “Those tracks were made by tanks. Patton’s Army trained here during World War Two, and those scars are our history. And yes, we’re proud of them.” I felt embarrassed because of my initial assumptions. The desert’s dry air had preserved those indentations for more than forty years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During WWII, a huge portion of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in California and Arizona was designated the Desert Training Center (DTC). The weather and topography offered unique conditions for Patton to train his troops to face the German tank corps in Northern Africa and Sicily. After Patton left to fight in 1943, the DTC was renamed the California-Arizona Maneuvers Area. After the fall of Nazi Germany in 1944, the Army decommissioned the training area and returned the land to the Department of the Interior.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">\</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides tank tracks, there are still ruins left in the desert from the twelve camps built within the boundaries of the DTC. The Bureau of Land Management maintains the area and its history. There is even a sky trail with nineteen points of interest strung along a route nearly 200 miles long, starting at the Patton Museum at Chiriaco Summit, about fifty miles west of Blythe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From that day on, I looked for those tracks, the marks of our history, of winners in training, with respect.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-13832484062926017912024-01-08T18:41:00.002-06:002024-01-08T18:42:14.418-06:00December 19, 2023 Quite an Airport<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>December 19, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Along I-10 in the middle of the California desert is a 5,300’ paved runway with nothing nearby but a racecourse, the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. The 2.68-mile grand prix circuit with its 17 turns came almost a century after the airport. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5R-I802Nr0Z5lpUp5kxod1eFcBygnaT_RQmSvz3yGMKGXK1Xxn1vVE7-U4kR8SK86hRykEV321RmyGV7Gf-vPJILhTNwflIomOgnSBjvXzx9-4d7SYbXHu2WOe7gFrXVlOkLWSNggLtgsYhROZERSdN7g9AYJbLG1CZGZlBupu6rzuAXV6V7CG2rP6mdu/s1476/Desert%20Center%20Airport%20and%20Chuckwalla%20Valley%20Raceway.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1476" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5R-I802Nr0Z5lpUp5kxod1eFcBygnaT_RQmSvz3yGMKGXK1Xxn1vVE7-U4kR8SK86hRykEV321RmyGV7Gf-vPJILhTNwflIomOgnSBjvXzx9-4d7SYbXHu2WOe7gFrXVlOkLWSNggLtgsYhROZERSdN7g9AYJbLG1CZGZlBupu6rzuAXV6V7CG2rP6mdu/w400-h221/Desert%20Center%20Airport%20and%20Chuckwalla%20Valley%20Raceway.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>The town formerly known as Gruendike’s Well had a garage, and one day in 1921, cotton farmer Steve Ragsdale was driving through when suddenly he had car trouble. During his stop at the shop, he surveyed his surroundings and decided he’d buy the place. The whole town. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Desert Steve,” as he came to be known, renamed his town Desert Center. He built a café, service station, and new garage. The café remained open 24/7, 365 days a year, from the 1920’s until the early 2000’s. They’d say they couldn’t close because they lost their keys. For many years, this was the only stop for travelers through the desert.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Desert Steve promoted his town with ads that told of the amenities along the shortest route from Phoenix to Los Angeles: a store, a hotel with pool and showers; the café, of course, and real western hospitality, and a “large plane landing field.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They had a school, too. To get the county to send a teacher, Desert Steve ran an ad for a mechanic with a very large family. A “real good mechanic” was hired, and the county sent a teacher. Eventually, they opened another market from which was sold, for a time, the most Coleman camping equipment in the entire U.S.A. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the early 1940s, the airport became the Desert Center Army Air Field. It served as a sub-base of Thermal Army Air Field and a support base for the Air Technical Service Command near Camp Desert Center. Today, if you want to see auto or motorcycle racing, you can land at the Desert Center Airport, park your plane, walk just a few yards to the ticket gate, and find a seat in the grandstands. We hear the racing there is premier, and there’s really nothing else left in Desert Center other than the post office, a few derelict buildings from the town’s heyday, and the Desert Center cemetery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Desert Steve had planned to live out the rest of his life there. He put up his own grave marker where he wanted to be buried. But he ended up moving to the summit of Santa Rosa Mountain in 1950 and died there in 1971. His grave marker in Desert Center still stands: “Desert Steve, born June 16, 1882. Founded D.C. Sept. 21, 1921. Worked like hell to be an honest American citizen. Loved his fellow men & served them. Hated booze guzzling. Hated war. Hated dirty deal damn fool politicians. Hopes a guy named Ragsdale will ever serve humanity at Desert Center. He dug his own grave. Here are his bones. I put this damn thing up before I kicked off. Nuff sed --- Steve. Died ____, 19__.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not quite a ghost town, not quite a grave. But quite an airport.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-34494285875275968352023-12-12T20:02:00.004-06:002023-12-12T20:02:46.767-06:00December 12, 2023 The Colditz Glider<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>December 12, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not long after Nazi Germany executed 50 prisoners who had escaped from Stalag Luft III, which had caused the Allied High Command to discourage such attempts, a captured British Lieutenant had a brilliant idea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lt. Tony Rolt, one of several prisoners being held in the old castle at Colditz, Germany, not far from Leipzig, noticed when he went into the castle’s chapel that the guards couldn’t see the roofline from their look-out. The Germans were watching for signs of digging, but they were apparently oblivious to the opportunities for escape from on high. The chapel roof seemed a right good spot to launch a glider if his fellow prisoners could build one that would make it across the River Mulde about 200 feet below. Lt. Rolt wasn’t an airman, but there were plenty of them at Colditz. Fortunately, the castle’s library was maintained, and in it was a two-volume set of books called Aircraft Design, by fellow Brit and aviation inventor, Cecil Hugh Latimer-Needham.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bill Goldfinch and Jack Best studied the physics and engineering explained in the books. There was even a detailed diagram of the wing section, which was a huge help to their lofty plans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Goldfinch and Best selected 12 men to assist in building the glider. They called them their 12 apostles, and they worked in secret in the attic above the chapel. Bed slats became ribs, floor boards became wing spars; old electrical wire found in unused places of the castle served as control wires. The prisoners gave up their cotton sleeping bags to make the aircraft’s skin, and set aside some of their rationed millet, which, after boiling, would seal the pores in the fabric.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to building the glider, they needed some kind of surface from which to launch it. Using tables carefully collected from around the castle, the men constructed a 60’ long runway. Since they didn’t have access to a tow plane (not to mention that would be a dead give-away of their escape), they’d have to catapult the engineless aircraft. For this, they filled a metal bathtub with concrete, linked it to a pulley system, and when the tub was dropped, the glider would bolt out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg203CtcYSx1rVwiKTCkfvpLaFHlAZcN_RHEgfNjMN3USvhZgESLYeXkbYI4Gp1hzKFimvm33M7V3C102Dx3JyBUae6xC-bXBrGh9ggPLAthhgZ2-MLZYmMcFlJzihrw_CBGKFrPtJGQw1oek4HW58Hm1ZLJcLQoKtXoNFr6VFBb7KD3yJvuKRXk-uBW88F/s568/Colditz%20Glider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="568" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg203CtcYSx1rVwiKTCkfvpLaFHlAZcN_RHEgfNjMN3USvhZgESLYeXkbYI4Gp1hzKFimvm33M7V3C102Dx3JyBUae6xC-bXBrGh9ggPLAthhgZ2-MLZYmMcFlJzihrw_CBGKFrPtJGQw1oek4HW58Hm1ZLJcLQoKtXoNFr6VFBb7KD3yJvuKRXk-uBW88F/s320/Colditz%20Glider.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The finished vehicle would weigh just 240 lbs., and only two men would be picked to fly out in it. They were planning to make their escape in the Spring of 1945 when they heard Allied guns. They knew the war would soon be over, and the Nazis would be defeated. While they waited, they agreed to keep the glider available for use in case the Nazis ordered a massacre. It was nearly completed when the American Army liberated the prisoners on 16 April 1945.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Soviets got a hold of the glider, so there’s no telling where it ended up. But Goldfinch kept his drawings, and one single photo was discovered, so a few replicas have been built, some even tested – and they launched successfully in the field across the river, all according to plan.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-33896264966248609262023-12-12T19:57:00.005-06:002023-12-12T19:59:23.574-06:00December 5, 2023 Brittany and the Blue Angels<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>December 5, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I still can’t believe it happened,” says 6th grade schoolteacher Brittany Moon of her ride with the Blue Angels. The second-generation pilot earned her private pilot certificate and tailwheel and high-performance endorsements this year. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg44qPWV5ZmB6xEVP1mf9GD46XYYEdRv8OJTUem0deIal555PD_0AkeS7GJ5-a1QqyKSPPWqEPTWqCycfmJNoQRDyFRr3kKuvsJ0QQkFHkcxXstZUCAUFABNFzTEYhNvytA5GX9ePnwYVjnaHjhOmSXmct80167LrtFNLfKE_1rQOMvjwi86-d_GgzfthHi/s1600/Brittany%20Moon%20with%20her%20Champ%20Betty%20and%20Super%20Hornet.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg44qPWV5ZmB6xEVP1mf9GD46XYYEdRv8OJTUem0deIal555PD_0AkeS7GJ5-a1QqyKSPPWqEPTWqCycfmJNoQRDyFRr3kKuvsJ0QQkFHkcxXstZUCAUFABNFzTEYhNvytA5GX9ePnwYVjnaHjhOmSXmct80167LrtFNLfKE_1rQOMvjwi86-d_GgzfthHi/s320/Brittany%20Moon%20with%20her%20Champ%20Betty%20and%20Super%20Hornet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The young wife and mom to two little boys grew up around airplanes and now flys a blue and white 1946 Aeronca Champ she named Betty. When Brittany was small, her dad bought a 1929 Waco (named Cream Soda) and rebuilt it. He re-built it again when her kids were born. She loves the photos of her at age two, standing on one of the Waco’s tires, and a photo of her oldest son (now eight) in the same pose. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But getting to fly with the Blue Angels has long been a dream. In December 2021, they posted their two-year schedule. After a 10-year hiatus, the air show was returning to her hometown, Indianapolis. Brittany called the Navy to inquire about a flight. “Watch for social media posts,” they advised. Finally, in August this year, the application was opened for the October 25 ride-along opportunity. Two lucky people would be selected. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVk2NwJJdEnCUvsMzKxUHggp-8DzMqsK55KudCXIZLjat-PFKT5Ir9_3uzK5eVW2urc_Y39ah_O8Xi-wvTMBBbeDoEFH_EU9wTPXrs5gVhPBSBB_hiBaZ2Qgx1SVgCDQ5g7ceq0tIN7BDj6v-IfOYBGHHyyJP_IPuDA4HODFJCFMQCyDNv78j_xc5rcxJ/s1600/Brittany%20Moon%20getting%20strapped%20in.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVk2NwJJdEnCUvsMzKxUHggp-8DzMqsK55KudCXIZLjat-PFKT5Ir9_3uzK5eVW2urc_Y39ah_O8Xi-wvTMBBbeDoEFH_EU9wTPXrs5gVhPBSBB_hiBaZ2Qgx1SVgCDQ5g7ceq0tIN7BDj6v-IfOYBGHHyyJP_IPuDA4HODFJCFMQCyDNv78j_xc5rcxJ/s320/Brittany%20Moon%20getting%20strapped%20in.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On October 10, as she was teaching both her own students and those of another teacher who was out that day, Brittany got a call from Pensacola, Florida, with the news that she was a finalist. She’d have to pass a medical exam (even though she already had her aviation medical certificate). No problem. The day of the flight, she and about a dozen friends and family came to the Indianapolis Regional Airport. Her entourage witnessed her pre-flight discussion with Commander Thomas Zimmerman, Blue Angel #7. Instructions included how to breathe during maneuvers (they don’t wear G-suits) and how to eject in case of emergency (you go out with the seat). She climbed in the F/A-18 Super Hornet, and they strapped her down good – ankles, thighs, hips, chest.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpJopSD3x2BoAE2zln-8YpWpsME4IGoFT9Z7D1cHrmCmlyTyCTsqzkwUmFcElZPBwPCaLr9pv7Ba4iUvICMacm9y-jVlaNFwFbJ78uDVHwz7PwJCgM-o0mOt78zdrM-Hu9zVbXnL_Ij9aww0EkPSOOaeMbCKL6lnAXr4599cyXNJo6QTYkY2lf9ljZ0ea/s3088/Brittany%20Moon%20in%20FA18%20Super%20Hornet-2.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpJopSD3x2BoAE2zln-8YpWpsME4IGoFT9Z7D1cHrmCmlyTyCTsqzkwUmFcElZPBwPCaLr9pv7Ba4iUvICMacm9y-jVlaNFwFbJ78uDVHwz7PwJCgM-o0mOt78zdrM-Hu9zVbXnL_Ij9aww0EkPSOOaeMbCKL6lnAXr4599cyXNJo6QTYkY2lf9ljZ0ea/s320/Brittany%20Moon%20in%20FA18%20Super%20Hornet-2.heic" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">They flew to southern Indiana and did some G-warm-ups, up to 4 G’s: a loop, a maximum radius turn, a sneak pass, aileron rolls, a carrier break. They flew inverted, too, but she’s not a big fan of hanging upside down (she lasted 12 seconds, not the full 30). Then, traveling at 700 mph (Mach 0.95), at 500’, they went straight up like a corkscrew, pulling 7.6 G’s. That’s when she grayed out. “It was exhausting, a total body workout, focusing on squeezing glutes, breathing, to counter the effects of G-forces. I loved it!” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's been a great year for Brittany. She’s a new pilot, took her son to Oshkosh, and flew with the Blue Angels. She has four goals for 2024. In April, attend the annual WASP reunion in Sweetwater, become a certified flight instructor in the Light Sport category (her Champ is in that category) – she’ll have to take spin training as part of that goal, and fly her Champ to Oshkosh with her son and land on a dot. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDEoFket9hqkSLHsCtBT4ijjA1ItOTou2IKrHlCRQ906cGjHLAgj2St9tuHf1Qy1BAApuhOWi53lLa2Ttm_0Au3W46-BWb8tQtI-n0ViNp5fjTBADWwBaEgZpCWRxIGhnrlQJeL-yW9Cl7ddI9cxOpxpscSPr6K0J5UdtEW-Rf-zagvI65E_7ifNXizBi/s3088/Brittany%20Moon%20in%20FA18%20Super%20Hornet-3.heic" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDEoFket9hqkSLHsCtBT4ijjA1ItOTou2IKrHlCRQ906cGjHLAgj2St9tuHf1Qy1BAApuhOWi53lLa2Ttm_0Au3W46-BWb8tQtI-n0ViNp5fjTBADWwBaEgZpCWRxIGhnrlQJeL-yW9Cl7ddI9cxOpxpscSPr6K0J5UdtEW-Rf-zagvI65E_7ifNXizBi/s320/Brittany%20Moon%20in%20FA18%20Super%20Hornet-3.heic" width="240" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ambitious and exciting goals, and we bet Brittany will meet each one with gusto.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-12225304132687816642023-12-12T19:51:00.004-06:002023-12-12T19:51:33.770-06:00November 28, 2023 Stories, Stories, Everywhere!<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>November 28, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A pilot’s logbook is full of stories of adventure, of amazing views and exciting journeys. Aircraft, too, have tales to tell. Lean in and hear them whisper, and they’ll tell you what it’s like to be lifted by the wind beneath their wings, from stories of practice flights around the patch to far-off jaunts, some civil, some not so. Aviation museums are a great place to indulge your imagination and hear the machines relive their stories. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">East Fortune, a village in East Lothian (near Edinburgh), Scotland, is home to an airfield built in 1915 to help protect Britain from the Germans during World War I. Since 1975, the National Museum of Flight has been opening its civil and military hangar doors to the curious and interested, to those who want to see a Spitfire, a Red Arrow, the Concorde, and the record-breaking airship, R34. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The morning of July 2, 1919, eight officers, twenty-two men from England’s Army, Navy, and Air Corps, and two pigeons, to be used in case of emergency, took off from the East Fortune airfield on a mission. If successful, they would hold the record for the first direct flight between Great Britain and the U.S., the first east-to-west Atlantic crossing (nothing but headwinds all the way), and the first return flight across that same ocean (hooray for tailwinds). Mind you, this is a blimp, and it was equipped with only rudimentary instruments. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdlmrO_-CEWK-naK0PdwgCYVS9mqj3dg2q74Ii-t_5Ovzf1sN7Dg9RMuFG75D5M30ZncFQjXbnowSmiMrMTgcc4CjrgTAtA72_lx5mPYPjEf8jn26gwVbtfbdVldLySekwwBqBV4ki0Y8x9i6CIuAscjxQKrt1Uxg42GORR1rdCZf5hbX8fz6ccUoriCF/s1187/billy%20ballantyne-and-wopsie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="925" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdlmrO_-CEWK-naK0PdwgCYVS9mqj3dg2q74Ii-t_5Ovzf1sN7Dg9RMuFG75D5M30ZncFQjXbnowSmiMrMTgcc4CjrgTAtA72_lx5mPYPjEf8jn26gwVbtfbdVldLySekwwBqBV4ki0Y8x9i6CIuAscjxQKrt1Uxg42GORR1rdCZf5hbX8fz6ccUoriCF/s320/billy%20ballantyne-and-wopsie.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>Now, Billy Ballantyne was a rigger. He had been forced to give up his spot on the R34 for an American, but he didn’t want to miss out on these important, once-in-history flights, so he stowed away with the ship’s mascot, a tabby kitten named Wopsie. Twelve hours into the flight, crews discovered Ballantyne, overcome by leaking hydrogen. Since they couldn’t throw him overboard, not even with a parachute, into the churning waves below, the Air Commodore, Edward Maitland, put him to work cooking and pumping gas into the bags that fed the engines. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At one point, they found a leak in one of the gas bags. The quick-thinking crews gathered their whole supply of gum, chewed it up nice and soft, and plugged the leak. But approaching the east coast of North America, they were dangerously low on fuel. They considered their options. If they ended up in the ocean, they could be refueled by a destroyer or be pulled onto land by some other capable ship. Or they could try to make it to Boston. Eyes on the prize, they went for Boston. As they got closer, they realized they could get to New York. Landing at Long Island 108 hours and 12 minutes after take-off from Scotland left them with one hour’s worth of fuel in the bags.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Remember they wouldn’t drop the stow-away into the drink by parachute? Well, crewmember Major John Pritchard had to help the ground crew, so he actually did parachute into the U.S., becoming the first person to come to America by air. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-44921794534453199552023-12-12T19:47:00.005-06:002023-12-12T19:48:13.661-06:00November 21, 2023 A War Against Ice<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>November 21, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> My first cross country air race was nearly 16 years ago. The four-day race began in Bozeman, Montana, and ended in Mansfield, Massachusetts, with seven mandatory check-ins in between. Our first timed fly-by after launching out of Bozeman was Miles City, Montana. After fueling, we took off, crossing over the Yellowstone River, which flows between the airport and the town, and raced toward Aberdeen, South Dakota, the next checkpoint. It was that very river that, 64 years before, had drawn a different kind of race – a race against time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTVr3RdX3qBbqJaAJHJLzdjvY5MntbpLso-z9aWHXfuqpbOqzmF9PouPttgCPd7G2rYMnSSg1ex2Goe0uoIgjuEe8FrWHirvbZsFQU78jhjwVBrOBi9jdDfwKcm5ZYX8JrrPnPH0Vmes43XM4bdB9FXTf5ORNcarny1u3cl5U31HraW9lyPHbadBV4RW4/s729/Miles%20City%201944.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="729" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTVr3RdX3qBbqJaAJHJLzdjvY5MntbpLso-z9aWHXfuqpbOqzmF9PouPttgCPd7G2rYMnSSg1ex2Goe0uoIgjuEe8FrWHirvbZsFQU78jhjwVBrOBi9jdDfwKcm5ZYX8JrrPnPH0Vmes43XM4bdB9FXTf5ORNcarny1u3cl5U31HraW9lyPHbadBV4RW4/s320/Miles%20City%201944.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>The 1943-44 Montana winter was about average, and the weekend of March 17-18 was normal, untilSunday evening, March 19, when Spring’s thaw came out of the gate like a triple crown champion. The quick heating caused ice to break up, sending chunks careening down Yellowstone River. Ice jams began to form, increasing as they collided with ice from a tributary, the Tongue River. The five-mile-long jam caused severe flash flooding and hasty evacuations. Between the time evacuations began and when first responders were on the move, the river rose to 19.3 feet, 15 feet higher than normal. There were many boat rescues as an entire square mile of Miles City, population 7,300, was completely flooded. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Monday, Mayor Layton Key called local pilots, who, with permission from the feds and explosives from a coal mining company tossed 12 homemade bombs out of a Piper Cub. But they only dislodged a small amount of ice. They’d have to step up their defense with bigger bombs and bigger planes. The mayor called the governor and asked him to contact the Army. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Blizzard conditions and low clouds prevented use of a dive bomber. Their last hope lay in the high-altitude crews training at the Rapid City air base. On Tuesday, ten Army volunteers fused and loaded 250-pound bombs onto a B17 and took off into instrument conditions. The weather was so bad, they couldn’t see out of the airplane. Picking up a local pilot in Miles City, they took off again around 5:30 pm, ready for war against the ice. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGX-0n-TNwAq7Q7oLG4aILgRgeo-fMeqKOC1lzPxiWljkfQY3gLVm2pfVeGbFaoxJlV9b4Lit0ajNKqW9qxtM3eQP2TROoApN62QhvFogcxRUZMV1VcWNT8Kzl9_pKn0HISFVIZEHgappiSR9EC9m8d1bFC6sP1e5gM35uIwK6I2BUWIQO3S3Yh7iBsjb/s753/B-17%20that%20saved%20Miles%20City.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="753" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGX-0n-TNwAq7Q7oLG4aILgRgeo-fMeqKOC1lzPxiWljkfQY3gLVm2pfVeGbFaoxJlV9b4Lit0ajNKqW9qxtM3eQP2TROoApN62QhvFogcxRUZMV1VcWNT8Kzl9_pKn0HISFVIZEHgappiSR9EC9m8d1bFC6sP1e5gM35uIwK6I2BUWIQO3S3Yh7iBsjb/s320/B-17%20that%20saved%20Miles%20City.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>The first bomb, a test, seemed to go in the right direction, but they couldn’t tell whether it broke up the ice dam. The bombs had a delayed fuse; they would explode under water. The B17 crew made a few more passes, dropping six more bombs each time. Finally, a 150-foot plume of ice, mud, and water exploded from Yellowstone River. Within an hour, the water was draining, leaving shard-peppered ice along its banks. The operation was a success! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By midnight, the river had dropped three feet. Mayor Key put the bomber crews up at his hotel and fed them steak dinners in gratitude. By Wednesday morning, the Yellowstone was back within its banks, and the crew of the B17 wagged their wings on a low pass over the town as they headed back to Rapid City in the only U.S. bomber asked to bomb a U.S. city during the Second World War. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-36634841024031637112023-12-12T19:42:00.000-06:002023-12-12T19:42:33.078-06:00November 14, 2023 Good for a Laugh<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>November 14, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every once in a while, usually at the busiest airports in the world, where time is of the essence, a pilot forgets to change frequency and inadvertently gives the passenger briefing over an airport’s ground or tower radio. This faux pas is met with teasing by controllers and fellow pilots who had to wait to get a word in. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After a combined 70 years of flying, we’ve heard a few comical things over the airwaves. We thought we’d compile some for you. Not that we personally heard all of these live at the time they were spoken, but they have been preserved for the audio pleasure of us all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Coming in at number 4, a pilot in Toronto, after being given a frequency for Toronto Radio from air traffic control, questioned why he was being given that frequency. “Alright, do you wanna talk to a Center controller, or do you wanna talk to the radio? The radio people give you weather and stuff. The Center people keep you away from other airplanes.” Good call by the pilot: “I wanna be kept away from other airplanes!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amusing transmission number 3 goes a little retro. Taxing out for departure from JFK Airport, a pilot reports something on the runway that “looks like a beanbag chair.” This controller can’t help but laugh, adding, “Is there a lava lamp and a six pack out there too?” What could the pilot do but answer? “Absolutely. A disco ball as well.” The controller has the best answer: “Alright, let me get the Port Authority out there to party with it.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At number 2, one can only imagine… “We’re picking up eh… some pretty heavy interference on the Tower frequency, sounds like a small child singing … Justin Bieber<i>.</i>” After the tower controller gives the pilot a heading for the approach, the pilot obviously felt the need to set the record straight. “Just like to point out that I’m not the one who identified the singer!” This controller had a sense of humor. “That’s your story? Are you gonna stick with it? Okay, I’ll try not to sing next time.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And in this batch of pilot-controller exchanges that elicit a chuckle, number one has to do with the word, “awesome,” these days, an overused response. Apparently, there’s at least one air traffic controller who agrees. After approving the request from a pilot who wanted to land on the left runway instead of the parallel runway to the right at the Bedford, Massachusetts airport, the pilot giving that popular response, the controller had to ask. “Is it really that wonderful, ma’am?” Of course, the left runway was closer to where she was going to park the Airbus A320, but we’d have to side with the controller on this one. However, her gentle reminder to him to “Be happy,” seems to have warmed him at least a little. “You sound like you’re gonna make some guy very happy.” She didn’t miss a beat. “That’s why I’m tryin’ to get home!”</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-58229283268194314492023-12-12T19:35:00.005-06:002023-12-12T19:36:47.282-06:00November 7, 2023 Silent Wings<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>November 7, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQxbrDXPimu2JeyNmTmrFTW91CutckC3LiU1H9snwVLsA98Kp44gmr2yR7i09fYJ-XOYac-wn7PtvEqSrb9K1ApTItDKmGXhq_OHlwwmHXQ_OBVIzE7ngMlEgv4ujgHdVOcJ35HJsafQ0OA7F9w25VsiZ82fRDxFZ3qPK5lIKun4WPZACwu0-8UeTHdEn/s5184/Silent%20Wings%20plaque%201.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3888" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQxbrDXPimu2JeyNmTmrFTW91CutckC3LiU1H9snwVLsA98Kp44gmr2yR7i09fYJ-XOYac-wn7PtvEqSrb9K1ApTItDKmGXhq_OHlwwmHXQ_OBVIzE7ngMlEgv4ujgHdVOcJ35HJsafQ0OA7F9w25VsiZ82fRDxFZ3qPK5lIKun4WPZACwu0-8UeTHdEn/s320/Silent%20Wings%20plaque%201.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>You might have known that balloons have been used in military operations since the earliest days of flight, but did you know gliders have been enlisted as well? The non-motorized aircraft are quiet, so they could sneak in behind enemy lines without being heard. If they came in at night, which they frequently did, all the better, as they often landed undetected. They brought in men, weapons, food, and other supplies, and even vehicles. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since our annual birthday hike in Palo Duro Canyon was shortened to just one day due to inclement weather, we took a trip down to Lubbock for indoor activities. The Silent Wings Museum honors veterans who flew gliders during WWII and is dedicated to the memory of all who received advanced glider training and earned Silver ‘G’ Wings at this airfield. While the ‘G’ was officially for Glider, it was said that it really stood for Guts, because these men were flying a one-way trip. There was no turning around. They flew fragile, unarmed gliders on eight major airborne invasions of Europe and Southeast Asia, including Market Garden (invasion of The Netherlands), Varsity (invasion of Germany), and Overlord (the D-Day allied invasion of Normandy, France). Many paid the supreme sacrifice for their country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLX8n8izoU3HNrn3MSMnO-DY3n0XSyZ7HglbVhWbvh_8VsjpIyEYsCC_0siqRF0rrl3ps2ukXJx1hAAS3ScML4AEtkqIcNGYb1wY08kasZxttNVKiwG-0P4muYP2E34HM6TtFlQWRgOD1OSmO7sv5PMnC7WufO6fBeMK4pvvIKFQp8Oxhzbb4bY97yRiH-/s5184/Display%20at%20Silent%20Wings.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLX8n8izoU3HNrn3MSMnO-DY3n0XSyZ7HglbVhWbvh_8VsjpIyEYsCC_0siqRF0rrl3ps2ukXJx1hAAS3ScML4AEtkqIcNGYb1wY08kasZxttNVKiwG-0P4muYP2E34HM6TtFlQWRgOD1OSmO7sv5PMnC7WufO6fBeMK4pvvIKFQp8Oxhzbb4bY97yRiH-/s320/Display%20at%20Silent%20Wings.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The museum also does a tremendous job of educating the public on these heroes and this facet of war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were nine preliminary and advanced military glider pilot training fields in Texas. The one in Lubbock was one of the most prominent, The U.S. Army Air Force leased the airport from the city, and from October 1942 to April 1, 1945. This was where about 80% of the combat glider pilots who served in the major operations were trained to fly the 15-man Waco CG-4A glider. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzYJJZvUQxh3rDqbXH1K4kdRGhQw-QZIfBhlK1Vc7Ii8nQ4m0WlBmy2NMsnWLiHKOPBur_GzJjxiS6Gk7P9n0PAFaKOn9bn1gHE2DaLpW5HxKjGLoJePrHJAvPts8LGFr-HaG4z53Ed4aBZalbReH1burpkq-uPZbsHNzeM2y26KPQpfmSucVVZfOSAWc/s5184/Waco%20glider%202.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzYJJZvUQxh3rDqbXH1K4kdRGhQw-QZIfBhlK1Vc7Ii8nQ4m0WlBmy2NMsnWLiHKOPBur_GzJjxiS6Gk7P9n0PAFaKOn9bn1gHE2DaLpW5HxKjGLoJePrHJAvPts8LGFr-HaG4z53Ed4aBZalbReH1burpkq-uPZbsHNzeM2y26KPQpfmSucVVZfOSAWc/s320/Waco%20glider%202.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUERVAdzBTy79cL2NGy50rZwjqvSNRBCTmlw-hmQltChmoI9Vk7oR5_UO1NBf86xWX85IAXW21pmikdHBdDt7iBPpWRXj2QFs6vGNlp3p3ZFpfLv0EmC30qXWM54cYoSg4w08z7e0hYrdLpcC870RkIJaLjHM9Feh6SMDVRttmwrCotm6toS2dqSuKUVbN/s5184/Steinway%20and%20Sons.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUERVAdzBTy79cL2NGy50rZwjqvSNRBCTmlw-hmQltChmoI9Vk7oR5_UO1NBf86xWX85IAXW21pmikdHBdDt7iBPpWRXj2QFs6vGNlp3p3ZFpfLv0EmC30qXWM54cYoSg4w08z7e0hYrdLpcC870RkIJaLjHM9Feh6SMDVRttmwrCotm6toS2dqSuKUVbN/s320/Steinway%20and%20Sons.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Did you know that Steinway and Sons piano craftsmen in Long Island, New York built many of the wooden components for the Waco CG-4A glider, including wings and tail assemblies, benches, floors, and cockpit frameworks? It was a time when our country was more cohesive, and the infiltration of commies hadn’t exploded to the level it is today. Businesses and individuals proudly sacrificed to do what was needed to help defend and preserve freedom.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A short documentary film with interviews of some of the pilots, fascinating artifacts, and impactful reenactment scene displays make this museum a must-see. They even have one of these huge CG-4A gliders on display in the hangar, and one of its tow planes, a DC-3, greeting visitors at the entrance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2Q4Ir6TstNnykX2Cs0EZ1fa2RbBtsK28t7Z6v4J0DECF_R5o1wALIHkox9gT1x_b1vBX2oYtgi5dWkmYtLZ-bumHlKq18dW-lQwSWp-mGQrfBRRrZ8r3HTjyv7C21n3Kmy6iKcrkfEd59gn4fdCqt9k8AZt63ajpumQj_jGkh9bTUyFyFGHrtiJYUhM0/s5184/Samuel%20Johnson%20quote.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2Q4Ir6TstNnykX2Cs0EZ1fa2RbBtsK28t7Z6v4J0DECF_R5o1wALIHkox9gT1x_b1vBX2oYtgi5dWkmYtLZ-bumHlKq18dW-lQwSWp-mGQrfBRRrZ8r3HTjyv7C21n3Kmy6iKcrkfEd59gn4fdCqt9k8AZt63ajpumQj_jGkh9bTUyFyFGHrtiJYUhM0/s320/Samuel%20Johnson%20quote.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We were surprised, however, to see how long ago air combat was discussed. Here’s a quote from lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose house we happened to visit while in London this summer: “What would be the security of the good, if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds, neither walls, nor mountains, nor seas, could afford any security.” Dr. Johnson realized the possibilities of aerial attacks in 1759. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-50306402557564774382023-12-12T19:23:00.003-06:002023-12-12T19:24:08.096-06:00October 31, 2023 We'll Take the Treats<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>October 31, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The wind played trick-or-treat on our last trip to Amarillo. We slugged our way head-first into it. Twenty knots, on the nose, at 3,000 feet, the altitude with the least amount of headwind. A few thousand feet higher, winds were racing across the sky at over 70 knots. We were attending a couple of social events, but not spending the night. You can bet we collected what was due us on the way back. Coming home, altitude was our friend, where screaming tail winds chopped off an hour and a half flight time – no need for a fuel stop. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sometimes, it can be difficult to find the sweet spot, where winds are favorable but turbulence minimal. That sweet spot can change over the miles. It might be 2,900 feet for a while, then 3,200 feet later. Sure, it was a tricky wind heading northwest, but a real zippy treat and smooth sailing at 9,500 feet in the evening. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking of treating ourselves to good things, we’ve been binging on a few video channels lately, and one of them is <a href="http://www.hadfield.ca/">Dave Hadfield’s YouTube channel</a>. We happened upon <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DuMHrL3lp4&t=1543s">Part One of his half-hour documentary</a> of a test flight in a 1928 Moth with a Gipsy II engine, at a grass airfield in Southern Ontario, Canada. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dave is from a family of pilots. His wife, <a href="https://www.ninety-nines.org/person-Robin_Hadfield_25.htm">Robin</a>, is an air racer and president of the Ninety-Nines. His brother, <a href="https://chrishadfield.ca/">Chris</a>, is an astronaut. Numerous other relatives are pilots as well. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recently, Dave was asked to fly the DH60, DeHavilland Gipsy Moth, across Southern Ontario to its new owner in Quebec. This was the oldest plane Dave had ever flown and the oldest aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force that’s still flying. It’s a rare biplane with folding wings. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DuMHrL3lp4&t=1543s">Dave’s video</a>, he shows viewers what he does when he test-flies an aircraft. This one had been flown from New York for considerable maintenance and repair, so his first job was to check all the maintenance paperwork. After he reviewed the documents, he carried the camera while explaining his detailed examination. They removed a bit of water and rust in the fuel tanks, and once it passed his critical eye, we got to ride along atop his helmet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpVFJCZo-GVXCNJZxMo7RCEus8UyWTFBK3dH8FNSAmgtti_59X1nDV9x7xo6E1XobCEVtS46o78UvIlrZM7_MDewdkdq2s3XKgJOTYJ4G2z9eJj2SVrCCJyghgX76AddlGVYswbinfnCSLZpZpREpZgguoCBoEgq3ayTeD_PWY0rgydBJBknZndNpR2Jg/s984/Dave%20Hadfield's%20deHavilland%20Gypsy%20Moth.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="984" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpVFJCZo-GVXCNJZxMo7RCEus8UyWTFBK3dH8FNSAmgtti_59X1nDV9x7xo6E1XobCEVtS46o78UvIlrZM7_MDewdkdq2s3XKgJOTYJ4G2z9eJj2SVrCCJyghgX76AddlGVYswbinfnCSLZpZpREpZgguoCBoEgq3ayTeD_PWY0rgydBJBknZndNpR2Jg/s320/Dave%20Hadfield's%20deHavilland%20Gypsy%20Moth.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He talks through every maneuver, commenting on how the airplane feels. Climbs, descents, turns. Then a little more aggressive, with wing-overs and stalls. Dave is licensed by the Canadian authority to perform low-level aerobatics (he performs in air shows), and as a former Canadian Air Force pilot, he is well-acquainted with proper testing procedures. He discovered an issue on landing when the Gipsy Moth swerved right. He put in full left rudder, but it wasn’t enough. He went around the patch to try once more, ready for the right swerve. Something was wrong. But then the rain came, so he left it with the experts. He’ll be back. We can’t wait for Part Two, the delivery flight to Quebec! It’s a must-watch on <a href="http://www.hadfield.ca">www.hadfield.ca</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-44185190798296788852023-10-24T09:37:00.000-05:002023-10-24T09:37:12.175-05:00October 24, 2023 Sharah the Sunshine<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>October 24, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda: </i>We have this friend, AnnElise. We've written about her <a href="http://elyairlines.blogspot.com/search?q=annelise">a few times before</a>. She’s been through so much. One of the most painful things in her life was the death of her youngest daughter, Sarah, in an accident ten years ago this past March. The pain doesn’t go away, but it somehow becomes part of who we are, and we learn to walk with it. AnnElise has found things to help her, one of which was a gift from Sarah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sarah was in college, just days from graduation. She was a ray of sunshine, brightening the lives of everyone who knew her. One thing she used to do was post pictures of doing handstands, just any place, any time. Handstanding became something AnnElise could do to “water the flowers and not the weeds.” To fight pain by spreading sunshine. Each of us travels that journey in our own way, and this pilot, air racer, crossfitter extraordinaire faces grief like a pilot-in-command.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And so, in her mid-50’s, she began to do handstands. To fight the sorrow and to tell the world about the funny, blissful girl Sarah was, causing happiness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It started during a family healing trip abroad with her sister, Carol, a niece, and her older daughter, Lauren. Sometimes joined by others, they broke out in spontaneous handstanding. In Moray and Lima, and all over Peru. She and Carol returned home with an undeniable urge to do handstands; the upside-down way that helps turn pain into Sharahing Sunshine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the family’s Easter portrait is AnnElise, handstanding. Against a Southwest Airlines B737 engine nacelle, next to the windsock on her grass runway, handstanding. Carol, a concert cellist, went feet-up in the orchestra pit, at a housewarming party, while broken down on the side of the road awaiting a tow truck, upon a suspension bridge, up against a police car (officer in photo too, smiling), against a ladder truck as the firemen were grocery shopping. She titled one photo, “Chilling-With-The-Maestro-Before-The-Concert-Handstand.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Carol posed for the camera with a cat atop her feet, AnnElise replied with a photo titled, “I’ll-See-Your-Cat-and-Raise-You-A-Rooster-Handstand.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then Carol found a photo of Sarah at the beach–doing a handstand. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggsocZapQMftv6bdGaX_6_TUQRaoQEpHJvYNOyR1eSVXfQCL8yb5UeKix84WU0RnAjaiGZa4tWwj_mz56D3rHokgfAu6a3xPD_adrU7n0Ni2Dra6K5O20BbnyZ9RaaYtiue-X9Q-DrDQj1SrrpgOFHa8iDjgo_IHPUMIMptetpq30Dy5QqsWhsGXj0dfo/s960/Sharahing%20Sunshine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggsocZapQMftv6bdGaX_6_TUQRaoQEpHJvYNOyR1eSVXfQCL8yb5UeKix84WU0RnAjaiGZa4tWwj_mz56D3rHokgfAu6a3xPD_adrU7n0Ni2Dra6K5O20BbnyZ9RaaYtiue-X9Q-DrDQj1SrrpgOFHa8iDjgo_IHPUMIMptetpq30Dy5QqsWhsGXj0dfo/s320/Sharahing%20Sunshine.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Friends posted handstand photos–under water, in front of the U.S. Congress building–and the sunshine spread because these handstands make a statement. At the time, I supported my friend through prayer, encouragement, a listening ear. But it’d been decades since I’d tried a handstand. And I wasn’t exactly in great shape.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A couple years ago, I began strengthening and practicing my handstands. I hoped that one day, AnnElise and I could make that statement together. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The recent Grumman fly-in was held at Pecan Plantation airpark, home to AnnElise. In the pavilion next to the runway, finally, I got to dive down, kick up, and handstand alongside my good friend. We had plenty of onlookers, and so many smiles. It felt good to Sharah the Sunshine.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-50929774345664941852023-10-17T19:48:00.004-05:002023-10-17T19:48:27.128-05:00October 17, 2023 Our Type of Club<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>October 17, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> The heat is finally giving way to Fall breezes. With the cooler yet not-so-cold temps, people are emerging from their air-conditioned abodes and hitting the road—or, in our case, the airways. October in particular boasts a large number of fly-in events. Wings Over Houston, the Ranger Old School Fly-In and Campout in Ranger, Texas, and club outings, to name a few.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Affinity clubs are popular for car and motorcycle owners. Think MG and Mustang, Indian and Harley. It’s the same for airplane owners with groups such as the Cessna Pilots Association and Piper Owner Society. The manufacturer of our plane was Gulfstream-American, more often called Grumman American, the previous builder. The Elyminator’s model designation “AA-5A” comes from American Aircraft Company, the maker before them. The airplanes are simply known as Grummans. The national group that encompasses all these planes is the Grumman Owners and Pilots Association, or GOPA. It’s a networking organization where owners and pilots socialize, learn maintenance and safety tips, get specialized training, and share experiences that help promote, maintain, and preserve their Grumman. GOPA and its regional chapters host weekend fly-ins, flight clinics, and sometimes just meet at airport restaurants for some good ol’ hangar flying. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This summer, because of the record-breaking heat, not too many activities were planned by Region 5, of which Texas is a part. We missed the national convention at Palm Springs in May, but this past weekend, with the first cool period signaling Fall, we topped the tanks, slid the canopy closed, and let the Texas landscape slide beneath our wings on our way to GOPA Region 5’s “Grumman Gang” gathering at Pecan Plantation Airpark near Granbury. We made new friends and connected with old ones while munching on burgers at picnic tables under a shady pavilion at the end of the runway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had a great conversation with a young man who had brought his two-seat fixer-upper. A new private pilot, he bought the low-priced airplane to use for building flight hours. We talked about his maintenance, his hopes for the future, and his awe of the new-to-him world aloft. The discussion took me back 50 years when I saw the world of aviation through inexperienced eyes. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another gentleman, an older fellow, had a similar flying background as mine. Both of us spent much of our early flying years in Southern California. This man gave flight instruction at Torrance airport, a neighbor to the airport at Long Beach, where I taught people to fly. He flew charter flights out of Van Nuys Airport, while I flew canceled checks and cargo out of Burbank only six miles east. We exchanged tales about aviation legends we had met, challenging island, mountain, and desert destinations, the weather, and some airports that no longer exist. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This Grumman Gang gathering brought 17 airplanes and 45 people from all generations to enjoy seeing the world again through memories and the hopes and dreams of those who are to follow. Now that’s our type of club. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-75484180684478187602023-10-17T19:46:00.009-05:002023-10-17T19:46:44.793-05:00October 10, 2023 Celebration Hops<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>October 10, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> At the end of September, we celebrated 17 years of wedded bliss. My goodness, time flies! In that time, we’ve explored 16 countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, claimed the national gold title five times in the cross-country air racing championship in the Sport Air Racing League, published five books and over 850 articles, adopted five dogs, and so much more. Yet it feels like we just got started yesterday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ups and downs life throws at us aren’t always as we would choose, and I thought Mike had a great idea for a way to celebrate our lives together thus far: take a day to bounce around a few airports. Mike enjoys logging landings at each airport in the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) Pilot Passport program. He’s been doing it for a few years now. He downloaded the app and uses it to check in, which earns him points, badges, and rewards. There’s also a community feature, so participants are encouraged to share their adventures with fellow aviators. In addition, the state aviation departments of Louisiana and North Dakota offer bonus badges and recognition for landing in the airports in their respective states. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For our anniversary, he selected 10 airports and planned a route that would allow us to hop to each and get back home without having to stop for fuel. I would take the first five, and he would take the second five. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> It was still hot, 94 degrees, so taking off RWJ’s runway 8 and climbing out to the east, we wanted to get as much altitude as practical for the length of our first leg on the journey. Linda climbed to 3,500 feet, which gave us a brief respite from the heat, but it seemed so quick that we were suddenly upon our first airport of landing, Southland Field in Sulphur, Louisiana. We zipped down to pattern altitude, flew the traffic pattern for runway 33, joined by only a couple of other airplanes, landed, taxied back, and took off for airport number two, DeQuincy, a whole nine minutes away, even with a headwind. Twenty minutes to Welsh, and that scored her the honor of scooting in on the shortest runway of our adventure, 2,700 feet long and 50 feet wide. From there, she made the four-minute hop to Jennings. Six minutes from Welsh was Le Gros, giving her two very short skips in a row. The wind was beginning to pick up, but it was mostly right down the runway. It brought a fair amount of chop, but not much crosswind. This is where we got out and switched seats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From Le Gros, we scooted southeast to Abbeville. The wind direction and intensity necessitated passing the next two airports, so from there, we flew northwest to Eunice and then to Chennault International before heading home. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Louisiana has 67 airports and 7 museums on their badge list. I should rack up the points fast. It’ll take longer in Texas though, with 389 eligible airports.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-44679226315518460782023-10-03T08:44:00.000-05:002023-10-03T08:44:06.883-05:00October 3, 2023 Remote Sensibilities<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>October 3, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> Our recent trip to England via commercial airline was book-ended by our own flight to Denver and back. Fort Collins, to be exact. We needed an agreeable place to leave the Elyminator while we toured London and the spectacular English countryside, Cambridge, Ely, Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Cotswolds. We wanted to be “in place” to get to the famed Estes Park Scottish-Irish Highland Games, scheduled the day after the 787 Dreamliner (ala fun window-dimming technology) would whisk us out of Heathrow and drop us back in the Mile High City. We had an important appointment with thousands of other Scottish heritage lovers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of all the smaller airports around Denver, Northern Colorado Regional Airport (Fort Collins/Loveland) offered the winning combination of proximity to Estes Park, along with services and amenities we would need, like a rental car for the weekend after England. The flight up wasn’t exciting, as we had a headwind the whole way. But we planned for the possibility of weather interference and arrived a full 24 hours before our international flight. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Northern Colorado Regional has a remote air traffic control tower. I don’t know where the tower controller on duty actually is, but on approach, I spoke with a live human who cleared me to land. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Colorado Department of Transportation is hosting a Remote Tower Project, which they call “a revolutionary high-tech approach toward the future of air traffic control.” For sure, it cuts costs. No tall building to maintain and staff. That can make a difference for airports with seasonal traffic like the ones in Colorado. It’s a beautiful state, but the Rocky Mountains make it a challenging place to fly. The terrain is the most obvious threat. In adverse weather conditions, we definitely need to know where those big rocks are. But we also must pay attention to the reduction in aircraft performance due to altitude (thinner air means fewer air molecules to provide lift). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With all the jagged, high peaks and low valleys, air traffic controllers who sat in towers at airport locations couldn’t see all the traffic with traditional radar. This project aims to prove that controllers can do a better, safer, more efficient job controlling the skies over their state if they have the right technology. They report that the Colorado Mountain Radar Project, of which the tower project is the third phase, has increased the volume of traffic safely, effecting a positive impact on the local economies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They’re accomplishing this with a mix of satellite-based technology and ground-based video, so controllers can see aircraft in their airspace and at the airports they monitor. When they were deciding which airport would be the first testbed, the one in Fort Collins met all the criteria. It offered a great mix of aircraft and operational levels, nearness to a major airport, and local support.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While we remain averse to pilotless aircraft, I must admit, I had an uneventful experience taking off and landing at a remotely-controlled airport.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-45253041998092591522023-09-26T19:25:00.004-05:002023-09-26T19:26:51.427-05:00September 26, 2023 Dateline: Greenwich<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>September 26, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> The impetus for a brief respite in England was to see the ancestral home of the Elys. That is, Ely, England. We built the whole trip around the one day we would spend in the small town with the giant cathedral. More on that in another episode. For starters, we knew better than to expect we’d have a ton of energy to do much our first day after an overnight flight, so we planned it light and leisurely. Arrive at Heathrow about 12:30 in the afternoon, catch the Heathrow Express across London to Greenwich, and do something touristy: straddle the Prime Meridian, so we can say we had one foot in each hemisphere at the same time. It’s the line of 0 degrees longitude, so it splits the earth from north to south, delineating the east and west. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Flying is among the professions that use Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as a standard of reference. We use it for filing flight plans, getting weather reports and forecasts, and other tasks and communications. Wherever you are in the world, your location is measured from this position; you’re either east or west of the Prime Meridian. So, there we stood, at the center of time. Almost.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lQwAsh9CEuMgmovvBdtl32BIk9Cx5VBjLvpd5cKCKdDnM8zfwQK9CyRm74GP-PyFwPrr7ESNlzAlLaK78bklscVRABVV_eXlP5lNRgnVTJEnL8z5ntY5wgDm8x488nl2OklBddDMUtJIzpH4h7NkG60Zu6-dibt75Pxgthyx_BwCmhUNA0PMHL5uHwtZ/s2592/9-26-23-Pay%20to%20Stand%20Here.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lQwAsh9CEuMgmovvBdtl32BIk9Cx5VBjLvpd5cKCKdDnM8zfwQK9CyRm74GP-PyFwPrr7ESNlzAlLaK78bklscVRABVV_eXlP5lNRgnVTJEnL8z5ntY5wgDm8x488nl2OklBddDMUtJIzpH4h7NkG60Zu6-dibt75Pxgthyx_BwCmhUNA0PMHL5uHwtZ/s320/9-26-23-Pay%20to%20Stand%20Here.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><i>Mike: </i>According to Royal Museums Greenwich (www.rmg.co.uk), the location for the original zero-longitude line was voted on by 23 nations in 1884. Before that, almost every town in the world kept its own local time. There was no international agreement on how time should be measured, when a day would begin and end, or even the length of an hour. By the mid-19th century, railways and communications networks were expanding, making an international standard for time absolutely necessary. Greenwich was selected because the U.S. had already decided to base our national time zone system on it, plus, observations made from there gave astronomers the ability to map the sky. That was important in a time when the vast majority of the world’s commerce moved by boat, meaning shipment of most goods was dependent on sea charts and sailors who could navigate by them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A century later, after more precise measuring (by satellite) was available, the line was moved. The “true” Prime Meridian is only a bit more than the length of a football field to the east of the original line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtikJg7OkK7N_s8gHRQYWNAuoSP6WQiZpO_h3eC9HSgdvP2tsGa9zbWZUIN1jKHEv5EDTas8hARKSFqnoSq-2sAorEjcRufAgiTPtKe7k6Y7AX1jWB-bEng0-x2tzj8roNx3o01djX05CtSlKQAL1wQ870pjqMqCvzobfjU2gi1E_ZSup9Tw6LvMOILxp/s2592/9-26-23-Straddling%20the%20Historical%20Prime%20Meridian.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtikJg7OkK7N_s8gHRQYWNAuoSP6WQiZpO_h3eC9HSgdvP2tsGa9zbWZUIN1jKHEv5EDTas8hARKSFqnoSq-2sAorEjcRufAgiTPtKe7k6Y7AX1jWB-bEng0-x2tzj8roNx3o01djX05CtSlKQAL1wQ870pjqMqCvzobfjU2gi1E_ZSup9Tw6LvMOILxp/s320/9-26-23-Straddling%20the%20Historical%20Prime%20Meridian.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><i>Linda:</i> There’s an observatory, a museum, and a beautiful park in the lovely village of Greenwich. If you search the web for photos of the Prime Meridian, you’ll mostly find pictures of a thick brass line on concrete. That’s just outside the observatory and museum, on the back patio where you exit after touring the displays inside. The cost is £18 per person. But if you don’t intend to go inside, it’s easy enough to find the continuation of the line in the park below the observatory. It doesn’t cost a dime to straddle that, and you’ll have a few pounds saved for a pint at the Greenwich Tavern across the street.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-24336195701084602232023-09-26T19:21:00.003-05:002023-09-26T19:30:35.897-05:00September 19, 2023 Gimme Some Shade<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>September 19, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiuZxiJ91IFWLqfHsvOLBxNryCzOBQaXatQOojTbi1oEgk2JOLLilIUvFG3ai1woxNERA5i_lNId1LVQE8oX7nm2QtuczJlfsGGqdhhJIEDiVQ8GZvojc6uTAkKVvBL4utJ-0g6IJswdo4iH7dawFLd2f1YtDzDB8lufkh1-J5g-AtsYvzOOhD8-9SCmC/s640/Dreamliner%20window%20lighter.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiuZxiJ91IFWLqfHsvOLBxNryCzOBQaXatQOojTbi1oEgk2JOLLilIUvFG3ai1woxNERA5i_lNId1LVQE8oX7nm2QtuczJlfsGGqdhhJIEDiVQ8GZvojc6uTAkKVvBL4utJ-0g6IJswdo4iH7dawFLd2f1YtDzDB8lufkh1-J5g-AtsYvzOOhD8-9SCmC/w150-h200/Dreamliner%20window%20lighter.jpg" width="150" /></a><i>Linda: </i>While being whisked away in a Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” for a much-needed vacation, I was intrigued by the electronic window dimming technology. No more shades to lift or pull. Just push a button below the window and you’ll send an electrical current through a layer of gel inside, between the multiple layers in the pane. The current causes a chemical reaction in the gel that changes its thickness and hence its opacity. The lowest voltage results in a clear view, while the highest voltage gives you pretty much total black-out. As we crossed the pond to London’s Heathrow, I played with the window dimming like it was a toy, pausing in the clear state to admire the enormous wing flexibility. I wonder what airplane lovers of the past would think of it. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx090DlZop12hhfoA4-xA_y-Cv8hEXQEHOVRBssnmqzcrq5zQ2HxOZ94yXDCIig3rLdjbi-QiBCvvEGpNMmSSr3MEUBqIw8DCSHKIFOXcckcTgmbRJoFPSpCWx7D-Hh407iSGqDW5sej9caQuYH0Y3Rfpf4lKGzj4bRG_QuSV5-ysN9pTAz7miWXlqNQe/s640/Dreamliner%20window%20darker.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx090DlZop12hhfoA4-xA_y-Cv8hEXQEHOVRBssnmqzcrq5zQ2HxOZ94yXDCIig3rLdjbi-QiBCvvEGpNMmSSr3MEUBqIw8DCSHKIFOXcckcTgmbRJoFPSpCWx7D-Hh407iSGqDW5sej9caQuYH0Y3Rfpf4lKGzj4bRG_QuSV5-ysN9pTAz7miWXlqNQe/w150-h200/Dreamliner%20window%20darker.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> We visited the Churchill War Rooms Museum under the British Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster on our visit to London. We were told it would take about 90 minutes to go through the exhibits. However, it was so interesting and informative we actually spent more than three hours and could have taken longer. Being in that bunker brings to life the world during what was then Britain’s “Darkest Hour.” It is a dark place lit by lamps where those assigned to the war room not only worked 16-18 hours a day, but for periods of time rarely saw daylight. Secretaries shared a sun lamp, each getting 20 minutes a day. While the building was fortified, it probably could not withstand a direct hit from a heavy bomb. We learned a lot more about Winston Churchill too, including his flying lessons. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He took up flying lessons in 1913 at the Royal Naval Flying School in Kent after first being somewhat skeptical about the concept. He felt duty-bound to take his first flight but then became an enthusiast. But he wasn’t a natural, and he had several close brushes with disaster as did many flyers in the early days. He was finally convinced to give up training following a crash he had in 1919 in Paris. But he never stopped believing in the value of the airplane and supported it throughout his lifetime. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also took many opportunities to put his hands on the controls when he was a passenger. In December 1941, right after Pearl Harbor, he went to see President Roosevelt. His warship sailed through U-boat-patrolled waters to Norfolk, Virginia. After three weeks at the White House working out war strategies, when Churchill returned to England, he and his staff flew 18 hours in a Boeing 314, making him the first world leader to cross the Atlantic by air. On that flight, he took the controls of the lumbering giant as a relief pilot. Wearing his military sunglasses and chomping on his cigar, it is said that he enjoyed the view and a brief respite from the world’s troubles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda:</i> I guess his military shades were his own version of dimmable windows.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGw3Z9BBQWlkQNqOs5c1AILscOvjNnUtj-bIVvgiG4OLvgLTfPxE5Ox_JYYjlua0-X__q7bi3bzk52wHbdww5uM7Vg3r6KMPtDFBvWn3aRrqdJNiOUf1fJqvYoveQvdgBasqIBVAUMIxRoydt-meX9W2x0DHeEorYZxqKkxBNGQEkm_edlKJOulPCl_C5N/s640/Where%20Churchill%20napped%20during%20the%20war.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGw3Z9BBQWlkQNqOs5c1AILscOvjNnUtj-bIVvgiG4OLvgLTfPxE5Ox_JYYjlua0-X__q7bi3bzk52wHbdww5uM7Vg3r6KMPtDFBvWn3aRrqdJNiOUf1fJqvYoveQvdgBasqIBVAUMIxRoydt-meX9W2x0DHeEorYZxqKkxBNGQEkm_edlKJOulPCl_C5N/w320-h240/Where%20Churchill%20napped%20during%20the%20war.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where Churchill slept</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-34638852063032883522023-09-26T19:11:00.002-05:002023-09-26T19:11:47.121-05:00September 12, 2023 By George!<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>September 12, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Linda: </i>We’ve flown the Elyminator up to the Pacific Northwest a few times, and I’ll be darned if I didn’t just find out about something we’ve been missing, and it’s been literally right under our noses. We’ve flown over the area, but we didn’t know! Surrounded by Moses Lake, Wenatchee, and Ephrata – all of which are towns we’ve visited – in between Seattle and Spokane, sits George, Washington. It’s one square mile with a population of 516, and they clearly have a sense of humor. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the Fourth of July each year, the community of George, Washington hosts a celebration like no other. They start the morning with breakfast in the community park – biscuits and gravy or French toast. Then they take those full bellies for the two-mile “Cherry Bomb Run” to burn off some calories and make room for something special. But first, the Grand Parade. Anyone can join in the parade. They just have to be ready to line up at the Martha Inn staging area an hour before and sign a participation waiver. After the parade comes the signature event.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZE1osf-AkMZI2WAyNsG4d8948wkqoy92ELE4iq3HJUdSuVzkgiNmzg8smiVb2OHL1ongcmTlDmseJwMD2yzueTRMHkZHpDODpsQ4qvw4UO_CQJOASdHZQ-PtL0H9bzdLxtU44earIhuxSQ-AYPi7RVWJbwwnti_NnYfgkLZSINEegjQq-omaqvuOR8OuX/s615/Georgettes%20and%20the%20World's%20Largest%20Cherry%20Pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="615" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZE1osf-AkMZI2WAyNsG4d8948wkqoy92ELE4iq3HJUdSuVzkgiNmzg8smiVb2OHL1ongcmTlDmseJwMD2yzueTRMHkZHpDODpsQ4qvw4UO_CQJOASdHZQ-PtL0H9bzdLxtU44earIhuxSQ-AYPi7RVWJbwwnti_NnYfgkLZSINEegjQq-omaqvuOR8OuX/s320/Georgettes%20and%20the%20World's%20Largest%20Cherry%20Pie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For sixty-six years, the community of George, Washington has been serving up the World’s Largest Cherry Pie. The pie is made by members of “the Georgettes,” a non-profit group that supports the town’s events and activities. They mix up 75 gallons of pie filling and bake it in an 8-foot by 8-foot pan in a specially-built brick Dutch oven for three hours, cool it for four, then serve it up fresh in the Pie Pavilion. Ice cream optional (but who wouldn’t want it?) It’s free, but a $1 donation per serving is suggested to help pay for the ingredients, which cost a bit over $800 this year. The whole pie weighs in at half a ton. Better be there by noon when they start serving or you’ll be out of luck! I really love the motto they’ve adopted: “If you believe that something is impossible, please do not interfere with those who are doing it.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course, live entertainment by a few bands fills the afternoon, and then like all towns across America, a stunning fireworks show tops off the day. But it’s that whole big pie idea that gets the attention. I think if you’re going to name your town after America’s first president, you almost have to incorporate all the trimmings, and go big or go home – and that’s no lie! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHRI9YNIhiQUbllv_qiLp1l-4TanF60856lmV1f8RBLELnG0Jwx5GKvVwc8_tdOADIkXtp4ggTtbkaMg3YMLKEeGldV1D4Ml9z_FFeklVQ_TCiGbpRKGW-s0QfbLWmXigJBmeSo8AL9a5MJ8IXaB1hhl4kKSRwr70u_-TK5ggraE1JCG54DDdpu1wfKheB/s2048/World's%20Largest%20Pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1529" data-original-width="2048" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHRI9YNIhiQUbllv_qiLp1l-4TanF60856lmV1f8RBLELnG0Jwx5GKvVwc8_tdOADIkXtp4ggTtbkaMg3YMLKEeGldV1D4Ml9z_FFeklVQ_TCiGbpRKGW-s0QfbLWmXigJBmeSo8AL9a5MJ8IXaB1hhl4kKSRwr70u_-TK5ggraE1JCG54DDdpu1wfKheB/s320/World's%20Largest%20Pie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The city streets are named after varieties of cherry trees, and everyone knows the story of young George Washington supposedly having admitted that he chopped down a cherry tree, saying, “I cannot tell a lie.” History can be fun when it’s brought to life like this. And you can bet that there in George, Washington, they aren’t dealing with any of those kinds that think we should erase history. If our country survives the present and planned turmoil, George, Washington will be one place we can take our grandchildren to savor some history lessons.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-65594641103315349012023-09-26T19:07:00.007-05:002023-09-26T19:07:26.229-05:00September 5, 2023 Rocking a Farmer's Wings<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>September 5, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> We flew to the northwest in the Elyminator in late spring to visit family we had not seen in a long time. After the loss of my older brother last year, we felt a more urgent need to spend time with those we love. That sense was almost prophetic as Aunt Delores passed away last month. With her gone, there is yet another piece of my past that seems to have been archived. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My cousin’s grass farm in the fertile Willamette River Valley of western Oregon has been like a second home. When I was a kid, our family vacations were to the farm. We built hay-bale forts in the loft of the huge red barn, plinked with 22s, went fishing and swimming in the river that bordered one side of the property, and drove farm equipment, even as a preteen. It wasn’t uncommon to see a combine lumbering down a country road with a 12-year-old at the helm. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of my first experiences with airplanes was at an airport not far from the farm. At a jump zone in a neighboring town, we’d lay in a cut alfalfa field with our eyes scanning skyward. Black dots that emerged from a high-flying plane would get larger until their multi-colored parachutes blossomed and the jumpers zoomed, spun, and floated to a patch nearby. The glass-nosed, twin-engine plane landed and took another load aloft. There was a kid sitting in the nose looking out that window. How I wished I was him. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Later, when I started to fly, the farm in Oregon became one of my favorite destinations. My first flight there was in a Cessna 172 from Fullerton in Southern California. I took Aunt Delores for a ride, to see the farm from a different perspective. She loved it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Later, I took my sister and a coworker, along with her four-year-old son, in a bigger, faster plane. We made a fuel stop in northern California, so we could drop my coworker off for a grandparents visit. Sis and I continued toward the farm, landing at the nearby McMinnville Airport. At the farm, one of my cousins and I each hopped on a three-wheeler ATV and went out to measure the length of one of the recently harvested fields. I went back to the airport and flew the Cessna 210 to that field and anchored it to a windrower and a tractor while enjoying our farm-stay. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The day we departed, we had a family reunion, where we gathered for a feast in the shade of towering old oak trees. In the afternoon, everyone accompanied us out to the field to watch us take off. As we lifted off and the landing gear folded up into the airplane, someone thought the wheels had broken until someone else explained that was normal. I climbed out a little way, banked the airplane, and made a zooming pass, rocking our wings to say, “so long.” I imagine Aunt Delores is now rocking her wings, too.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-40864476293087269742023-09-26T19:04:00.013-05:002023-09-26T19:04:55.023-05:00August 29, 2023 "A" is for "Airplane"<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>August 29, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“A” is for “Airplane.” So are “N” and “C” and “G” and many other letters. Have you ever noticed letters and numbers on airplanes and wondered what they meant?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every airplane has an alpha-numerical identification similar to license plates on cars. It’s often called a tail number and is assigned when the airplane is registered to a new owner. When an airplane is new, it must have the number painted on a vertical surface, such as the tail or side of the airplane. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like cars, airplanes’ registration numbers help governmental entities tax people more. Unlike cars, when we’re traveling in our airplane, we are identified by air traffic control by our tail number. Scooting along the complex network of highways in the sky, when we press that mic button to communicate with a controller, we don’t say, “This is Linda,” or “This is Mike.” We say November-Two-Six-Niner-Fife-Eight, the correct pronunciation for our tail number. It’s also commonly referred to as a callsign. There’s a whole published glossary for pilot-controller communications for the standardized way in which we talk. But the “November” part of it is to identify the airplane’s home country, the U.S.A. “C” denotes an aircraft registered in Canada, while a “G”-registered airplane comes from Great Britain. This was decided in 1944 during the Chicago Convention of the International Civil Aeronautics Organization, a branch of the United Nations. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But there were tail numbers before then. The idea came from the use of callsigns by radio operators. All around the world, as early as 1913, radio callsigns began with a letter, followed by four more letters, and each country was assigned its own first letter. This was the first format used in the aviation industry. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the U.S., owners can apply for a special letter-number combination of up to five characters after the N, but most airplanes keep the number series assigned to the manufacturer when the airplane was built. If an airplane is de-registered, that N-number can be assigned to another aircraft. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There may be between two and five characters after the N, but the first of those must be a number between one and nine. There may be up to two letters, but they have to be at the end of the callsign. For instance, John Travolta, who started flying at age 15, has a fleet of a dozen or so jets and other aircraft all of which sport tail numbers ending in “JT”. His Bombardier Challenger 601 is N392JT.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So why an “N” for us? Because the U.S. Navy was the first to use it as an identifier way back in 1909.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Callsigns can also be nicknames. For airliners, these are followed by the flight number. British Airways still uses “Speedbird” from their glory days of the Concorde. UPS used to have the callsign “Brown Tail,” which unfortunately induced much mocking (and which we heard they paid an ad agency a lot of money to come up with). Now they use UPS. More letters for the alphabet soup.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-23100096712189525682023-09-26T19:02:00.001-05:002023-09-26T19:02:28.201-05:00August 22, 2023 Safer Flights, Lower Costs<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>August 22, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Have you ever wondered why so many airplanes are mostly white? Well, there are a few reasons, and you can probably guess some of them. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First off, as the saying goes, follow the money. When you consider that over time, aircraft have to be repainted, the cost of paint can really add up. Especially for larger jets, which can take 120 gallons to cover, costing a couple hundred thousand dollars each time the paint job is redone. If you go with white, it lasts longer than colors, which dull and fade at a faster rate. Fewer paint jobs over the life of a single airplane, not to mention a whole fleet, makes accountants happy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Interestingly, white paint also weighs less than colored paint because of no pigment additives to bump up the scales. We’re talking a difference of several hundred pounds, over a thousand for larger aircraft. This affects fuel burn, because the heavier it is, the more fuel required to make it fly. For airliners, an all-white plane versus a colorful one can be the equivalent of the weight of eight passengers. Passengers pay for tickets and paint doesn’t, so that’s easy math.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And of course, a used airplane which doesn’t require much change in paint is easier to re-sell. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another aspect to consider is heat. White reflects the sun, that heater in the sky you’re a little closer to in an airplane than you are on the ground. Darker colors absorb more heat, requiring more energy to make the inside comfortable. Remember the Concorde? (Incidentally, it is making a comeback.) Highly reflective white paint was crucial on that airplane because flying at Mach 2 produces a lot of heat. The nose and leading edges could reach over 260 degrees Fahrenheit at supersonic speeds. Air France’s Concorde was briefly sporting Pepsi-blue (just for a couple of weeks), which restricted the high speed it was known for to only 20 minutes. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The most important reason to champion white paint is for safety. It’s much easier for maintenance crews to see damage on an airplane painted white than on darker colors and multi-colored paint schemes, and to find and fix leaks and cracks. White is also easier for birds to see and avoid. Remember that bird strikes happen lower in the sky than your ultimate cruise altitude, so take-off and landing are when these collisions are a risk. Birds are usually above the airplanes at that point, so looking down, with the earth below the airplane, white will get their attention better than something that blends with the colors of the ground. Come to think of it, that applies to search and rescue as well. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Colorful paint, then, could be argued to be an unnecessary expense. So why do some companies opt for colors? Brand identification and the attraction of snazziness. Who doesn’t love the lively paintings of Star Wars, the Smurfs, Hello Kitty, and Iceland Air’s stunning Northern Lights? Kinda puts you in the mood for a fun flight. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-81004443504369653152023-09-26T19:00:00.001-05:002023-09-26T19:00:05.116-05:00August 15, 2023 New Life for an Old Favorite<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>August 15, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Mike:</i> The Consolidated PBY Catalina is an amphibious WWII maritime patrol bomber first built 90 years ago (“PB” for patrol bomber; “Y” the code assigned to manufacturer Consolidated Aircraft). It was used in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters to spot and track enemy U-boats and naval ship movement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXlCfhZorwbqk6gLFJR8FLyHYS7ABEyc81cmyb86wX1wiPcXAkqOUWFTzhE_qyT_bDrQmqyHAlCEihHUKaui7LM-onhqCBEWx6T8Zdqn2g1qUAS6h3mtd7c3Ngc_f5RKSdrX6_cFsPSaXvrRWTAwF40eR4tEenYl1giabL-LscC_c3QWdG9u8YUfmAJ0y/s1201/PBY-Catalina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1201" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfXlCfhZorwbqk6gLFJR8FLyHYS7ABEyc81cmyb86wX1wiPcXAkqOUWFTzhE_qyT_bDrQmqyHAlCEihHUKaui7LM-onhqCBEWx6T8Zdqn2g1qUAS6h3mtd7c3Ngc_f5RKSdrX6_cFsPSaXvrRWTAwF40eR4tEenYl1giabL-LscC_c3QWdG9u8YUfmAJ0y/s320/PBY-Catalina.jpg" width="320" /></a>I fell in love with the Catalina, a lumbering old beast, when I read a Flying Magazine article about the Flying Calypso, owned and operated by famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Jacques’ second son, Phillippe Cousteau, was the pilot of their PBY-6A. The article was about the plane and how they used it for exploration. Its speed, barely over 100 knots, was about five times faster than their explorer ship, the Calypso. The airplane gave them more options. They sometimes carried a single-seat gyrocopter on board when they needed to film in remote locations. They’d take it out and assemble it on the spot. The little gyrocopter was more maneuverable and worked better for tight filming shoots. Today’s explorers would use a drone for this type of filming, but the PBY gave them plenty of space to carry the copter and was quite practical at the time. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I was in college, I met a retired airline pilot who flew PBYs during the Korean conflict and later piloted one in a two-ship formation trip around the world. That journey took months with them splashing down in such exotic locations as Kwajalein in the Pacific, and Hong Kong. The romance and challenges of such a trip would make any pilot envious. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTxj2S85b8uEHDWc8qMTuzUafwInz4wn5W88YULX8GQVBKyXMCPkkAbnraxN6VuCzd2wX-nIDsnM7RqNVtr7tEG1mwGHFQq1_15SXxkeMjhdJp1mUslBaVxI7EraNliU-U3zg-oP2D4ns5BoBl4B1HLfPpDY26SubXQOrICIFEY_r_1v7lqNHE1M03a-l/s750/PBY%20Catalina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="750" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTxj2S85b8uEHDWc8qMTuzUafwInz4wn5W88YULX8GQVBKyXMCPkkAbnraxN6VuCzd2wX-nIDsnM7RqNVtr7tEG1mwGHFQq1_15SXxkeMjhdJp1mUslBaVxI7EraNliU-U3zg-oP2D4ns5BoBl4B1HLfPpDY26SubXQOrICIFEY_r_1v7lqNHE1M03a-l/s320/PBY%20Catalina.jpg" width="320" /></a>The PBY mystique has been the inspiration for television shows and movies because of the way it skims a lake’s surface and sends out long jets of spray as it skids at high speed around corners in a river. It starred in the short-lived series titled, “Spencer’s Pilot,” and the humorous opening scene of the movie “Always.” The airplane’s long wings, mounted on a pylon high above the fuselage, and general rough-and-tough look make the perfect introduction for a swashbuckling pilot character. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have always wanted to fly the plane and once trained a Learjet crew who also flew a PBY for their employer. They thought there was a possibility I might fly with them, but it never developed beyond talking. My chances to fly one have become fewer, as all but a handful of Catalinas have been retired from flying due to age. But now, Florida-based Catalina Aircraft has acquired the original type certificate for the PBY. The company plans to revive the Catalina in both civilian and military versions using modern materials, turboprop engines, and today’s technology. The to-be-reintroduced aircraft will pack more power, run smoother, and be lighter, making them more efficient and perform better. This will expand their mission capabilities. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is still in the planning stages, but if the production line is once again started, perhaps I may yet get to fly one, and future generations will benefit from and come to love this unique aircraft as I do.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422357497022611145.post-73016805984488907332023-09-26T18:53:00.000-05:002023-09-26T18:53:33.158-05:00August 8, 2023 And the Winner is...<div style="text-align: right;"><b>The Liberty Gazette</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b>August 8, 2023</b></div><div><div><i>Ely Air Lines</i></div><div><i>By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Skytrax launched its first global customer satisfaction survey in 1999. Their work has become a quality benchmark in the airport industry, surveying travelers at over 500 airports and handing out “Top 100” awards in over 22 categories. These are passenger choice awards, so they focus on airports with commercial passenger service. Airports such as Bush and Hobby, but not Liberty Municipal. Still, we believe there’s something in this for everyone, for every airport manager, because we can all seek new ideas and aspire to greatness. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A long list of survey topics covers facilities, prices, and services ranging from an airport’s website and app to their public address system for boarding and other calls. Every aspect that reaches the customer is surveyed and ranked. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best all-around airport for 2023 was awarded to Singapore’s Changi Airport. They have been voted #1 for 9 out of the last 11 years. Tokyo’s Haneda Airport is consistently voted the cleanest airport in the world, and the Istanbul Airport has been named this year’s “World’s Most Family Friendly Airport.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seattle’s Sea-Tac is the highest-ranking U.S. airport, landing at number 18. But two major Houston airports each bumped up one spot over last year, with Hobby arriving at #32 and Bush at #35. Within specific categories, Houston Airport System (HAS) clinched an historical Number One spot for a brand-new category, “World’s Best Art in an Airport” in 2023. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">HAS has a remarkable defined art program. With more than 350 pieces on display, it’s one of the largest public art collections in the global aviation industry. Appraised value: $28 million. We’ll suspend the discussion of use of taxpayer money for now, but rest assured it has not escaped us that the city of Houston is doing something entirely different than encouraging students to submit their best work. Mario Diaz, Director of Aviation for Houston Airports, likes to pair the magic of flight with the magic of art, where celebration of the two is greater than the sum of their parts. The city made an effort to support a few artists during the height of the biological warfare deception by commissioning 10 major permanent works. They also have the only airport artist-in-residence program. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to visual art, music is noteworthy in Houston’s airports. The group Harmony in the Air moves around to perform on stages at all terminals at Bush and Hobby. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed their music last December as we headed out for Christmas break.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On a slightly smaller but no less important scale, the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division recognizes significant efforts by airport managers and sponsors (cities and counties) for general aviation airports. In April, Tradewind Airport in Amarillo was named “Airport of the Year,” and Robert Vargas, who manages the Andrews County Airport, is this year’s “Airport Professional of the Year.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether striving to offer the best shopping or dining, the lowest costs, or best security, recognition encourages people to do their best and feeds enthusiasm for these goals.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>ElyAirLines.blogspot.com</i></div></div><div><br /></div>Mike and Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10218922435084832090noreply@blogger.com0