March 25, 2014 The Checkered Flag

The Liberty Gazette

March 25, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: The Sport Air Racing season is about to begin and to get you in the mood we thought we’d share a bit of history on flags used in racing. Although flags are generally associated with auto racing, when we hold the Indy Air Race each August we include the waving of a green flag (usually by a former Indy car driver) in honor of our host city – the one that is Linda’s hometown.

The green flag is universally understood, probably owing to traffic lights. In 1980, Chief Starter Duane Sweeney launched a tradition at the Indianapolis 500 of waving twin green flags for added visual effect at the start of the race. Linda has more on that.

Linda: Duane Sweeney. I knew him years before he was honored with the position as official flag man at Indy, back when he was flagging at dirt tracks and other smaller venues. Duane was a kick, a retiree from Milwaukee whose arms were evidence of robust flag waving at weekend races for decades. His son Mark was a little older than I and when Duane was chosen as Indy’s Chief Starter, replacing long time flag man, Pat Vidan, Mark and I were excited for the Big D.

Plenty of theories have been posited as to the origins of the checkered flag, including one about horse races during the early days of the settlement of the Midwest. The races were followed by large public meals; the signal that the meals were ready and racing was over was allegedly the waving of a checkered tablecloth. But I don’t buy that one.

Another theory is that the checkered flag was first used for 19th century bicycle races in France. Nope, I’m not giving this one to the French.

However, in 2006 "The Origin of the Checker Flag: A Search for Racing's Holy Grail", written by historian Fred Egloff, was published by the International Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen, NY.

Fred’s research traces the checkered flag's origin to Sidney Waldon, who worked for Packard Motor Car Company, and in 1906 created a flag to mark checkpoints along rally races. That fact holds some interest for me because my Indy racing grandfather also worked for Packard.

A couple of months ago I received a call from a gentleman who said he was looking for Jim Ford’s daughter (that’d be me), and that he had worked for my dad in the late ‘40’s-early ‘50’s when Dad had an exotic foreign car dealership in Evanston, Illinois. My dad has been gone for over 15 years now, so the call was a delightful surprise. Turned out to be Fred Egloff, whose professional accomplishments go far beyond publishing the history of the checkered flag.

Before the availability of reliable two-way radios, flags were the only real communication from race officials to drivers. They still wave today for that same purpose. And sometimes radios malfunction, leaving flags the only way to relay messages to racers. And, radios still aren’t used at many dirt tracks and lower-level speedways. Flags also tell the fans what’s happening.

Today the checkered flag is the universal symbol for conclusion, and its use has spread beyond auto racing. The next time you finish a download and see a checkered flag, think of the early days of racing, and thank Sid Waldon for the idea, and Fred Egloff for his research.

Mike: Air race season beings March 29 in Sherman, Texas. We’ll be flying fast for the checkered flag.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 18, 2014 About Flying

The Liberty Gazette

March 18, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Whether your type is stick-‘n-rudder, cyclic and collective, kerosene burner, quiet glider, full of hot air, or a ground-bound lover of aviation, this is your little corner of the paper for aviation stories from everywhere.

Did you know the average age range of today’s student pilot is in their 30’s? The average actively flying private pilot is in his or her 40’s, and many over 50 are now fulfilling their lifelong ambition to fly.

What draws us to aviation? Well, the view for one thing. Experiencing the dimension of altitude means your world is no longer flat, and we humans are attracted to fullness. The next time you’re in a store, notice how the displays fill the entire store. Retailers know this is appealing to consumers, and that “flat is bad.” Flying gives us an experience of fullness in a whole new way, a perspective on the world denied when gravity isn’t defied.

Linda: And how about challenge and accomplishment – the hunt and the capture. No matter how long ago it may have been, aviators remember clearly their first solo flight, from the moment the instructor stepped out of the airplane and cleared the way for the student to say, “I made that airplane fly – me, the boss, the pilot in command.” And yet we knew there was so much more to learn.

Mike: There will always be someone who has flown more or bigger aircraft, or has flown higher, faster, longer, yet stories from novice pilots are just as exciting, and that’s the fun we have here in these air lines; the people, the adventures… oh the places we can go.

Linda: Speaking of airports, I was amused by a Facebook post made by the amazingly talented composer, Eric Whitacre a couple of weeks ago.

This Classical composer with the rock star image made the following public admission: “Yesterday in the airport gift shop I hear this very familiar oboe solo wafting over the store sound system. I listen more closely and can't believe it: they are playing my 'Equus' for orchestra! I am so excited, take my magazines to the counter and ask the woman, ‘do they play this piece often? I wrote this music!’ She smiles at me strangely, and as I open my bag to take out my wallet I realize that the music is blasting from my iPhone; I must have accidentally started it at airport security. I blush like an idiot and get out of there as fast as possible.”

It’s nice to see the real and human side of someone who spends his life in the spotlight. He could so easily become what turns us off most about people in the public eye, yet he comes across as a likeable guy with a sense of humor. I’m thinking he needs his own jet…and a couple of pilots. Nothing against my airline friends, but this guy probably travels enough to justify a company plane.

And so, aviation nuts, propeller heads, jetti-sons, rotor rats, glider guys and gals, hope your next weekend includes some measure of aerial awesomeness. You can always go out to the Liberty airport and say hello to Jose and Debbie while you watch for airplanes. They’re great folks!

Give me a mile of highway and I can travel a mile;

give me a mile of runway and I can go anywhere.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 11, 2014 The Wild Life

The Liberty Gazette

March 11, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Ken Wittekiend loves flying his Piper SuperCub low and slow over the Colorado River in the lovely part of Texas a bit west of here, around Burnet, in the Hill Country. He’s the son of a WWII P-51 pilot, has been flying a long time and is a Master Certified Flight Instructor with all manner of awards. The view from his office window can’t be beat – except maybe when he flies with the doors off.

I first met Ken seven or eight years ago and trusted him with training and testing me in a tailwheel airplane. His signature of approval in my logbook is a testament to his gift of teaching, and his passion for teaching is evidenced by the fact that his most memorable experiences are the friends he’s made and the satisfaction he receives in seeing someone gain confidence and skill.

His love of teaching and his substantial contributions to the flight training industry, educating the educators, are only part of the story. Beyond the beautiful sunrises over lakes and hills and flocks of Bluebonnets, beyond the heart for his fellow man, Ken was moved to support the work of fellow aviators with the Kenya Wildlife Service, stopping the illegal murder of animals such as elephants, for example, slaughtered for their ivory tusks.

Mike: The Kenya Wildlife Service was established in 1990 as a Kenya state corporation that manages wildlife at most of the National Parks and Reserves in the country. At its inception the service established an air wing in Nairobi at the Wilson Airport. Now with 12 Cessna Caravans and five helicopters the pilots of the KWS patrol the land looking for poachers.

One of Ken’s fellow supporters of this effort is world-renowned aerobatic champion Patty Wagstaff. While one of Patty’s flight suits and her faithful airplane, an Extra 260, are displayed in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Patty has spent many years of her air show off-season time in Africa, teaching and refining the skills necessary for pilots flying these specialized flights over African terrain. It’s called bush flying and it’s low and slow and requires precision, carrying a higher risk than your average civilian flying. Thanks to Patty’s contributions the KWS Air Wing realized a drop of more than 50% in the aircraft accident rate, and a significant increase in the elephant population.

In addition to the specialized flying skills necessary for successful KWS pilots, the team of 12 must have an understanding of Kenya’s terrain and wildlife. Then they are carefully trained and mentored in security, veterinary support services, animal tracking and game census, fire fighting, rescue (including mountain rescue), and transport of rations and supplies, including ammunition.

Fifty-nine parks and reserves spread over a country almost the size of Texas – about 224,962 square miles – is a lot of area to cover. The KWS Air Wing Unit is on permanent standby to fly into action anywhere in Kenya, whether for routine monitoring, field trips, or security operations and emergency evacuations, helping to protect some of the country’s assets.

That’s one of the most interesting things about the aviation industry, seeing how people combine their talents and passions with aviation to contribute to pretty amazing outcomes.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

March 4, 2014 Peruvian Lights

The Liberty Gazette

March 4, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Here in Liberty we’re fortunate to have an airport and a couple of helipads. As publicly owned assets they should serve the public – that’s their job – and they do, night and day.

There was a heart-warming story from eastern Peru and we thought you would like to know about it. It makes me think of one local family who shared their story of how the Liberty Airport played a role in the rescue of one of their family members.

It was one night last April when an emergency medical flight needed to depart immediately from Contamana in order to save some lives. Contamana is a remote town in the Rain Forest, and in the deepest darkness of night a take-off from the local landing strip was unsafe. There are no lights on this dirt and grass strip.

The pilot of the airplane, a Cessna Caravan, had to consider the safety of his passengers, and determined they could not take off such a short and unimproved strip in total darkness.

But in that remote little town there’s a local radio station, and I imagine its run by someone much like Bill Buchanan, someone who cares about people and doesn’t stand still and shake his head and say, “Someone ought to do something.” The good folks at the radio station learned of the situation and went without delay to the airwaves, asking listeners for help. I imagine our local station would do the same if the need were there.

But how could the people of this remote town in Peru help their neighbors in need? Their response will warm your heart.

Mike: In less than half an hour after the radio station sent out the plea the count of about 300 taxi drivers and people from across the listening area drove their cars, motorbikes and auto-rickshaws to the air strip, lined up along each side, and turned on their headlights to light the way along the 2624-foot long strip. By comparison, the Liberty Airport is currently 3,801 feet long. That tells you the pilot had no wiggle room for mistakes – they had to get off the ground in a short distance.

Thanks to the goodness of all those people who rushed to the airport that night to give of their time and use of their belongings without any expectation or request for compensation, with nothing to gain but knowing they did the right thing, the pilot was able to take off with three passengers in need of medical treatment. Bystanders cheered, and people knew they’d done what was right at the time it was needed. Some taxi drivers must have sacrificed a great deal, being put out of service and unable to pick up paying customers for that period of time.

There’s a BBC report on file which you can watch online, just search using a word string such as “BBC headlights Peru air strip medical flight” and I bet you’ll find the video.

The airport in Contamana is the lifeline to the outside world, and the passengers who were served that night, a mother and her newborn baby, and a 17-year old boy, can thank the people who dropped everything they were busy doing to drive to the airstrip and light the way to hope and healing.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 25, 2014 Orbis

The Liberty Gazette

February 25, 2014

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When I turned 50 I had to admit there were times when reading glasses would help. It’s been tough on the ego, but then I consider the millions who cannot see well, or at all. Our local Lions Club is one of the strong supporters of eye care and sight restoration – please, be generous in your support of our Liberty Lions Club.

Where the business of aviation meets the business of ophthalmic is in Orbis, a company that has been bringing sight to the world since 1982. It’s a flying hospital, with destinations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, for two- to three-week missions in-country where volunteer staff train local surgeons and medical personnel. Doctors volunteering with Orbis are preventing and treating blindness in the developing world. Volunteer pilots are getting them there, and volunteer mechanics keep the airplane flying.

Inside the world’s only airborne ophthalmic training facility are 48 seats where trainees attend lectures and watch surgery broadcast live, while they can ask questions directly to the surgeons during the operations. Filling out the rest of the cabin of the DC-10 they’re currently using are a full audio-visual room, a laser room for front and rear cornea and retina repair, a medical simulator, a full operating theater, and recovery area.

Mike: United Airlines donated the first airplane, a DC-8, which served for ten years as doctors taught doctors how to restore sight. But the fuselage didn’t lend itself well to a hospital environment, and by the late 1980’s the DC-8 was being retired (which would soon mean no more qualified pilots), so Orbis executives approached Fed Ex Founder and Chairman Fred Smith for help finding a replacement: a DC-10, which first took off as the new flying hospital in 1992.

The myriad of logistical puzzle pieces require a year’s planning for trips. The airplane hauls tools, equipment, generators, and experts – 22 people go on every trip, including two mechanics. The DC-10 is an out-of-production airplane, so they rely on the aviation community a lot, and Fed Ex has continued their support with donations of parts, labor, and satisfying regulatory requirements.

Upon landing they can set up the hospital in a day and a half. Surgical candidates are selected through a screening process. There’s no telling how many people enjoy restored eyesight because the job is to teach the healers, but Orbis volunteers return and monitor the cases, and provide an e-learning and e-mentoring tele-medicine program for doctors all over the globe. In this way, they’ve reached nearly 300,000 doctors in 77 countries, equipping them to help others.

When the work is done, Orbis volunteers leave videos of the surgical demonstrations so they can be used in further training, and an ORBIS ophthalmologist returns within two months of each program to examine patients and review cases with the local doctors.

Since its time to replace the DC-10, Fed Ex has donated an MD-10 to be outfitted with a modular clinic that was built in Vermont, and shipped to Victorville, California for installation. Expected completion is any day now.

They say 90% of the blind live in underdeveloped countries and that 80% are treatable. Thanks to Orbis, Lions Club, and other eye programs, the World Health Organization’s predictions for blindness have finally started a downward trend.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 18, 2014 Oversea to Land Down Under by Air

The Liberty Gazette

February 18, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Peering through the mirth and heavy rain slapping on his windshield the pilot concentrates on the little green light about 25 feet beyond his wingtip and a little white light 25 feet ahead. The lights on the other airplanes bounce around and the pilot works hard to keep them in the same position relative to his; momentarily they disappear. Lightning flashes and sometimes he wishes he were at home enjoying the comforts of his easy chair while reading a book about adventures like this. That thought evaporates as quickly as the lightning flashes – nothing can compare to being here, doing this.

In the 1970’s Australians developed an appetite for small airplanes to efficiently access the Outback. Their manufacturing industry could not fill their needs so they turned to the United States and the aviation capital of the world, Wichita, Kansas.

The problem was delivery across 7,000 miles of Pacific Ocean. A new airplane would be completely disassembled, packed in a container and carried by ship. The journey to the Land Down Under took about three months. When it finally arrived the airplane had to be reassembled and repainted. Some airplanes could not be disassembled and spent months on deck exposed to the rough elements on the high seas. All the while buyers were paying mortgages on their dream machines. They sought a new solution.

A group of Australian and American pilots figured they could fly the airplanes there, saving time and money, forming Southern Cross Aviation. They stripped the planes down to reduce weight and installed auxiliary fuel cells essentially making them flying gas tanks. On November 21, 1976 the group initiated its first delivery flight departing with seven Cessna 172s from Santa Barbara, California, 2,200 miles to Hawaii on the first leg of their journey. The planes weighed so much it took nearly six hours before they could climb above 6,000 feet. Midway across the group ran into heavy storms that lasted for hours and had to descend to mere hundreds of feet above the frothing ocean swells.

There was no GPS; navigation was mostly by deductive reckoning. The group was blown off course and set behind schedule because of the storm and received help from an airliner high above in recalculating their route.

The pilots fought weather and the monotony of a bare horizon, and fatigue. I can only imagine the relief once the first hint of land was spotted, and forcing oneself to stay alert and not succumb to careless relaxation. These planes made their first stop 23 hours after departing Santa Barbara, the pilots having new stories for the guys back home. But first, they spooled down and headed to a long deserved nap.

The rest of the trip consisted of more open water legs from Hilo to Christmas Island, to Pago Pago, Samoa, Norfolk Island and finally Sydney. Five days and 73 hours of flying time from start to finish, this was the first of many such trips. Southern Cross delivered 40 airplanes that first year, and now make somewhere around 150 deliveries per year. From small single engine airplanes to the largest airliners, these are pilots seeking a front seat in the big adventure.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 11, 2014 A barrel of tea - Hoover style

The Liberty Gazette

February 11, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Happy Valentine’s Day! Let’s talk about something lovely!

In the world of aerobatics we have loops and rolls, tail slides and hammerheads, spins and knife edge, lomcevaks (lomcovak: a Czech word used to describe the rotating motions of one who has had one too many of the alcoholic drink slivovitz) and other G-force producing action fun. Some maneuvers have variations on a theme. Rolls, for example. The barrel roll: where the airplane’s path continues in one direction as it is rolled, looking much like it’s flying with its wheels running around the inside wall of a cylinder, or barrel, it’s path like a horizontal corkscrew.

Mike: Now that you know that, would you believe us if we told you a story about a pilot who performed a barrel roll while pouring iced tea from a pitcher into a glass, even while upside-down, and never spilled a drop? It’s true. You can see it and other of Bob Hoover’s amazing stunts on YouTube.

In addition to his popular iced-tea-pouring act, Bob is well known for his amazing demonstration of energy management, flying and landing an airplane after killing the engines. I first saw his airshow routine at the Mojave Air Races in 1976 as he thrilled the crowd with loops and rolls after shutting down the engines, then landing and rolling to a stop in front of the crowd stopping in exactly the same place he started.

A decorated airman with 59 combat missions, Bob escaped from a German POW camp, stole a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and flew it to the Netherlands in World War II. He flew the chase plane when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 (he was Yeager’s pick for his backup pilot but I personally think of Hoover as head and shoulders above Yeager).

The cream of the aerospace crop is coming together to pay tribute to living legend R.A. "Bob" Hoover on February 21 at a dinner at Paramount Studios. Tickets are $950, which goes to scholarships. But that’s not all. Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan, "Miracle on the Hudson" captain Chesley Sullenberger, airshow star Sean D. Tucker, actor and pilot Harrison Ford, Tom Poberezny, son of Experimental Aircraft Association founder, the late Paul Poberezny, and others will host the premiere of a new documentary about Bob Hoover’s life. Clips from other films about Hoover are part of it because, as Tom Poberezny says, it takes more than one movie to tell about Bob. They will also unveil the Bob Hoover Hall of Honor, to be housed at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach campus, to honor Hoover and a select few others who stand apart with their accomplishments, passion, and commitment to aviation.

Linda: A couple of years ago after Yasmina Platt and I finished the AirVenture Cup race (Mitchell, South Dakota to Waupaca, Wisconsin) we spent the week in Oshkosh at the largest fly-in in the world. One day that week there happened to be terrible weather forming, heading our direction. There in Warbird Alley, amongst WWII bombers and fighters, I saw the black sky lurching toward us. I ran for cover in a nearby building and quickly discovered that I was sharing shelter with none other than The Legend himself – Mr. Hoover. We chatted and I took a picture, a moment that will long live in my treasure chest of memories.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 4, 2014 Mexico mission flying

The Liberty Gazette

February 4, 2014

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: A few years ago our friend David Slack, a local missionary serving in Mexico, asked if I would fill for him in on a special flight. "Sure, where to?" I asked, excited. The medical mission would serve the small town of Xicoténcatl well south of Cuidad Victoria in the state of Tamaulipas.

The most visible part of any of these mission trips, the tip of the iceberg, is the doctors and dentists who use their medical skills to help those who would never have such an opportunity otherwise. But beneath the surface are the volunteers, both in Mexico and here, who are the backbone of the operation and provide the grease and prayers that things will keep moving. They are the blessings of God for these people.

I was honored to be part of this but mostly I was humbled by witnessing how hard all these folks worked and how much they cared and loved the people they were helping. I received far more than I gave through the minor role I played.

Tensions were high when two Houston area doctors and I departed from RWJ Airpark for our first stop, Reynosa, to clear Mexican customs. David had already prepared all the required documents, making for a quick stop and on to Cuidad Victoria. From there we traveled by ground via two lane highways and small country roads to Xicoténcatl.

My main job over until our return flight, I was able to participate in other ways. When people hear a doctor is coming, word spreads quickly. They began to show up and volunteers started the check-in process, finding out their ailments, writing them down on cards and then guide them to where they need to go next.

They see a doctor and/or dentist and they also have a chance to get a pair of glasses. One of the most fun parts for me was sitting at the glasses table. People would be brought to us and we would have them try several pairs and read cards. Seeing smiles because maybe for the first time they can clearly see enough to read something is rewarding beyond measure.

Perhaps you read before about this mission, Sus Manos Extendidas, which means "His Hands Extended" when we wrote about it a few years ago. It is a non-denominational Christian mission and thus part of the mission is to spread the Word of God. Volunteers from churches in Mexico will share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who come and they are given an opportunity to ask Him into their heart. It is never a requirement that they do so and some don’t. However, there are many who do. We saw hundreds of patients the few days we were there.

It’s an experience we hated to end, but we broke down the tents, packed up the old bus and the trailer full of equipment and headed back to Cuidad Victoria for a night in the church compound. In the morning the doctors and I were taken to the airport and the other volunteers continued north to the border.

David is now putting his energies into an orphanage in Mexico and still seeks to serve God with everything he does.


www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com