September 8, 2015 Tweeting 1903

The Liberty Gazette

September 8, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Imagine if there was social media on December 17, 1903.

Anchor: Breaking news this morning from the Outer Banks, an attempt at flying a machine has been successful. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all exploding with the news. Orville Wright, the man who made this first flight has tweeted, "First flight 20 ft up, 120 ft across ground, 12 secs!" We take you now to the scene where reporter Erin Kelly of WVBT has the story. Erin, this is the hottest topic on social media, first flight in an aeroplane, and it’s been accomplished by two bicycle repairmen from Ohio. Can you fill us in on what’s happening there in the sand dunes near Kitty Hawk?

Erin: Good morning. It’s been an exciting day so far, with the first engine-powered manned flight already in the history books. We’re here at Big Kill Devil Hill, just south of Kitty Hawk.

I’m actually surprised at the small crowd here, because this is big news. Now, they definitely had some problems with this first flight, but I did hear them talking just before we went on the air, they’re going to make some repairs and try again… hold on, I think we can get Orville over here for an interview –

Orville, congratulations on this first powered flight! Tell us about it, how did it feel? Was it great sport?

Orville: The exhilaration of flying is too keen, the pleasure too great, for it to be neglected as a sport. This is something my brother and I have been focused on for several years now, this isn’t just a whim, you know. This is a great feeling. We chose the right place and we have ideal conditions today with this wind – it’s perfect!

Erin: You said that the conditions are ideal today, tell us about that, the wind. Is that what makes the aeroplane stay up in the air?

Orville: The airplane stays up because it doesn’t have the time to fall. No, in all seriousness, the wind is blowing about 20, 25 miles an hour. Soon as we slipped the rope the flying machine started moving, probably seven or eight miles an hour, then it just lifted from the track at about the fourth rail. We laid these rails here in the sand dunes so we’d have something firm to guide us along the ground.

Erin: Was it what you thought it would be?

Orville: I had a hard time controlling the front rudder. I think it’s balanced too near the center, so the machine turned and I tried to correct for it but it darted for the ground. We have some repairs to make and then Will is going to take the next flight. I think I was up there about 12 seconds, a little longer, actually, but they didn’t start the watch right away. Hey, I’ve got to go – thanks!

Erin: Well, you heard it, straight from the first man to fly an aircraft with engine power. There’s going to be some amazing news in the days to come, and who knows where this discovery may take us?

Anchor: Thanks, Erin. Exciting times. We’ve got a picture up now from Instagram, from a JT Daniels and folks, you can see it right there, this flying ship is above the ground. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and we’ll have more for you as this story develops. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 1, 2015 You don't have to be a pilot to find adventure

The Liberty Gazette

September 1, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Flying affords a perspective of the world like nothing else, from understanding gained by learning to fly as well as from each time one defies gravity. This is why our story bank is always full, and the adventures keep coming.

Last week in this space we told you a bit about Air Journey, an outfit that offers exciting excursion packages for pilots. But we’d like to be all-inclusive and let you know about an inspiring new company based in Austin called The Avid Traveler. You don’t have to be a pilot to find adventure.

Linda: The concept is unique and the service will exceed expectations, something I know because I know the company founder.

My dear friend Michael Rose, an aerospace engineer and the kind of guy you would want to claim as part of your own family, has traveled the world and now uses his expertise along with that of his business partner, Collin Nace, to make dream vacations happen.

Michael’s enthusiasm for this new venture comes from the combination of his love for travel, for helping people, and for personal growth. He believes wholeheartedly that the main reason so many people haven’t traveled much is due to: 1) the mistaken idea that a dream trip is probably too expensive, and 2) the greed that infects the travel industry confirming that idea.

He knows that feeling, being afraid he couldn’t afford to visit all the places he wanted to – until he began working at finding ways to make it happen (and without buying the cheapest seats on the worst airlines and sleeping in low budget motels).

He doesn’t want his new business to be mistaken for a travel agency. What sets The Avid Traveler apart: passion, experience, affordability, relationship, and trips that are tailored to each individual client’s interests and goals.

The company promises to turn impossible dreams into savory memories relished for years to come.

Knowing Michael, he finds success because he has such class and style that every customer feels as though they are his sole client. Having worked closely with him for a couple of years, I know he is about more than customer service; his passion fosters his commitment to customers, one that finds its motivation from the heart of The Avid Traveler.

"It’s not about a vacation packaged the same for everyone, we’re here to help people push their boundaries, to get out there and see, taste, live their dream experience. It’s in our name."

Michael’s first travel destination on his own, as an adult, changed his life. "It was in Italy that I realized that the world is more than Austin, more than Texas, more than the U.S., that people are different, and that experiencing other cultures and mindsets and ways of life affects me intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Travel grows us. No one is the same when returning from their first big adventure." He encourages people to challenge their own comfort level, to not live an idle life in a world that consistently offers so many excuses to do the opposite.

What’s been holding you back? If you think you can’t get more out of life, start a conversation with Michael and let him show you what’s possible.

Bring your ideas and requirements to The Avid Traveler, whether a limited budget, a timeline, or, "I've got 15 days and I want to see Europe!" Michael’s team will make it happen.

No more excuses – I dare you to dream big – with help from The Avid Traveler. http://theavidtraveler.world.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 25, 2015 Story Generator

The Liberty Gazette

August 25, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Why we fly – ask any pilot and you’ll hear "freedom", "independence", and "challenge". Flying affords a perspective of the world like nothing else, from understanding gained by learning to fly as well as from each moment we defy gravity. This is why the story bank is always full, and the good adventures keep coming.

Among the quests we haven’t shared in this space before are those organized by Air Journey, a company that has for over 15 years created exciting trips for those who fly themselves.

Offering group voyages to every continent, Air Journey’s calendar is full of choices for every pilot traveler. Coming up in November is their annual Bahamas Treasure Hunt, a popular package they’ve offered for years. They ask the aviator to release the inner pirate for a nine-day pursuit through the Out Islands of the Bahamas, to search for clues and enjoy the sun, sea, and relaxing beaches. Activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, and kayaking are included, for well-rounded interests while the airplane is parked. The flying will take pilots and their passengers island hopping a total of 890 nautical miles to Green Turtle Cay, Harbour Island, Eleuthera Islands, Staniel Cay, Crooked Island, and Cat Island.

Mike: Those who register for the event will meet in North Palm Beach, Florida for a safety briefing to cover weather, details of the treasure hunt and how to collect clues.

During the trip the group will have the opportunity to explore secret coves of 17th century Caribbean pirates or visit "quaint 18th century fishing villages first settled during the Revolutionary War by Loyalists who fled to Abaco and the other Islands of The Bahamas." A visit to the historic settlement of New Plymouth offers the experience of a quiet 18th century village by the sea, its museums, sculpture garden, shops, restaurants and gingerbread homes "that remind one of a turn-of-the-century village of the New England coast." And that only covers the first two days. Plenty more choices of activity or leisure are available the entire trip, including feeding swimming pigs and seeing flamingos.

Reading the itinerary, the one sentence that is repeated at the close of each day is: "We’ll meet for a game of cards before dinner." I suspect these nightly card games will hold some clues for the treasure hunt. The trip culminates with a costume party and farewell barbeque dinner – pirate style. Someday, I’d like to take that trip.

Linda: The folks at Air Journey offer several different escorted excursions with this goal in mind: to expand the pilot-aircraft owner’s horizons, providing self-flying group travel experiences to over 100 countries, and even an around-the-world trip. Among their other scheduled journeys over the next year are a Caribbean golf-flying tour in March, and one that is intriguing to me, the Journey to Africa, August through October next year. The Africa trip will depart Quebec City, travel through Europe, then on to Africa. The jaunt includes a safari and 17 countries to visit while traveling 18,655 nautical miles. Guests will, they promise, collect thousands of memories, and to me that means thousands more stories.

If you know someone who flies, do them a favor and suggest a trip with Air Journey, or – what a priceless gift idea. In addition to escorted, pre-planned journeys, the company offers concierge journeys – customized trips they’ll help you create, "Your destinations, your dates, your budget."

If you like this idea but you’re not a pilot, we’ll have a suggestion for you next week.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 18, 2015 Beyond the Zenith

The Liberty Gazette

August 18, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: If you read this space last week you’ll recall my pondering the irony of the question of the future of aviation considered by our young teenage aviation students, in juxtapose to two high ranking Naval officers publicly debating the same question in 1928. How could either have imagined such a world where that was even a question? One group looking back, one group looking forward, and in the middle came the Golden Age of Aviation.

It was the magazine, The Forum, which gave print to the debate. After British Royal Navy Chief, Captain Alfred Dewar finally saved his pen from further scribbles forecasting that airplanes could never contend with ships and trains, offering an important role in transport; next up was United States Navy Admiral Richard Byrd.

The admirable Admiral Byrd was ready for the dog fight and met Dewar head on, quill to quill, saying, "flying has a future as yet undreamed of".

Byrd knew this: We’re Americans, by golly, and we innovate! But he also acknowledged that flying had to become safer before it could be a serious contender in the transportation ring. By 1910, he observed, "automobile races were a public scandal in the deaths they caused," but by 1928, "the motor car is accepted as a safe conveyance for women and children as well as racing drivers." This "safety" argument against an industry in its infancy was the same faulty logic, he disputed, which condemned the railway and horseless carriage, only to see a nation become dependent on them.

Imagine Tweeting these words in 1839, "The railway cannot succeed because of two San Diego definite shortcomings: first it cannot go uphill, and second, not enough people want to go somewhere in a hurry to make it pay." Byrd would have found them amusing, as he did also find early naysayers of the car in 1897: "The automobile cannot possibly succeed because of two inherent defects: first, its engine will always be so unreliable that the average citizen will not tolerate the delay and inconvenience sure to arise; and second, there will never be sufficient funds to build level roads permitting travel at high speed."

The crux of Byrd’s argument wasn’t with those who focused on physical limitations. The jet engine hadn’t yet been invented, so their ideas were still small. Instead, they would be financial. He patriotically pointed out the difference between our European counterparts where government subsidies are a way of life, and American ingenuity and capitalism. "This very point is a fine feather in the cap of the American businessman. He is of fighting stock that does not tolerate paternalism."

Airplane manufacturers, he proclaimed, wouldn’t keep building products, and airlines wouldn’t keep providing services that weren’t profitable. Nope, no government money would be accepted by proud, hardworking Americans. "The greatest progress – and the development that will mean most to aviation – must come from banking support." Noting progress in this area, Byrd said confidently, "When American business joins hands with American aviation, the future of flying is assured."

Mike: That the American airline companies have indeed taken subsidies in the past is the fault of over-regulation and greedy litigation. Strip away those unnecessary evils and examine the real costs of operating an airplane and we see that Admirable Byrd’s assertions still hold true.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 11, 2015 Slaves of the Weather

The Liberty Gazette

August 11, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda : Seven young girls sat in a row at the long table in one of the rooms of the historic 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport. Representing three different girls’ scouting groups, and one from OBAP (Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals), the 13-17 year olds had come to spend their Saturday at Future Female Aviators, hosted by the museum. Mike and I had prepared our presentations, an introduction and overview of aviation, and a section on reading aeronautical charts. These girls are amazing! Smart, talented, interesting, attentive, and fun, they were born in an era where the doubt, if there be any, as to the future of commercial aviation, is largely due to the pollution of lawyers, politicians, and the TSA. And drones. But they know nothing of the dark side yet.

How silly it might seem to them if they were to read the debate between British Royal Navy Chief, Captain Alfred Dewar, and United States Navy Admiral Richard Byrd that addressed the question of whether there was any future for aviation, and specifically for commercializing aviation. How could these girls even imagine such a world where that was the question?

When Isaac Leopold Rice founded The Forum in 1885, the magazine that would rank as one of the most popular rags of its 65-year run, competing against Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine, he couldn’t have known that specific debate would be played out in his publication 43 years later. How could he even imagine such a world where that was the question?

Rice’s periodical gave space to social and political commentary, fluctuating over the years as the tides of consumer interest would change, with some leanings toward poetry and short fiction for a time. But this issue, August of 1928, came out the year after Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean in the "Spirit of St. Louis", making this debate a perfect fit for his journal.

The Brit, Captain Dewar, presented that the airplane could never deliver reliable, efficient transport and would always be, at it’s very best, "an auxiliary to sea transport." Consumers, he thought, wouldn’t go for the high price of air travel. He’d be blown away by consumers’ reactions to today’s electronic devices. But then again, he totally nailed the Apple crowd: "Every new instrument of man’s invention attracts around it a ring of ardent passionate enthusiasts who paint its future in roseate optimistic hues."

Dewar perceived the economic limitations equal to the limits of natural law, e.g., gravity. That planes must be able to lift their weight plus their load he said was a staggering handicap because ships and trains only had to rely on their engines for propulsion, whereas airplanes were "slaves of the weather" that would have some place in our lives, but not an important place. So the pioneering flights such as Lindbergh’s were, to Dewar, "merely a token of the stern limitations which beset them."

"There is no large and growing future for commercial aviation," he insisted, "because the future will never be much more than the present."

But consider this: Dewar’s own visionary limitations were his real issue. His own myopic handicap limited him to consider only 1,155 horsepower, capable of traveling two hundred miles with fourteen passengers and seven hundred pounds of freight: approximately three pounds of paying load to the horsepower. No wonder he believed air travel was inferior and would never be more than an emergency or supplementary means of movement. His opponents he labeled partisans and the airplane, he said, was well within sight of its zenith; it would carry mail and "those few passengers whom necessity impels to save time at the expense of comfort." Well, he got that last part right at least, when it comes to airlines.

And then there’s Admiral Byrd’s rebuttal. We’ll have that for you next week, but here’s a tease: "When American business joins hands with American aviation, the future of flying is assured." Til then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 4, 2015 A dirigible, by any other name

Liberty Gazette

August 4, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike:  We were flying circuits around the traffic pattern on the north side of Long Beach Daugherty Field. My student, Paul, was learning to land his wife’s Piper Cherokee from the right seat; he wasn’t a licensed pilot, but wanted to know how, just in case he might have to land it someday. Suddenly the controller in the tower called out traffic to us, telling us to watch out for two Goodyear blimps. I’d been treated to sightings of a Goodyear blimp in both day and nighttime views, and have childhood memories of it’s moving lights displaying advertisements overhead in the night sky, when I’d listen to whirring, humming engines, such a distinct sound that I knew what it was before I stepped outside and looked up. But now, blimp formation flying, that wasn’t something I’d seen before. This was something special for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Three Goodyear blimps share the appearance duties throughout North America; one based in Florida, one in California and one at the company’s headquarters in Akron, Ohio – that’s the one that used to be kept in Spring, Texas – covering sporting events and serving as a billboard adrift.

The ground crew doesn’t have much difficulty keeping up with its 50 mph progress. One blimp pilot who was flying cross-county happened upon a Little League game in a small town 1,000 feet below. The pilot stopped the engines right overhead and shouted down at the players asking them the score.

Linda: In my hometown, the rumble of the blimp’s Lycoming engines signaled the coming of auto racing, all month long, at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and I, too, knew even before spying it in the sky that it had come to be part of the tradition and heartbeat of Indy in May. Upon moving to this part of the country I felt a little bit of the familiar had been waiting here to greet me when I first saw that blimp tethered at its base along I-45.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been sailing blimps since 1928, and from the beginning, until 1987 each one has been named after America’s Cup champion yachts. Since then, the company has polled the public for names on new models, the latest of which has been dubbed Wingfoot One. With a top speed of 70 mph it’s a real hot rod.

Mike: During the launch ground crew members wrestle with the ship, pulling it from its mooring mast and turning it into the wind. Then they hoist the pudgy thing shoulder high and slam it back onto the ground. The single over-sized and over-inflated tire works like one of those bouncy balls we hopped along on as kids, springing it back into the air. The pilot pours the coals to its engines and pitches the nose up so high you think it will slide back onto its tail, but gravity is overcome, although ascent seems painfully slow.

Blimps belong to a category of aircraft called Airships, characterized by lighter-than-air gas that keeps them aloft. Some airships have a ridged frame, as did the Hindenburg. Those are called dirigibles. The old blimps of our growing years did not have a framework in them, but the new ones have semi-ridged frames, so technically they are not really blimps. However, it appears Goodyear still wants to call it a blimp, and that’s understandable. Saying "Goodyear Dirigible" sounds like a tire going over small, rattling speed bumps.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

July 28, 2015 Who's Minding the Store?

Liberty Gazette

July 28, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: You may remember news reports a few months ago when Houston businessman Edd Hendee made a successful emergency landing in the grass alongside U.S. 59 near Diboll, after taking off from the Angelina County Airport. He had to land suddenly because both engines of his piston twin engine Cessna 421B had quit. Cause of engine failure: jet fuel instead of AvGas, or 100 Low Lead, was pumped into his tanks. Piston engines don’t run on jet fuel.

While Edd had injury to his vertebrae, from the reports it sounds as though he is going to be fine. This brings up a whole host of topics very important to the City of Liberty, owner of airport property and fuel tanks, and seller of fuel here. Two critical items are sumping the fuel tanks daily to test and rid them of contaminants and water (danger), and prohibiting the sale of AvGas for other than aircraft (hefty federal fines).

Mike: Fuel quality is a serious concern for aviators. Hydrocarbon fuels deteriorate over time, but to get the most life out of them frequent tank and fuel inspections are necessary. Fuel tanks are vented and with expansion and contraction air moves in and out of the tank. During our humid days vapors enter the tank, condensing in the evening and settling into the fuel. Since water is heavier than the fuel, it pools at the bottom of the tank.

Whether in a large airport tank or smaller airplane tank, the physics are the same. Pre-flight inspections include sampling fuel from the aircraft. Low points in airplane fuel tanks, called sumps, collect the water which we remove through drains. If not drained regularly water and sludge build up, get into the engine, and eventually cause it to seize. Likewise, if airport fuel tanks are not drained regularly – recommended daily – the same outcome can be expected, and then the seller of that fuel is flirting with disastrous liability for negligence by selling contaminated fuel, which can cause a life threatening situation.

Microbes live in just about all fuels; they love jet fuel. These bugs are attracted to the water at the bottom of the tank where they reproduce incredibly fast. Unchecked, they can quickly damage the filtration system, plug filters, and eat the walls of the tank – even steel airport storage tanks. Fuel additives for airplanes combat microbial growth but those responsible for fuel sold at an airport must practice proper handling of the fuel at delivery, drain and test storage tanks daily to insure tainted fuel does not enter aircraft fuel tanks. Testing begins after water and contaminants settle, and no aircraft should be fueled until testing is done. This is something a professional airport manager knows, and something Jose Doblado performed daily at the Liberty Municipal Airport.

Linda: There are also federal regulations regarding the sale, purchase, and use of AvGas in vehicles other than aircraft. Both the EPA and taxing authorities care who buys AvGas, and where that fuel goes, putting some responsibility on the seller. The EPA is interested because AvGas contains lead; and if purchased in place of auto gas then the highway department is out that tax money.

Penalties for selling, purchasing, or using AvGas in other than an aircraft engine can be as much as $25,000 for every day of violation, plus the amount of economic benefit or savings resulting from the violation. Failing to furnish information or conduct required tests can bring penalties on the same scale.

We hope that even without Jose looking out for our airport’s best interest, that the city has assigned the daily fuel sumping and testing task to someone, and that AvGas isn’t being sold illegally.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

July 21, 2015 BD

The Liberty Gazette

July 21, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: It’s that time of year again: AirVenture, the world’s largest fly-in, and the world’s largest convention of any kind. Thousands of aircraft are descending on the small city of Oshkosh this week, making the air traffic control tower in the little central Wisconsin town the busiest control tower in the world – for one week.

We didn’t have time to make the trip this year, but there will be other planes similar to ours, the Grumman Cheetah, and its kin. There will be small home-built airplanes and helicopters, timeless warbirds, the Flying Hospital and military and airline planes, and balloons and ultralights, and fast planes and slow planes. There will be the ones that race the AirVenture Cup in excess of 325 mph, and the Piper Cubs with no doors and no radios yet just as at home in the sky as any airplane ever conceived; as at home in the blue yonder as the clouds that dot the canvas.

Every year at AirVenture the Bede Aircraft Company has planes on display, and plans for sale so you can build your own. The little jet that looks like a toy is their most famous model, the BD-5J, one of the stars of a James Bond movie.

Remember a 007 film where a little jet landing on a road takes the next exit and coasts to a gas station?

Corkey Fornof, noted Hollywood action pilot, built and flew the BD-5J in that movie. We met Corkey several years ago, and heard the rest of the story of that 007 scene. Unreal as it seems, the events that took place in the Bond film were written into the script when Corkey shared his own real life adventures with the producers.

Like the lead character, Fornof had faced an emergency landing, the only safe place to land being a highway right below him. He touched down on the road, veered off an exit ramp and coasted right up to a gas station pump.

Linda: Fornof has been a spokesperson for Bede Aircraft and for LoPresti, a company that makes speed modifications, some of which are installed on The Elyiminator. When I ran into Corkey again at AirVenture a couple of years ago I thanked him for painting “Yippee!” across the bottom of his bright yellow Lo Presti Fury, because it had inspired me to convince Mike to paint “STUCK IN TRAFFIC?” across the bottom of our plane, and for that, Corkey kissed my hand.

But there’s much to say about the engineer who designed the celebrity jet. Jim Bede’s designs became the popular airplanes of the Grumman and American Aircraft companies, starting with the Yankee, his original BD-1. They were fast, affordable planes that any private pilot could fly. A few generations of Grumman models later, the Cheetah took over the spotlight. And although Jim Bede wasn’t directly involved in creating the Cheetah, it bears the genealogy of its ancestor, the BD-1.

It’s that time of year again, AirVenture, the world’s largest fly-in, and the world’s largest convention of any kind. But this time Jim Bede isn’t be there. Jim passed away last week. He was 82.

As thousands of aircraft are descending on the small city of Oshkosh this week, Corkey’s famous little jet is up for sale. I think the new buyers should celebrate by landing on a highway (closed to traffic, of course), rolling down an exit ramp, and coasting to a gas station, just for the thrill of it, with a nod to Jim and Corkey.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

July 14, 2015 The Key to a Good Landing

The Liberty Gazette

July 14, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: I called up Key Tower for landing clearance. After three hours of flying from Greenwood, South Carolina this airport in Meridian, Mississippi would be a good fuel stop. The FBO’s air conditioning is a welcoming relief from the sweltering heat. We guzzled some complimentary bottled water and re-energized with complimentary fresh fruit before continuing our journey home. Key Field lives up to its reputation.

In 1935, as the Great Depression continued, Meridian Municipal Airport faced possible extinction at the hands of city officials who did not recognize its value. But brothers Al and Fred Key relocated their flying business there and began a publicity campaign to bring wide-spread recognition to the community and its airport.

On June 4, 1935 the brothers took off in a Curtiss Robin monoplane named Ole Miss. The plane was modified for long duration flight; 27 days later Ole Miss’ wheels once again touched the pavement at Meridian Municipal. To break an endurance flight record they didn't have to fly very far, they just had to stay aloft, which they did, officially, for 653 hours and 34 minutes, consuming 6,000 gallons of fuel. How, in 1935, they succeeded without sophisticated technology is a testament to ingenuity and the daring aerial feats performed during their flight.

Al would climb the airplane really high, then shut down the engine completely, keeping the nose pitched up to slow the airplane enough to stop the propeller.

With the prop stopped he would gently point the nose back down - just a little bit - in order to let the airplane become a glider. As a glider, air was still moving over the wings, creating lift, so Al could still control it.

Via a catwalk on each side, Fred would then climb out of the cockpit, and up to the engine to change spark plugs and add oil and then refuel. Upon Fred's return to his seat Al would dive the airplane to get enough wind to flow through the propeller to cause it to turn again, reintroduce fuel, and start up the engine, resuming powered flight.

Back then a wing walker would hand five gallon gas cans from one plane to a wing walker on another, which was dangerous enough, but using funnels also made gasoline spill into the airstream. The invention of a flexible probe that automatically shut-off gas flow if it was pulled out of the gas tank made fuel transfers a little easier.

The Flying Keys’ stunt worked. It not only saved the airport but brought about increased public confidence in air travel. Shortly after their flight Meridian Municipal was renamed Key Field in their honor, and Ole Miss was put on permanent display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

In 1949 four intrepid souls flew an airplane they named "The City of Yuma" for 47 days without landing - and for the same reason: to save that city’s airport business. Later in 1959 a pilot remained aloft over Las Vegas for almost 65 days.

Key Field today is the major employer in Meridian. Piper Cubs, military training jets and Lockheed C-130 regularly use the 10,000 and 5,000 foot long runways. There is a wonderful FBO with really nice people who go out of their way to make pilots feel welcome. And they have pretty cheap fuel.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

July 7, 2015 Must be Paris

The Liberty Gazette

July 7, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Almost midnight, the clouds glow, illuminated by city lights hidden beneath them. The radio crackles as the air traffic controller issues instructions. His English is clear, though his accent attests that it is not his primary language. Turn right to this heading, then left to another, then right again. We are told to descend into the clouds and soon they envelope us.

Popping out underneath the overcast I behold the city for the first time. Straight ahead, brilliant lights strobe off the Eiffel Tower. The flashing billboard welcomes me to Paris even as I am still airborne.

On final approach I wonder whether Charles Lindberg, as tired as he was at the end of his trans-Atlantic flight, had a chance to tour the city as we are. The controller has us maneuver around the big international airline airport, Charles de Gaulle, and then clears us to land at historic Le Bourget Airport, the same airport at which Lindberg landed. This time however, there are not 300,000 Parisians in riotous celebration of our arrival. The only person meeting our aircraft as we park is our handling agent.

That was ten year ago. I’ve been to Paris a few times since and seen much of the city. I have even called Linda from the top of the Eiffel Tower. My last trip there was to teach at my company’s Paris location right at Le Bourget. Still on my to-do list: attend the Paris Air Show.

Established in 1909, the week-long Paris Air Show is the longest running air show in the world. It is held every other year with an attendance of over 350,000. Billion dollar deals are made at the airshow between aircraft manufactures, airlines, and military from around the world. Most airshows have performers flying aerial demonstration routines but few offer the variety this one does.

This year the airshow lineup included a flight demonstration in the Airbus 380 that showed what the airliner could do in capable hands. The giant airplane launched on takeoff into a near vertical climb, and then maneuvered presenting its graceful lines and agility. At a previous airshow the Boeing Company had shown off their equally new 787 Dreamliner, a demonstration that left Airbus officials red-faced. This was their year to flaunt their stuff. Of course, no passengers were on board any of these flights, only test pilots.

Eccentric flight routines were part of the predecessor to the Paris Air Show when Wilbur and Orville demonstrated their Wright Flyer to an astonished crowd of Frenchmen. They flew around a stadium making controlled turns for 11 minutes. Previous flights were straight line courses that lasted little more than 30 seconds. Spectators had expected to see the French pilots take top honors but instead stood cheering each time the Wright Flyer performed, its last flight there lasting nearly an hour.

Unconventional routines lived on when Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston brought airliners to the aerial stage, setting the standard in 1955. He performed a barrel roll with a Boeing 707 in front of a crowd of airline executives in Washington. The president of Boeing was stunned and fired Tex on the spot, but when purchase orders came in as a result of the demonstration he asked Tex to return. Though he never rolled the 707 again, the crowds at the Paris Air Show would have loved it.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com