Poor guy!
The new projectors and connected classrooms project is about 2/3 done. They work nights, so I'm not as up on that project status. Although, I do get several calls a day asking when "my" classroom is going to be done. Or.... I need the projector and screen put on a different wall, it's not where I want it in "my" classroom.
Physics, lady, physics. The network connection is here, the projector has to be within x distance of there.
Website is published and the communications portion thereof is being implemented and like every software package ever developed anywhere, anytime, there are issues. The roster import had a field missing, so one of the contact numbers wasn't getting loaded. Came in this morning after speaking with the Big Guy (he's said he's doing well but he's a tad concerned about my actions. I said I was sorry). Took me a bit to figure out my logic error.
I know, I know, juvat and logic are mutually exclusive.
Anyhoo, I figured out my logic error and rebuilt the roster and submitted it to the company's tech support. I figured that it would be first in the queue come Tuesday morning. So I fired up the blog to write something or other about Sunday being VJ Day AKA the 73rd anniversary of the end of WWII.
Only to find an excellent post from our fearless leader, who has evidently fully recovered from his nasty fall whilst water-skiing earlier this week. Beans, being the ferocious rower that he is, was pulling exceptionally hard on the oar and snapped it in half. This induced a differential in thrust which caused some adverse yaw. The trireme did a snap turn and ran over our fearless leader. Or something like that.
In any case, the commentary on said post was, as usual, excellent and thought provoking. In a somewhat disturbing way.
So, not having anything specific to say and not wanting to piggyback on Sarge's post, I went with a fallback option as suggested by my DIL. (BTW, Her husband has returned from the Sandbox and is looking forward to his next assignment. It's a different sandbox but he'll be accompanied by his wife this time.)
But that's a story for a different time. Today's fallback topic will be Flyovers. Having actually led a flyover, I feel competent to critique other's prowess in performing the mission.
The following flyover was performed Thursday at Kyle Field. Whoop!
The four ship was flown by 3 Aggie Alums and someone from somewhere else.
The formation is pretty good although #2 is a little wide, maybe a foot or so. I'll cut him some slack as he's probably the outsider and is just flying normal fingertip formation. #3 and #4 are probably the Aggies and are flying a bit tighter to put on a good show for the home town crowd.
Here's another view from inside the stadium.
I wonder if someone talked to them about 500' min altitude. Back in the day, we used a very keenly honed eyeball to judge 500'. 500' above the playing field, of course. Not, as these guys were, 500' above the top of the stadium.
All in all though, not bad.
For a different point of view, skip to the 2 minute point in this vid.
Two takeaways.
1) 450 knots is 7.5 nm per minute. That's pretty fast. (And may explain my lack of patience on the two lane highway coming in to work when stuck behind someone doing 15 under the speed limit.) But you get a good feel for it in this video.
2) Flying formation requires a lot of work and a lot of smooth work on the controls. #s 2 and 3 were pretty stable, but #4 is floundering a bit (flopping around out on #3s wing). #2 is a couple of feet too far back as compared to #3. He can correct that by flying a couple of feet lower and looking under the lead at 3. If he lines up the canopy bow on 3's jet (basically so he sees only the close edge of the canopy bow), he'll be in the same position fore and aft as 3 and the formation will look better on the ground.
 | |
| The canopy bow is the frame directly in front of the pilot. In this shot you can see both sides of it. A pilot flying beside this jet would be a little too far aft, maybe two feet. Source |
Here's a good example, also from Kyle Field.
Pretty good formation, notice how 2 and 3 are line abreast? Not bad. Oh, and I do so like the sound of 50 or 60K people singing the National Anthem mixed in with some jet noise.
Still a tad high for my taste though. Here's an excellent example of 500' according to my highly calibrated eyeballs.
Finally, a flyover by a couple of MudHens. #2 flails around a bit on the turn to final and is a bit behind as lead pushes it up to get up to speed, but settles in nicely for the money shot over the campus. Not sure why he taps the burner a couple of times in the climb out though.
Well that's all I got for now, folks. Have a wonderful Labor Day.
Oh and by the way, the tech support request I submitted? Got an email from them saying they were reloading the data and I should see the change shortly.
Some other poor schmo's got the duty also. Bummer!
* Statement made by Col John Warden to me after I'd accidentally gone supersonic over town on an air to air ride. I had thought I was a goner.
My squadron was privileged to do the flyover of the 98 World Series game in San Diego. I had tickets so no desire to conduct the flyover.
ReplyDeleteWell, while fun, flyovers nowadays are fraught with danger. Danger not to life or limb, but to your future career as a pilot. Too Early, Too Late, Too Low, Too high, Formation's not right, everyone's a critic. (Including me.) Some of those watching however feel a need to take action though. For instance in the linked post, the General and his pathetic $1/second early or late.
DeleteSo, watching a World Series Game vs a Flyover? Probably a wise choice, Tuna.
Good luck ironing out the 0's and 1's there Juvat. Informative to read the comments of yours along with the visuals, always interesting to hear from someone who has been there, done that...... thanks.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. Zeros and Ones is my life nowadays. Most of the time it's not too bad, like weekends or holidays, no one's around to disturb the concentration. I get more done in a couple of hours during those times than I do in an entire normal workday.
DeleteReminds me of the bumper sticker I saw several years ago. "Relax, it's just Ones and Zeros"
DeleteHaving spent my second life wrangling said figures down at the Assembly level, it makes perfect sense.
Fortunately, as I had "Difficulty" (the D is fitting) with Assembly Language in College, I haven't descended to that level. But, I get your point. No, it was the wonders of joins in SQL that did me in this time.
DeleteThose videos are double-plus good! Thanks for posting them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, my pleasure.
DeleteI bet you miss the days when you could strap on a go-fast and bore holes in the sky, as versus being bored to death by whinny teachers wanting things their way. Nothing like a little plane porn to start the week!
ReplyDeleteQuite a bit actually.
DeleteThanks.
I remember reading Thud Ridge, and he mentioned the first to the tanker were the new guys. The Thud's AB was a sidways push on the quadrant, and the new guys did that to keep in formation. They were always needing fuel first.
ReplyDeleteI don't know diddly about an Eagle, but that would be my guess when seeing #2. Just trying to keep up...
And the good Col and I share that love of that sound. I used to get goose bumps when the Montana AG would take off from Great Falls with their Falcons. That sound is beautiful.... We had an office that faced the runway, and was pretty close. The new spot isn't as close as I remember....
Wingmen were almost always lower on gas than lead. Good ones knew how to use geometry to maintain position, but still had to jockey the throttle more and so use more gas. The Eagle (and F-4 and AT-38) had throttle detentes at Mil Power, so you could feel when you were about to light the rockets. A little force and the burners would light. The Eagle and F-4 had variable stages in AB. The AT-38 was on or off. That having been said, lighting burners after a flyover to get back into position is poor form. Everybody can see them light, everybody can hear them light and since, they help you go really fast, really fast, they do wonders for drawing attention to your spectacular overshoot of your rejoin. ;-) "Lt juvat showed the flight lead, his burner cans inverted as he passed in front of the formation."
Delete"Everybody can see them light, everybody can hear them light and since, they help you go really fast, really fast, they do wonders for drawing attention to your spectacular overshoot of your rejoin. ;-)"
DeleteMost think it is just part of the show.
Personally, I'd like to see flyovers done where they shake out to line astern and come screaming down like avenging angels on a strafing run.
But, I'm weird like that.
I like the way you think, Joe. I like the way you think!
DeleteOooooooh! Actually have A-10s dip into the stadium to show the people how low they can go. Maybe do it from all four directions! That would be quite a show of Air Power!!!
DeleteOr, if it's Gator Stadium, just have a Bone drop a JDAM on the 50 yard line. Blue version, of course. Maybe.
Blue versions of weapons tend to bounce, for a long way. Do I sense a little hostility towards a certain school here, Beans?
DeleteNope. Not at all. I don't go around reminding people of Galen Hall, at all, nope. never done that.
DeleteRIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHT!
DeleteOooo...I like the idea of the A-10s dipping into the stadium!
DeleteIt's not the dipping in that worries me, it's the flying out. Physics is physics and turning radii at some point reach their minimum.
DeleteWould love to see an fly up where they come in and go full burner straight up over show center.
ReplyDeleteMissing man formation does that. Not my favorite flyover venue.
DeleteLate to the party, I slept in, feel like a slug I do.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to do Labor Day Juvat, nothing like a bit of jet noise to get the juices flowing.
I did note that the fourth video featured the F/A-18! How very "joint" of you.
Son-in-law Big Time has done at least one flyover. Did a Dodgers game a few years back. I have a couple of pictures, somewhere, of the Dodgers flyover. Pretty cool.
Sleeping in is authorized, indeed encouraged. A kamikaze kat awoke me with his Banzai dive on the bed at 0630 this morning. He missed his primary target (me) and had the good sense not to attack the other high value target in the bed, but did manage a direct hit on one of the escort (dog) sleeping by my side. Too much loud noise ensued to allow further slumber.
DeleteScore one for the Sarge in Aircraft recce. They were indeed F/A-18s, but it was the singing that got that vid onto the playlist. That and good formation.
I don't think Mrs J got any pictures of my flyover, unfortunately, but that was back when box camera's were in fashion.
Re your "Oh! That Reminds Me!" link http://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2015/02/train-like-you-fight.html
ReplyDeleteIt's all fun and games until windows get broken.
Yes, yes it is.
DeleteNice video. Formation flying being very important to the other day you were going to write about, it was good to hear about the intricacies of said formation flying.
ReplyDeleteIs the reason #2 uses more fuel because he's always correcting? So I guess the draft effect doesn't... fly here.
As to rowing, well, yes I have broken an oar by pulling too hard. How'd you know? Fortunately I, being a bit of a bookworm, knew in my skull how to scull, so one oar was enough. Not enough for towing OldAFSarge around, though.
So, fly Pinochet Airlines and enjoy a Happy Socialists' Day.
Re: #2. Usually, typically 2 is the least experienced guy in the formation. Staying in formation, especially a tactical formation, is more airmanship than brute force. Takes a while to learn it. I had an exercise I'd use in the AT-38, once we were headed in a direction and stable in spread formation, I'd hold the throttles steady so the stu couldn't move them. Lead would initiate a turn and the stu would have to use altitude to gain or lose speed. After a ride or two, most guys had the light bulb come on. Learned that trick from someone on the masthead.
DeleteAh, interesting technique. Just a little up or down can change your airspeed that much. Hmmm. Makes sense.
DeleteSounds like flying all alone with no one to worry about was the best time.
Nah, single ship (which is, I assume, what you meant by "flying all alone") was pretty boring. Nothing particularly challenging about aerobatics and there's not much to sightsee when flying over the ocean. That having been said, were I offered.....You betcha!
DeleteFor several years had a house above I-405 in Renton, WA at the South end of Lake Washington. We were high enough that the planes performing during the hydroplane races passed below us or just overhead. Good excuse to have a few friends over to enjoy the show from our deck.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched the Blue Angels many times didn't think much of the Thunderbirds until I saw them one year at Paine Field, Everett, WA. Damn, they were awesome!
At that same show the Russians flew in an AN124. The public could walk through the cargo area. Fascinating listened to Boeing employees critiquing the aircraft. I heard very few negative comments.
I'm going to follow my mother's advice and say nothing at all.
DeleteThe European satellite builders would charter an AN-124 flight to bring their birds into Long Beach. We'd have them trucked over to Sea Launch on a flatbed at 0300 so they wouldn't cause traffic jams.
DeleteI got to go "help" a couple of times, and was allowed to walk through the aircraft. Pretty impressive, indeed!
I've posted this here before, seems fitting to do it again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3nsRvhgSE
Yeah, that's a cool video.
DeleteLike hell he couldn't fly it. Maybe not formation flying or any aerobatics, but I bet he could go through the check list, start up, get it off the ground, do a few circuits, and land it.
DeleteOh, I'm positive of that. Some things are taught so well they're never forgotten. And the US Military is excellent at teaching.
DeleteGlad you got the issues 'sorted', more or less. And yes, there will ALWAYS be complainers... Too bad you can't tell them what you really think of their antics... Nice flyovers, but that one was a tad late, should have hit as the last notes of the anthem sounded... LOL And yes, it's ALWAYS a matter of timing!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wasn't going to critique my Naval Bretheren, and it probably wasn't the Lead's fault (but it always is). The whole timing thing rests on the Ground Spotter giving the go signal on time. Once you commit, you can only make a +- correction of a second or two. Anything else and the formation looks like a "dog's breakfast" (to quote from last week's post).
Delete...when the last B52 left GFAFB...gave the city of Grand Forks a last flyby..down Univ Ave then turning up and back Washington St...then doing it again..(safe mandated altitude)...F15 formed on her...like a gadfly. I remember the awesome roar of her engines shaking my windows and rolling across the prairie...the true sound of Freedom
ReplyDeleteI've "played" with Buff's a time or two, they are huge airplanes. I'll give them that. Getting in guns range and they literally fill the wind screen.
DeleteWhen we first got the Phantoms, poor Victorville got a daily dose or four of fuel+fire=noise.
ReplyDeleteRemember? She could go supersonic in military power ("Oooops, sorry sir, a mistake on the let down on my part")