Looking Down on the Sun

Looking down on the sunrise from 36,000 feet. These are unedited JPEGs from the camera, no photoshopping done except the watermark. The ice crystals from the edge of a cirrus cloud give the pastel effect.

Sunrise

The Ohio River

10000 Picture (Every picture has a story)

When I converted to Digital Photography in early 2004, I set up my upload program to name images with numerical file names. My first digital camera was a Nikon Cool Pix 5400. My first picture taken with that camera was named DSCN_001 and each subsequent image had an ascending numerical file name. Incidentally, I ended up selling that camera to a guy in a truck stop parking lot for a thick wad of $20 bills in the Spring of 2005. We got the attention of quite a few onlookers as we did the deal. The last picture I took with that camera was DSCN_3843 on March 6, 2005.

DSCN_3843

Every picture has a story. When I took DSCN_3483, Molly and I were driving my old 1987 BMW South Westbound on I-76 in Eastern Colorado. It was my first day active after being down for 3 weeks from a nearly fatal staph infection. It was quite an ordeal that involved surgery, 5 days in the hospital on intravenous antibiotics, and weeks recovering in bed at home. Prior to taking this picture Molly and I had spend the day watching hang gliders scooter-tow in the flat fields of Eastern Colorado. I was still very weak, but was itching to get out of the house.

When I got my current camera, a Cannon 20D digital SLR, I started my numerical naming system over with IMG_001. Cannon files use the prefix IMG instead of DSCN. On December 10, 2007, I took picture number 10000 with the Cannon 20D. That night when I was looking at my freshly uploaded pictures I was confused why there was an IMG_001 until I realized the upload software I use won't count above IMG_9999. IMG_001 = IMG_10000 or picture number 10000.

IMG_001(10000)

This was taken on our trip to Maryland as Jo was crossing Light Street in the inner harbor of downtown Baltimore. She was laughing because I was heckling and trying to embarrass her from the sidewalk. We had spent the day at the National Aquarium with my Mom dodging groups of field trips and trying to spot every animal in the exhibits. They both are terrified of snakes so I made sure to make them stop at every snake exhibit. At the gift shop I bought a fake can of salt water taffy with a snake that jumped out when you opened the lid, but they were on to my shenanigans and didn't fall for it. In fact nobody has, what a waste of $6.99!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from me, Mark Jenson, and Will Ferrell.

The Obsession Continues

I think the source of all my M Coupe angst lately has been due to withdrawals. In November I parked it for the winter. For proper storage I spent 10 (that's right 10) hours washing, clay baring, polishing, waxing, cleaning tires, engine underside, wheel wells, brakes, conditioning the interior, and lastly windexing the glass. I have a problem.

My desire to carve the local canyon roads and school Audi S4's, WRX's, Mustangs (those are the most indignant losers) and scores of riced out Honda's and Toyota's has been slowly building since that day. Today, I just couldn't hold out any longer. I truly have a problem! I needed to run some last minute Christmas errands, the weather was mild and the roads are mostly clear. After an hour of weighing pros and cons I decided that it was worth running the engine out on the open road even if I might encounter some dirt and sand. Did I mention I have a problem? It was awesome! I ran the whole way with the windows down so I could hear the raspy exhaust note. I was perma-smile the whole time. I accomplished my errands in record time, schooled a college kid in an Audi, and received tons of compliments in the parking lots on the way.

Rocky Mountain M Coupe Run

On the M Coupe theme, I thought I'd post these pics. In September I met up with Mike, who owns a silver M Coupe, down in Colorado Springs and we had a run up the twisty mountain roads north of Pikes Peak. It was a week day afternoon and the roads were empty. We had a blast, I pushed the car hard and really was able to get a feel for its limits or "its edge". On the way home I ended up taking a wrong turn and as a result was treated to a total of over 100 miles of twisty delight that day. It never got old and by the time I did get home my face literally hurt from smiling.

Unhealthy Obsession

I've been guilty of an unhealthy obsession lately.

Twenty eight miles from my house is this:

"This" is a 2002 Dinan SC2 BMW M Coupe, with only 26,ooo miles. Only 690 BMW M Coupes with the racing bred S54 engine were produced. They were made only in 2001 and 2002 and most were in the former. There are is only 1 other S54 powered M Coupe I know of in the whole sate of Colorado. I thought my stock S54 M Coupe was rare until I saw this and then, even worse, found out it was for sale. Ignorance is bliss. Before I go any further, let me just say that there is no way I can morally allow myself to buy (as if I could afford it anyway - laugh) another M Coupe. I couldn't help but go look at it. "I'll just check it out", I told myself. What makes it so great (the pictures don't do it justice)? I won't go into M Coupe jargon, but here's just a few things. The color, steel gray metallic, is not my first choice, but in my top three.

The car is a custom built performance machine with the complete Dinan SC2 performance package matching serial number. It features upgraded engine, intake, brakes, suspension, and exhaust. Sitting on top of that Dinan upgraded 377 horse power engine is one of only 25 ever produced S54 racing carbon fiber valve covers and scattered throughout car are many other carbon fiber bits to match. The engine was much dirtier than I would ever let mine get, but it would clean up nice.

To keep all that power on the ground it has installed (also no longer in production) paint matched AC Schnitzer front air dam splitters and rear wing. These give the car a subtly aggressive look and improved high speed aerodynamics.

Sport mode is enabled (a mod in my near future) and to combat Colorado's horrible roads it has 3M clear bra covering every forward facing area (another costly mod in my future). The car has everything I would ever want to do mine plus more and after talking to the seller for over 3 hours collectively, he offered me a ridiculous deal.

Hmmm...

Can you see the wheels spinning, "If I could just sell mine, then come up with the difference..." After a few hours of mental anguish I stopped the madness. This isn't about M Coupes, it's about my character defects. M Coupes may go very fast and be simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying, but in the end it is nothing but a financially irresponsible material possession. Where I see pompous German styling most people see an ugly car shaped like a clown shoe.

Happiness = being content.

If my problems this week are not obsessing on another M Coupe - Life is good!

Besides, after 18 months searching to find it how could I dare think about selling my red cloud shoe.

.

Marshal Pack Coyotes

Since moving in with Jo, I spend a lot of time in the Marshal Mesa and Eldorado Springs areas of Boulder County because they are close to my house. This fall I didn't work much and got on a super late sleep schedule, usually to staying up to 3am. In the wee hours of the morning I started hearing lots of "Yips and Yelps" coming from outside our open windows. Eventually I discovered the noise was coming from what I call the Marshal Pack Coyotes. They come into the neighborhood and raise hell when everyone is asleep. I had always seen a few random coyotes out on Marshal Mesa, but after hearing them every night I started to recognizing the regulars. In subsequent dog walks on the ditch trail I had two very close encounters with one of the smaller ones and he has always protested me with lots of yipping and carrying on. I try to give them space and not be intrusive when we cross paths.

The other day I was driving down 128 (which cuts across Marshal Mesa) when I saw the whole pack about 25 yards south of the road. Three were hunting in the prairie grass while the rest watched from about 40 yards away. I pulled off into the snow covered grass at about 50mph. I used one hand to keep the truck in control (it was an awesome 4 wheel drift) and the other to get out my camera, remove the lens cover, and turn it on. Perfect multitasking! I skidded to a stop about 80 yards from the pack, camera on and ready. They we aware of me, but not bothered. There wasn't any good cover, so stalked them from a ditch line paralleling the road. Their hunt was taking them in the opposite direction from me over a hill and soon out of sight. Time was a perishable commodity, so needed to move fast to get a good shot. Time ran out so I dropped to one knee and steadied my camera for a crop able shot (I don't have a good zoom lens). The alpha male turned and faced me while the pack followed the hunters down the hill. I held my ground and got a couple shots as we stood off. Once the pack was safely out of my sight he turned and disappeared over the hill. This is what I got, cropped at half the original image size (the best way to view these is to click on the image and view the enlarged size).

I need a zoom lens!

Hanging Frozen Water Formations

In January entitled a post called Icicles so I had to think of a different title! Took these the other day with the dogs.

Snow in Boulder

We were greeted home in Colorado with 6 inches of snow. I got the dogs out the other day, but have been sick as one ever since. Yeah, I got the funk and it sucks! Cough, excuse me... Sorry, that must be the cold medicine talking. Here are some shots of the Flatirons with the dogs.

Snow Covered Flatirons

Snow Drifts

While adjusting the saturation I accidentally inverted this image. Inverting is the mark of a true amature, but I don't care, I really liked it.

The Dogs

Diogee Getting Busy

Sugar

The lighting was so good the background looks fake.

Molly - Super Dog

Bob Wills on YouTube

This was on the Oz Report today and I had to post it for the benefit on my non-hang gliding blog readers. Bob Wills and his brother Chris started Wills Wing, the largest manufacturer of hang gliders in the country. Both were pioneers in the sport, here's a video of Bob jumping a motorcycle with a small hang glider mounted above him to extend his jump to 300 feet.

I Flew a C5 Galaxy

Okay, I didn't fly an actual C5 Galaxy, but I came as close to the real thing as possible. Andrew is a Crew Chief on the C5 for the Air National Guard. While giving us a tour of the base he was able to get us into the C5 simulator. It is a full motion, color visual, level D simulator, the most realistic type. It's very similar to the simulator I did my Canadair Regional Jet training in and in which every six months I have to do a proficiency check. I do have a little sim experience. We just happened to visit the sim during some down time so the sim instructor offered to fire it up for us.

Note: All photo's are courtesy of airliners.net with the original photographer's name in the footer bar. You can see more C5 photos here.

Lockheed C5 Galaxy

A little background for the non-aviation folk out there. The Lockheed C5 Galaxy is the largest aircraft in the United States Air Force inventory, it is larger than a Boeing 747-400. The biggest version of the Canadair Regional Jet (the CRJ900 or 90 seat CRJ) that I fly has a max takeoff weight of 84,500lbs, the C5 has a max takeoff weight of 840,000lbs, roughly 10 times heavier. The CRJ900 is 119 feet long, 25 feet tall, with a wingspan of 81 feet. The C5 is 247 feet long, a staggering 65 feet tall, with a wingspan of 223 feet. Mounted on those wings are four General Electric TF-39 high bypass turbojet engines producing 43,000lbs of thrust each for a total of 172,000lbs of thrust! The CRJ900 has 2 engines producing a mere 13,000lbs of thrust each in comparison. To fuel those engines the C5 can hold over 51,000 gallons of fuel in 12 tanks! It's landing gear is comprised of 28 wheels and features a kneeling feature that lowers entire aircraft so the cargo floor is about as high as a pickup truck bed. It has nose and tail cargo doors so you can literally drive a wide-load Mac truck or 2 rows of vehicles side-by-side through the aircraft. I guess my point in all this is that the C5 is ridiculously bigger than the plane I fly and I was stoked to have a shot at flying one even if it was in a sim.

Canadair Regional Jet

vs C5 Galaxy

28 Wheels

Front and Rear Cargo Doors

I think every pilot has, at times, wondered how they would do if put in an aircraft vastly different than what they are used to without prior training. Once we were all inside the sim, it came to life like something out of a SciFi movie. The catwalk lifted away behind us as the giant box awakened and raised into the air on a series of giant hydraulic actuators. The inside was an exact representation of a real C5 flight deck. Behind the controls, instruments, and glowing panel lights and outside the windshield was a cloudy blue sky and a 250 degree wrap around view of the Air National Guard ramp.

C5 From Above

The instructor invited me to sit in the Captain's seat and as I sat down I quickly figured out the five point harness and seat controls. Once in position I felt oddly at home. Everyone else took seats at various stations on the flight deck. The C5's systems are so complicated that it takes 2 flight engineers to monitor and manage them. The sim instructor compared it to being the conductor of an orchestra. The C5 flight deck is completely different from the all glass display of the CRJ. All glass means the flight, navigation, and systems instruments are displayed on a series of screens similar to computer monitors while the C5 has analog "steam" gauges along with different analog tape displays for airspeed and altitude. There didn't seem to be any organization of the instruments and the systems. Even the basic six pack was disrupted by the different sized tape displays. The design reminded me of the age of the C5, which first flew in 1968. It also gave me a humbling respect for all of the past and present C5 pilots who stared at those instruments. It wasn't the modern, sterilized, ergonomically engineered, oversimplified automated cockpit that I'm used to. It was the real deal, an old school jet cockpit, more like a steam engine than a jet. I couldn't help but think how many aviation freaks would kill to be sitting in my seat as the instructor configured the C5 into a pre-takeoff condition.

CRJ's Glass Flight Deck

C5 Flight Deck

(note the airspeed and altitude tapes on

either side of the artificial horizon)

The instructor relocated us to runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport. I've landed on this runway 100's of times and new the area well. After a brief familiarization of the controls and the flight deck layout I asked for some basic speed, pitch, and power settings for takeoff. It was a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time, but I wanted to do more than just play around in the sim. I wanted to fly it like it was my Airline Transport Rating checkride.

C5 Takeoff

He cleared me for take off and I pushed all 4 thrust levers forward. The flight deck is so wide the pilot and co-pilot both have their own thrust levers! The sim rumbled as the virtual engines spooled up. I released the breaks and I was surprised at how fast we accelerated to rotation speed. At rotation speed the big beast lifted off the ground with ease. Rotation was easy and didn't need much trim. With a positive rate of climb I commanded "Gear Up". I was amazed at how nimble and maneuverable it felt in the air, it was perfectly aerodynamically balanced. It took less effort to pitch and roll than the 30 seat turbo-prop I flew before the CRJ. After a tour around the bay we headed back to the airport for some pattern work. The triple analog tape displays for airspeed and altitude took a little getting used to, but soon I felt right at home. I set up a right traffic pattern for the visual approach to 28R, no different than being at work! The cockpit sits about 25 feet higher than I'm used to, so I was a little nervous about the flare, but like everything else about the C5 it was much easier than I thought. Throughout the approach the pitch attitude is nose high, so I just followed my instructor's advice and when the 1000 foot markers disappeared under the nose I eased into my flare. I've had worse landings in the CRJ!

C5 Landing Pitch Attitude

After a couple touch and go's, we moved on to harder skills. Aerial refueling to be exact. It was 100 times harder than I imagined. Although not as big as the C5, the KC135 aerial tanker is huge in its own right. The dynamics of two extremely large aircraft flying so close together at 30,000 feet are tremendous. The target refueling speed is 252 knots. As you line up on the tanker you approach from behind and below. There is a yellow line painted on the underside of the KC135 along with command lights near the nose that direct you forward, back, up and down. As you approach the KC-135 its wake turbulence pitches the C5 down and you have to work very hard to maintain your altitude and airspeed to fly into the "slot". It's very similar to a decreasing performance wind shear. You add power and pitch up to maintain formation and then once your through the wake you have to immediately lower the nose and reduce power. If your not on top of your corrections you'll be slingshot forward and up into the tanker. Once in the slot and the tanker boom operator does the rest. Your job is to hold your position in the slot. It took me 2 tries to make it through the wake and get into the slot. Once I was in the slot I spent my time making small corrections based on the light commands so the boom operator could connect. I found it was easiest to scan between the KC-135's inboard engines and antennas on it's underside to judge my position. I got within about 2 feet of the boom, but didn't connect before time ran out (the sim gives you a limited amount of time to connect).

C5 Aerial Refueling Port

KC135 Underside

(note the yellow line and light bars just behind the nose wheel)

C5 with Aerial Refueling Boom Connected

I didn't want to hog all the fun so Jo and Andrew both had a turn. I talked Jo through straight and level flight before a couple 360's, it reminded me of my flight instructing days. She did great for never flying anything before. Then Andrew took a turn, he got the hang of it quick and did a couple landings back as SFO. After the sim Andrew took us over to the ramp and gave us a walk through of a real C5A. It was a surreal experience and I am very grateful to Andrew and the folks at the Air National Guard for the experience.