The Wandering Minstrel

I downloaded the Google Earth® plug-in for Firefox a few days ago. I don’t have the Google Earth program on my computer (I don’t need all the bells and whistles). You can get pretty good results in your browser with just the plug-in. There is a red arrow in the (clickable) image above showing the approximate location of our little house. The Bradshaw Mountains are in the distance and you can see the Hassayampa River flowing down from upper center to the right.

When we used to live in Torrance, CA, there would be about 15 Robinson helicopter flights per day over or near our house. The house is roughly on a line between Torrance Zamperini Field and Compton airport, a popular (no-tower) airfield for helicopter training.

I read an article today posted in The Daily Breeze reporting on the 10,000th helicopter delivery. The (clickable) image above is the new Robinson R-66 turbine-powered helicopter. Even though these cost around $800,000, Robinson has a backlog of 360 orders for the new aircraft. Congratulations to Robinson for being able to have a viable enterprise in the hostile Kalifornistan business environment.

I flew a Robinson R-22 once with a buddy of mine years ago. I was used to flying Bell and Hughes helicopters and didn’t think much of the Robinson, but they are certainly popular today. There is one based at the Wickenburg Airport and we see it flying once in a while as opposed to daily overflights in the old place.

We have a lot of files, photos and videos stored in our on-line servers. I was rummaging through those today and ran across this video from 2007 of the “Aluminum Overcast,” a nicely-restored WWII B-17 bomber.

The Better Half and I drove to the Torrance airport and waited at the approach end of runways 11 for the bomber to land. After the aircraft landed, we drove to the ramp to watch as passengers got off and more got on board. The video frame rate makes the props look like they’re going backwards at certain engine RPMs.

By now, most of us have seen the Nissan pickup truck commercial where the little truck drives under a jetliner’s damaged nose gear and “rescues” the plane. Well, I’m here to tell you that the commercial is total bullshit - most of them are, I guess.

Image - Nissan pickup “saving the day”

First, let’s discuss the touchdown speed of a Boeing 767. In landing configuration, full flaps and gear down, the airspeed is about 124 knots, or 143 miles per hour. I seriously doubt that a small pickup can reach such a speed.

Then there is the matter of the maximum landing weight of a 767 being equal to 175 tons, or 348,390 pounds. Being very generous with the distribution of 80 percent of the weight being carried on the main landing gear, the 20 percent carried by the nose gear would be upwards of seventy thousand pounds. That would totally squish that poor little truck like it was a bug.

The only thing lacking on the commercial is the “Demonstration - do not attempt” disclaimer. And, don’t get me started about that Nissan Leaf commercial where everyone has appliances that are powered by internal combustion engines. What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit!

The last time I flew one of these was in 1962 in Memphis, TN. I took a couple of my Navy Buddies up for a sightseeing tour of the muddy Mississippi River. Yes, I got my private pilot certificate at age 19.

Clickable image taken at the 17th annual Wickenburg Fly-in and classic auto show courtesy TBH. Wikipedia has more on the Pacer and Tri-Pacer at this link.

I saw this Cessna 150 that had been converted from tricycle to conventional (tail wheel) gear. The Better Half and I were at the Wickenburg Fly-in and Classic Car Show ten days ago when she took this (clickable) image.

I had never seen one of these before. As an old long-time taildragger pilot, this aircraft intrigued me.

I Googled “C-150 tail wheel” and a large number of hits came up. There were a lot of them for sale and there are conversion kits available.

This particular airplane also has a short takeoff and landing (STOL) conversion with drooping wingtips to improve lift at lower airspeeds. I bet it would be fun to fly and do a bunch of landings.

We attended the seventeenth annual Wickenburg Fly-in and Classic Car Show last Saturday. I threw together a slideshow of a few of the many aircraft and classic cars The Better Half and I photographed that day. Roll over the slideshow with your mouse to stop playing and roll back out to resume.

We went to the classic car show and fly-in today at the local airport. This Helio Courier flew in for the day. Clickable image.