To the Edge of Space
Gizmodo beat me to the punch on this one, but I promise that I found it before they did. I was saving it for a mini-movie monday. I, of course, have now way to prove that, but the beautiful video above (that should be watched in HD) is 11 minutes of what it's like to fly to the edge of space in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane.
UAVs come to DC!
AUVSI is in full swing this week in DC and The D.E.W Line and As the Cro(ft) Flies will be all over the unmanned systems show. I most likely will pop over one or two days this week to shudder at all those jockeying to replace manned aircraft. Man...can't a pilot can't get a break?
Southwest and Republic Fight for Frontier
In the ongoing battle for the future of Frontier, SWA has upped its bid for the Denver based carrier to $170m against Republic's $108m. If Southwest wins the bidding, which based on a $62m advantage, appears more than likely, SWA will transition Frontier's Airbus fleet to about 40 737-700s, replacing the 51 A320 family aircraft in the fleet. Southwest says it is also entertaining options for what to do with the remaining 10 Bombardier Q400s flying for Lynx.
Seattle pol takes jab at SCHat tip to the Boeing employee who sent this my way. Larry Phillips (D), who's running for King County Executive, takes a shot at South Carolina. It's almost like he knows how to get the attention of the tens of thousands of Boeing employees who live in King County.
Spotters Delight
The Seattle Times penned a great article about airplane nuts in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, that might be redundant, but the article captures the passion that enthusiasts bring to following things that fly. Also, Liz Matzelle, a good friend of this blog is prominently featured in the article.
Email Subscriptions
I've gotten requests over the last several months to set up formal email subscriptions for FlightBlogger and all the solutions I had come up with were rather inartful. With the help of FeedBurner, I'm able to offer a daily email with a digest of the previous day's posts. I want to keep the email in your inbox to a minimum, so this is probably the best way to do it.
Sitting still...for now.
I'm back in DC after two weeks on the road and I am beyond happy to be back home with a chance to sit still until next month. All told, I flew seven different legs and 7673 nm between DC, Oshkosh, New York City, London and back again. I'm going to savor every minute of being back in 100 degree nasty sweaty gross swampy DC.
on August 10, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply
Any plan to visit AUVSI this week?
on August 10, 2009 5:19 PM | Reply
Oh good question. First off, I can't believe I forgot AUVSI in the post - I'll add that in. I may be making it over to the show one or two days this week, I'll be tweeting from on site, so I'll keep you posted if I get over there.
Jon
on August 11, 2009 1:39 AM | Reply
That U-2 video takes me back to the early 70's when I was stationed at Davis Monthan, then home to the 100 SRW. I was privileged to watch many of those spectacular, wing-bending takeoff pullups. The planes had J-75s in them then, and in the pattern sounded like nothing so much as a large vacuum cleaner. They had special fuel control units that let them spool down farther than other J-75s so they could slow down enough to land. Ran so slow there was next to no jet noise, only compressor and turbine frequencies.
on August 12, 2009 1:04 AM | Reply
Wow...what a pity that Ms. Matzelle lost her job for shooting a picture of her workplace from, I presume, public property. I'm sure Boeing contractually had every right to do so, but the corporate world sure can be harsh towards those who bear no ill will nor cause any real harm. In this case, it was a clearly dedicated employee.
on August 13, 2009 6:21 PM | Reply
That is a great flick Jon. I would so love to see the world from the edge of space.