A Pilot’s Blog
A blog about aviation, aviation news, and space.

I’ve never really thought about it much before, but with jobs like this, being in the Civil Air Patrol would be a really interesting experience.

As his watch ticks toward midnight, Paul Gardella checks the oil on the small Cessna 182 parked on a cold, dark airstrip in Fairfax County. He knows what he soon could be facing: Coast Guard helicopters chasing him. F-16s intercepting him. Ground-to-air missiles tracking his every turn.

That’s because Gardella — a software engineer and former military officer — is taking on a new role.

Enemy of the U.S. government.

“In the Navy, I was on the other side. I was on the side of the ones that were shooting,” he muses.

Gardella, 50, is among a group of pilots who pose as nighttime intruders, penetrating restricted airspace over Washington in drills that take place every few weeks. While area residents slumber, the volunteers allow the U.S. military to practice intercepting them — or worse.

I’m sure only the most experienced and “senior” members get to do that sort of thing…but how awesome would that be?

Remember the "Treadmill Problem" that I posted about a few weeks ago? Another actual pilot has weighed in on it, and this time an actual physics professor was also involved! What they determined fairly close to my line of thinking, and the physics professor took it past the barrier of my lack of theoretical physics knowledge:

With the airplane and treadmill, there is, at the outset, friction force capable of rotating the tires at the proper speed to keep the plane stationary. However, as the thrust is increased, that force eventually maxes out. (Two separate frictions are at play here, actually, one between the tires and belt, the other between the plane’s axles/bearings and its wheels. The first will max out before the second.)

"And at that point the wheels no longer roll, they slide," says Camp. "Or rather, they roll and slide at the same time. Tire motion is now decoupled from the belt motion. No matter how much you whiz up the treadmill, you won’t add any more rotational velocity to the wheels because friction is already doing everything it is capable of. The plane skids toward takeoff — likely accompanied by much smoke and a powerful rubbery stink."

Of course, we are then left with the realization that it would be impossible for a normal airplane to generate this kind of thrust, not to mention no tires could stand up to it. But regardless, I’m glad this question can finally be put to rest!

Hat tip to BoingBoing for the link.

Related: The Treadmill Problem

Last night I was skimming through the latest postings on BoingBoing, and came upon this one. I had heard of this “question” before, but never gave it much thought. Here’s the gist of it:

Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?

At first, I thought this was the stupidest question I’d ever heard of. I had initially imagined the problem as the plane was sitting on a treadmill just big enough for the wheels to sit on, and these people thought that by spinning up the wheels the plane would takeoff. However, the problem actually states that the treadmill is the exact dimensions of a standard runway.

So, I think of it like this: Planes fly because of “lift”. In order to get lift, according to Bernoulli’s Principle, you must have sufficient airflow over the wings so that an area of low pressure is created above the wing (due to the air having to travel a longer distance than below the wing, so it moves faster) and an area of high pressure is created below the wing. When this pressure differential is great enough to overcome the weight of the plane, the wings produce lift and take the plane aloft.

Understanding that, if the plane is sitting on a treadmill that is able to adjust it’s speed (apparently instantly) to match the rotational speed of the wheels, can the engines still move the plane forwards, and at great enough speed to get the required airflow over the wings to generate lift? My answer: Not being a physics expert, I’m not sure. Here are my two theories for both sides of the argument.

(more…)

Are you flying somewhere on Thanksgiving day tomorrow? If so, and your airline happens to be Jet Blue, you’re in for a treat.

JetBlue Airways is offering a bonus to fliers on Thanksgiving Day [,] a free beer to accompany football games on its seat-back satellite TVs. The National Football League’s Miami Dolphins-Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Dallas Cowboys games will be among the programming on 36 channels of DirecTV that JetBlue offers for free.

Does it get any better?

This story caught my eye on the Airliners.net forums today. Apparently, a British Airways groundcrew member was caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country in the nosecone of a 747. Certainly brings a new meaning to an airplane being “high” up.

Are you a Sam’s Club member? Do you have an extra $2.7 million? If so, you can buy your own Cessna Citation Mustang! While this may just be a ploy to gain some free advertisment, I think it’s a pretty cool idea. I mean, the aircraft comes with a free lifetime Sam’s membership. After all, for 2.7 million, it should…

Citation Mustang Serial Number 510-0002 is the first Mustang built that will be available to the public. This historic light jet ushered in the month of September with a complete FAA Type Certificate. This jet has been showcased throughout the nation at a number of events and shows. To ensure the highest levels of performance and value, the aircraft will be delivered with new engines, and a fresh interior and exterior.

I took a day-trip today with my mom and aunt to a casino in Oklahoma. While there, I go to thinking about airplanes (as I usually do), because the very common “7-7-7″ winning combination on many slot machines reminded me of the Boeing 777 aircraft. Then it hit me, somebody should make a Boeing-themed video slot machine! You could have the different models substitute for bars (737, 747, 757/767) and the 777 could be the jackpot hit. If you wanted to go really fancy, you could have Boeing logos that came up to send you into some airplane-themed bonus game. I’ve yet to see a true airplane-theme slot machine (though they may exist), but I think this one could be a real hit. You’d just need to get permission from Boeing to use the model numbers/logos. :-)