UFO

Barnstorming Then and Now

The New Standard D-25 keeps an era alive.

By Micah Ciampa

On a cool and clear summer morning, the residents of a small midwestern town are greeted by the gentle sounds of a seven-cylinder Wright Whirlwind engine and wind whistling through its struts and flying wires. Overhead, a big green antique biplane flies slowly by, with four happy passengers seeing their town as they’ve never seen it before: From the open cockpit of a New Standard D-25, just as they would have in 1929. Doc’s Flying Circus has come to your town! Word spreads and folks find their way to a field at the edge of town.

One such morning, I had the pleasure of riding in the New Standard, piloted by Ted Davis. I shared the four-seat front cockpit with father and son Scott and Brady Bruns of Brodhead, Wisc. Davis poured the coal to the old Wright and we accelerated across the grass with the tail flying, as the New Standard's four big wings swept us gracefully into the air. After a tour of the town and surroundings, Ted brought us gently back to Earth, where we began.

Doc’s Flying Circus pilots Ted Davis and Chris Price know this airplane, quite literally, from the ground up. As a matter of fact, the two meticulously restored this New Standard to its former glory. The airplane is beautiful and won a Silver Age Bronze Lindy award at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure 2008, even after being worked hard on the 2008 Barnstorming Tour. Davis and Price are both known in the antique airplane community for their award-winning work.

Davis is an A&P mechanic and CFI with over 5,000 flying hours, mostly in antique taildraggers. He left a good job at General Motors to work in aviation 20 years ago and has been restoring antique airplanes ever since, including 10 complete restorations.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.

Future Flight

Back to the Future

There is a renewed interest in, and pursuit of, the flying car.

By Jack Ferguson

Human beings seem to have an innate desire to combine things in order to increase utility and thus value: a camera and GPS into a phone; a compass and AM radio into a flashlight; a poodle into a Lab; the list goes on. Sometimes the combinations work, sometimes not. In aviation, there are some big projects in the works, trying to combine ideas and create utility and value right now: an airplane into a rocket ship; a helicopter into an airplane and visa versa; a robot into a flying hunter-killer. But the holy grail for garage-bound home builders and aviation dreamers alike has always been the flying car—or roadable airplane, as we modern day folk call it.

Much like the wonderfully odd 1960s amphicar offered people who had to cross water on the way home, the flying car—or roadable airplane—forever conjures the romantic idea of taking off from the fast lane just before the traffic backs up, landing in the cul-de-sac and taxiing into the garage, groceries in hand. It’s just one of those combinations that would be super cool and is quite technically feasible, but at the end of the day, runs into a barrier called reality.

Flying car history is quite robust and there have been numerous attempts to make a real go of it. The first flying car was built and flown by Waldo Waterman. Having the perfect name for the task at hand, the Waterman Aerobile was flown in 1937 and could do 112 mph through the air and 56 over the oil. WWII put an end to this sort of tomfoolery, but flying car activity heated up again in the late 1940s and ‘50s. Ford Motors itself commissioned a study into the feasibility of mass producing a flying car. The commission concluded that, while it was economically and technically feasible, the issues of air traffic control, public safety and, of course, those crazy drunk drivers, were too complicated to be overcome at the time (perhaps they still are).

Undeterred by Ford’s decision, several flying cars made their debut, including the ingenuous Convair flying car and an extremely unfortunate Ford Pinto-Cessna Skymaster combo called the Mitzar, which killed its inventor during flight testing. There was also the Fulton FA-2 Airphibian and the famous Taylor Aerocar, which required the wings be towed behind the car while in road mode. It’s amazing to think what some very smart people did with their time.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.

Ecosystem

Compiled by Jack Ferguson

Operation Migration

Reduced to a total population of only 15 birds in the late 1940s, the North American Whooping Crane is making a comeback, with a little help from manned aviation. Due to their extremely low numbers, many Whopping Cranes are raised under captivity in Central Wisconsin. Without parents, however, the young cranes don’t know how to migrate in order to avoid the harsh winters. Lead by a team of four ultra lights and a Cessna 182, a group called Operation Migration carefully guides the Whooping Cranes to Florida each year along their traditional 1,285-mile migration route.

UAVs For You and Me

Saskatchewan, Canada-based Draganfly Innovations recently introduced its Draganflyer X6 miniature helicopter, designed specifically for professional unmanned aerial photo work. Attempting to fill the gap between modified RC helicopters with bolted-on camera mounts that require highly skilled pilots and the high price of real helicopters, the X6 uses a six-rotor co-axial coupled with 11 flight sensors and GPS guidance to allow for easy, stable flying. In fact, the impressive little X6 offer autonomous flight capabilities that allow it to hold a specific hover position while the ground based operator focuses on getting the shots. With an anti-vibration mount, the X6 can handle numerous camera payloads, still, video, infrared, and more, according to the missions needs. However, the X6 is no backyard toy, at a reported $15,000 per pop, the helicopter is intended to be a tool for business, government and research applications.

Driveable Aircraft Landing on Your Street?

The idea of flyable cars has been around for many years, albeit with little actual progress. Nothing has landed in front of me while I’m stopped at a red light, yet, but perhaps that’s because people were thinking about it the wrong way. It’s not a flyable car we need, but a driveable aircraft. Worcester, Mass.-based Terrafugia is closing in on the first flight of its car-plane hybrid, the Transition. The process of getting both FAA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approval seems a mind-blowing challenge for what will surely be a rather small market. But, the transition will allow pilots the freedom to land at the local airport and taxi all the way home at up to 80 mph. The aircraft is hoping to gain light sport status with an approximate useful load of 550 pounds and a 400 nm range at 110 knots. Base price at this point is $198,000. Find out more at www.terrafugia.com.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.

Myths of Aviation

Myth: The aviation industry is suffering and career opportunities are bleak

Reality: The industry is not stalling, it is evolving. There is ample opportunity for young pilots today and in the future.

By Brendan Harrington

There is no question that times are tough in the aviation industry. Both commercial and general aviation are experiencing dramatic change on all fronts. With fuel costs sky high, continued commercial layoffs, new environmental concerns, a stalled national economy, and so on, the industry, overall, faces new challenges.

However, the notion that aviation is reeling is just not true. The industry is not on the decline, or its future in doubt in any way, shape or form. Youngsters pursuing a new career in aviation are being dissuaded by the old guard, who are caught on their heels by sweeping changes to their profession and lifelong hobby. But take heart, industry newcomers: Aviation is not dying, it is evolving.

Ceiling Unlimited

It’s been 105 years since the Wright brothers first took to the air and it goes without saying that, throughout the 20th century, aviation saw remarkable growth and technological advancement. Now, after one century, the industry as a whole is once again crossing into a new frontier. From the job market to airplane construction to the fuel we use, a new day dawns for aviation enthusiasts.

Industry experts agree that the coming decades will see a steep curve of new technologies in aviation. Blended-wing bodies, twin decks, vertical takeoff capabilities, bio-fuels and more are just over the horizon. The optimistic set even envisions citizen space travel approaching quickly. The increasing popularity of light sport aircraft and the relative ease of licensing will help attract the general public to flight as both a profession and a pastime. And continued difficulties for commercial airlines will encourage more private and small jet travel.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.

Aerodynamics

STOL: Aviation’s Worker Bees

Unique flight capabilities answer unique needs

By Jack Ferguson

Short take-off and landing (STOL) fixed-wing aircraft have always inspired a certain amount of respect and awe as they hover on final and depart like a pouncing cat, all while shuttling significant payloads. Primarily used in the bush and unprepared backcountry strips, STOL capable aircraft are the unglamorous worker bees of the aviation world, assisting more people in remote regions of the world than any other powered vehicle.

Believe it or not, NATO has a formal definition for what it takes to qualify for STOL status: “Short take-off and landing is the ability of an aircraft to clear a 50-foot obstacle within 1,500 feet of commencing take-off or, in landing, to stop within 1,500 feet after passing over a 50-foot obstacle.” Today’s STOL aircraft do much better than that, with a 200- to 400- foot take-off roll at max gross weight being common among smaller aircraft. What makes an STOL airplane work is primarily in the wings and how the airframe supports said wings. There are a number of tricks and tweaks, additions and subtractions, that STOL designers use to massage the best performance out of a given aircraft. And while it’s easy to simply overpower an airframe to gain STOL capabilities--at least for take-off--the added cost, weight, fuel consumption and reduction in useful load makes this option a lazy, rich man’s version of the STOL concept.

If one wants to take-off and land in a short distance, then it follows that one’s aircraft must be capable of flying at very slow speeds without stalling. Some STOL aircraft have published stall speeds in the low 20-knot range. In addition, a STOL aircraft requires a wing that provides high lift but also offers acceptable performance in the cruise. A high lift coefficient is created by using a verity of devices including specialized wing slats, flaps, wing tips, and modern discontinuous wing designs.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.

Site Picture

Ground crews scale the massive CH-54A Skycrane to leak check the machine prior to launch.

Visit photographer's Web Site.

Aviation & WW2 enthusiasts dressed in period costumes re-enact a typical scene from WW2 by posing in front of Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress.

Visit photographer's Web Site.

Mike Goulian refining his tumbling technique over Possum Kingdom, Texas.

Visit photographer's Web Site.

Travel

A Singular Experience

Flying over the Na Pali coast in an old-fashioned, open-cockpit biplane is one tremendous experience

By Mark Kelly

Kaua’i is the oldest of the major Hawaiian Islands and the fourth largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. The ancient age of the island and the fact that is gets the most rainfall of any spot on Earth, combine to form both dense foliage and dramatic scenery.

Carved by erosion over countless thousands of years, Kaua’i has some of the most beautiful coast lines among the Hawaiian Islands. This little island has been featured in more than 70 Hollywood movies and television shows, including the musical South Pacific, the Elvis film Blue Hawaii, and Disney's Lilo & Stitch. The island’s Waimea Canyon was used in filming the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. With so many dramatic views out of the cockpit, it’s not surprising that the aviation-themed film starring actor-pilot Harrison Ford, Six Days and Seven Nights, also used Kaua’i as its setting.

If you want to take your own aerial photos, you should look into some of the local air-tours that operate on the island. Kaua’i is no place for renting your own aircraft and launching off without local knowledge of the inhospitable terrain. The narrow canyons leave little room for a box-canyon escape maneuver and there’s no way out of the top, with low ceilings that shroud the mountain peaks most days. Due to the unique skills required to navigate this challenging flight environment, there are no aircraft rental companies on the island. But there are plenty of experienced air-tour operators that can take you to the views of a lifetime. Although the daunting landscape of this jungle island may appear to be the realm of the helicopter, there is another option that offers a friendly and more personal experience: Tropical Biplanes.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.