Harnessing the Sky
Testimony of Pilot (13): Chapter Two – Final Reflection on “harnessing the sky”
Testimony of Pilot# 13 This second chapter takes its characterization as “harnessing the sky.” Remembering the sky trajectories from Kill Devil Hill to Paris to the Battles of Britain and Midway, to transcontinental airlines and to the edge of the atmosphere and eventually the Moon provide superb “this is no s…t” stories of so many great men and women. They were not only brave risk takers and great “sticks” but extraordinary engineers using aircraft as their data sources and computers in a continual effort to stretch the envelop of flight. Here to complete Chapter Two ARE reflections on three of the greatest with most significant impact on [...]
Testimony of Pilot (12): So, Where Does the Sky End?
Testimony of Pilot# 12 The whole history of the space program is part of moving on and making life better for people on Earth. I want to carry on their work on through the Shuttle, the Station, and the space exploration initiative. I think that’s the way I see it now, and that’s the way I will continue to feel, throughout this flight and, and even afterwards. Eileen Collins Space Shuttle Endeavor comes to Los Angeles to retire to museum life. James Tiberius Kirk, Where Are You? Update and Re-post of Rememberedsky’s fourth offering on 21 September 2012 Ask any pilot, [...]
Testimony of Pilot (11): Cockpits – Situational Awareness in the the Arena
Testimony of Pilot# 11 An airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren’t destructible. Nothing by Chance, Richard Bach SPAD XIII cockpit (c. 1918) as flown by Eddie Rickenbacker in the 94th AERO Squadron and the F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter “glass” cockpit (2018) Once I determined to make Trap’s story of the F4U Corsair development and test the [...]
Testimony of Pilot (10): Eileen Collins – Return to Flight
Testimony of Pilot# 10 In 1990, Eileen Collins was only the second woman to graduate as a test pilot and be selected as a NASA astronaut. She became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle mission during the Discovery’s rendezvous with Mir space station in 1995 and became the first female commander of a US spacecraft on Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-93. Her fourth and final mission was to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) as commander of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-114 which heralded the “return to flight” of the Space Shuttle after the Columbia disaster. Discovery launched on [...]
Testimony of Pilot (9): Bob Hoover – the Best There Ever Was
Testimony of Pilot #9 the greatest pilot I ever saw.- Chuck Yeager Hoover’s “the finest acrobatic pilot we’ve seen in our lifetime” -Astronaut Wally Schirra greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived – Jimmy Doolittle Diversity of experience over their careers is certainly a characteristic of the aviators featured in this second offering of “harnessing the sky” stories within the testimony series. Bob Hoover taught himself aerobatics as a teenager, as a fighter pilot shot down a FW-190, served as a prisoner of war with aviators from various countries/services, escaped and stole a German fighter, as an Air Corps test pilot, among [...]
Testimony of Pilot (8) Neil Armstrong – Research Pilot
Testimony of Pilot# 8 I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium. The pictures above do not represent the common perspective of Neil Armstrong the astronaut and first man to step on the moon. Rather using our characterization of harnessing the sky, they and this post provides a testimony of pilot – Korean War Navy fighter pilot and a NACA/NASA research pilot – related to exploring the hypersonic flight regime existing above Mach 5 and the study of the possibilities of flying a winged vehicle outside [...]
Testimony of Pilot (7): Frederick Trapnell – Test Pilot at War
Testimony of Pilot #7 Aeroplane testing . . . demands for satisfactory results the highest training. It occupies no special place by virtue of this—it merely comes into line with the rest of engineering. Now, one can learn to fly in a month . . . but an engineer’s training requires years. It is evidently necessary, therefore, that engineers—men with scientific training and trained to observe accurately, to criticize fairly, to think logically—should become pilots, in order that the development of aeroplanes may proceed at the rate at which it must proceed if we are to hold that place in the air to which we lay [...]
Testimony of Pilot (6): Charles Lindbergh – THE Flight
Testimony of Pilot #6 An experienced aviator through his own eyes seeing and telling another aviator’s story of a dark and stormy night over the ocean most certainly more than qualifies for a “this is no s…t” testimony. With more night flying and night carrier landings than I ever needed, the selection from Dan Hampton’s THE Flight really strikes home and is spot on for this series. THE Flight Chapter Six – Excerpts THE EMPIRE OF THE NIGHT by Dan Hampton … THE LAST GATE is closing behind me. I’ve reached the point where real navigation must begin. … as Slim stares out at [...]
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Harnessing the Sky
Testimony of Pilot (13): Chapter Two – Final Reflection on “harnessing the sky”
Testimony of Pilot# 13 This second chapter takes its characterization as “harnessing the sky.” Remembering the sky trajectories from Kill Devil Hill to Paris to the Battles of Britain and Midway, to transcontinental airlines and to the edge of the atmosphere and eventually the Moon provide superb “this is no s…t” stories of so many great men and women. They were not only brave risk takers and great “sticks” but extraordinary engineers using aircraft as their data sources and computers in a continual effort to stretch the envelop of flight. Here to complete Chapter Two ARE reflections on three of the greatest with most significant impact on [...]
Testimony of Pilot (12): So, Where Does the Sky End?
Testimony of Pilot# 12 The whole history of the space program is part of moving on and making life better for people on Earth. I want to carry on their work on through the Shuttle, the Station, and the space exploration initiative. I think that’s the way I see it now, and that’s the way I will continue to feel, throughout this flight and, and even afterwards. Eileen Collins Space Shuttle Endeavor comes to Los Angeles to retire to museum life. James Tiberius Kirk, Where Are You? Update and Re-post of Rememberedsky’s fourth offering on 21 September 2012 Ask any pilot, [...]
Testimony of Pilot (11): Cockpits – Situational Awareness in the the Arena
Testimony of Pilot# 11 An airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren’t destructible. Nothing by Chance, Richard Bach SPAD XIII cockpit (c. 1918) as flown by Eddie Rickenbacker in the 94th AERO Squadron and the F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter “glass” cockpit (2018) Once I determined to make Trap’s story of the F4U Corsair development and test the [...]
Testimony of Pilot (10): Eileen Collins – Return to Flight
Testimony of Pilot# 10 In 1990, Eileen Collins was only the second woman to graduate as a test pilot and be selected as a NASA astronaut. She became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle mission during the Discovery’s rendezvous with Mir space station in 1995 and became the first female commander of a US spacecraft on Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-93. Her fourth and final mission was to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) as commander of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-114 which heralded the “return to flight” of the Space Shuttle after the Columbia disaster. Discovery launched on [...]
Testimony of Pilot (9): Bob Hoover – the Best There Ever Was
Testimony of Pilot #9 the greatest pilot I ever saw.- Chuck Yeager Hoover’s “the finest acrobatic pilot we’ve seen in our lifetime” -Astronaut Wally Schirra greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived – Jimmy Doolittle Diversity of experience over their careers is certainly a characteristic of the aviators featured in this second offering of “harnessing the sky” stories within the testimony series. Bob Hoover taught himself aerobatics as a teenager, as a fighter pilot shot down a FW-190, served as a prisoner of war with aviators from various countries/services, escaped and stole a German fighter, as an Air Corps test pilot, among [...]
Testimony of Pilot (8) Neil Armstrong – Research Pilot
Testimony of Pilot# 8 I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium. The pictures above do not represent the common perspective of Neil Armstrong the astronaut and first man to step on the moon. Rather using our characterization of harnessing the sky, they and this post provides a testimony of pilot – Korean War Navy fighter pilot and a NACA/NASA research pilot – related to exploring the hypersonic flight regime existing above Mach 5 and the study of the possibilities of flying a winged vehicle outside [...]
Testimony of Pilot (7): Frederick Trapnell – Test Pilot at War
Testimony of Pilot #7 Aeroplane testing . . . demands for satisfactory results the highest training. It occupies no special place by virtue of this—it merely comes into line with the rest of engineering. Now, one can learn to fly in a month . . . but an engineer’s training requires years. It is evidently necessary, therefore, that engineers—men with scientific training and trained to observe accurately, to criticize fairly, to think logically—should become pilots, in order that the development of aeroplanes may proceed at the rate at which it must proceed if we are to hold that place in the air to which we lay [...]
Testimony of Pilot (6): Charles Lindbergh – THE Flight
Testimony of Pilot #6 An experienced aviator through his own eyes seeing and telling another aviator’s story of a dark and stormy night over the ocean most certainly more than qualifies for a “this is no s…t” testimony. With more night flying and night carrier landings than I ever needed, the selection from Dan Hampton’s THE Flight really strikes home and is spot on for this series. THE Flight Chapter Six – Excerpts THE EMPIRE OF THE NIGHT by Dan Hampton … THE LAST GATE is closing behind me. I’ve reached the point where real navigation must begin. … as Slim stares out at [...]