2012 Demo Hornet Revealed Today - Canadian Forces CF18 Demo Team | In a small ceremony at 3
Wing today, this year's CF18 Demonstration Hornet was officially unveiled. Witnessed by family and friends from the Bagotville community, he unveiling was officiated by Colonel Paul Prévost, Wing Commander, and Captain Patrick "Paco" Gobeil, the 2012 Demo Pilot....
F-5 Formation Flight - lauderdaleairshow.com | The VFC-111 Sundowners are a US Navy Reserve adversary squadron based at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida The Sundowners currently operate 18 Northrop F-5N/F Tiger-IIs. VFC-111 assumed its ‘Sundowner’ insignia, callsign, and traditions from the VF-111 Sundowners, a famous U.S. Navy fighter squadron, that was disestablished as a fleet F-14 Tomcat squadron at...
Gault to cook up flight display for Wanaka - Voxy | A display pilot who will be looking to put an extra five percent magic into his performance at the Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow this Easter is celebrity chef, Simon Gault. Mr Gault, who is currently judging on TVNZ's MasterChef New Zealand series, is also an aerobatic pilot, gliding instructor and experienced display pilot. Well-known for putting 'an extra five percent magic' into his cooking, the award-winning restaurateur will fly a high-performance Thunder Mustang. The Thunder Mustang is a three-quarter scale replica of the WWII-era P-51 Mustang....
Centennial of the First Parachute Jump From an Airplane Celebrated at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis from The Aero Experience - Celebrating Midwest Aviation | The centennial of the first parachute jump from an airplane was celebrated today at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis today. A commemorative parachute jump was performed by 82-year-old Lewis Sanborn, a master parachutist with more than 7,300 jumps to his credit. Sanborn served in the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division from 1948 to 1952 and...
Women's History Month - Defense.gov | A whole page with links dedicated to female aviators and the influence they had on aviation.
March 10th Proclaimed Women Fly it Foward Weekend in Frederick, MD! from Toriaflies | Tonight I, along with my fellow Sugarloaf Ninety-Nines, received a proclamation from the City of Frederick declaring the weekend of March 10th "Women Fly it Forward Weekend". Thanks to the City of Frederick for this honor and your support of this great event! Just 10 more days, time is flying to the big day! Will we make history again?
Living History Flying Day set - The Sun | Planes of Fame Air Museum's Living History Flying Day event will feature a flight demonstration of the North American B-25 Mitchell bomber and a panel discussion of the aircraft and World War II's "Doolittle Raid."
Flying Tigers in Burma from 1942 Life Magazine - Speaking Eagles | Photographs for LIFE by George Rodger | March, 1942 Life Magazine | One shining hope has emerged from three catastrophic months of war. That is the American Volunteer Group of fighter pilots, the so-called “Flying Tigers” of Burma and southeast China who paint the jaws of a shark on their Curtiss P-40′s. Outnumbered...
Kawasaki KAQ-1 drone from Travel for Aircraft | Training fighter pilots to intercept an aircraft and 
About the BC Aviation Museum from AirSpace | The BC Aviation Museum is situated in Sidney BC adjacent to Victoria International Airport. Have a look at their website to see the aircraft on display as well as other interesting BC Aviation artifacts....
Tom Gwilym from Flight To Success by Karlene Petitt | Friday's Fabulous Flyer | I met Tom at our first Fly It Forward event two years ago. He selflessly donated his time and energy taking women flying. He is the person who told me that no matter how big our problems appear on the ground, when you're flying... it puts everything in perspective and makes them so much smaller....
Military Flight Release Clears F-35A for Take-off from Warplanes Online Community | The F-35A Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters can take to the skies with the Military Flight Release issued last February 28. The multi-million jet fighters has been stuck with test flights until the US Air Force Aeronautical System Center issued MFR. Now, the F-35A JSF can perform initial operations at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida....
Stahr's Flying Works of Art:Defining What it Means to Look Completely Awesome in the Sky from Airplanista Aviation Blog by Dan Pimentel | If you have spent any time in the Experimental area at EAA's Airventure Oshkosh, you've seen John Stahr's artwork....
Worldwide Auto Show Debut of Terrafugia's Street Legal Airplane from Alabama Aviator - Aviation News | The Transition® Roadable Aircraft, developed by Terrafugia, Inc., makes its auto 
show debut at the 2012 New York International Auto Show, April 6th through the 15th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. After years of testing and engineering breakthroughs, Terrafugia has decided it is time to share their unique product with the legions of fans attracted to the NYIAS....
Tom Cruise and F-35 to co-star in Top Gun II from Sky Talk by Star-Telegram | Top GunThis may be the aviation/aerospace military-industrial complex scoop of the week. Forget technical problems and cost overruns. Tom Cruise reportedly is coming to Fort Worth to play an F-35 test pilot in a sequel to Top Gun. Top Gun II perhaps....
'The ZipSter' Planning Space Diver Powered Rocket Flight on Interorbital Booster from Spaceports | ,,,Olav will forego the previous balloon-lift method used by the current record-holder, and, instead, will jump from an Interorbital Systems’ SR 145 rocket. The launcher will propel Olav to an altitude of over 40 kilometers (about 25 miles)—higher than any manned balloon can possibly go—where he will eject from the launch vehicle and...
Friday, March 2, 2012
Indy Transponder 03-MAR-2012 1230z
Indy Transponder 02-MAR-2012 0300z
Airfest kicks off Friday in Keystone - The Gainesville Sun | More than 50 years since its use as a U.S. Army Air Corps training ground for the D-Day invasion, Keystone Heights Airport is hosting the 5th Annual Wings of Dreams Airfest starting Friday and running through Sunday. School tours will be given on Monday...
Mike Wiskus - lauderdaleairshow.com | ...Mike has accumulated more than 23,000 flight hours and 
Watch rare warbird planes, celebrate vets at Wings of Dreams - Ocala.com | The year is 1943. Rosie the Riveter is encouraging women on the home front as soldiers are sent overseas. Zoot Suits, jazz and American pride reign supreme....
Tickets for Thunder in the Valley are on sale now - Columbus Ledger-Enquirer | This year, featured guests include Team RV, the largest aerobatic formation team in the world; Gary Ward in his MX 2; Greg Connell in his radial-powered Pitts Model 12; Mark Sorenson Airborne Comedy; the F-18 and V-22 Osprey and Sky Soldiers helicopter...
AF meets Navy - navy.mil | Marine Sgt. Kyle Storm, a crew chief assigned to the U.S. Navy flight 
Aircraft at the Tattoo - RIAT | Welcome to the Aircraft Participation section of the Air Tattoo website. Here you will find information about those countries that have been invited to participate, how these requests for aircraft are progressing and which aircraft are confirmed to attend. This information will be updated every Thursday from now until the show on 7 & 8 July 2012....
In pictures: Red Arrows memorial designs on display - BBC News | In pictures: Red Arrows memorial designs on display.
B-24 Liberator Bomber Crew Camp - Collings Foundation | Have you ever dreamed of becoming part of a bomber crew and flying your very own mission? The Collings Foundation will be offering a very unique two-day training program in...
The Red Bull Air Force Celebrates Leap Day from Aerial Sports Feed | Six members of the Red Bull Air Force ring in Leap Day 2012 the best way they know how, by...
2012 from Melissa Aerobatics | Hi! I thought I should give a quick 2012 update! We have had an 
amazing kick start to the season with a trip to Panama, City with the Edge for a show then up to Cozumel and Laredo, Texas! Pictures to...
Hill Country Air Race, Llano, TX 4-21-12 from VAF Forums by Bob Axsom | This race is now open for entries at www.sportairrace.org via calendar of events. Race course and details are listed there as well...
Berry’s Leap - airspacemag.com | ...On March 1, 1912, U.S. Army Captain Albert Berry climbed into 
Female Aviators Inspire Pulp Fiction Adventures - The Golden Gazette News | It began with a “wing and a prayer” during those early years of flight. From the time when the Wright Brothers took their experimental aircraft aloft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina the race was on to build and pilot airplanes. And while it’s true that most of those early aviators were men, there were also several heroic women that took to the skies....
Rancho Mirage combat pilot offers bird's eye view of life - Mydesert.com | Buzz Lynch has been a combat pilot, a test pilot and an air-show performer, but the stunt that got him on the national news had nothing to do with either of these. It was...
Av Geeks (Myself Included) Flock to Seattle for Aviation Geek Fest 2012 from blogsouthwest.com | Are you an aviation geek? This past weekend, aviation geeks (also known as "av geeks") from all across the country assembled in the Seattle area, home of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, to take part in Aviation Geek Fest 2012. The event, held at the Future of Flight Museum in Everett, WA, was the...
Online visitors can experience entire museum through Virtual Tour - National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Virtual Tour is now fully embedded with audio and video hotspots, and touch-screen devices, offering online visitors the opportunity to experience the entire museum. Located at www.nmusafvirtualtour.com, the final two areas to be embedded -- the Cold War Gallery, with over 300 hotspots, and the...
Air museum finds temporary home - Members of the Pendleton Air Museum plan to gather Saturday and clean up a building at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport and turn it into a temporary home....
Stratovision! - The Original Rocket Dungeon | ...Before satellite TV and cable, there was 
The Pilot as Hero in the Aviation Film Genre - The National Air and Space Museum | The relationship between film, history, and mass culture is especially intriguing when we examine the correspondences between the representation of pilot-heroes in film and public perceptions of aviation. These connections are applicable during the heyday of the aviation genre film—the interwar years and WWII. For many years...
Exec: Top Gun 2 Is Real and Stars a Plane That Doesn’t Fly - Gizmodo | A Lockheed engineer is probably the last person you'd expect to break the news of a Hollywood mega-blockbuster sequel, but here we go! Flightglobal is reporting Top Gun 2 is not only...
Record-breaking supersonic UAV jet in the works - University of Colorado aerospace engineer Ryan Starkey is currently designing what he claims will be fastest, most fuel-efficient aircraft in its class. Known as the GOJETT, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be powered by a new type of jet engine that he is also developing - the L-FX00. According to Starkey, that engine...
International Auto Show Debuts Terrafugia’s Street Legal Aircraft - SAJ | The Transition® Roadable Aircraft, developed by Terrafugia, Inc., makes its auto show debut at the 2012 New York International Auto Show, (NYIAS) April 6th through the 15th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. Terrafugia has decided, after years of testing and engineering breakthroughs, that it is time to share their unique product with the legions of fans attracted to the NYIAS....
Wright-Patterson Aero Club to close - Dayton Daily News | The Wright-Patterson Aero Club, a fixture at the base since 1954, is likely to close within several months because it is losing money and its building and its airplanes need costly maintenance, the Air Force said Thursday. Leadership at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and...
Students display aviation history to mark the completion of transport makeover - Harrow Times | Primary school kids in Harrow marked to mark the completion of a transport makeover in Mollison Way, to commemorate the area's links to early flight. Kids at Stag Lane School, Collier Lane, used their artistic skills to...
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Kicks Off Fourth Leg of the Dream Tour in Toronto - PR Newswire | Boeing's (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner touched down at Toronto Pearson International Airport today to kick off the fourth leg of the 787 Dream Tour – a worldwide tour featuring the Dreamliner. This leg of the tour includes eight cities across North America. The Dream Tour airplane is in Toronto to celebrate Air Canada's 75th Anniversary. During the...
Save The Date: The Space Shuttle Lands In NYC On April 23rd - gothamist.com | The Space Shuttle Enterprise is finally coming to its new permanent home, New York City. The Intrepid Sea, Air 
Now Underway: the U.S.'s First Suborbital Balloon Factory - POPSCI | The Near Space Corporation, which has won contracts from NASA in the past, announced this week that it'll be building a commercial high-altitude (still suborbital) balloon flight facility, the first of its kind in this country. The balloons go up to around 130,000 feet, right at the edge of space, so they...
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Indy Transponder 01-MAR-2012 1230z
Air racer sets climb record - Press Democrat | Will Whiteside, the former airline pilot whose day job is flying members of Sonoma County's prominent Trione and Codding families wherever they need to go, has always been a fast climber. Whiteside, 40, just raised his own bar. Taking off from the Charles Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, he and his race team set four world records this week by pushing their Romanian-built fighter — named Steadfast — to great heights in very little time....
Dixie State College Welcomes the US Navy Blue Angels to Campus March 16th - KCSG | In conjunction with the upcoming “Thunder Over Utah” Air Show in Utah’s Dixie March 17-18, 2012, Dixie State College of Utah will welcome the United States Navy Blue Angels to campus for a special 
Upside Down Navy - Strategy Page | Members of the U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron the Blue Angels perform a diamond formation maneuver during a ...
Steve Miller Band to play EAA AirVenture 2012 - Fox11online | OSHKOSH - The Steve Miller Band will be performing next to some big ol' jet airliners at EAA AirVenture 2012. The rock group will hit the stage during the first day of the aviation convention. That's Monday, July 23rd. No other details about the concert are being released at this time....
You're Invited: from Flight To Success by Karlene Petitt | Tea/Coffee/Flight For Control | Saturday March 3, 2012 | 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. | CityU-Cafeteria | 11900 NE First St. Bellevue, WA 98005 | Due to the overwhelming success of Flight For Control, I have been invited to speak at City University with Zonta of East King County: Advancing the Status of Women Worldwide. And would love for you to join me...
Planes, trains & automobiles - Sun Gazette | ...He bravely flew aboard B-17 bombers during World War II, but would rather share time with his son building model airplanes than telling war stories. No matter what the task, Charles Kirkman gladly accepted the challenge and gracefully 
Rip your canopy, by Nicholas Batsch, NZ aerosport Athlete from Bonjour BlueSky
Honoring 50 safe years in the air from General Aviation News by Janice Wood | Since its inception in 2007, more than 2,000 pilots have received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the FAA. The award, which recognizes 50 years of accident-free flying, consolidated several similar pilot awards, such as the Golden Eagle Award, that had been presented by various Flight Standards District Offices over the years. The award includes a certificate and pin. In addition,...
Comper Swift C.L.A. 7 - a tiny racer with big performance by shortfinals | The Shuttleworth Trust at Old Warden, Bedfordshire is a truly remarkable place. The grass airfield – with possibly a few visiting aircraft and microlights parked up - and the shop and cafe near the entrance give no indication whatsoever of the treasures contained in the series of plain hangars in front of the visitor. In one of the hangars you will find a rare racer – the Comper C.L.A. 7 Swift, G-ACTF. Nicholas Comper got his start in aviation with the...
Monocoupe - Video featuring a CA based Monocoupe from Another Time by Dan Linn | I am a big fan of the Monocoupe line of vintage aircraft and found this video over on the Antique Airfield web site. Take the eight minutes and watch if you love vintage airplanes and especially the Monocoupe. The featured Monocoupe is based in Sonoma, CA....
The PT-17 Stearman N2S-3 964 from Moose Peterson Aviation Photography | Now home at the AZ 
F-22 Pilots Still Report Hypoxia-like Symptoms from AVweb Top News | There has been a recent spike in reports of hypoxia-like symptoms by pilots of the F-22 Raptor -- an oxygen delivery problem on a Raptor contributed to a fatal crash two years ago. Over the past six months nine pilots have reported hypoxia-like symptoms while flying the roughly $147 million (excluding development costs) per copy jet. Three of those incidents were reported in the last two weeks by pilots at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska -- the same base associated with the fatal crash....
Bell XP-77 Lightweight Fighter & Proposed Successor from Military Photos | Check out this 
Nazi Secrets: WWII planes buried under Seymour, Ind., airport - WDRB | Searchers in Seymour, Indiana, look underground for some of the secrets of World War II -- Nazi secrets, to be precise. The Allies shipped Nazi planes to Freeman Field so pilots and engineers could fly them, take them apart, and put them back together again....
A380 Night Landing – Ultra Cool Cockpit View from Flight Monkeys | Not everyone gets the experience of sitting in the front office of a widebody jet as it slides along from the inner marker to touchdown at a major International Airport. Well, here’s your chance. This Airbus 380 is preparing to touch down at Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB). Maybe it’s the pretty colored...
Astronaut visits aviation school - WZZM | Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, visited Grand Rapids today. Kelly met with students at the West Michigan Aviation Academy before speaking at a business leadership forum with the governor. He captained the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final mission last year. We asked him about his wife, Gabby, who survived a gunshot wound to the head 14-months ago....
Space Shuttle Discovery to Join Smithsonian Collection - dcist.com | Big news for all you space nerds: as we noted last year, the space shuttle Discovery will join the Smithsonian's collection in April. But even better, the AP reports today that NASA got the permits to fly a 747 with the shuttle strapped on it over the U.S. Capitol, allowing anyone in the city with a good view of the sky to get quite the view of it....
Records and Racing
by Marilyn Dash
Progress is being made, say officials for the Reno National Championship Air Races (RARA). Last month, RARA met with the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority (RTAA) to discuss obtaining the permits needed to hold the event at the Reno-Stead Airport in September.
RTAA is the owner and operator of the Reno-Tahoe International and Reno-Stead Airports. It is governed by a nine member Board of Trustees. In this meeting, Mike Houghton, president of RARA told the airport officials that he is "totally satisfied" with the direction the board is taking in considering the permits.
Only two people spoke up against RARA at the RTAA meeting, both have had previous anti-RARA episodes. One of their stated concerns was the NTSB will not complete its probable cause report before the planned September 12th start of the 2012 event. This is quite standard; the NTSB generally takes up to 3 years to investigate such an accident.
The permits from RTAA is just one of the hurdles RARA needs to manage before the Pylon Racing Seminar in June and the Races in September can be held.
The next hurdle is the Air Racing Waiver from the FAA. This allows us to create the airspace necessary to hold such an event. Waivered airspace allows us to exceed the normal speed limits, fly in “close proximity” to other aircraft, etc. These two key items are essential to holding the event. But, they are not the only things on the task list.
In March, the annual Presidents’ Meeting will be held to share the “State of the Races” with each of the racing classes. This meeting should shed additional light on the issues being faced. As news becomes available, I will share what I can.
Speeding and Climbing
In the meantime, Rare Bear has joined Steadfast in trying to break FAI records. We mentioned earlier that Will Whiteside in Steadfast set the 3km record in their weight class, previously held by the Hughes H-1 Racer.
Now, Rare Bear will also go for the 3km record in their weight class sometime this summer. Lyle Shelton set the record in Las Vegas on August of 1989. It currently sits at 528 mph/850 km/h. Lyle also set the “Time to Climb” record - standing start to 3,000 meters (approximately 10,000 feet) - in 91.9 seconds. We do not have word yet if this is part of the plan, but I bet it is. Having Rare Bear break its own record would be a terrific boost for the team. We wish them luck.
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| Rare Bear out to break their own FAI Records |
But, Steadfast shall not be outdone. Will Whiteside will also be going for the “Time to Climb” record in Steadfast. He just set the “Speed over straight 3KM course – internal combustion engine, class C-1d at 669.53. Now, he is looking to topple the “standing start to 3,000 meters. The current record was set by Russell Hancock in a Piper Navajo Piper at 3:33 in 1978. The record has to be broken by 1%.
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| Will Whiteside in Steadfast also breaking records |
Keep in mind that Steadfast is much smaller than Rare Bear and that is why there are two completely different records to be broken. Both are under the Class C, for Internal Combustion Engine, but have different payloads.
Knowing the competitive nature of the Unlimited Teams, we’re wondering if Strega will come out of the hangar to see if she can snag the record away from Rare Bear. Or, maybe Czech Mate sees a future in record breaking. Only time will tell.
Other news
The Trailer for Air Racers -3D is now available. You can see it on You Tube and the trailer will likely be playing at local IMAX theaters to gather some momentum. The last word we received was an April 5th release date in the USA. I know we are putting together a viewing party the minute it hits my area. I will keep everyone posted about details like when you can see this movie and where to get more information about seeing it in your area. It should be amazing, flying with Steve Hinton in Strega in 3D!
Also, Pete Law will be speaking at this year’s NAG (National AirRacing Group) Banquet. Pete has a long history with air racing and aviation. He started in the business with Lockheed in 1959 to work on the F-104. He was then recruited to Skunk Works to work on such famous aircraft as the SR-71, U-2 and the F-117. Darryl Greenamyer recruited Pete to join air racing and we are sure glad he did. Pete is a fixture in the Pits each year helping nearly all the teams with their ADI systems.
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| Pete Law meeting with Tiger and Bob Button |
As always, we look for good news from RARA and in the meantime, we’ll keep and eye on the records and events coming up.
Until then, Fly low, Fly fast and Turn left.
Marilyn Dash
Tim Adams - Photographer
Advanced Warbird Training
by Marilyn Dash
