"Having the Fish" with Jetwhiner and Airplane Geek Rob Mark

There are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedHaveTheFish.mp3. Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free.

You're probably familiar with my #havethefish hashtag on Twitter and/or that longstanding and nearly universal fantasy of non-airline pilots involving both pilots on an airline flight becoming incapacitated and said non-airline-driver being called up to the cockpit and heroically landing the airplane (to the applause and adoration of all aboard, to say nothing of the rest of the world). Something a-la Executive Decision (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116253/). I've long wanted to have a current or former airline driver or two on Airspeed to take a more technical look at that fantasy.

Given a good airplane in cruise at altitude with plenty of fuel, good comm, CAVU day conditions at the destination, and someone on the ground with knowledge of the airplane to talk him down (a-la the King Air off of Marco Island a couple of years ago), what are the chances that a, say, 300-hour instrument-rated private pilot could sit down in the left seat and land the aircraft with the airplane and pax having a reasonable chance of being reusable?

Rob and I talk through the scenario from sitting down in the left seat to how much braking to do.

More information about Rob and his other projects:

Jetwhine: www.jetwhine.com

Airplane Geeks: www.airplanegeeks.com

Acro Camp Post-Production Goes to the Streets!

This is a regular blog post. You’re looking for show notes and links to show audio and video, right? You know you are! Check out the other posts. You’ll find ‘em. Lots of ‘em!

Lots of time lately cataloging footage from principal photography of Acro Camp in May. I have about 2/3 of the aerial footage from Friday 14 May cataloged and indexed. And I’ve even mated some of the multi-camera parts with their respective counterparts.

That day was one of the more intensive flying days. And it had some of the best weather of the camp. Thus it’s taking a long time to get through, but it’s well worth it.

I’m planning to take the editing process out on the road and edit the film in public so people can see how the sausage is made and maybe become a little emotionally attached to the project. This film is going to live or die by word of mouth and social media, so getting the buzz going by doing things like this makes sense. Ad least it makes sense in the somewhat crazy calculus of social media.

I’m planning to be at The Workantile Exchange at 118 South Main in Ann Arbor all day on Saturday,. If you want to see how the project is going (and check out a great coworking space while you’re at it), give me a call at 248-470-7944 and I’ll hook you up. Maybe get lunch or something.

FOD Revisited

One of the best things about AirVenture or any annual event is the way that it helps mark the passage of time. Cole got his callsign, “FOD,” last year. And I shot a picture of him standing in front of the sign at the gas station in Russell, Illinois, purposely obscuring an "O" in “FOOD.” It’s the lower half of the composite above.

We hit Russell again this year to walk around the Russell Military Museum and, naturally, we took another photo to mark the time. It’s the top one.

I’m still ingesting media from AirVenture and will likely have some of that content up soon. But, in the meantime, I’m wrapped up in a reverie about the boy and how much he’s growing. Cool, eh?