Third World War II Honor Flight set for Sept. 16

This latest flight brings the total to 100 Tri-State Area veterans who have participated in a Great River Honor Flight in the local group’s first year.

“That is an amazing accomplishment,” said Carlos Fernandez, chairman of the group. “This is a direct result of the generosity and gratitude that local businesses and individuals have shown for these deserving heroes.”

As with the first Honor Flight in April, this trip will begin and end at the Quality Inn and Suites of Hannibal, Mo.

Each mission has been a milestone for the organization, with the first mission to DC scheduled five months after the group’s start.
Mission II in June moved to Quincy, Ill., and used Holiday Inn East as its headquarters for that trip. The second trip was highlighted by the escort of more than 100 motorcycles as well as a contingent of state troopers, county sheriffs and local police units from various locations in Illinois and Missouri.

Those veterans were welcomed home by a cheering crowd of approximately 500 family members, supporters and the Quincy Park Band. Also, Mission II included the first female World War II veteran for Great River Honor Flight.

Veterans and guardians will be transported by charter bus to St. Louis Lambert International Airport where they will board a direct flight to Baltimore and then travel to Washington, D.C.

If time permits, after visiting the World War II memorial the veterans will take a tour of the city and visit other memorials including Arlington National Cemetery.

A direct flight back to St. Louis will end in a charter bus ride back to Hannibal later that same night. Their arrival time back to Hannibal is expected to be at about 11 p.m. Thursday.

As with the previous flights, veterans will be selected from all around the Tri-State Area.

“The hope is that enough money will be raised to allow a fourth flight in October of this year as well as to begin our fundraising for 2011,” said Neil Maune, vice-chairman of the organization.

Contributions of any amount are appreciated and are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Honor Flight does not accept contributions from WWII veterans, as they have already given enough for the nation.

Great River Honor Flight, a Missouri nonprofit corporation established in October of 2009, was created solely to honor America’s veterans that live in the area for all they have sacrificed by providing, free of charge, transportation to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices.

It is estimated that more than 1,000 World War II veterans are dying each day across the country.

The World War II memorial honors the 16 million who served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, the more than 400,000 who died and the millions who supported the war effort from home.

Funded primarily by private contributions, the memorial opened on April 29, 2004.

Access www.wgem.com/honorflight, contact David Mobley at 573-985-5641 or 248-2136, or Susan Till at 217-228-6673 for more information and about how to contribute.

Differences between RC Helicopter and RC Airplane Flight

Any helicopter pilot who can hover can takeoff and land. With an airplane, taking off and landing is usually considered harder than straight and level flight.
When flying forward with a helicopter, you have to keep the nose down to keep flying forward.
Hovering a helicopter is a completely different process than hovering a 3-D airplane.
Airplanes generally need a larger area to fly in than helicopters.
When more than one person is flying an airplane at a field, they generally fly planes in a pattern around the runway. Helicopter pilots tend to choose their own zones in the air, which they stay in and do not leave.

Recent radio systems generally have modes for both airplanes and helicopters, but there are a few other differences. RC helicopter radios lack the ratchet that RC airplane radios have on the throttle. The ratchet is great for keeping the throttle setting constant on an RC airplane, but it is not good for helicopters because variations in the throttle setting smaller than the graduations on the ratchet may need to be made. RC helicopter radios also have a 3 position flight mode switch on the left side (normal, idle up 1, idle up 2) and a 2 position throttle hold switch on the right side.

Motors, engines, batteries, and ESCs are usually interchangeable between helicopters and airplanes. Motors that are specifically designed for helicopters use more oil in the fuel and have a larger heatsink.

What makes Fantasy of Flight's runways so special?

When Kermit Weeks first spotted the property he would transform into Fantasy of Flight, the foremost thought in his mind was how to align his runways. He wanted a cross configuration to maximize landing options: a longer runway favoring the prevailing wind direction, and a shorter one crossing it for accommodating lighter aircraft that are more susceptible to cross-wind conditions. Moreover, it was important to protect his landing approaches as to not fly over potential neighbors. He had to be able to align them to come in over a lake, a swamp, or his own property. Most importantly, they needed to be grass to accommodate his treasured early tail skid aircraft with no brakes.
Normally, a grass runway is created by finding a large flat space and leveling it a bit if necessary so your airplane doesn't bump around too much. However, a normal grass runway would never accommodate landing a B-29 on it!

While Fantasy of Flight's runway look like a normal grass runways, everything about Fantasy of Flight is unique, and there is far more than meets the eye. Beneath the forgiving Bahia grass and layer of top soil lies an 18" stabilized clay road base, complete with crown and swales for drainage. It was built to DOT standards, and the only thing we didn't do was pave it. It is strong enough to bring home a heavy B-29 but still allow for the gentle landing of a Jenny.

Says Kermit, "After a couple years watching the grass come in, we realized we had built a road and then tried to farm on it!" And while it took a while to fill in, it was worth it as it is perfectly suited for the operation of the World's Greatest Aircraft Collection! The price for this luxury? Enough to make it probably the most expensive grass runway in the world!

Lockheed Martin HC-130J Takes First Flight

The new Lockheed Martin HC-130J personnel recovery aircraft took off for the first time on July 29. Due for delivery to the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command in September 2010, the HC-130J is scheduled to reach initial operational capability in 2012. An Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130J variant of this aircraft will fly in early 2011.
Compared to a classic C-130 a new propulsion system, featuring four powerful Allison AE2100D3 engines, generates more thrust while increasing fuel efficiency. An all-composite six-blade Dowty Aerospace R391 propeller system is lighter in weight and has fewer moving parts. Advanced avionics includes LCD instrument readouts for aircraft flight control, operating systems, and navigation. Besides two head-up displays, it has four multi-functional head-down LCD displays which are night vision goggles compatible. Two mission computers and two backup bus interface units provide dual redundancy. In the baseline (airlifter) version the avionics upgrades result in reduction of crew to 2 pilots and 1 loadmaster - no flight engineer, navigator or radio operator is needed in the cockpit anymore.
The extensive modifications also feature a belly-mounted 360-degree surface search radar, Direction Finder system, nose-mounted electro-optical/infrared radar, FLIR, an airborne Automatic Identification System and new communication systems.
The HC-130J furthermore offers external fuel tanks, flare/smoke float launch tubes and the USAF-standard liquid oxygen system has been converted to gaseous O2.

Source: Lockheed Martin
Photo: Lockheed Martin

European Flight Cancellations: The Latest

Britain: Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said all British airports would be reopen from 2100GMT (1700EST), allowing passenger services into the U.K. to resume. Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said all U.K. airspace would reopen at the same time.

Germany: Airspace closed for regular flights until further notice - except for Hamburg and Bremen airports, which were to be open for regular flights between 2100GMT Tuesday (5 p.m. EDT) and 0600GMT (2 a.m. EDT) Wednesday. Air traffic control says weather forecasts suggest that that time frame could be extended and other areas could be reopened soon.

Airlines already are being permitted to operate a limited number of flights to and from all airports - up to 800 in total Tuesday - under so-called visual flight rules.

France: Limited flights from the Paris airports to several international destinations resume Tuesday, most French airports now open to limited traffic. The government hopes 100 percent of long-haul flights and 60 percent of medium-haul flights will run Wednesday.

Netherlands: Dozens of flights depart and arrive at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and the government announces that flights can now be carried out in darkness using instruments. The airport lists both canceled and departed flights Tuesday morning after the Dutch government approved flights under certain conditions. KLM lists about 40 flights due to arrive or depart. Company says it is "resuming normal operations in a phased manner."

Sweden: Stockholm's Arlanda airport is expected to close at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. EDT) as the ash cloud moves in over central Sweden. Airports at Skavsta, Goteborg and Malmo are also closed. Overflights at high altitude are permitted across the country.

Norway: Aviation officials opened Norwegian airspace Tuesday afternoon until at least 0000 GMT (8 p.m. EDT) after weather forecasts indicated the latest wave of ash would pass south of Norway. Authorities had closed airports along the southwestern coast. Oslo's Gardermoen international airport is open for flights to and from the U.S. and some European airports. Oslo's discount airline terminals, Torp and Rygge, are also open.

Austria: Austria: Austrian airspace remains open after permission to resume takeoffs and landings took effect at 0300 GMT Monday (11 p.m. EDT Sunday). Some flights continue to be canceled but situation improving.

Ireland: Irish Aviation Authority says Shannon airport in the west was reopening at 1200GMT (8 a.m. EDT) but the airports in Dublin and Cork remain closed until at least 1800GMT (2 p.m. EDT). Flights above 20,500 feet are permitted.

Italy: Officials say a handful of domestic flights have resumed through Milan as Italy starts reopening airports. Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport is clearing out waiting passengers with 22 international flights and 32 domestic. Most passengers are English and German.Alitalia said it was the first company to reactivate flights between Europe and Japan. The Italian airline also said it operated 580 flights Tuesday, including 149 international and 21 intercontinental, or more than 80 percent of a normal day's flights.

Denmark: Several Danish airports including Copenhagen will reopen Wednesday at 0000 GMT (8 p.m. EDT) but close again six hours later. Airspace in northern Denmark will remain closed except for overflights at high altitude.

Switzerland: Airspace reopened to regular traffic at 0600 GMT (2 a.m. EDT) Tuesday.

Poland: The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, said the Polish skies would open to air travel at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) Wednesday.

The Polish airline LOT said it is preparing to resume some flights from New York and Chicago and European and domestic flights but did not give details.

Czech Republic: Airspace and airports remain open. Prague airport has confirmed two thirds of normal daily flights for Tuesday.

Slovakia: Airspace reopened since midday Monday, but Ryanair cancels all Tuesday flights from Bratislava.

Spain: Reopened all airports Sunday.

FSX; A Program With Amazing Potential

Dudley Henriques has long been our ‘resident test pilot’, working for Microsoft to help them make their aircraft models more realistic, and helping the flightsim communities learn how things are done ‘in the real world’, specializing on the classic jet fighters of the now previous age. Man, does that make us feel old! But old is good in this instance, because it means experience.
Dudley had tremendous problems in the past with getting FSX to run, and he even quit FS for some time because of it, but he’s back and has things working now. So we’re happy to see he is getting enthusiastic again and wants to share his wisdom with us. Read his story below !!

I’m not here to sell FSX to you as a training tool. My purpose here is to relay to you that what I’m seeing now being done within FSX by developers who have upgraded the program into what I believe is a simulator worthy of serious positive comment as the program affects YOU, the end user.

Remember I mentioned several factors I believe will define the future for desk top flight simulation? These factors are an actual trend toward realism, accuracy, and fidelity. I equate all these factors to a single all important design model. That design model can be summed up in a single concept, and that concept is a designed in UNPREDICTABILITY within the flight experience!

You can build a “game” around predictability, where the outcome of a performed action or the outcome of an unperformed action has been preordained by the code placed there for you by a programmer, but for anything approaching the realism, accuracy, and fidelity found in the actual flight experience, you MUST have a factor of predictable outcome ONLY if correct procedure and/or action is followed. For ANY flight simulator to even approach the real world flying experience the designer of that simulator has to eliminate the predictable outcome factor and find a way to make predictability of outcome based on the performance of the aircraft, and that performance directly linked to the performance and action or even inaction of the sim pilot flying that aircraft.

Next Wii Zelda to Feature Flight?

Aonuma talks dungeons, and drops hints that Link may take to the skies.

In an interview with The Guardian, Zelda Producer Eiji Aonuma discussed his early dungeon designs. He also dropped what may be a passing thought, or possibly a portent of things to come.


Aonuma discussed how his original passion was making marionettes, stating that he enjoyed how an audience would be surprised by their actions and wonder how they were made. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the craft involved in the creation of marionettes and Aonuma's creation of dungeons - which the article aptly describes as "mechanical puzzles" - for the Zelda series, starting with his Water Temple in 1998's The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. His one regret with the Water Temple was that it relied on constantly switching the boots that Link was wearing, meaning that players had to repeatedly access their inventory. "I am most sorry that it was not easy for you to put on and take off the heavy boots; that all the time you had to visit the inventory. I am very sorry about that. I should have made it much easier to switch to the heavy boots."


Perhaps his most interesting comments came when discussing his young son. "I have an eight-year-old son myself at home, and quite recently he started playing The Phantom Hourglass for DS, because when the software first hit the market he was too young. When he started playing with the boat, I told him: 'In the next Zelda, you are going to be able to ride on the train.' He answered: 'OK, Dad, first boat, and then train? Surely next time, Link is going to fly in the sky ... '" He would offer no further details.


Aonuma went on to re-confirm that the next Zelda will use Wii MotionPlus, explaining how the game will benefit from its inclusion. "It's not just an improvement over the movement of Link himself: the realization of your more minute movements on the screen will expand the entire gameplay. I believe that we will be able to offer some great innovations in the new Legend of Zelda."

First Flight: How Wright Brothers Changed World

Orville and Wilbur Wright had a few doubts about whether this was a good day to try to get their flying machine off the ground. They'd had one setback three days earlier when Wilbur lost control of the craft as he was trying to take off, damaging a wing.
It had taken them a day to repair the damage and get ready to try again, but on December 16 the winds had died to almost nothing and they decided to wait another 24 hours in hopes it would pick back up. Now, with the wind blowing at a strength that could cause them problems trying to control the flyer, they pondered whether to pack it in for the season and come back next year to resume their efforts.

But they didn't want to go back home to Ohio without knowing once and for all whether this design was going to work. So they decided that this day was as good as any to give it one more shot.

The Wrights hauled their wood-metal-and-muslin flyer—which resembled a box kite with propellers—out of its hangar and hoisted a red flag at their camp to signal the nearby U.S. Lifesaving Station that they'd like some help getting the flyer into position.

The modest, hardworking Midwesterners had formed a bond with the taciturn inhabitants of the remote, sparsely populated islands, and they'd had no trouble recruiting willing helpers in the years they'd been coming to the Outer Banks to develop their flyer.

On December 17, crewmen John Daniels, Will Dough, and Adam Etheridge came over from the Lifesaving Station. W.C. Binkley of Manteo and Johnny Moore, a teenager from Nags Head, also showed up to lend a hand.

These five men would witness an event that would change the world forever.

In December 1903, the industrialized world moved at the speed of a steam engine, and lots of people thought that was fast enough. A few months earlier a smug American scientist claimed to have proven that a powered aircraft would never fly, despite the dogged efforts of several would-be aviators besides the Wright Brothers. The scientist's opinion seemed to be confirmed a little later when a motorized flyer designed by Samuel Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, plunged into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., as its pilot tried to get it into the air.

Men wore bushy handlebar moustaches and stiff, high-necked collars in 1903 and wouldn't have stepped outside without donning a derby or perhaps a top hat. Women wore high-button shoes and ankle-length skirts, and no self-respecting female would dare go out in public unless her hair was properly pinned up and she had a hat on her head.

In 1903, a nickel had the same purchasing power as a dollar bill would have a century later.

That was the world the Wright Brothers changed.