Oregon Trip Day 7: Big Planes and Little Creeks

This morning started out again with breakfast at the hotel. Biscuits and gravy. Not nearly as good as my southern grandmother used to make, but not bad.

We then made a quick run to the grocery store, mainly for turkey dogs (we are camping, after all), then back to the hotel to pack the cars and head off for the coast.


Having picked up a brochure during breakfast, JaG was amenable to taking Route 99w to Route 18 out to the coast, stopping along the way in McMinville to see

The fact that JaG was as well is just, well, cool.

Pulling off the highway, we approached the massive building that houses the plane. In Long Beach, the plane had been kept inside a dome, all by itself (as far as I know). What I didn’t realize was that, under the Goose’s massive wings, were parked several of dozen equally interesting planes.

As such, we spent the next couple of hours wandering around, reading the sign-boards for the planes, which were fascinating since they included both general history of the model and specific history of the plane right there in front of you.

As for the Spruce Goose, you could walk into the main deck, looking down the fuselage and learning about how much the plane could transport. I eschewed dropping $50 to see the Goose’s cockpit.

Big planes have big presence on AeroShell Square

No matter how you say it, the word "big" has taken on new meaning at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009. The Airbus A380 may be gone from AeroShell Square, but plenty of big planes have taken its place

Within two hours on Friday, AeroShell Square volunteers were busy, getting out the Airbus A380 and getting in the C-5M Super Galaxy, the C-17 Globemaster III, and the C-130 Hercules.

The Super Galaxy will leave at 6 p.m. today, but throughout the day you can tour the transporter that is over two stories tall - the top of the tail, in fact, is six stories tall - and just 17 yards short of a football field.

You can also get an audio tour of the C5-M Super Galaxy, with M standing for modernized, by calling 920-593-9050.

The C5 has been serving armed forces nearly four decades, and the modernization ensures it will remain in service through 2040. The C5-M is one of the largest airplanes, and its belly can hold up to six buses, or an eight-lane bowling alley, or 25 million ping pong balls. It has an 840,000-pound takeoff weight.

The C-17 Globemaster III is also designed to fulfill airlift needs, carrying large combat equipment and troops or items for humanitarian need. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds and is 174 feet long and 55 feet 1 inch high.

The C-130 Hercules is the world's most advanced tactical airlifter. It is nearly 113 feet long and 39 feet high, with a wingspan of 132 feet and 7 inches. It has a maximum take-off weight of 164,000 pounds.

AERONAUTICS: Big Planes

Rabelais' jocose giant Pantagruel, under whose tongue a whole army once hid, might find the 500-ft. U. S. plane now being designed no wonder. But certainly the Arabian roc, which carried off elephants for its nestlings as an eagle rapes a mouse, would shy from the monstrous thing U. S. engineers propose to build for $5,000,000. Who the financiers are, who the builders, was kept secret. That it was a bona fide project Harry Westcott of Westcott & Mapes, Inc., New Haven and Manhattan engineering firm, testified immediately after Governor John H. Trumbull of Connecticut had predicted such a ship at a dinner of New Haven's august Union League Club. Westcott & Mapes are now estimating their bids on the structural work of not one, but two such planes. The builders expect that the first will be wrecked by the ineptitude of navigators with such a mighty machine. The lessons they learn in wrecking the first plane they can apply to flying the second. Each will have at least a dozen 1,000-h. p. motors, will be able to carry 500 passengers, 104 crew. Aerodynamic calculations suggest that they should be able to fly so high, so powerfully that reduced wind resistance will enable them to flit between Manhattan and London in six hours.

To these stupendities the present "biggest" planes already successfully flown are as hawks to eagles. They were designed by Claude Dornier,* Hugo Junkers, Adolph Rohrbach and Gianni Caproni respectively. (A German engineer, probably one of the three aforementioned, is the consultant on motive power for the U. S. ships.)

China wants to rival Boeing, Airbus with its C919 'big plane'

"To develop the large-scale airliner is a strategic decision of the Chinese government and one of the major programs for building up an innovation-oriented country," Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang said last month, according to the Xinhua state news agency.

The model of the C919 was unveiled in August. Work on a prototype began only last month. A maiden flight isn't scheduled until 2014, and the jet won't be available commercially until 2016. Even then, it's aimed at China's domestic market rather than for U.S. or other countries' airlines.

But the Chinese manufacturer already says the twin-engine, narrow-body design of the C919 is superior to the planes it would compete against: the Boeing 737, the best-selling jetliner in the world, and its competitor, the Airbus A320.

The plane "is more advanced compared to the current operating aircraft of the same size," Chen Jin, sales chief of the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, which will make the planes, told China's English-language China Daily newspaper. "It will use between 12% and 15% less fuel, and help reduce carbon emissions."

The manufacturer also says it can bring the C919 in at a price lower than the $50 million range that Boeing and Airbus charge for each of their planes.

Such boasts could indeed make the C919 a rival of Boeing and Airbus — if met. But U.S. and international aircraft industry analysts question whether they can be. Despite state backing and a strong travel market, the Chinese manufacturer faces many technical and commercial challenges.

"I don't think Boeing or Airbus will feel at all threatened by this," says Derek Sadubin, CEO of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an independent think tank in Sydney.

gliders basic

1799-1850's - George Cayley - Gliders

Sir George Cayley is considered the father of aerodynamics. Cayley experimented with wing design, distinguished between lift and drag, formulated the concepts of vertical tail surfaces, steering rudders, rear elevators, and air screws. George Cayley worked to discover a way that man could fly. Cayley designed many different versions of gliders that used the movements of the body to control. A young boy, whose name is not known, was the first to fly one of Cayley's gliders, the first glider capable of carrying a human.
For over 50 years, George Cayley made improvements to his gliders. Cayley changed the shape of the wings so that the air would flow over the wings correctly. Cayley designed a tail for the gliders to help with the stability. He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider. George Cayley also recognized that there would be a need for machine power if the flight was to be in the air for a long time.

George Cayley wrote "On Ariel Navigation" that showed that a fixed wing aircraft with a power system for propulsion, and a tail to assist in the control of the airplane, would be the best way to allow man to fly.

Early History of Flight

Around 400 BC - Flight in China
The discovery of the kite that could fly in the air by the Chinese started humans thinking about flying. Kites were used by the Chinese in religious ceremonies. They built many colorful kites for fun, also. More sophisticated kites were used to test weather conditions. Kites have been important to the invention of flight as they were the forerunner to balloons and gliders.

Humans Try to Fly like Birds
For many centuries, humans have tried to fly just like the birds and have studied the flight of birds. Wings made of feathers or light weight wood have been attached to arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often disastrous as the muscles of the human arms are not like a birds and cannot move with the strength of a bird.
1485 Leonardo da Vinci - The Ornithopter and the Study of Flight.
The drawings illustrated the wings and tails of birds, ideas for man carrying machines, and devices for the testing of wings.

The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept. Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks on flight were reexamined in the 19th century by aviation pioneers.

Flight accident insurance plans

This insurance policy comes in handy especially:

When a person who is not a pilot, operator or member of the crew, but a passenger boarding or alighting from a public conveyance provided by a common carrier sustains severe injuries.

Another type of flight accident insurance which is more expensive than the regular flight accident cover can be taken by an individual anytime when he/she is traveling or living abroad.

A multi-trip flight accident insurance is intended for frequent flyers and it provides accidental death and dismemberment coverage for flights only. Typically such type of accident cover extends to several trips during the year and each trip not exceeding a month.


As such there are three major flight accident insurance plans that are offered for most international carriers. There could be minor variation or change in the nomenclature of the plans from one service agency to another although the features of the plans are more or less the same.


Plan 1: This 'flight accident insurance plus plan' offers coverage up to $ 300,000 with additional coverage up to an extent of $500,000, which can also be purchased. A 24/7 accidental death and dismemberment coverage and a medical evacuation and repatriation expenses plan are all included in the plus package. Although there is no trip cancellation cover and only a limited medical expense cover offered, lost or stolen baggage up to $1000 and baggage delay up to $ 100 can be claimed. A flight only coverage from $200,000 to $ 500,000 is also available.



Plan 2: A 'travel guard and flight guard' package under flight accident insurance policy includes coverage for accidental death and dismemberment while aboard a commercial aircraft. A 24/7 live travel assistance is available. This package does not cover medical benefits, and the plan must be purchased prior to departure. No trip cancellation benefits are included.


Plan 3: Yet another 'liaison traveler' flight insurance cover comes with coverage period options of 3-month, 6-month and 12-month for unlimited number of trips outside the country. A host of medical benefits, repatriation schemes, other than accidental death and dismemberment are available. The facility to upgrade the plan to include accidental injury and emergency sickness is available. An increased death and dismemberment up to $ 1 million is also provided.


Flight accident insurance schemes

Flight accident insurance is made available with other packages, and not only as a stand-alone plan. Such packages are:


Travel care packages: Mostly intended by airlines for passengers below the age of 75, here stable pre-existing medical conditions are covered. Emergency medical, trip cancellation and interruption, loss and damage to baggage, and flight and travel accident insurance are covered under such deluxe package. These come as either single trip covers for travelers under age 75 or multi trip annual covers for travelers under age 60.


Deluxe packages: Coverage for cancellation charges or non-refundable amounts and expenses during a trip, protection for baggage and vital documents, 24-hour multilingual professional medical assistance, coverage for death or certain injuries caused by travel or flight accident, and unlimited coverage for eligible medical expenses are some of the features of deluxe packages available in select flights.


Non-medical packages: This is meant especially for those travelers who already possess medical insurance coverage when out of country. This package is available for single trips lasting up to 183 days. It has other regular features such as coverage for trip cancellation and interruption, damage or lost baggage, delay in baggage, flight and travel accident insurance.