STUNT PILOT

Sorry no post yesterday. You would think this work stuff would start to leave an older guy like me alone, but no.

Anyway, back at the air show. This was a remarkable aircraft. As you can see, it appears to have two fuselages connected by a single wing.  Another local photographer thought that there is a small jet engine in the center, maybe for the steepest climbs. It seemed go go straight  up, cut power, start to plummet down and then kick in the engines and roar off. No idea how it manages to maintain lift while flying upside down (or how the pilot maintains consciousness). This was very entertaining.          

VTOL

That stands for vertical take off and landing, a military plane that can be used as a fixed-wing aircraft or a helicopter. This sequence of pictures from the air show illustrates how the engines themselves can be rotated from vertical to horizontal. It's amazing that the pilot can maintain control during the transition.              

Upside Down

How can an airplane ever fly upside down? It baffles me when I see an aerobatic show. You know, the wings are shaped to create less air pressure on the top, and thus lift. It you turn the machine over it should push the machine straight into the ground.

Of course, they do fly that way. Turns out it's a combination of a special wing shape and the angle of the wing (and the plane itself) as it pushes through the air. There's a good explanation here. But there are even more complex issues. How come the engine doesn't starve for gasoline and seize from lack of oil pressure? Engineering to the rescue, as this describes.

I threw in the bottom picture just to give a sense of the scene along the Mississippi River during the show.               

 

Air Show

There is an air show a couple of times a day at Fair St. Louis, the holiday celebration at the Arch and Mississippi River. This is way harder to shoot than the fireworks. I'm probably doing good things for my upper body strength by raising and lowering a DSLR with a telephoto that weighs as much as my forearm, but it wears me out.

I just don't understand the physics and engineering of how these planes go through the contortions they do. There could be a whole post about flying upside down.

The final evening extravaganza is tonight. We're doing dinner and fireworks at a restaurant on the 40th floor (as high as it gets in STL) directly facing the Arch and river, camera and tripod in tow. Hope the windows aren't a problem.                   

The Third Of July

Independence Day, the Fourth of July, is a big deal in this country.  My suburb, Webster Groves, has one of the bigger festivals in the area, although nothing compared to the main event downtown. I like to go over on opening night and shoot the carnival rides around sunset.

I'll be in the city center tonight to shoot the BIG fireworks.

A couple of people asked for a Thursday Arch photo.  The holiday air show was practicing over the Mississippi yesterday afternoon. I got the bottom pic from my office window.                

Flying

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That's what we're doing today. We fly from St. Louis to New York's La Guardia airport, pick up a car, drive across a bit of Queens, a bit of the Bronx, through upper Manhattan, across the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. The Crowes get together at my sister's big home in the suburbs almost every Fourth of July.

I was frantically cleaning my desk yesterday afternoon when I heard a lot of noise outside. Pilots were practicing for the air show this weekend at Fair St. Louis (which I'm never home to see). The aerobats were tracing more parabolas around the Arch. I whipped out my point-n-shoot and got this. Good enough.