Fly Me Friendly

I’ve always been wrapped up in aviation and have dreamed of getting my license so I can spend time in the air. My father was in the Air Force, my mother likes aircraft and my sister spent many years working as cabin crew. Flying is in my family’s blood.

I’ve gone flying with friends, I’ve done some gliding, I’ve worked as ground crew with hot-air balloons, I’ve spent time in simulators and I’ve even had two goes at getting my PPL. Each time I’ve dived into it, something has always come along and distracted me from it. Usual suspects include lack of time, lack of funds, relocating for work and so on.

Given all this, I’m determined to get back in the air but it’s going to take some time as I also need to clear some debt, put my son through school and buy a house. So, if it’s going to take a while to make this happen, I’m thinking of working my way along with a certain historical angle. Rather than just going down to the airport and doing my license, I’m thinking I should follow man’s path from ground to air.

Modern aviation began back in 1783 when the Montgolfier Brothers flew a hot-air balloon in Paris, France. From there, we progressed to gliders and then on to powered flight, at which point all hell broke loose and in a little over 100 years we went from string & paper to Concorde, F22 fighters, the A380 and into space.

To retrace these steps, I’ll start by getting my balloon pilot’s license. From there, I’ll complete my gliding then get into powered aircraft. Each step of the way I’ll be learning different skills and abilities that will help at later stages:

• A balloon pilot is in touch with the wind and atmosphere, making a pilot better at recognising wind effects and being aware of what the winds are doing
• A glider pilot is used to having no engine and only one go at getting back down to the group (no go-arounds here), making a pilot better at landing, doing off-field landings (especially spotting fields) and avoiding over-stretching their glide
• Flying a tail dragger helps make a much better stick-and-rudder pilot

So, based on this I’d be looking at the following licenses:

1. Balloon license
2. Glider license
3. Private pilot license (RA-Aus – it’s cheaper and a bit easier)
4. Private pilot license (GA)
5. Tail dragger endorsement
6. Upset recovery and unusual positions recovery
7. Aerobatics ticket
8. MECIR
9. Turbine
10. Astronaut

Somewhere in there I’d also like to get a sea plane endorsement plus maybe go rotary as well. All, of course, while remaining current in everything.

Nothing like having dreams and goals, is there. Guess I’d better go off and get a lottery ticket, no?

This morning was the day of the Royal Victorian Aero Club’s “Dawn Patrol” and, once again, I was watching it from the ground. As a tribute to those who flew in the Battle of Britain during World War II, every year around this time a large number of light aircraft take part in the “Dawn Patrol” flight.

Taking off at streamed intervals from Moorabbin (YMMB) at first light, the route takes the aircraft first to Albert Park lake (about where I live) then over the Shrine of Rememberance. After the Shrine they turn towards Point Cook (YMPC) (birthplace of the RAAF) then overfly Avalon Arport (YMAV) and out around the rest of Port Phillip Bay before landing back at Moorabbin. After the flight there’s a cooked breakfast and ex-military pilots tell a few stories.

It takes a fair bit of planning to get this right and pilots attend a briefing about 4:45am, meet any passengers they may have around 5am then head out to their aircraft. Aircraft are assigned numbers and graded based on their typical cruise speed with the fastest ones going first. Ground control will call out aircraft in blocks to taxi out and get ready to go. It’s up to pilots to sort out their start times if they need longer to warm up, etc. Typically the first aircraft are taking off about 6am and, given they’re the fastest, they’re sometimes coming back to land before the last of the slowest aircraft have even taken off.

I’ve flown in two Dawn Patrols, both times with a friend in a Piper Warrior. The first time I was co-pilot and the other time I was sitting in the back with my son Nykolai. A couple of years back I was on the ground at the Docklands (back when there was still some empty grass land there) preparing to launch some hot air balloons when the Dawn Patrol aircraft went overhead. At least for that event I was doing something aviation related, even if I wasn’t involved in the Patrol itself.

Otherwise, like today, I’ve been on the ground. We were supposed to have gone out last night so I didn’t think of trying to arrange a ride. As it turned out, we had to cancel so I could have gone after all. So at about 6am today I was woken up by the sound of the first aircraft tracking past our place on their way to the Shrine. Judging by the sound, I’d say it was probably Judy Pay in her T-28 Trojan as she’s usually flying the fastest aircraft most years. I quickly threw on some clothes and went up to our roof to watch. In the dim light of pre-dawn I could see the outlines of the aircraft and their strobes. Everyone was flying with their landing lights on to help them stand out against the dark grey low overcast. There were showers in the area but the cloud was lifting out over the bay as the first highspeed singles and a few twins went over. After this batch of aircraft went over one after the other there was a lull and with no others in sight. According to the weather report from Moorabbin there were some strong & gusty winds so that may have forced them to hold off on departures until it could be confirmed that the weather was improving.

Sure enough, against the grey south I could see landing lights coming up as another batch of aircraft streamed past. Primarily some of the faster singles, there were a few light twins as well. Not long after this group came the RVAC Formation Flight in their Piper Warriors. Three aircraft were in tight formation (lead plus two wingmen) with another two flying loose second wing positions. These five aircraft were accompanied by two more that were flying quite some distance from the main formation, one on each side (perhaps taking photos?).

Just before this group came over it had started to rain lightly – annoying but not enough to send me back inside. Given there were more landing lights in the distance, I decided to stay and, sure enough, the rain passed about the same time the other aircraft arrived. This time it was more of the slower aircraft although a fast twin came powering through, passing the others and heading off around the bay.

Eventually there were no more lights to be seen so I headed back inside. I think another couple of aircraft went over after I came in but that was about it.

So that was it, another Dawn Patrol has been & gone and I wasn’t involved. Next year if I am in Melbourne I will ensure that I am, even if I have to go as a passenger.

Is it just me or do other people out there think that all the Chapter 11 section of the bankruptcy law in the USA is doing is to preserve outdated, inept and clueless airline management? It amazes me how airlines can go into Chapter 11, negotiate with those they owe money to, rip off their employees (forcing harsher conditions/pay & raping their pensions), restructure a little and then come out the other end repeating the same stupidity before, some years later, going back into Chapter 11 to repeat the process.

I can see the benefits to being able to step back, reassess and recover from mistakes, but these guys seem to use it as a business strategy. Is there any way that a company can be prevented from going into Chapter 11 more than once?

Personally, I believe that if an airline is going under, let it. There is pain in many lives but it’s a once-off thing and then everyone moves on. Here in Australia we lost Ansett Airlines and it was a complete disaster. Virgin Blue has grown to fill the gap and QANTAS have produced their JetStar group to target the low end.

It’s time the USA learned to grow up and stop propping up failing business models, idiotic management and militant unions. For a country that claims to be champions of democracy and free trade, they certainly do a lot to stop it from happening.

[updated: After having been advised of the suicides resulting from the collapse of Ansett (over 40 deaths), I've removed the "not the end of the world" comment in relation to the Ansett disaster]

While heading to work this morning, walking off the escalators out of the subway at Melbourne Central, I stumbled on Pete Wright, Paul Gibbs and the Picture This gang with an entire hot air balloon inflated inside the atrium area of the shopping center. Not just any balloon either, this was the new Carlton & United Breweries special shape balloon that looks like a giant glass of beer. Today was the launch of the new campaign and the balloon. It had been test flown out in the country but hadn’t been seen in a city until today.

I was focusing on the basket, burners and the team and didn’t even look up until Pete asked me what I thought of the new shape. Oh wow. Very spectacular and it’ll look great from a distance (not to say it doesn’t look good up close either, just that from a distance there’ll be no doubting what this one is).

The crew had a very tricky time inflating the balloon inside the atrium – there was only just enough space for it to stand up and required guys on the upstairs balconies with ropes to guide it. Quite the feat and the guys were justifiably proud of what they’d achieved.

It was going to be a long day for the team as they had to inflate it before the center opened and keep it up all day until close when they could take it down. Naturally, they were working in shifts to ensure no one got too worn out.

When I was crewing with Balloon Sunrise, I was working on the Formula 1 Racer Balloon (pdf) which took 5 of us over an hour to pull down, flatten out, pack up and put in the back of the trailer. It was also a real pig to fly with the wheels filling with cold air and slowing it down when changing altitude. This “beer glass” shape will be easy to pack up (a long tube with a vent at the top) and fly, so the guys at Picture This will have a blast touring it and flying it around for Carlton & United.

After hanging around for a chat, I headed into the office. Wish I’d had my camera with me.

Updated – 2008-09-04: One of the local papers had an article & photo of the balloon on its first flight over Melbourne.