Friday, January 17, 2014

HEROES




Growing up to where I am now, I have had a lot of heroes in my lifetime. When I was a youngster, and being involved in sports, my heroes were football and baseball players. As I have aged and began my involvement in aviation my heroes have changed.

My biggest hero is none of the above, but is my oldest daughter. Julie received 2 fellowships working at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. After 5 years at Hopkins she moved to Palo Alto, CA and is an anesthesiologist at Stanford’s Packard Children’s Hospital specializing in transplants for children. In addition she teaches 2 days a week at Stanford Medical School and travels the world volunteering her time to perform her job in underprivileged nations. Needless to say she is my biggest hero.

Bob Hoover is reaching the twilight of his career. Bob is a WWII fighter pilot vet, and to me the best stick to ever fly an airplane. Bob’s performances in his air shows boggles the mind. He has probably forgotten more about flying than I will ever know. There are several You Tubes showing Bob’s flying accomplishments.

You probably have not heard of Pam Melroy. I met Pam when she, along with the rest of her STS crew, were honored at the Fiesta Bowl Parade. Pam is not large of stature coming in at just over five feet tall, but she is one of the most brilliant people and outstanding pilot that I have ever met. Pam attended Wesleyan undergraduate school, MIT graduate school and retired as a Colonel in the Air Force. What Pam is most known for is being an astronaut. Pam was the 3rd female shuttle pilot and flew several missions on the Shuttle. I can not begin to imagine the thrill of flying to space on top of what amounted to a bomb with controlled energy.

John McCain, US Senator from Arizona, is a true War Hero. McCain was shot down in Viet Nam flying an A6 through SAM ALLEY and was captured as a POW. While at the “Hanoi Hilton” he was tortured on numerous occasions. When the N. Vietnamese found out that John was the son of a US Admiral they agreed to release him early without his comrades. McCain refused this release and stayed until all were released. I do not know if I am man enough to go through what McCain did and survive. 

Chesley Sullenberger was the right man in the right place when his US Air flight went down in the Hudson. I can not think of any other pilot I would have wanted at the controls of this incident. Sully is also a glider pilot and Air Force Academy graduate. Being a glider and power pilot I think we think a little differently in the cockpit. We know our glide ratios and can quickly compute whether or not we can get from point A to B. Sully had to compute several options of either turning around to Newark, going to Kennedy or even Teterboro in NJ. He realized quickly that he could not glide to any of these airports and chose to land in the Hudson.
Most accidents I have seen of dead stick landings, the pilot does not keep their wings level and cartwheels into the ground. Glider pilots are taught to keep wings level landing on one wheel until the glider runs out of energy and stops with one wing dropping to the ground.
I have talked to several airline pilots asking them their opinion on this landing. They all answered the same that they hoped they could do the landing. With so many things going on I do not know if they could. Sully never quit flying the airplane all the way down. 

The last heroes I will mention are Orville and Wilbur, the first powered test pilots. Without them who knows when powered flight would have started. I am very thankful to these 2 brothers.


Finally I would like to express my thanks to all who read this BLOG. It is truly a global world with the Internet, and I am amazed at the numerous Countries where people have an interest in Aviation. So thanks for taking time to read my thoughts and hope you enjoy them.

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