Welcome

Welcome to Birth of a book. Originally published as a blog to read comments about the creation of my book Seven-Tenths; Love, Piracy and Science at Sea, it also includes details of upcoming events and periodic odd musings from me and sometimes even my daughter Sara who contributed her thoughts on our trip to AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI where she tried her hand at a father-daughter blog.


David

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Post Game Anaylsis


Looking back on the whole experience, it was definitely something I won't forget
anytime soon, although the only thing I learned was that I hate camping. It was
a great time. I'm saying this mainly because it's over, and everything's back
to normal, almost. Define normal. 


I can still vividly remember the morning of the departure, and the first night
there. I recall my trip to the museum the 2nd day, and being in the simulator, flying
the impossible corsair! And the watching the liquid magnets. What surprised me
the most is that I lived through this trip. One family "crisis" is
over with-don’t worry, there won't be another one for at least 5 weeks,
possibly months, years, or seconds...


Sara


I think Sara had a much better time than she is willing to admit. At least I hope so. If I’m wrong I could have saved a lot of money and kept her home weeding the garden for two weeks to achieve the same emotional result.


It’s safe to say Sara learned that adventures are not fun and exciting every minute of every day. Great journeys inflict a little pain now and then. That’s what makes them memorable. For my part I got to watch my daughter exhibit more independence and confidence than ever all while experiencing the magic of AirVenture through the eyes of a twelve year-old. Something I would have missed had I gone alone and just tried to check of the boxes of things to do.


Now that the dust has settled and the Avgas fumes are washed out of our clothes, it’s time to start planning the next father-daughter vacation. I’m thinking any place where there is no Internet connection.


David

Friday, August 1, 2014

The difference between "need", "want", and "I'll take whatever I get".

The one constant at AirVenture is that "If it flies, it's here". This is the place to create lists; Christmas lists, Bucket lists, Ten Top Things That Will Send You Into Bankruptcy lists.

Sara and I have been on the hunt for our perfect plane. We have some criteria - it has to be relatively safe, versatile, and can fold up for storage in a trailer. We narrowed it down to the following:

Our Top Pick - ICON

Pros: Can fly off of land or water, foldable wings, spin resistant, and best of all, it looks like something out of a James Bond movie.

 
 
Second Place - PIPISTREL SINUS
 
Pros: Can soar like a glider, cruising range 900 NM, removable wings, and can be ordered as a kit. Costs half as much as an ICON.
 
Cons: S-I-N-U-S, really? They pronounce it with short "I", but Pipestrel Sinus still translates into "Bat Nasal Cavity".
 
 
 
What we can probably ultimately afford:
 
Pros: It's cheap, environmentally friendly, and if things don't work out we can burn it and cook Smores over the open flames.
 
Cons: It flies like it looks
 



Thursday, July 31, 2014

Meeting Someone Again For The First Time


Scott Manley is a glider flight instructor and writer for Soaring Magazine. He was my first instructor and the two of us spent a number of months flying together. This week we met for the first time. Yes, the last two sentences are in chronological order. I did my initial training in a networkable soaring simulator with me on Cape Cod and Scott in Wisconsin. Scott could see what I was doing in real-time, and if the scenario called for it, we could even fly separate gliders in the same virtual airspace.

Scott didn’t take any compensation for this. Our pact (some old-school instructors may say it was a pact with the devil) was that when I went for flight training in a real glider I wouldn’t tell my instructors of my simulator experience. Scott’s rationalization for this was that convincing Luddite glider instructors in the value of simulation training would be more effective if we take them by surprise. It was an effective strategy, and I had my instructors thinking either I was the greatest student they ever had, or that they suddenly became the Jedi Masters of teaching. Neither was true, but it did help to prove Scott’s point once I fessed up.

So after all this time I finally got to shake Scott’s hand, and help him spread the word of simulation-based glider training here at the Soaring Society of America tent at AirVenture. If you ever wanted to fly sailplanes I’m happy to help get you started, and you won't have to make a pact with the devil.

David
 

Night shows…and injuries


Thank god we had gotten down there in time, IT WAS PACKED! I hadn’t expected something like this would be packed like so…

  Well, I thought, there would be the wall of fire, so I guess it was only natural. Dad and I walked down to the edge of the runway with chairs strapped to our backs. When we arrived we located out a spot near to a shimmering lemon colored plane, aero-awesomness!!!! I was beginning to feel peckish for ice-cream. I asked Father dearest for a few dollars and bought myself a dove bar-NOT BEFORE ASKING HIM IF HE WANTED ANYTHING!! {Remember that line}…It took me a few minutes to find my way back to our small territory through the little mortals and the falling night. Eventually, I spotted it, and sat down in my Latin school of Chicago fold-up chair.I began to munch away. Dad leaned over and asked “Can I have a small bite??” “NO”!! I exclaimed! “I ASKED YOU IF YOUWANTED SOMETHING BEFORE I WENT”!! I challenged as I handed him the excess change. “AND EVEN IF I HAD PAID, YOU TAKE BITES THE SIZE OF TEXSAS”!!!!!!!!! I yelled as he recoiled smiling slightly. Soon enough, the show started. A plane came out of no-where and performed daring tricks while spitting out fireworks from its wing tips. “Whoa”… I breathed. This went on for a while. Although we had different pilots, and aircraft, performing similar tricks, it got kind-of boring. Oh well. The last act before the fireworks was “magic by moonlight” a plane moved swiftly across the night sky lighting it up, with attached lights all around. The Phantom Of The Opera theme played all the way through its spooktacular performance. I sang along to the famous opera song line “in sleep he sang o me…” etc. Afterwards the crowd and I, counted down from 10-0 to await the fireworks. They came! Ear splitting cracks and blows! Colorful lights lit-up the dark and now saddened sky! It ended.  Then we awaited for the “crem-da-lu-crem” the fiestaresistonce {French accent}, THE WALL OF FIRE!! Just like before we counted down 10-0. Fire shot up 15 stories high! Flame shot out in all directions! I could feel the heat all the way from my 1,000 ft distance! HOLE-AH FREAKSHOW! I yelled once it had died down.

   Dad and I wormed our way in between the hustling crowd. “Hehehe” I said as I heard a cricket. “I’ve got you now faddah fingling!!!!” I said I crouched down and pounced-the chair I had been carrying over my shoulder slid off weighing me down I fell everywhere I guess you could say. I started to crack up. Everyone stared. I’M NORMALL!!! I yelled-“It looks like you have serious issue dad commented. “I KNOOW!!” I replied in my hipper state of mind. We waltzed back to the tent and spent another cold long lonely night.  I awoke to jets. Lately; they were becoming my alarm clock. I was excited, for today was our ultra-light plane flight. Little did I know  a two-person Breezy ultralight plane had just crashed. I thought they had died. The fire was huge, and the ambulance stayed there for the longest time. I became instantly frightened…I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go anymore. The UL pilots might have been thinking the same thing. Our flight is now postponed until tomorrow. The rest of the day was low key due to this morning’s incident. But, I’m planning to sleep all day tomorrow to save energy for Saturday’s 5K race which I will win-JUST KIDDING!

 I soon spotted the Thunder Birds overhead spiraling and circling. I REALLY admired them, and there engines actually sounded-like thunder—soon—I heard a sound like and engine and then water droplets. I soon realized that it was no thunderbird---it was real thunder…Of course being a huge admirer of the thunder birds-I made a tribute in song  …………………., I’ve been dreaming I’ve been waiting-to fly with those great pilots, the Thunder birds they’re daring tricks-spinning round and having kick’s. We’ll perform for crowds of thousands n’ they’ll shower us with diamonds the thunder birds will see me, right here a-at Airveentuuuure!!!!!!!!!
 Sara

 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Anger Issues and Helicopters


MY LIFE SUCKS I HATE IT HERE!!! I WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO GO HOME!!! I MISS EVERYONE AND I’M TIRED CONSTANTLY. I THOUGHT MY HOMESICKNESS WOULD HAVE IMPROVED BY NOW. IT DIDN’T. I MISS MY MOTHER, I MISS MY FRIENDS, I WANNA GO FISHING EVERY MORNING, AND NOT GO TO A SHOWER THAT DOES-NOT WORK!!!!!! I'M HOT/COLD/TIRED ARGH!!!! I'M UN-CLEAN!! AND I JUST WANNA GO HOME. I’M NEVER DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN, OR AT LEAST NOT FOR AS LONG. IF THIS EVENT WERE CLOSER TO HOME- I MIGHT-GO, BUT IM NOT SURE.  I JUST WANT TO SLEEP ALL DAY TO PASS THE TIME!!!!!!!! In fact that doesn’t sound like a bad idea……

    I didn’t start out writing this to tell you all that. What I wanted to tell you is about my experience in a helicopter. I woke up early-ish on the morning of 7/28/14. As usual-I was not in a good mood- I missed everyone, especially my Woods Holeian B.F.F. Of course today I hoped would be different. I grabbed a pb&j sandwich and raced  out of the tent with shower supplies and clothes in hand. As stated earlier in the first paragraph-the showers are horrible-and close together- and I of was trying all I could to stay covered up. I finished my shower choking back tears of loss.
After about 15 minutes of preparation for the day back at the tent, my dad and I hopped on our bikes and headed down to where the helicopters were located. Once we were there we padded into and old hangar with a table consisting of the helicopter ride-staff. My dad signed a couple papers for the flight- which set us back $100....o.o holy freakshow…we eventually sat down in a few chairs next to a few more folks waiting for a ride. I observed a few people getting out of helicopters underneath the constantly whirring propellers. I swallowed hard- if I were to jump up underneath the helicopter my head would be ground right off of my shoulders. Yikes! An older man began to advance upon us. He rambled on about how to enter and exit the aircraft. But I was too enthralled with the helicopter itself to listen.
Eventually it was time to board. I hopped like a rabbit to the propeller whirring vehicle. I kept my eye on the propeller, it was nerve racking. Dad and I were eventually seated and buckled in together. The helicopter quickly lifted off the ground. I peered out over the widely opened side door and goose bumps ran over my body. It was so cool! The houses and campers and fighter jets, looked like mere toys from THIS view!!:D “Whoa”~~ I breathed. It seemed that as soon as we were up-we were back down again… we landed in a circle painted on the grass, with a smiley face drawn in it.”Ok”.. I stammered. A man loped over to us not even flinching when under the propeller-except for the wind it was creating. He seemed pretty expressionless. I immediately felt like the lion from the wizard of Oz.. I was usually the courageous one in these kinds of circumstances. The man un-did our seatbelts and I hopped out of the aircraft still petrified of the consistently turning propeller perched on top of the helicopter. ”Sheesh”~~ what an expensive, short, yet cool adventure I said as dad and I headed over to kid-venture I smiled devilishly –“what’s next”…
Sara

Monday, July 28, 2014

Camping for Dummies

Most of my friends know that my idea of camping is a hotel without room service. My camping experience is limited to some formative trips with the boy scouts which is probably why I'm so adverse to traveling without room service, even if the only item on the delivery menu would be cold Spam.

Amy keeps extolling on the virtues of "Car Camping", which is what Sara and I are doing here at Oshkosh. I can safely say that the only advantage to car camping is that the first thing you see when you exit your tent is your car, which really isn't a virtue, only a reminder that you can easily drive to that hotel with room service.

Let it suffice to say that I have come ill prepared for the full-on camping experience, and were it
not for the fact that a Walmart exists less than a few miles from here, my daughter probably would not be speaking to me now.

Granted, there is something unique about camping next to an airstrip and waking up to the sounds of a squadron of P51, V12 Merlin engines pushed to the stops as they roar overhead. For her part, Sara constantly points out the tricked-out, mega motor homes and asks why we didn't bring one of those. By the end of the week I may be asking myself the same question.

David

Sunday, July 27, 2014

It's all fun in simulation, until somebody looses their lunch


     WOAH! I exclaimed as the spikes in the magnetic liquid grew until the magnetic force brought them up to the ceiling of the demonstration tube. They regrouped on the other end, until they resembled a New England sea urchin. My Father’s consistent rambling on how it worked was both fascinating and boring.
      We walked down a dimly lit passage to another room. There stood a cube like object-that was swerving violently from side to side. It eventually stopped and two weary eyed passengers staggered out looking queasy, a woman-presumably a family member-asked inquisitively “how was it”. I didn’t catch the rest before I found myself whisked away to the line. My Father and I were next, behind a young couple-already inside the now opened cube. A woman with long brown curly hair was telling the pair what to do and how to steer the plane. After the hatch closed I watched the cube slowly rise, then take dangerous turns and flips and summer salts. I gasped and so did the passengers inside as the thing did a back cube spring whilst dad asked the lady a couple of questions. Oh jeez~ I breathed as the cube came back down, and the lady removed the top part. The two were laughing and rambling on about the approximately 4 minute experience.
     Next in line was us… I staggered then tripped up the stairs leading to the simulator. Once the lady had given us instructions we were buckled in- the door closed - no turning back now I thought. A computer screen in front of us, plastered to the hood of the ride, showed us an introduction of our mission. We were flying a Corsair YES! I thought as the ride soon lifted up just as before and started… well, the ride was pretty boring-until it really started. “Let’s turn and do a barrel roll!!!!!” I shouted—“ok”~ breathed dad. We did, and the ride soon began to jolt and turn. Soon we were upside down!! “OH JEEZ”!!! I shouted as the simulator churned just like before! I came into the realization and remembrance-that Corsairs were one of the damn hardest planes to fly! We started to even out..aw…~ Soon enough, the mission came to a halt heehh~ I said as I staggered out side, and face planted on the steps…
Sara

Saturday, July 26, 2014

A losing fight with a dead cow


Well, we made it to Oshkosh, though not without a little bloodshed.

I don’t know when Sara first came to the realization that her father wasn’t infallible. It was probably around the same time that Santa ceased to slide down the chimney we don’t have. So I shouldn’t be that worried over any loss of respect from yesterday’s incident with the rented minivan.

“Watch, I’m going to show you how we’re going to make all these seats disappear into the floor” I told Sara as she stared at me though the open side door. The first row vanished as promised and I crawled on my knees inside to tackle the remaining third row. I was looking up at a whole cow’s worth of black leather seat when I noticed the strap with a cryptic pictorial of a seat folding down. With a level of confidence that only a father demonstrating a complex mechanical system to his daughter can muster, I pulled the strap.

As advertised, the seat folded, but not before scribing a blindingly fast arc of dead cow hide in the direction of my face. The headrest struck my glasses which sliced open the bridge of my nose. The ever-observant Sara reported, “Dad, your nose is bleeding”. I’d like to think that a diagnosis of such accuracy means that she’ll end up in Med school, but more likely it was just her subtle way of saying “I’m glad this happened in Chicago where none of my friends could see this”.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Ready for Oshkosh!


Well, I’m not sure what to expect of this aero awesomeness, oh sure, it’s gonna’ be rudder ridiculousness! D: But I can foreshadow that it is going to be great! I’ve been interested in aero/acro-batics for some time now and would like to be a jet pilot- performing aerial acrobatics. Of course-I’ve been wanting to create a human flight system, a hybrid mechanical jet device-worn over the users legs. They’re rigid, preventing movement from the knees down. Disengaged on an elevated area-or field if needed.

I’m sure Oshkosh will be a great experience. It will either trigger my imagination into creating this flight device - and make me and dear ol’ dad closer - or, I’ll never want to see another plane as long as I live - and he’ll come home in a casket/ Well I’ll be sure to tell you about the journey in the next entry, bye for now!!!
                                             -Sara Fishy-nutella

Human Flight System
 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Time for some father-daughter bonding

If you love baseball, visiting every major league park in the country would not seem like a waste of time. In fact, to other aficionados of the sport, the countless hours of travel and exorbitant sum of money required to achieve that goal would seem to be a worthwhile investment for the privilege of sitting in the hot sun, on a hard seat, eating a $6 hot dog.

If you love aviation the must-see-before-you-die experience is Oshkosh. Okay, so the real name is EAA AirVenture,  https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure and it's sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association. To anyone who has the slightest interest in flight however, all you have to say is Oshkosh and they know exactly what you're talking about. For one week in July the little airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin becomes the busiest airspace in the world. It is paradise for propeller-heads.

I grew up around planes. I saw planes almost every day of my life. This wasn't because my father was a pilot, or aircraft mechanic, but rather because our house was within spitting distance to Boston's Logan airport. We lived so close, if the wind was blowing from the South you would get a whiff of burned rubber from the wheels every time a plane touched down.

Interestingly, this is not the kind of environment that instills a love of flight. A love of soundproofing, maybe, but growing up in a suburb where planes were as much a part of the backdrop as light posts and elm trees, you didn't dream of planes you had nightmares about them. Mostly about parts falling from the sky and landing on your head.

It took time and distance for me to appreciate what aviation, specifically soaring, could be; a liberating and exhilarating respite from a hectic earthbound life. At 5000 feet, 70 MPH in a glider feels as if you're standing still, suspended over a serene landscape. I'm fortunate that my daughter has also taken an interest in flight, though she is coming at it from a different perspective. Sara is determined that someday we will build a flying suit together. She fully acknowledges the limitations imposed by the laws of physics, and comprehends the not insignificant financial investment required, but it's her dream, and I'm not in a position to shoot it down. To that end we're both going to make the pilgrimage to Oshkosh this year. Me on a quest to find that combination of lift, thrust and drag that results in the perfect ultralight plane, and Sara to prove to her dad that it is possible to design a flying suit. We've decided to blog about our experience during the trip. Sara will hopefully learn about writing and telling a good story, and I will have well-documented evidence in the event the father-daughter bonding experience doesn't go as planned and one of us comes back in a pine box.

The adventure starts July 25th!