Today we examine a YouTube video that shows a race plane losing a wing in flight and miraculously making a safe landing. We believe the video does not show a real event, but instead is a conscious effort to spread the brand of the KillaThrill sports apparel company via a viral video.
A successful viral video is a bit of a holy grail for advertisers. Imagine if you could entice people to voluntarily pass along your advertisement to their friends simply because the video is interesting. Free advertising doesn’t get any better than that.
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Here are 4.5 reasons why this video probably does not show a real event…
1. The plane approaches landing in a knife-edge pass and we expect to see the right horizontal stabilizer on the tail impact the ground first. Suddenly, some mysterious force simultaneously lifts the tail and rolls the airplane upright for landing. What was this force? The flight controls are less responsive at this slow speed, and the right aileron is gone, so we can rule out super-human piloting. The right horizontal stabilizer could not have bounced off the ground because there is clearly no damage to it. Some subtle video editing, not aerodynamics, must have played a part in this landing.
2. The plane doesn’t bounce correctly on landing. The plane makes a hard landing and bounces a few feet into the air. At this time, the airspeed is low, and the tail pitches up in response to the bounce. Every tail-wheel pilot knows what should happen next. There is nothing to stop the plane from impacting the ground with its lightweight tail high in the air, and its heavy nose plowing into the ground. As the propeller digs into the ground, the plane would flip over due to the sudden stop. But the airplane in the video makes an “amazing” soft landing based on video trickery, not physics.
3. The wing falls off during a routine low speed, low-G roll, yet holds up fine moments earlier during a four-G (at least) pull-up. Seems a bit odd.
4. AirRacer89 and MrMarodeur posted the same video on YouTube within two days of one another. Both videos have similar search tags. Both user profiles are based in Germany. As of this writing, both profiles have posted only one video: the one-wing landing. Both profiles list similar videos in their favorites. Here is a theory: maybe a guy at an ad agency posted the video first as MrMarodeur on October 25, and was disappointed with the low number of initial views, so he created the AirRacer89 profile on October 27 and posted the same video in order to spread the net a little wider.
4.5 Where did the race pylons go? At the beginning of the clip, you briefly can see the race plane zooming through Red-Bull style race pylons, but later when the airplane makes it's "amazing landing" the pylons are gone. This is only .5 of a reason because we don't see enough of the surrounding airport environment to tell for sure.
Bonus: RRRRUUUUUUUNNN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
What do you think? Real or fake? Does it matter? Do you feel like buying KillaThrill sports apparel now?
The pilot, James Andersson, swears it's real. See his interview.
October 26, 2008
Video: Flying Halloween Witch
Happy Halloween kiddies! If we had some flying monkeys to go along with this wicked witch on a broomstick, it would be perfect.
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Is this aviation entertainment? We would argue yes…it’s flying, and it’s sure to capture attention.
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Is this aviation entertainment? We would argue yes…it’s flying, and it’s sure to capture attention.
October 21, 2008
“The Right Stuff” – 25 Year Anniversary
The Right Stuff motion picture was released on October 21, 1983. Who among us hasn’t fantasized about busting through the sound barrier or being launched spaceward on the top of a Mercury Redstone rocket?
We remember these scenes from The Right Stuff, but also the intense competition to determine the USA’s first seven astronauts in history. Early NASA scientists didn’t exactly know what abilities humans would need to survive in space, so the astronaut candidates suffered through many physical and psychological tests that were later determined to be unnecessary.
BONUS: the real Chuck Yeager makes a cameo appearance in the movie at Pancho’s Happy Bottom Riding Club.
Here is a picture of the real Mercury Seven astronauts.
Back Row – Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper
Front Row – Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter
What do you remember the most from The Right Stuff?
We remember these scenes from The Right Stuff, but also the intense competition to determine the USA’s first seven astronauts in history. Early NASA scientists didn’t exactly know what abilities humans would need to survive in space, so the astronaut candidates suffered through many physical and psychological tests that were later determined to be unnecessary.
BONUS: the real Chuck Yeager makes a cameo appearance in the movie at Pancho’s Happy Bottom Riding Club.
Here is a picture of the real Mercury Seven astronauts.Back Row – Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper
Front Row – Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter
What do you remember the most from The Right Stuff?
October 20, 2008
What is Aviation Entertainment?
Wally Meyer used the term “Aviation Entertainment” in 2007 to describe Roger Dodger Aviation's niche, but what is the aviation entertainment industry and how is it defined?
Depending on where your Google machine takes you, aviation entertainment can mean air show acts or in-flight movie systems or even Zero-G flights.
Air Shows and Fly-Ins
For starters, let’s say that aviation entertainment means large air shows featuring headliners like the US Navy Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds or Canadian Snowbirds and dozens of smaller acts. This is spectating at its finest and millions of people attend air shows annually.
EAA AirVenture and Sun’n’Fun draw large crowds of spectators, and also pilots that arrive in their own airplanes to attend. These events are also “fly-ins.”
Smaller community fly-ins should be included as aviation entertainment. These are technically not air shows because airspace is not set aside for an aerobatics box. Because of this, spectators may be offered the opportunity to fly in a real airplane. There are hundreds of fly-in events every year.
Scenic flights offered to the public are a statistically smaller segment of the industry. Some examples are flights over the Grand Canyon, beaches and the Plaza Lights in Kansas City.
RC, Flight Sims, etc.
After this point, the definitions of aviation entertainment become a little less clear. For example, should radio-controlled airplanes be included in aviation entertainment? At an RC air show, the crowd watches small airplanes flying aerobatics up close instead of large airplanes far away and the people seem to be equally entertained.
What about aviation museums like the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum, or the Strategic Air and Space Museum or the dozens of smaller museums? People can see the airplanes on static display here, similar to the static displays an air show or fly-in.
Are flight simulators a part of aviation entertainment? Expensive aircraft training simulators are a part of the flight training industry, so are inexpensive hobby flight sims a part of aviation entertainment? One could simply lump the flight simmers in with the computer gaming crowd, but that would ignore the fact that flight sims are appearing at fly-ins and air shows as attractions in their own right. This is starting to bridge the gap between real and sim flying, and between spectator and participant.
These two examples here and here show the artful blending of both real and aviation attractions. These locations are in Europe where the cost of real flying is much higher than the USA. Could America be headed this direction?
Flying for Fun
Most pilots fly for fun. FAA statistics show that the aircraft hours logged for personal flying are significant and outnumber the hours logged for business, corporate, instructional, crop dusting, etc. The number of airplanes flown for personal use outnumbers all other types as well. It’s ironic that we never seem to hear much about that. Many people think of boating, skiing, bicycling, camping and sports as obvious recreational activities, but flying doesn’t often come to mind.
Are these valid examples? Is there a definition for the aviation entertainment industry that would sum up these examples?
Depending on where your Google machine takes you, aviation entertainment can mean air show acts or in-flight movie systems or even Zero-G flights.
Air Shows and Fly-InsFor starters, let’s say that aviation entertainment means large air shows featuring headliners like the US Navy Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds or Canadian Snowbirds and dozens of smaller acts. This is spectating at its finest and millions of people attend air shows annually.
EAA AirVenture and Sun’n’Fun draw large crowds of spectators, and also pilots that arrive in their own airplanes to attend. These events are also “fly-ins.”
Smaller community fly-ins should be included as aviation entertainment. These are technically not air shows because airspace is not set aside for an aerobatics box. Because of this, spectators may be offered the opportunity to fly in a real airplane. There are hundreds of fly-in events every year.
Scenic flights offered to the public are a statistically smaller segment of the industry. Some examples are flights over the Grand Canyon, beaches and the Plaza Lights in Kansas City.
RC, Flight Sims, etc.
After this point, the definitions of aviation entertainment become a little less clear. For example, should radio-controlled airplanes be included in aviation entertainment? At an RC air show, the crowd watches small airplanes flying aerobatics up close instead of large airplanes far away and the people seem to be equally entertained.
What about aviation museums like the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum, or the Strategic Air and Space Museum or the dozens of smaller museums? People can see the airplanes on static display here, similar to the static displays an air show or fly-in.
Are flight simulators a part of aviation entertainment? Expensive aircraft training simulators are a part of the flight training industry, so are inexpensive hobby flight sims a part of aviation entertainment? One could simply lump the flight simmers in with the computer gaming crowd, but that would ignore the fact that flight sims are appearing at fly-ins and air shows as attractions in their own right. This is starting to bridge the gap between real and sim flying, and between spectator and participant.
These two examples here and here show the artful blending of both real and aviation attractions. These locations are in Europe where the cost of real flying is much higher than the USA. Could America be headed this direction?
Flying for FunMost pilots fly for fun. FAA statistics show that the aircraft hours logged for personal flying are significant and outnumber the hours logged for business, corporate, instructional, crop dusting, etc. The number of airplanes flown for personal use outnumbers all other types as well. It’s ironic that we never seem to hear much about that. Many people think of boating, skiing, bicycling, camping and sports as obvious recreational activities, but flying doesn’t often come to mind.
Are these valid examples? Is there a definition for the aviation entertainment industry that would sum up these examples?
October 18, 2008
3 Ways to Improve Attendance at Your Aviation Events
Many non-profit aviation organizations like museums, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapters, etc. host public events. These events are often the best opportunities to attract new members or generate revenue for the group. Also, these events feed the “soul” of the organizations by promoting the joy of flight, the beauty of aircraft, honoring veterans, etc. So one of the most vital parts of having an event is ensuring people actually show up to it.
Here are three ideas that can help.
1. Website
Every volunteer organization must have a useful website or eventually disappear. A website should showcase the upcoming events, and also do a great job of showing how fun the past events were. The website should also have multiple ways for a visitor to call or email questions, or sign up to be notified of future events.
Websites do not need to be fancy. The fancy stuff tends to annoy and distract the reader from real information. Websites must be relevant and updated and updated and updated. There I said it three times. Even a blog will do. If there is nobody currently in the organization that can pull this off, hire someone.
2. Fly-In calendars
This is like posting flyers on airport bulletin boards, but 100 times better. Post your event information on ALL of these calendars and include the link back to your excellent website.
Barnstormers.com
Fly-ins.com
EAA Aviation Calendar of Events
APOA online fly-in calendar
Airshow Calendar
Fly-In Calendar
3. Google Adwords advertising
Yes, Google Adwords. Online advertising has surpassed newspaper, magazine and radio advertising because it is so scalable and versatile. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot, actually it can cost almost nothing, it all depends on how cheap your organization is…or rather how effective you want to be.
Scalable means you can set an advertising budget as cheap and ineffective as $5 bucks a month or more effective like $100 bucks a month or more. You only get charged when someone clicks on your ads, so you’re only spending money on people that are at least mildly interested. Will they be interested enough to actually show up to your event? That’s up to you. Your Google ad links back to your website which should be excellent, helpful, relevant, and updated.
These are just three ideas to increase the attendance at aviation events in addition to the more traditional methods like newspaper classifieds, signs, and flyers on the bulletin boards. What others can you think of?
Here are three ideas that can help.
1. Website
Every volunteer organization must have a useful website or eventually disappear. A website should showcase the upcoming events, and also do a great job of showing how fun the past events were. The website should also have multiple ways for a visitor to call or email questions, or sign up to be notified of future events.
Websites do not need to be fancy. The fancy stuff tends to annoy and distract the reader from real information. Websites must be relevant and updated and updated and updated. There I said it three times. Even a blog will do. If there is nobody currently in the organization that can pull this off, hire someone.
2. Fly-In calendars
This is like posting flyers on airport bulletin boards, but 100 times better. Post your event information on ALL of these calendars and include the link back to your excellent website.
Barnstormers.com
Fly-ins.com
EAA Aviation Calendar of Events
APOA online fly-in calendar
Airshow Calendar
Fly-In Calendar
3. Google Adwords advertising
Yes, Google Adwords. Online advertising has surpassed newspaper, magazine and radio advertising because it is so scalable and versatile. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot, actually it can cost almost nothing, it all depends on how cheap your organization is…or rather how effective you want to be.
Scalable means you can set an advertising budget as cheap and ineffective as $5 bucks a month or more effective like $100 bucks a month or more. You only get charged when someone clicks on your ads, so you’re only spending money on people that are at least mildly interested. Will they be interested enough to actually show up to your event? That’s up to you. Your Google ad links back to your website which should be excellent, helpful, relevant, and updated.
These are just three ideas to increase the attendance at aviation events in addition to the more traditional methods like newspaper classifieds, signs, and flyers on the bulletin boards. What others can you think of?
October 16, 2008
The Top Ten DIY Flight Sims Cockpit Construction Tools
We have a whole workshop full of tools that we use to build our home-made flight simulator projects, but we tend to use these ten tools a lot more than the others.
1. Drill / cordless drill
We would just say cordless drill, but the battery occasionally runs down at the most inconvenient times, so we have the old reliable regular drill to fall back on.
This isn’t our cordless screwdriver, it’s a picture of a similar model. We sacrificed ours to science by using the parts to create a jack-screw pitch attitude trim system for the MAACS flight simulator. Turns out we didn’t need it. It was a wonderfully useful tool and I miss it.
This single tool makes things 1000% percent easier. You can get by doing infrequent projects with just a hand miter saw, but if you’re going to cut a lot of 2x4’s and PVC pipe like we do, there’s just no choice but to get a chop saw. With the proper blade, it even cuts through metal. Love it.
The lowly box knife. So simple, but so very useful. This isn’t even a high quality box knife and it’s still useful.
5. Tape measure
It seems like we’re always reaching for the tape measure. Keep one in the workshop, one in the garage, one upstairs, one downstairs. I usually have one clipped to my belt whenever I go to the hardware store. Make sure at least one tape measure is both metric and standard.
6. Adjustable crescent wrench
You can get by most projects with a crescent wrench and a 7/16” wrench and a 9/16” wrench for the ¼” bolts and the 3/8” bolts respectively. If you’re going after larger projects, just get a socket set and ratchet wrench.
7. Sharpie marker
Sharpies are great. If you’re doing a lot of drawing on dark colored medium density hardboard (MDF) or any other dark material, use a silver-colored Sharpie.
8. Paint brush or roller
Paint your flight simulator project.
Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it twice. Paint makes your project look wonderful. Regular interior latex paint is cheap, convenient, and readily available. Keep the paint brush or roller in a ziplock bag in your refrigerator in between coats. It will actually keep wet for weeks.
Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it three times.
9. Caulking gun
Many of the DIY Flight Sims projects use PVC pipe, and we use our trusty Liquid Nails and a caulking gun to glue these pieces together. It’s much more easy to work with than quick-drying, noxious PVC cement.
10. Safety glasses
Are safety glasses a tool? Technically no, but they sure are important, especially if you visit a Federal Aviation Administration Designated Medical Examiner every year. I don’t want a stupid mistake in the workshop to affect my FAA medical certificate.
Did I miss one? What other wonderfully useful tool should be on this list?
1. Drill / cordless drillWe would just say cordless drill, but the battery occasionally runs down at the most inconvenient times, so we have the old reliable regular drill to fall back on.
This isn’t our cordless screwdriver, it’s a picture of a similar model. We sacrificed ours to science by using the parts to create a jack-screw pitch attitude trim system for the MAACS flight simulator. Turns out we didn’t need it. It was a wonderfully useful tool and I miss it.
This single tool makes things 1000% percent easier. You can get by doing infrequent projects with just a hand miter saw, but if you’re going to cut a lot of 2x4’s and PVC pipe like we do, there’s just no choice but to get a chop saw. With the proper blade, it even cuts through metal. Love it.
The lowly box knife. So simple, but so very useful. This isn’t even a high quality box knife and it’s still useful.
5. Tape measureIt seems like we’re always reaching for the tape measure. Keep one in the workshop, one in the garage, one upstairs, one downstairs. I usually have one clipped to my belt whenever I go to the hardware store. Make sure at least one tape measure is both metric and standard.
6. Adjustable crescent wrenchYou can get by most projects with a crescent wrench and a 7/16” wrench and a 9/16” wrench for the ¼” bolts and the 3/8” bolts respectively. If you’re going after larger projects, just get a socket set and ratchet wrench.
7. Sharpie markerSharpies are great. If you’re doing a lot of drawing on dark colored medium density hardboard (MDF) or any other dark material, use a silver-colored Sharpie.
8. Paint brush or rollerPaint your flight simulator project.
Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it twice. Paint makes your project look wonderful. Regular interior latex paint is cheap, convenient, and readily available. Keep the paint brush or roller in a ziplock bag in your refrigerator in between coats. It will actually keep wet for weeks.
Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it three times.
9. Caulking gunMany of the DIY Flight Sims projects use PVC pipe, and we use our trusty Liquid Nails and a caulking gun to glue these pieces together. It’s much more easy to work with than quick-drying, noxious PVC cement.
10. Safety glassesAre safety glasses a tool? Technically no, but they sure are important, especially if you visit a Federal Aviation Administration Designated Medical Examiner every year. I don’t want a stupid mistake in the workshop to affect my FAA medical certificate.
Did I miss one? What other wonderfully useful tool should be on this list?
October 15, 2008
The Red Baron vs. Snoopy
The Dawn Patrol of Liberty Landing has done an amazing thing (again). They built a replica of the DR-1 Fokker Triplane, that the Red Baron flew in World War I. Here is Dick Lemons flying it….
And here is Snoopy getting shot down. I couldn’t resist.
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And here is Snoopy getting shot down. I couldn’t resist.
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October 14, 2008
Use a Projector for your Flight Simulator
We’ve been using projectors (or beamers) for our flight simulators from the very beginning and you can too. The idea is to fill the pilot’s field of view as much as possible for a more immersive experience. The sky is big, so the screen that displays your simulated sky should be big too.
The trade-off is that many affordable LCD or DLP projectors have a lower screen resolution than comparable conventional computer monitors. As you shop for projectors with better screen resolutions, the prices climb exponentially.
Projector manufacturers prefer to describe screen resolution with cryptic acronyms instead of just telling us what the resolution is. Here are some common resolutions:
SVGA = 800x600
XGA = 1024x768
SXGA = 1280x1024
UXGA = 1600x1200
Here’s a video clip of the Dogfight Club using three flight sims with XGA 1024x768 projectors:
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Another consideration is how many hours the projector lamp will last. The lamps in our Dell 2300MP projectors are rated for 2000 hours. How much is 2000 hours? Think of it like this. If you work at a job for eight hours a day, five days a week for a year, and take two weeks off for vacation, then that’s about 2000 hours. That’s a lot of flight simming!
One more note about projector lamps. We all know that we must allow the internal fan to cool the lamp after we turn off the projector, so don’t unplug the projector while the fan is running. That’s fine, but we occasionally have electricity failures here. If the power failed while a projector is running, the lamp would burn up from the excess heat and we would be stuck replacing a $400 lamp. So we recommend using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for $40 or $50. That will give you enough time to safely power down the projector.
So what is all this talk about buying a projector? We’re Do-It-Yourselfers, right? Well there are websites like LumenLab dedicated to DIY projectors. We experimented with a DIY projector, but found it to be large, heavy, and not as versatile as factory projectors. Not to mention, we had plenty of other projects to work on.
So projectors are a pretty good thing for stationary flight simulators (and home theaters). Stay tuned! The future may bring awesome wrap-around LED screens or high quality virtual reality headsets.
The trade-off is that many affordable LCD or DLP projectors have a lower screen resolution than comparable conventional computer monitors. As you shop for projectors with better screen resolutions, the prices climb exponentially.
Projector manufacturers prefer to describe screen resolution with cryptic acronyms instead of just telling us what the resolution is. Here are some common resolutions:
SVGA = 800x600
XGA = 1024x768
SXGA = 1280x1024
UXGA = 1600x1200
Here’s a video clip of the Dogfight Club using three flight sims with XGA 1024x768 projectors:
Don't see a video screen?
Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.
If that doesn't work, click here to update your Flash player.
Another consideration is how many hours the projector lamp will last. The lamps in our Dell 2300MP projectors are rated for 2000 hours. How much is 2000 hours? Think of it like this. If you work at a job for eight hours a day, five days a week for a year, and take two weeks off for vacation, then that’s about 2000 hours. That’s a lot of flight simming!
One more note about projector lamps. We all know that we must allow the internal fan to cool the lamp after we turn off the projector, so don’t unplug the projector while the fan is running. That’s fine, but we occasionally have electricity failures here. If the power failed while a projector is running, the lamp would burn up from the excess heat and we would be stuck replacing a $400 lamp. So we recommend using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for $40 or $50. That will give you enough time to safely power down the projector.
So what is all this talk about buying a projector? We’re Do-It-Yourselfers, right? Well there are websites like LumenLab dedicated to DIY projectors. We experimented with a DIY projector, but found it to be large, heavy, and not as versatile as factory projectors. Not to mention, we had plenty of other projects to work on.
So projectors are a pretty good thing for stationary flight simulators (and home theaters). Stay tuned! The future may bring awesome wrap-around LED screens or high quality virtual reality headsets.
October 13, 2008
Protect those ears at the Airshow!
You already have built in hearing protection so you don't need to buy the expensive earplugs at the airshow, right? You have natural earplugs installed at the tips of both index fingers. But manually holding your ears makes it terribly difficult if you are also trying to capture pictures or video or eat or if you're just trying to enjoy yourself.photo by Christine Dollase
So don't forget your hearing protection.
"What?"
I SAID DON'T FORGET YOUR HEARING PROTECTION ! !
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