Dr. Strangelove: 45 Year Anniversary

Two immediate notes about this classic: it’s a black and white movie, and the B-52 bombers are still flying today!!

The US Library of Congress considered Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy about the Cold War as culturally significant and preserved it in the National Film Registry…just about the time the Cold War ended.

Much of the movie takes place in the War Room and an Air Force Base, but it also follows the flight of a B-52 crew led by Slim Pickens as Major T.J. “King” Kong. You can even see a young James Earl Jones as the bombardier.

Many of the exterior flying sequences show a primitive shot of a simple model airplane. It’s a little annoying that such a great movie uses a trite little toy in its special effects. Or maybe that’s the point. Maybe we’re supposed to see this one toy airplane as the fulcrum between peace and mutually assured destruction.

Anyway, it would have been cool if Kubrick could have ordered the B-52 exterior to be re-shot with modern special effects as George Lucas did with the original Star Wars series.

On the other hand, the bomb-drop scene could not be any better. It’s hilarious and horrific and impossible to forget.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Peter Seller’s stellar performance in three different roles: a British officer, the American president and Dr. Strangelove. George C. Scott is awesome, as always.

Also known as, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."

~Matt Thomas

Microsoft Cancels Flight Simulator

The people that developed the world’s oldest and most successful flight simulator franchise abruptly lost their jobs this week. Microsoft cut the entire flight simulator game development staff (Aces Studio) in layoffs that will leave 5000 employees jobless over the next 18 months. More about the layoffs here and here.

We extend our encouragement to those talented people that put so much creativity and effort into this software and brought fun and learning to so many pilots and would-be pilots all over the world.
So now what? We would hope that our fallen comrades at the Aces Studio are looking ahead with optimism. Many comments on various flight sim forums and blogs are gloomy and short-sided. Some readers assume this is the end of the hobby. They’re wrong. Man has been fascinated with flight for at least 5000 years, according to Egyptian hieroglyphs. The fascination will live and so will this hobby.

I imagine that many of the energetic and clever former Microsoft employees will continue to be energetic and clever for someone else, or go into business for themselves creating excellent add-ons for flight simulator. The add-on industry for flight simulator is huge. Many companies build excellent aircraft that the purchaser downloads and installs into their existing flight simulator program.

Aircraft are not the only add-ons for flight simulator. Other ex-Microsoft employees may work to develop enhanced ground scenery, water textures, roads, bridges, animation, improved flight dynamics and improved Artificial Intelligence traffic in the air and on the ground.
Others may script new elaborate missions and multi-player competitions.

How many more great add-ons will be available as freeware in the future as ex-developers become part of the flight sim fan base? How will the Virtual Airlines benefit?

FSX will still be a hearty piece of software for a long time. Let’s not forget that most of us do not have fast enough computers to run FSX in its full glory will all the options turned on and detail sliders at maximum. Mark Avey has some great observations about this.

This is not the end of Flight Simulator. I believe it is a de-centralization of its continued evolution. The Aces Studio developers still love Flight Simulator as much as we do, but now they’ve joined the fan base. The gene pool of flight sim enthusiasts just got richer.

~Matt Thomas

Iron Eagle

Today we "honor" one craptastic turd-sandwich of a flying move, Iron Eagle. It stars Jason Gedrick as the one-dimensional cocky youth and Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr. who was mis-cast as the one decent actor in the film.

There are some good flying sequences, but not much of a plot or decent actors to hold this movie together. Basically, the kid’s dad is kidnapped by terrorists. Gedrick and Gossett’s characters steal a couple of F-16’s, then blow up some stuff and somehow that helps.

Iron Eagle was released today, 23 years ago, and somehow spawned three humdrum sequels. Louis Gossett Jr. is in EVERY SINGLE SEQUEL. Why does he afflict himself with this series?

Time Fighter

Fly with the mouse, left click to shoot. Press Space Bar to drop bombs. Bonus: you start off flying a Davinci-style ornithopter!!

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Disney-Pixar’s UP – For the Kid in All of Us

Carl Fredricksen is a grumpy old guy that spent his life dreaming of exploring the world, but never managed to make it happen. Enter Russell, an 8 year old Cub Scout and an unlikely twist of fate that launches them both skyward to encounter far-away lands, jungle creatures and sneaky villains.
Release date: May 29, 2009

This reminds me of a true story that my grade-school principal told me about a man who attached helium balloons to his lawn chair and went flying. After a harrowing descent and landing, he emerged unhurt, but was later fined by the Federal Aviation Administration.

I wonder if the FAA will fine our heros in the Disney version.



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RCpowers.com – the Super Heroes of the RC Skies

Dave and Val Powers experiment with radio-controlled airplanes and post videos of their test flights. Now they’ve achieved rock-star status in the world of RC aviation, and here's the proof:

Their YouTube videos have over 10 million views.
Their videos are viewed over 70,000 times per day.
Their channel ranks at #83 of the most watched channels of all time.
Those are serious numbers.

The videos feature a wide range of inventive flying experiments like a tail-less airplane, a transforming flying bus, and a bomb-dropping F-117 Nighthawk as well as product reviews of commercial RC park flyers. There’s also a hefty dose of zany stuff like guys shooting at Dave’s plane with AirSoft rifles and plenty of comic relief from another flying buddy, Keith.

Why so popular?
It helps that Dave and Val are attractive and live in a fashionable part of the world: Southern California. More importantly, Dave tirelessly experiments with the aerodynamics and control systems of his creations. Dave answers questions about his RC planes on live webcam once per week.
~Matt Thomas



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Is the Movie Top Gun Beneficial or Total Crap?

Every once in a while I meet someone who will ask if I fly into the "Danger Zone" as Kenny Loggins apparently does. Like many pilots I cringe at being associated with the movie due to its factual inaccuracies and shlocky melodrama.

Some examples that come to mind:
* Top Gun is a training school for advanced fighter weapons deployment and tactics. It is not an ego-charged contest to best the instructors or each other.
* The Navy does not actually employ leggy civilian contractors to teach pilots about enemy fighters.
* There is no MiG-28.
* Maverick's record of rule-breaking would result in a dismissal, not a simple tongue-lashing.
* Leather flying jackets are really hot in the summer.
* Rubber dog poop is not transported by air from Hong Kong. It is probably shipped cheaply via ocean container vessel.

And what about the deadly "flat spin?"
Interestingly, the early years of the F-14 program were blemished by the aircraft's inability to recover from a flat spin. Subsequent modifications to the F-14 made the flat spin less likely. Score one for the facts.

Did Top Gun have any redeeming qualities? For many it was simply a fun movie with a catchy soundtrack that felt comfortably at home in the year 1986. But there was something much more. The movie did have a real-world influence on aviation.

Consider the "Top Gun Effect" as excerpted from
http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Film/article_369.jsp

But by the middle of the 1980s, public hostility to the military was thawing. “Top Gun was a watershed picture,” remembers Strub. Dr Suid goes further. “Top Gun completed the rehabilitation of the military and made the Gulf War possible,” he insists. “Without it, I don’t think most Americans would have thought that we could win in the Gulf.”

For the Navy as well as at the box office, the film enjoyed phenomenal success. Recruitment figures went up 500%. “So now there are all these poor kids stuck on aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean who hate me,” jokes Tony Scott, Top Gun’s British Director. The film marked a new entente between the Hollywood industry and the Department of Defense. Top Gun’s production costs would have doubled without naval assistance.

So what is the state of aviation 20 years later? What does all this mean to us? If a movie can inspire youths to flock to military aviation, can a movie help bolster the ranks of General Aviation pilots? Do we need another Top Gun but with a GA twist to it? Some kind of movie just as schlocky, sexy, corny and factually inaccurate as Top Gun - but popular. It would have to be popular. Top Gun was a "blockbuster" as it is defined in the modern world.

Would that help?
"I could tell you, but I'd hafta kill you."