Those Wonderful Men in Their Flying Machines

As you probably know, when I was kid we lived next to an airport and desperately wanted to become a pilot when I grew up. The proximity of our house was so near the strip, that when we were having lunch, we could hear the roar and the rushing of air when an airplane was overhead on its way to the landing strip.

My favorite spot was the airport terminal. I knew everybody there, and everybody there knew me. I talked to the pilots asking all sorts of questions and they tried to answer back. When a group of US pilots arrived at Changuinola to survey the area, I became their guide, and they took me on many rides on their choppers. The feeling of the air on my face and the motions of the helicopter are hard to forget after more than five decades later.

Alas, my father found out of my furtive trips on choppers and Piper Cubs, he spanked me hard and restricted me from ever riding choppers or small planes without his permission. Of course his permissions were never granted. So instead of a wonderful man on a flying machine, I became a wonderful man with an adding machine. Instead of a pilot, I turned out an accountant fixed to a desk. The only blue sky I could see, came from the small window of my office. And that my friends is my experience with choppers and planes.

This nostalgia for planes has been inside me, and every time I have to go to the airport or see an airplane flying high above my house in Panama City, I say to myself, “That pilot up there could have been me.”  It didn’t happen, so there no use crying over spilled milk.

This is the last post on a theme of airplanes and of the recent airshow at the former Panama Canal Zone.  We have reached the end of the road and tomorrow we will move on into new territory.  Meanwhile, lets feast our eyes with a couple of pictures of those wonderful flying machines.  Here we go.

Snapshot of a small plane on exhibition during a large air show in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

That’s it guys.  The airshow is over.  I’ll keep my ear close to the ground to decide won hat our new subject will be and keep the ball rolling.  Enjoy this beautiful Saturday morning.  If you’re a flyer, have a good flight and savor the view.  Good Day.

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We’ve Come a Long Way Since the Early Flights of Kitty Hawk

Snapshot of the complex components of a plane’s landing gear. It’s amazing that all of this technological achievements came from a simple flight at Kitty Hawk. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Buoyant over the success of their 1902 glider, the Wright brothers were no longer content to merely add to the growing body of aeronautical knowledge; they were going to invent the airplane. Still, they recognized that much hard work lay ahead, especially the creation of a propulsion system. During the spring and summer of 1903, they were consumed with leaping that final hurdle into history.

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane. We’ve come a long way since the first flight at Kitty Hawk.  Good Day.

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Flying Instruments

Snapshot of a dashboard of a helicopter cluttered with all kinds of flying instruments. This chopper owned by Panama Civil Protection Service (SINAPROC) was on display at a recent airshow in Panama City, Panama. It can be used to transport people as well as converted into a modern flying ambulance. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Inside the Cockpit

During a recent airshow, we were lucky to be admitted in a huge cargo plane from DHL.  The Twisters got the rare opportunity of sitting on the pilots’ seat surrounded by all sorts of instruments and flashing lights.  It was like being inside the Magic Kingdom of Aviation.

It was great to be there in the middle of magic.  The kid inside of me was having a great time.  Take a look and find out how it feels to be inside a cockpit of a large plane, much bigger than the Jonah’s whale.  Here we go.

Snapshot of Abdiel, one of the Twisters, inside the cockpit of a large yellow DHL cargo plane in Panama City, Panama. The flying instruments and flashing lights were absolutely awesome. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Now it’s Karol’s turn to pretend to be a pilot of a large DHL cargo plane. Great experience for a kid. I know it was for the kid inside of me. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

By looking at Abdiel’s face, I don’t think he has the inclination of being a pilot. Baseball is his business. But that’s okay. I understand. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Cruising Through an Airplane Fair

I recently forayed into a large airplane fair organized by the Panama government at the former Howard Air Force Base.  I found a large gathering of people including small children who were interested in watching the abundant number of helicopters, acrobatic planes, parachuting exercises, flying ambulances, speed boats, a large DHL yellow freight carrier and a whole lot more of interesting flying objects.

Amongst the visitors was a gorgeous small girl in a beautiful pink automobile.  She was one of the stars at the airplane fair at the former Howard Air Force Base.  She looked as cute as a button.  Take a look.

Snapshot of a small girl cruising through the premises of the former Howard Air Force Base during a recent airplane fair organized by the Panama government. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Photograph of the Day: Flying With the Flock

(Credit: Pixdaus.com)

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Joke: Not Everybody Can Fly Like Superman

An 87-year-old woman came home from bingo to find her 92-year-old husband in bed with another woman.

She pushed him off a balcony on the 20th floor of a seniors’ apartment tower, killing him instantly.

Brought before the court on a murder charge, the judge asked if the woman had anything to say in her defense.

—“Yes, your honor. I figured that at 92, if he could have sex, he could also fly.”

Source:  Miss Cellania

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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The Fusion Man Flew Across the English Channel

Yves Rossy flew across the English Channel in 13 minutes with his mini-jet-powered wing on September 26, 2008. (Credit: 6 ABC Action News.com)

Man has been trying to fly like a bird for more than 2,400 years, yet has only begun to master the process in the last century.

One man who made up his mind to become the man first to fly like a bird—horizontally—is Yves Rossy, nicknamed “The Jet Man”. The former military pilot, 49, who flies a Swiss International Airbus A320 transporting tourists to Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh, spent five years developing his wings for his flying man project to become the first man to fly like a bird,

Yves has served as a fighter pilot in the Swiss Air Force, flying Dassault Mirage IIIs, Northrop F-5 Tiger IIs and Hawker Hunters. He also flew Boeings 747 for Swissair and now pilots an Airbus A320 for Swiss International Air Lines.

Amongst his daring hobbies are “dangling from the wing of a biplane, bare-foot water-skiing, wakeboard, hydro-speed, delta flying and paragliding, snowboarding and aerobatic flying.”

Daredevil pilot Yves Rossy, is both the first person to build and the first person successfully to fly a jet engine-powered wing strapped to the back. The flight occurred in November 2006 in Bex, lasting nearly six minutes.

On September 26, 2008, Yves Rossy, also known as “Fusion Man” and “Rocket Man”, leaped from a Pilatus Porter drop plane about 8,200 feet above the French coast of Calais, reaching speeds in excess of 125 miles per hour during the 13 minute flight across the English Channel. The 49-year-old pilot, landed in a field near a lighthouse on the famous white cliffs of Dover delighting onlookers who cheered and waved enthusiastically as Rossy came into view.

Rossy has no instruments except an audio altimeter in his helmet and his wrist watch. Besides the throttle, he has no flight controls except his body. To steer, climb or descend, he moves his head and limbs slightly, a skill he first learned as a sky diver.

“I fuse with my machine. It was my dream as a body to be a bird,” he told his assistants before the flight. His machine consists of four kerosene-powered mini jet engines attached to an eight foot carbon fiber wing. The small but noisy jets carry 30 liters of fuel. “It would be a great device for James Bond so he can go behind enemy lines”, he joked.

Rossy, who spent months preparing for the cross-Channel flight, commented he wants to fly across the Grand Canyon in Arizona next. As for the 13 lonely minutes he spent alone between England and France, he told reporters he felt no fear. “I was under tension. But fear? The day I fear, I don’t go,” Rossy said.

Photograph of Yves Rossy crossing the English Channel with his jet-powered wing. (Credit: Impact Lab.com)

Yep, after more than 2,400 years, we now have a modern Daedalus who learned to fly like a bird and passed the challenge with flying colors (no pun intended). Bravo!

See Photo Gallery: Yves Rossy – Photo Gallery of the Flying Man

Source: “Rocket Man” Flies Over English Channel – 6 ABC Action News

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