Tag Archives: aircraft

Solar Impulse

Posted on by Bill Chance

I had a very busy day planned for today – work in the morning, appointments in Richardson at two, Frisco at three, and Plano at six. Still, there was a gap in there and I found out that there was a chance to go see the Solar Impulse out at DFW Airport before it flies to St. Louis.

Solar Impulse is a Swiss solar-powered aircraft, now on a tour of the US. I had eagerly watched it on the news as it flew from San Francisco to Phoenix and then on to Dallas/Forth Worth. I really wanted to see it in the air, but that requires timing and time I don’t possess, so I had to settle for a visit to the hanger.

I carefully plotted my driving around the city and arrived at the airport early. We took a shuttle bus from the designated parking area to a large temporary hanger where the aircraft was displayed.

Even grounded inside a tent-like hanger it was an amazing sight. It is a huge monster of an aircraft, especially when you consider it only holds one person. With its incredible wingspan and delicate construction it has a look of gentle grace and efficiency that is obvious even when it isn’t moving. I wandered among the onlookers, snapping photos, talking to the crew that was hanging around, and then simply looking, trying to soak up as much of the uniqueness and innovative spirit that I could.

It is something that, under idea conditions, can fly forever – charging its batteries by day. It’s only limits are the weather conditions and how long the pilot can go without sleep. There is no beauty more sublime and powerful than that of something that works so well and so perfectly.

I’m wondering when it will be able to leave. Obviously, it requires still air conditions to take off and the southern gale force winds that have been rocking the area show no signs of abating. It was a strange contrast – the delicate plane, resting peacefully, while a constant howling and snapping din slammed around it – caused by the terrific wind whipping the fabric of the temporary hanger into a frenzy. The sound was so loud that it almost drowned out the thundering roar of the jets taking off from the runway next to the hanger.

Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse

Little guy hanging out in the cockpit of the Solar Impulse

Little guy hanging out in the cockpit of the Solar Impulse

Demonstrating the construction techniques of the Solar Impulse

Demonstrating the construction techniques of the Solar Impulse

It's impossible to photograph and difficult to describe how long and slender that wing is.

It’s impossible to photograph and difficult to describe how long and slender that wing is.

Cockpit

Posted on by Bill Chance

Along the street that ran through the center of the Cedars West Arts festival, out in front of the new fencing around OKON Metals, sat the chopped off cockpit of some unknown aircraft. I guess it was out there to show the variety of materials that a metal recycler can deal with – or maybe it was out there simply because it was way cool.

I couldn’t help but hang around the severed snout. One guy looked at it and said to his buddy, “Look at all the bullet holes.” Now I knew better – those puncture wounds weren’t from ballistic ammunition, they were pierce marks from forklift forks (how do you think they move that massive chunk of aircraft aluminum around?) – but I didn’t want to disappoint the guy’s martial imagination, so I stayed silent.

Off to the side, an artist stood with a pad on an easel. His name was Joshua Boulet and I chatted with him for a bit. He had a portfolio of his line-drawings on a stand. I looked over his work done at Occupy Wall Street. “Did you go to New York for these?” I asked.

“Yeah, I set up right there just like I did today and drew these live,” he said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Here is his work in progress. You can see the fire engine from yesterday’s entry in the foreground.

Here’s the finished sketch (click to enlarge)

There was a high step up into the cockpit, but I took a breath, grabbed some loose aluminum and pulled myself in. There are few things as cool as the complex destruction in old, junked aerospace detritus.

Frontiers of Flight

Posted on by Bill Chance

Saturday was the Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day and I spent some time Friday evening scrolling up and down the list of Metroplex repositories of artifacts.

Fort Worth Modern Art Museum? A great idea, but too far away.

Nasher? Been there a lot lately, plus my favorite piece is closd.

Women’s Museum?, Discovery Gardens?, International Museum of Cultures? Nah….

But there is an aircraft museum, The Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. I’ve always been fascinated by airplanes (who isn’t?) and I drive by the place all the time. That’s the ticket.

The Frontiers of Flight Museum is not a huge place – but it has a nice collection. A wide variety of cool aircraft and interesting displays.

Frontiers of Flight

The main display area is crowded with craft - from a Wright Brothers' Flyer in the center to a Sopwith Camel, an F16, to the Apollo 7 Capsule.

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Uh oh

I drive by this all the time - a Southwest Airlines Jet looks like it ran into the building. You can tour the plane from the inside... the kids especially like that.

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Planes

They have a few planes on display outside.

There is a new section with several rooms designed for kids’ birthday parties and a big play area – bounce house, play equipment, and – coolest of all – a tall climbing structure with an enclosed area fifteen feet up in the air glassed-in to look like a control tower. They had little toy planes circling overhead on the ends of rotating poles. The kids inside there were having a blast.

Why didn’t they have stuff like that when I was a kid?

A lot of the displays concerned the history of Love Field and the commercial airlines, especially Southwest Airlines, that have flown out of there. One thing that was unexpectedly fascinating were the displays of Stewardess fashions over the decades.

In its early days Southwest Airlines was famous for strange Stewardess fashions. Can you imagine someone dressed like this bringing you a fresh barf bag? Those were the days when commercial flying was something special. Now it’s a crappy, high speed, cattle car. There are no more Stewardesses – now we have flight attendants… I think of Nurse Ratched with a cattle prod.

These mannequins are wearing uniforms from the thirties on up through the fifties. Looks pretty normal, doesn’t it? A little stuffy and a bit dated – but someone dressed like this would not look too much out of place today.

However, in the sixties…. Everybody obviously lost their collective minds. I remember those days… this was considered modern and fashionable.

There was one area of the museum that I was not expecting and that meant something to me. They had a room set up full of model airplanes – both finished and under construction. When I was a little kid I loved to build balsa models. It’s something I still miss.

There is a smell and feel that goes along with balsa wood. Those die cut bulkheads, balsa stringers, and paper… coming together with some glue and paint to make a little airplane – light and delicate. To see these models half built, spread out across the tables… such memories.

The wings with their curved airfoil ribs, carefully carved out with an x-acto knife and pinned out on plans stretched across a pine board. The stringers, struts, and spars slide in – and then it is all covered.

I used to like to build gliders – mostly because I couldn’t afford to buy the little gas motors. They are amazing little machines – the tiny screaming powerplants, belching castor oil and alcohol.

So many memories.

And that’s what a museum is really about isn’t it. A preservation of memories… sometimes yours, sometimes other peoples’.