Cool stuff

Today I stopped by Blackbird airpark in Palmdale, CA. Palmdale is home to a ton of aerospace history including the space shuttles and many military jets. Palmdale is also home to Lockheed Skunk Works and other compnies' top secret programs. Probably some pretty cool stuff going on inside the buildings here, but then again, that's going on up the road in Mojave as well..


Some info: the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, first flying in 1964, is still the fastest airplane in the world (at least that the public knows about!). With a top speed of Mach 3.3 (2,200 mph), the Blackbird covers a mile in less than two seconds and holds the speed record from LA to Washington DC with a time of 64 minutes.


Awesome flight out to the beach. Great example of how airplanes turn a full weekend trip into a nice day trip. Can't wait 'till mine's flying!






Here's a few pictures from the Mojave aircraft boneyard. There are over 100 airplanes that are half torn apart for salvage parts. A LOT of cool airplane stuff laying around. Magazines laying on the floor from the last time this 747 flew. It's a bit odd and kind of like an airplane Chernobyl. This is not open to the public, so it was cool to get a look inside.

Took a break at work today to watch SpaceShipTwo on a powered test flight. The spacecraft launched from its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, at 45,000 feet for a 30 second rocket burn to 115,000 feet, breaking the sound barrier along the way. I got a couple pictures as it glided in to land. SpaceShipTwo was designed by Scaled Composites and will soon be ready to take paying customers to space for around $250,000 a ticket.

Here are some cool pictures from a "family day" we had at scaled. No family came out to California for me, but I could't miss the opportunity to get some pictures of a few of the projects going on at Scaled. Pictures are generally not permitted around here.

A quick flight in a Mooney with another Scaled intern. Hopped from Tehachapi over to Bakersfield for some practice approaches

Take a look at Aviat Aircraft's 2018 Husky I'm proud to have played a role in either design or certification of the majority of the improvements mentioned.

Pitts Serial No. 0001 showed up at Aviat for some re-covering and new paint.

I bought a 3D printer and decided to put it to the test. I designed and printed this wind tunnel as a fun little project. It uses a small humidifier to show the streamlines around the interchangeable airfoil. A small computer fan at the back pulls air through the tunnel, and the wheel behind the test section changes the angle of attack. It ended up working better than I thought it might.

Got a ride in a T-6 around KUMP. Included a little bit of stick time..

Receiving my pilot certificate - 2015