Stick And Rudder

youlikeairplanestoo: Two P-51 Mustangs fly in formation during...

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:10:11 +0000

Two P-51 Mustangs fly in formation during a demonstration at the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Airshow. Great shot by Matt Hintsa.
Full version here.

Got to Love That Tuesday Night Feeling

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:14:27 +0100

Thirteen hours of lectures in two days, over and done with.

Day off, tomorrow.

Happy our down the red lounge, starts in forty-five minutes.

Tell one person. next the whole world knows.

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:46:28 +0100

I Will Blog Again, Soon Sometime

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:28:55 +0100

Honest.

The First Lead - Until now a usual climb for me consisted of...

Mon, 24 May 2010 20:43:41 +0100

The First Lead - Until now a usual climb for me consisted of being tied into a rope anchored in the rock far above my head, often placed by a fellow more experienced climber. A fall on this set-up is no more than a slump onto your harness, you just have to hope you’v tied in correctly and the nut holds your weight. Times change - Here (in this photo) I find myself leading the rope up the wall as I go, of course this means most of the climb occurs above the nut. Inevitably a fall from here would be a terrifying few meters - I’m told this is exhilarating, but I’m not to sure on that, hence I’m not letting go!

- Technical grade 5b sports route at Mount Pleasant in South Wales

Mount Everest: King or Killer

Wed, 19 May 2010 22:31:00 +0100

At 29,029ft It is the highest point above sea level and sees some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. Despite this, as many as 1400 climbers (by 2004) have scaled its Ridges to reach the top since the first successful accent by Sir Edmund Hillary and his team back in 1953. We hear so many stories such as the recent success of Bonita Norris, who became the youngest British women to reach the summit, yet the glory and triumph of a summit tends to hide the darker side to this great mountain…

To date 1 fatality has occurred for every 10 successful accents, in total 179 people have perished on the mountain side, most accidents caused by avalanches or falls. The deadliest year was in 1996, when 15 climbers Succumb to the conditions, 11 of whom in one day as the seasons worst storm closed in on them while on their decent. Despite this, over the last 20 years the fatality rate has dropped drastically, with 37% of accents ending in disaster in 1990 compared to fewer than 5% in 2004. This is thanks to tougher control over who climbs and the window in which climbs are permitted. Many team leaders and Sherpa’s requiring at least 2 years of intense training before an accent can be considered, winter mountaineering is far from a summers stroll up Snowdon, with the need for specialist equipment such as ice crampons and axes (and much more).

The quest to climb this mountain has become big business, with local governments requiring Licences setting climbers back thousands of pounds a go. The average climber could spend as much as £50,000 on one attempt to reach the summit, and even that isn’t a guarantee. A struggling team member or bad weather can mean an early decent, and money down the pan.

Mount Everest is not the most deadly mountain in the world; Only 130 climbers have summated Nepal’s Annapurna, while 53 have died leaving the overall fatality rate at a massive 41%. However the world’s tallest mountain is the most desired by climbers and armatures alike, often attracting a ‘tourist crowd’ who need to be reminded the real dangers of climber mother nature’s sky scraper.

I could write on forever, with all the stories of training, triumph and disaster, instead I will end with a simple quote from Hervey Voge;

“The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too”

lipstickpilot: When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new first-class leather seats in the...

Wed, 19 May 2010 19:59:41 +0100

lipstickpilot:

When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new first-class leather seats in the Mexican market, it translated its “Fly in leather” campaign literally, which meant “Fly naked” (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

Oh dear, that’s a fail.

ohyeahfacts:

(The Amazing Book of Useless Information)

youlikeairplanestoo: The mighty BN-2A Trislander descends to an...

Sun, 16 May 2010 19:32:11 +0100

youlikeairplanestoo:

The mighty BN-2A Trislander descends to an airstrip on the English Channel Island of Alderney. Photo by neilsingapore.
Full version here.

Florida one Making a Boeing 737 Not just any 737. The brand new...

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:40:31 +0100

Florida one

Making a Boeing 737

Not just any 737. The brand new Southwest Airlines aircraft carries the Florida state flag as a tribute to the airlines 2500+ staff in Florida. Pretty neat.

hatethefuture: (via j2d2)

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:50:41 +0100

hatethefuture:

(via j2d2)

Photo

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:20:29 +0100

Clwb Ifor Bach: Throats, Trash Talk and Rolo Tomassi – Something a Little Different

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:47:00 +0100

You know it’s going to be a mental night out when youths start throwing stones at your train as you head into Cardiff. I’ve made the journey many times before, but this was something different. On arrival in queen street station I walked up towards the castle, where I’d planned to meet Luke, before reaching half as far a mad woman in an orange wig flies out of ‘Glo Bar’, rollerblading around the street to the ‘cancan’ tune, much to the delight of the men in the club. Baffled by the goings on I meet Luke and we finally reach the welsh club. We were early and joked how awkward the room seemed as it slowly began to fill…

I’ll be honest; I felt a tad out of place as throats took to the stage, Luke had uttered the words loud to me, on reflection I’d have put it a few notches above that. The energy of the place instantly took off. As with all the bands that night, I’d listened to throats, but never seen them live, it’s a completely different experience. As the night went on, the adrenaline continued to build, throats set wasn’t all that long, it didn’t need to be with their “razor speed and steamroller intensity”, they were there to make a point, a point well made!

Even after throats had left the stage people continued to arrive, the room still a buzz. As Trash Talk set up and did their sound checks I slowly made my way to the edge of the room, probably a wise decision.

Trash Talk were insane!

Moments after they start playing, there’s a surge back and the pit opened in front of us, Luke was in there like a shot, although a little tempted I was far more reserved. Lead singer Lee Spielman took advantage of the space in front of the stage, allowing him to get right in with the crowd. This guy was mental, it was all mental. Once 3 or 4 meters away from the stage, it was now all happening in front of me, people launched themselves across the pit aiming mainly for Lee himself, it was as if the music had taken over.

It all made throats seemingly mellow. It struck me, this was more than just music; there was an angry sort of frustrating yet liberating feel to the place, nothing else mattered except that room and the energy contained within.
The unorganised chaos continued, by this stage there was a constant jostle in the crowd and I had a beer sodden arm from the person in front. In the heat of it Lee kicked out at someone in the pit and basest Spencer Pollard promptly followed, jumping off the stage knee first into the lad’s chest. Were things boiling over? This certainly wasn’t the place for the faint hearted.

As quickly as it had all started, the insanity was over as the California based band left the stage. I’d just bared whiteness to one of the most mental experiences of my life!

A pint of water and time to catch some much needed breathe.

At this point I was wary of the time, the last train home left Cardiff Central in 40 minutes, how much of Rolo Tomassi’s set would I catch? Aware the station was a good 10 minute walk away, Rolo finally hit the stage just 15 minutes before my train departed. How long would I dare stay?

Trash Talk were always going to be a hard act to follow, but Rolo carry a very original sound. Although I listen to them often, lead singer Eva Spence still managed to surprise me, with her petite figure and cuteness she seems out of place, yet somewhat at home on the stage with the band. Watching the clock I only manage to stay until halfway through their second song.

Gutted I’d left early, I realise I had barely 5 minutes to catch the train, running across Cardiff I reach the station with seconds to spare. A balmy way to end a crazy night.

Not my usual scene, but I enjoyed it none the less

J.Hand

The Icelandic Ash Predicament: Safety First or OverReaction?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:21:00 +0100

Eyjafjallajokull, sounds like something a four year old would type when let loose on a keyboard. Over the past 5 days the unpronounceable volcano in the south of Iceland has caused some of the busiest airspace in the world to shut, not even 9/11 caused such a clamp down. Thousands of cancelled flights have left millions of people stranded worldwide, crowds of which are desperately searching for different ways to reach home, and many others forced to cancel holiday plans.

But is this all justified? I myself know many people stranded in Latvia, South Africa even as far away as Australia. It is certainly proving a very problematic issue, and one that may stay around for a while…

Over the weekend the ever expanding cloud reached as far south as northern Spain, and westerly into parts of Russia and now stretches across the Atlantic, tickling the Canadian coastline. In the middle of all this is the UK, where flights in or out of London’s Heathrow, one of the words busiest airports, have not taken place since noon on the 15th of April.

This is a major headache for the airline industry, which is also recovering from the recession; the profit loss from so many grounded aircraft as well as the costs for accommodation for stranded passengers could be enough to send airlines over the edge. It’s almost inevitable we will see some carriers going bust before soon. British Airways and KLM have both have flown test flights (without passengers) and reported no problems or damage to their aircraft. With increasing impatience, they claim the closure of such large swaths of airspace to be an overreaction, and although there is a hazard, limited service should resume with caution.

Unlike normal weather systems, clouds of volcanic ash can not be picked up by aircrafts weather radar, this makes it impossible to detect and fly around any clusters of ash that might occur. The material it self appears very fine and silk like, but to an airliner flying at 600mph it’s a very coarse material that scratches the windscreens, reducing the pilots vision, as well as eating away at the paint on the leading edges. Of course, the biggest threat can be found in the engines, where the ash sucked through the air intakes melts due to the extreme temperatures, before solidifying and sticking to the cooler parts of the engine. This will cause flame outs (engine failures) and to an aircraft flying at 30,000ft can prove catastrophic. Though the concentration of ‘muck’ material above the UK and rest of Europe are unclear, some claim the hazardous material is to dispersed and diluted to pose a real danger to aircraft.

However, one or two successful flights in the affected skies only proves there are patches where the ash is not concentrated enough to effect an aircraft on one single flight. This doesn’t determine that there are not areas with a more intense quantity of ash; neither does it show the problems that might occur when aircraft fly through the cloud for a number of flights and a prolonged period of time.

This is the reason why safety must come before profit, in reality it can be perceived as a matter of life or death.

In my opinion, the prospect of saving one flight from disaster far outweighs the chaos and problems caused by the grounding of so many flights. Indeed I more than sympathise with those affected by the travel bedlam and hope to see things return to normal as soon as possible. Finger crossed.

J.Hand

(image source: www.heraldscotland.com)

Hello

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:03:00 +0100

Over the past few months I’ve become increasingly aware of the Blogging world, and it’s ever growing comunity. I’ve decided to join the band wagon, throw myself out there into the world of writing a blog.

Amidst plenty of other thoughts, I hope my climbing adventures and flying experiances give me plenty to write about… and hopefully something interesting for you to read.

J.Hand