Here at GlassPilot.com we are blessed to call so many great folks our friends, customers and supporters. Our friends Joey Richie and Matt Webb of Newport News VA just return from a great coast-to-coast flying adventure in their Diamond DA40 XLS with its G1000 panel and fuel sipping performance. This story is a fabulous example of the capabilities of our new modern aircraft. I think you’ll see clearly from their descriptions and photos the value the technology brings to making a trip like this possible. Thanks for the inspiration guys… I’m ready to launch for Catalina!

The Great Western Adventure

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My partner in our DA40, Matt Webb and I just returned from a fantastic spur of the moment adventure from the East Coast (Newport News/Williamsburg) out to the West Coast in a four day trip. Matt had business in Texas and Phoenix and was looking for a good excuse to fly the Diamond out west. He asked me knowing that I can’t refuse any semi-reasonable excuse to go flying and that I could back him up with IMC situations that might arise. We synched our schedules, checked the weather for the thousandth time, then set off on Wednesday 5/26/10 knowing that we could still have two days of the Memorial Day weekend with the families if we could make it back Read the rest of this entry »

Air Refueling in the KC135 from John Armstrong on Vimeo.

Here at GlassPilot we enjoy sharing information about modern aircraft and the impact the technology is having on the way we fly. Sometimes we like to share unique experiences and flying destinations for our readers to enjoy.  In this video we have the opportunity to share the experience of a recent flight on an Air Force Air Refueling Tanker. I was invited on a Civic Leader orientation flight.  The entire process was truly amazing.

In a typical refueling the KC135 might give an F15 3000 lbs or 500 gallons of fuel in only minutes.  The F15′s follow the tanker and the boom operator guides the fuel nozzle into a special fitting on the top of the aircraft. The song on the video seemed to fit as it says, “follow-me home and give me 5″. In one refueling mission the KC135 can deliver more fuel than the average driver would use in over 40 years of driving!

Though there are lots of engine gauges you’ll see that they don’t have anything on our modern GA panels! In fact, the aircraft was built the same year I was born and has been updated with glass avionics systems. In this updated form it is still the workhorse of the Air Force for refueling today. I think you’ll enjoy the video, check it out.  JA for GlassPilot.com

A friend of GlassPilot.com shared this excellent video with us. Remember, most of the technology used on these aircraft was introduced 10 – 20 years ago. If you are a pilot you’ll enjoy this video!

I’ve always been fascinated by why people want to fly. Its a fun question to ask the pilots that I meet…”Why do you like to fly?” I ask. I usually get an answer that starts off with, “I’ve always wanted…” or “I just like being up in the air…” or other such answers.

A friend sent me this link to a video I thought was kind of neat and that captures the mystique and allure of flying for me. Since I originally learned in a classic J3 Cub and have owned and amphibian and enjoy playing the guitar, some of the images pulled at my heartstrings.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-wUPixCw2c

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