15 June, 2015                     EVERY time’s a charm!

We often say that the “third time’s a charm.” Yesterday I went flying with my friend Pat and his son Daniel (our pilot) for the third time – and it was a charm.

But the first time was a charm too.

And so was the second time. So when I’ve gone flying with Pat and Daniel, EVERY time’s been a charm.

If you missed yesterday’s blog post about flying with Pat and Daniel, you can read it here at Make mine a double!! Or a TRIPLE!!!.

Pat is a terrific photographer. Here is a picture he took yesterday: 

Pat’s excellent picture of the Blue Angels yesterday:

The third time was a charm, but so, as I mentioned was the first time. We flew from Williamsburg Jamestown airport (JGG) to Tangier Island airport (TGI). We took that trip on August 16 of last year. Here’s the blog post from that trip: I went flying yesterday!

Of course (since this is how I am) I couldn’t resist a “wildlife” photo while we were at the airshow yesterday. This gull flew past and I got a decent picture. I think it is a Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) but I know next-to-nothing about shorebirds. Pretty bird though [n.b. correction below this picture]:

Beautiful bird on a beautiful day

[Thank you Marion and Kim! Both corrected my misidentification of this bird. I now believe this is in fact a Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)]

Anyway, as I was saying, the second time I went flying with Pat and Daniel was also a charm. We flew to Hummel Field (W75) in Topping, VA and had lunch at Merroir. That trip was in December of last year. If you’d like to see that post you can read it at Unforeseen circumstances.

I photograph a lot of birds. I suspect a fast one is going about 20 mph. The Blue Angels fly at 400 mph or faster in their F/A-18C’s and F/A-18D’s. Their wings are tiny. So to stay airborne they did most of their passes at speeds in excess of 400 mph. Stunning. There was an F-22 Raptor at the show that did a pass at 600+ mph. If you’ve never seen anything fly that fast – and they’re right in front of you – you can hardly even believe it. They are so hard to photograph. Think about a NASCAR super speedway. These planes are going three times faster. 

So I was really happy to see this US Coast Guard H-65 Dauphin rescue helicopter hovering – it’s a lot easier!:

Nice to see an aircraft sit still for a change!

Here’s another picture Pat took – check out this quality. They called this a “Heritage pass.” On the bottom is an F-22 Raptor fifth generation fighter. Which you cannot even believe that thing. That’s the one that made the 600 mph pass earlier. On top is a P-51 Mustang, a WWII aviation hero and favorite of my Dad’s: 

A thoroughly modern F-22 and a sixty year old P-51

Here’s one Pat took of the Raptor alone. Unbelievable: 

F-22 standing on its tail. That plane weighs WAY over 10 tons.

Here’s one I took of the Lucas Oil Pitts S-1-11b biplane streaking down the beach upside down:

Lucas Oil Pitts Biplane, inverted. Low. Fast.

That pilot’s name is Michael Wiskus and he has more than 24,000 hours (!) flying more than forty types of planes. Some of this stuff you just had to see (and hear) to believe. I’m going to include here a brief video I took (I wish I’d done more) just so you can hear the sound. He disappears behind and umbrella but kept flying up the beach. Wait – it’s two videos. The first is thirteen seconds, the second is eight. Have a look:

I think I will after all stretch this to a third blog post – I am running on empty! I’m going to leave this post with a picture I took out the window of the plane while we were flying home yesterday afternoon. I mean, look at this. We got to fly in the morning, hang out on the beach and watch high performance planes all day, then see this out the window while we were flying home. Too much fun:

Sunset clouds post-air show on Flag Day. How could this be any more fabulous.

All best,

Jay