More Flying Stories

I love flying stories, don't you? Not a day goes by that I don't think about how much I'd like to get back to flying, if only I had the time and the money. Well, someday. Meanwhile, though, here are a couple of items that crossed my path recently.

Remember those personal flyers that populated science fiction for decades, and seemed inevitable that we would all own? George Jetson had one, why not us, right? Well, NASA is sponsoring research on it. Here's a glimpse of our future Personal Air Vehicles.


Those personal aircraft, of course, will be very sedate and safe. (Heh-heh, we hope.) Here are a few videos and image collections of flying experiences that are anything but:

• Video of an amazing landing of an F-15 in what any sane person would call an unflyable condition. Note: you need to get past the first couple of minutes before it really gets interesting at the end. Do watch it to the end. (Are we sure it wasn't Starbuck flying this thing?)
• Photos of planes landing at the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong
• A very brief video of a 747 landing in a crosswind at Kai Tak
• You want crosswind landings? Here are some Boeing test pilots landing 777s and 747s in high crosswind tests. I've lost track of the original email that had supporting details, but apparently they do these tests at an out of the way place in South America, where they not only get nasty crosswinds, but it won't be so embarrassing if they bend some airplanes!
  

Now that's flying.

"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps." —David Lloyd George