Sleepless in Midland

AirSho 2019 -- ho hum

AirSho 2019 took place last weekend at Midland International Airport. It was OK. But the show was a shadow of what it was before the CAF abandoned the region for the big city.

Maybe I'm being unfair since I'm still feeling the sting of not getting a T-shirt in spite of 16 hours working as a volunteer over the weekend. Hey, there's an idea for my own custom T-shirt: "I worked 16 hours and didn't even get a lousy T-shirt!"

On the bright side, here is something that got my attention. Remember those mechanical bulls from a few decades ago that cowboys and city dudes used to ride in saloons like Gilley's? Well, an entrepreneur came up with a new use for an old product. The kids' area had a mechanical bull, except it wasn't a bull. It was made to look like a space shuttle. Now that was innovative. Hooray for capitalism!

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12:51 PM 9/16/2019

Ground agent could have learned to fly the Q400 in Microsoft game Flight Simulator

In many of the initial news reports about the ground agent taking off in a Bombardier Q400 at an airport near Seattle the reporters were astonished that someone without formal training could fly such a plane.

Anyone who has ever played with Microsoft's Flight Simulator computer game can tell you that there's a learning curve, but once the basics are learned, it's easy, especially if you don't bother to learn how to land. And yes, there's software for the Q400.

It will be interesting to learn what games he played on his computer once they finish a search of his living quarters.

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2:36 PM 8/13/2018

Domino's franchise owner Jim Gerety in the pages of Washington Examiner

Readers of this blog might remember Jim Gerety as the generous Domino's franchise owner who feeds the volunteers for free at the AirSho at the Midland International Air and Space Port. (That "space port" part has become a local joke, but that's the name, nonetheless.)

Mr. Gerety has earned the gratitude of a lot of volunteers. But he has a problem with the government. See On pizza regulations, Trump slices differently than his own FDA commissioner by Mr. Gerety. Excerpt:

As the owner of 18 Domino’s stores in Texas, I do not cut corners, whether on pizzas or complying with the law. Unfortunately, on May 7 the law will become especially burdensome and unhelpful to my customers. That day, President Trump’s FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will implement a nationwide, Obama-era menu-labeling rule requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to post in-store menu boards listing the calories of every item sold.

First, the rule fails to account for how my customers actually order pizza in the real world out here in West Texas. Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza.

In addition, Domino’s customers do 90 percent of their ordering remotely — either online (Web and app) or by phone. I estimate that I will have to spend approximately $5,000 annually per store to put up compliant menu boards. I’m talking possibly $90,000 to invest in signage that less than 10 percent of my customers actually will see, and less than that actually will use.

Second, the costs of the rule to my employees and me could be excessive, with the greatest beneficiaries of these costs being trial lawyers. This is because Gottlieb’s rule exposes my employees and me to civil and criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and/or a $100,000 fine for inadvertent violations.

That means if one of us accidentally tops a pizza with too much pepperoni or cheese, or is a little heavy-handed with the tomato sauce on a given day, we could be headed to prison.

I know many supporters of the rule would argue that’s an outrageous claim, but FDA has offered no information or clarity except: “Trust us.”

Domino’s online Cal-O-Meter seems like a useful feature and a good replacement for the wall boards. But the rule requiring the menu boards is still in place. So, "Now my employees and I need Trump to weigh in."

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2:04 PM 4/24/2018

A few more pics from AirSho 2017

These photos were taken Sunday morning on AirSho weekend at the area they call the Bomber Ramp.

This snarling beast is an A-10 Warthog -- the highly resilient, low-altitude, close air support aircraft that has survived numerous attacks from enemies in the field as well as from those in government who want to take the planes out of service. The Air Force is apparently putting them on display to reinforce their popularity among air show attendees. Probably not a bad idea.

Then there's that MIG-17. Shhh. That big bad bear is hibernating.

Randy Ball's MIG 17 at AirSho 2017

AirSho 2017 at the Midland, Texas, airport featured Randy Ball and a genuine MIG 17, and he put on quite a show. Here are some pics from yesterday's performance:

Flying upside down.

Low flyby over runway.

The afterburners glow.

Click for a video taken at some other airfield.

Airsho 2017

The Airsho 2017 is going on this weekend, and since the CAF abandoned the area, the attractions haven't drawn the crowds they used to. However, there are still some good events scheduled. One is the MIG 17. It isn't often we here in the U.S. get to see a MIG flyby, but according to the Airsho 2017 list of performers, Randy Ball is supposed to display his MIG-17. Hopefully, that will help make the $25 ticket price at the gate and the $5 parking fee worthwhile. No rain checks.

By the way, Annie Jacobson's book, "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," tells a good story about how the Israelis were able to bribe/blackmail an Iraqi pilot to abscond with a Russian made MIG. They gave it to the U.S. which put it to test at Area 51 in Operation Have Donut and developed some defensive and offensive measures ultimately used by American pilots in sky battles over Vietnam. Unfortunately, a cocky Air Force Lieutenant General, Robert M. Bond, decided he wanted to fly the mig bypassing the usual training course for the plane. He crashed and died.

(According to a more recent version of the story, they obtained more MIGs later, and it wasn't that 1st MIG that the General crashed. Read that story at How a general's fatal joyride in a secret enemy jet almost revealed Area 51.)

Meanwhile enjoy the airshow.

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2:48 PM 9/14/2017

James Durbin's flying pedestrian

James Durbin, photographer for the local paper (Midland Reporter-Telegram) has an amazing ability to capture people in the air. His sports photos of the airborne athletes look easy compared with this one.

Take a look at this flying pedestrian. What a shot!

AirSho 2016 -- unofficial theme this year may have been "scarcity"

AirSho 2016 took place over the weekend, and it was a far cry from the hey-days of high flying war birds when the CAF was headquartered in Midland, Texas.

The CAF packed up and moved to the big city leaving the local air wing on its own for air shows. The show this past weekend compared poorly with previous shows and may as well have symbolized the shortages and rationing that Americans endured during WWII.

There weren't many planes, acts or customers. Otherwise it was a good show. Oh, and in case there was any doubt, America survived TORA, TORA, TORA and ultimately prevailed in the battle for the skies again.

Will we be ready to do it again should it become necessary? Oh my. With the part of our military that isn't downsized being restructured for social outcomes that is worrisome, indeed.

Hats off to James Gerety, Domino's Pizza franchisee who supplied Airsho volunteers with a free pizza lunch

Imagine this. You're a CAF Airsho 2015 volunteer. You're standing in a maddening drizzle on a Saturday. Or maybe you're standing in the hot sun on a Sunday. But you're working. You're tired. You're ticked off at the CAF for holding the air show in the wrong season. You're feeling slighted because the CAF bosses decided to abandon Midland, Texas, for life in the big city, and taking the coffee machine with them to boot. You're thinking about all the air show accidents in the news and wondering why you signed that annoying release. You're wondering why the Hell you are doing all this without pay. Your blood sugar is bouncing off zero, and you're starving.

Then along comes a man to save the day. He's a man with a mission to feed the hungry volunteers. Jim Gerety is a Midland, Texas, Domino's Pizza franchise owner. And he took it on himself to make sure every volunteer at Airsho 2015 got some pizza at Gerety's own expense.

Now there's an unsung hero for the pages of the morning paper.

BTW, how do I know all this? Because I was a volunteer who took advantage of Mr. Gerety's generosity.

And it was delicious! Who says there's no free lunch? Thanks, man!

Balloons crisscross through the Albuquerque Box at the annual Balloon Fiesta

The fall wind patters create an ideal condition for the annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. The weather phenomenon is called the Albuquerque Box, and it's the condition created by cool air flowing down the mountain through the valley at night and early morning while a little higher up the prevailing breeze is blowing the opposite direction.

So when a balloon launches it gets blown South. The pilot then heats up the balloon air to lift it to the next level where the wind blows it North. After traveling North for a while, he let's the balloon sink back down to the first level to go South. Picture a box. Theoretically the balloon can take off and land on roughly the same spot. It's rather remarkable.

This year's festival ended today, and here are a few photos from last week.

 
They send up a hand full of balloons in what they call a "Dawn Patrol" around 6:30am to see if it's OK up there. They are quite spectacular as they cross the full moon.

They use propane burners to heat the air after pumping them up with big fans run by generators.

There were some unusual shapes. Darth Vader required a little gamma correction to bring out his features.

There were lots balloons and lots of spectators. And why not?

The Sandia mountains East of Albuquerque had some beautiful lenticular clouds over them. Nah, who am I kidding? Those are actually UFOs hoovering over there so the occupants could see the show for free.

Note to future attendees: On Saturday of the last weekend of the event the parking lots filled up by about 7am. There were no alternative parking suggestions offered on the radio station I was listening to. However, the Albuquerque city website provides some info about a park and ride program. So plan accordingly.

AirSho rain out

The forecast called for rain. The sky looked like rain. And anyone with a lick of sense stayed home. Only an idiot who lacked the sense to get in out of the rain would go to an air show on a day like that. But you didn't come here to read about me.

While we waited for the 2013 CAF AirSho to start a very unusual could formation passed overhead. Waves and waves of cloud waves floated overhead. It was quite a site. Maybe these photos will give you a flavor.

Click on thumbnails for a bigger picture

The CAF AirSho in Midland, Texas, has a long tradition of not refunding tickets not canceling a show. But yesterday was an exception. The show got canceled after the preliminary acts but before the WWII warbirds got to put on their awesome demonstration.

The AirSho was scheduled to start at noon. However, the MC announced that the ceiling had to be at least 1,500 feet but that we only had 1,000 feet between the ground and the clouds.

We caught a break, the ceiling lifted to 1,200, they got the go-ahead from the FAA, and the aerobatics began. But then the rains came. And the pilots and crew who man the warbirds -- the planes that survived bullet holes, flack damage and all sorts of enemy inflicted injury -- declared they didn't want to get wet. And they bowed out.

However, Blastards gotta blast. They had prepared for a war worthy pyrotechnical demonstration, and not wanting to waste an opportunity to put on a good firework show, they blew up about an hours worth of air show ordinance in under four minutes.  It was sectatular!  A few pics:

If it looks like an oil well blowout fire, remember that the main ingredients were diesel and black powder.