Position: On the green line; ten miles southwest of KLAS (Sin City)
Altitude: 9,240 feet and climbing
Indicated Airspeed: 250 knots
Vertical Speed: 3,900 fpm
Equipment: A319 V2500-A-5 engines
Pax-on-Board: 123 plus 2 jumpers
Airborne...
Ascension is happening here... Big time; climb rate of 3,900 fpm with every seat full, cargo holds bulging, and Jet-A weight measured in tons. The flight management computers are tracking the green line as the left seat looks out the forward heated Plexiglas for the lost Beech Baron or Cessna 206 totally unaware that an Electric Jet is rapidly closing the distance from below. It is one of my nightmares; a mid-air collision during the climb.
Over the third virtual waypoint, the night sky rolls right as Fi-Fi rolls left to make the sharp course change eastward.
10,000 feet...
The co-pilot flicks the switch to stow the lights and then dings the flight attendants out of 10,000 feet as Fi-Fi lowers her nose and leaves the 250 knot restriction in her wake.
It has been a long day and we still have to fly to the eastern edge of the Empire before sunrise.
The slip-stream noise level increases as our thoroughbred aluminum bird decides speed is what she needs. Visibility improves as the sky clears in the rapidly thinning atmosphere.
Sunday morning church service...
This morning, I attended church service with the wife-of-my-youth. The preacher, a magnificent speaker and all around good guy delivered a powerful sermon. The subject: Wonder and Awe, or lack thereof...
One of the quotes he used:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
-Albert Einstein
Our preacher opined that several generations see the Creator as some sort of Spiderman in the sky. What's so great about God? Spidey can save the world... He does it all the time; I see it on the big screen.
The preacher might be on to something... Could this be the reason people do not know the difference between James T. Kirk and, say, Alan Shepard? Who? Alan Shepard... Who is that?
F1 engines...
I miss the days of Von Braun's F1 engines and the hard-core American fighter pilots who rode them.
Engines so mighty that people broke down in tears when the crackling thunder rolled over their souls from a mile away.
Wonder and awe is too hard now. It's safer to make a movie about it.
Monday morning, 0001 hrs...
I glance at the pilot watch the wife-of-my-youth bought me years ago when I could actually read the miniature numbers on it's face... It is one minute hand width after midnight in this time zone. I check it against Fi-Fi's GPS time; exactly 0701 Zulu.
Ahead, just breaking the horizon, the moon. Jupiter is about forty degrees above the horizon. Directly over the cockpit, the Northern Cross embedded in the Milky Way... I can see it with my left eye if I hold my face tight against the warm Plexiglas.
In the green...
All systems are in the green this morning as Fi-Fi spreads her wings over southwest Colorado; Denver's faint glow in my ten o'clock. Yes, visibility is truly unlimited this morning. We have about three hours until the top-of-descent.
Before that, I will sit here in my electrically adjustable pilot's seat and experience the mysterious. Just how big is the universe?
Are we alone or is there life on a far away celestial shore? As Sagan said, "Either possibility is astounding to consider"... Einstein was correct.
Life on the Line continues... With wonder and awe.
29 comments:
Just wanted to drop you a note & let you know how much I enjoy your writing. Unlike you, my view is typically limited to the field of vision from 4D, but even after 2m miles, I'm still in awe of the machines & the guys that fly them.
Keep it up!
Steve Smith
Beautifully written! Thanks for sharing with us!
Was it really Von Braun's motor Captain Dave. I'm pretty sure those rockets were painted up in stars n stripes livery.
I love this post with your comtemplations, Dave, and your preacher's message and quote.
I believe wonder and awe is one of many of God's greatest gifts to us. It can light up our mind, heighten our emotions, and delightfully tickle us deep in our solar plexus.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
At night, after the sometimes frenetic activity of the day, our thoughts seem to go deeper and wider. There is indeed much to be amazed about in the achievements of humans and the mysteries of nature. I envy your perspectives during these night flights. Your Electric Jet and the front Plexiglas lets you experience both. Thanks for sharing these moments from the left seat so eloquently.
"The flight management computers are tracking the green line as the left seat looks out the forward heated Plexiglas for the lost Beech Baron or Cessna 206 totally unaware that an Electric Jet is rapidly closing the distance from below. It is one of my nightmares; a mid-air collision during the climb."
In Las Vegas? I live in Vegas and I cannot remember the last time I saw a small airplane flying in the Valley, by McCarren. Tourist helicopters yes, small airplanes, no.
I'll never forget the day of Alan Shepard's first suborbital flight. It was my daughter's 11-month birthday. We lived in a little tin house and had no TV, so I listened to it on the radio and the suspense couldn't have been greater. Awesome indeed, as is your description of Fi-Fi's need for speed. Would love to have the chance to see the view as you see it. I'm pretty sure I'll never get to see it from deep space.
Luckily you are a person that still flies with wonder and awe. So many people for who it just got normal...
Very nice, Sir.
A quote from Lindbergh :
Sometimes, flying feels too godlike to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see . . .
— Charles A. Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis, 1953
In an era where a lunch is "amazing", a football bowl game is "super" and a discussion of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is "Breaking News", it is a delight to recall that the real accomplishments of real people - those who regularly fly us safely around the planet, for example - still inspire Wonder and Awe. Good work once again Cap'n.
I suppose part of the wonderment is that you spend the morning with your lovely wife at church, then end up having to fly in and out of KLAS that same day.
Your blog reminded me of a famous poem. High Flight
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Capt Dave,
I remember those same thoughts, wonder and awe, when I began flying as a teenager in Uncle Sam's Navy. Later and a bit more jaded I chalked it up to my naivete and simple upbringing. Yet, every now and then even through weary eyes from too many hours in the air, a scene would present itself that would just bring back that lost feeling of wonder...and awe. Sometimes, I think aviators are the luckiest people on earth. And Capt. Dave, dont worry about this country, we can make amazing movies of daring do but, our most inspiring, uplifting moments of "Wonder and Awe" by real people, doing real things are still before us. Loved this piece...Keep the faith.
We really do enjoy your posts, although due to relativity, it takes 4.5 years for them to arrive here. It reminds us of the bad old days, burning chemical fuels and traveling inside the atmosphere! February 2007 had some very good stories!
Fortunately I can send my return post FTL, otherwise you wouldn't be reading it until early 2015, and I'm not sure your planet is going to last that long.
Zurg.
Beautiful! Thanks.
Kevin g
We didn't have TV in school yet but the Principal put the radio broadcast of Shepard's flight on the school PA. Yeah, that was wonder and awe. Somewhere I have a picture of my daughter standing in one of the nozzles of the first stage of that Saturn V that is laid out at Huntville, AL. I saw Apollo 11 lift off; that was wonder and awe too.
You're dating yourself Captain when it is real things that cause you wonder and awe.
Captain Dave (with a capital C)
Well Done!
I am the daughter of a USAF B52 instructor pilot, Dad (with a capital D) took that last flight almost 8 years ago. Your stories have given me a small window into the life he loved so much. You've had me laughing out loud, with tears in my eyes, and so very impressed with your character.
Dad would have liked reading your blog, that is of course in between the crossword puzzles, and the endless games of solitaire.
You taught me something else... I never realized what the "fuel" thing meant to him...I get it now.
But that's for a different story.
Live long and prosper
climbing hard up into the night sky in a huge machine created with love, Wonder and Awe...
Hello Captain Dave
Ja…..
Wonder and awe….
I stand in wonder and awe before the author of this blog.
A blog which never fails to inspire.
A blog which I addictively forward to all and sundry.
Love the photo of Einstein.
Took me back to the book by I-can’t-remember-who now:
E=MC Squared (…..don’t have the little raised 2 for the ‘Squared’ bit - pardon).
Being a determined struggler myself where faith is concerned, one of the things that stood out for me in that book is that it was said (...by Einstein? ) that once energy exists it can never NOT exist.
Though I couldn’t begin to appreciate or grasp the mathematical brilliance behind the book, I found Einstein’s journey to the equation fascinating.
Now off to photocopy your latest, Captain Dave, to send it on to friends who don’t have internet access.
Just brilliant !
The only negative thing about this blog is that...it......will......end.....sometime….
Gulp !
Bev
Cape Town
Steven Smith- thanks...
Alex- thanks and I appreciate you reading.
Mark- well, Von Braun brought them to fruition, but technically you are correct.
Noella- uh, I think I've seen that hat somewhere before... I think one of my low life buddies told me about an Aussie with a coyote hat.
Renato Zane- thanks...
Dan- you are mostly correct, but there is still the occasional lost private pilot approaching from the south.
jaymarywarden- thanks for the quote from Lindy...
La Vida de Perro- thanks...
Sierra Spartan- yep, it's a treat. I am usually flying on Sundays.
bob- Wow! Thanks...
Larry Jones- thanks... I know exactly what you mean.
D.B.- I like this comment! A lot! Your engineering background is coming to the surface again.
Kevin- your welcome... Thanks for reading.
Art Chance- yes, I am dating myself, but proud of it. F1 engines still make me get all misty-eyed.
Karen- thanks for the comment. One of my best friends just retired. He was a buff pilot, too.
Bev- thanks for the compliments. Don't worry... Not planning on quitting the blog for the forseeable future.
Father Dave (if I may on this post ), you strike a transcendent note astride your scientific and philosophic paradigms. That is good, for we have little room to discuss the latter while the media dominates the former in public discourse. Thank you for nodding in that direction on your otherwise so restrained an disciplined publications. We need the space to tak about this stuff as a community and not be struck dumb by PC dom. Out of order if so don't publish. Love your stuff keep it up,
V
Thanks Dave'
Just a thought.
Used to tell young whipersanappers this,and winter's coming on.
The weather service,in it's forecasts,does not take into consideration snow on the ground.
Makes sense,how does a computer know where the snow is?
Anyway,I've seen (as I'm sure you have)forecasts for East coast airports shot to hell after sunset and an Easterly wind blowing over the snow reducing viz to nada.
Sorry for posting this here on your wonderful blog ,but it was just bugging me.
Maybe sumpin to consider or maybe just some old geezer with too much time on his hands.
Probably the latter.
Jay
Wonderful entry, Captain Dave. Might you explain the appellation "Electric Jet"?
Stephen Mitchell- sure... When the Airbus Industries aircraft first arrived on the Line of majors in this country, the pilots were amazed at the difference in systems and technology from what they had been flying. Hence the term Electric Jet, Fi-Fi, the Dark Side, and Sparky.
jaymarywarden- post away, I do not mind. You are right on about the east coast terminal area forecasts. It still blows me away when I read a TAF in the morning and there is no mention of convective activity for the afternoon, but I know for a fact (100%) there will be; dispatch fuels from the forecast. I get out there with flight plan fuel load (trying to be a good company pilot) and there are thunderstorms at the airport. Happens a lot in the summer.
buach- I like this comment... A lot.
Dear Dave,
I started reading your blog when I took my first steps in aviation as a motivated 18year old wanted to learn to fly. Every week checking your site, hoping that the captain would have posted something new.
I am proud to say that today, 3.5years later I'm on the right seat as a co-pilot flying cargo in an old but reliable English turbo-prop all over western-Europe. I don't think you realize how much your blog has inspired me and my colleagues/roommates over the (sometimes hard) years of studying and flying.
Please keep up the good work and hopefully I can match the level of your top co-pilots.
And for all the space loving fans who are reading this. If you, like me, shed a tear when the final mission of the space shuttle ended. Watch this and be amazed what humans can achieve if they put their mind (and money) to it ;)
The documentary "When we left earth, the nasa missions" link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233514/
Captain Dave, thank you and Godspeed!
(Or in my case 220kts @ fl180...)
Sam "the riddler" from the Netherlands.
Just finished watching a NOVA 3-part series on string theory called The Elegant Universe... awesome stuff.. worth the effort to find it.. I got it from Netflix.
"May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder. "
— John O'Donohue (Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong)
"The world rests in the night. Trees, mountains, fields, and faces are released from the prison of shape and the burden of exposure. Each thing creeps back into its own nature within the shelter of the dark. Darkness is the ancient womb. Nighttime is womb- time. Our souls come out to play. The darkness absolves everything; the struggle for identity and impression falls away. We rest in the night."
— John O'Donohue (Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom)
Thought you might enjoy these quotes.
Thank you for sharing wonder and awe Captain Dave.
~ DeAnn
Dave,
I absolutely enjoy your posts. I check this blog on a daily basis awaiting a new post. Wanted to give you a link to this article on the main MSNBC homepage so maybe we could here your thoughts. As a pilot myself I found it down right offensive and false.
http://business.newsvine.com/_news/2011/08/30/7522763-are-airline-pilots-forgetting-how-to-fly#comments
As always, great writing and insightful. I was wondering if you saw the recent article online about pilots "forgetting how to fly" in the age of the digital environment? I know you generally steer clear from popular media stories which I respect,but in this case I would enjoy hearing your persepective.
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