Archive for November, 2007

The Nature of Our Addiction

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Michael Stewart

Some guys like speed. Their idea of a good time is a flash in the sky, a roar between the ears, a rush of adrenalin, a high number.

When they crash, they come down hard.

Their flights are short but they don’t care. They’re in love with the hurry.

Others like it slow. Their flights are quiet. They last a while.

Some weave patterns in the sky, getting off on precision. Their lines don’t rise, droop or sag. Their squares and circles are pure Plato.

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Posted in Baylands | 5 Comments »

Fetchomatic 3000 Recall

Sunday, November 18th, 2007

Swainson’s Hawk

On Saturday, flyers discovered a Swainson’s Hawk trapped in a tangle of monofilament in the Baylands Giant Yuke.

One wing was wrapped tight to its body.

During the past few months, people have tried multiple times to rescue planes from this tree. Some of the attempts were successful. Many were not.

Those efforts left a nasty spiderweb of monofilament snaking through the tree.

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Posted in Baylands | 4 Comments »

Norman’s Klingberg Wing

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

Klingberg Kit

The temperature in Amherst, New Hampshire, is about 20 degrees cooler than it is in San Jose as I open an email from our East Coast Correspondent, Norman McInstry.

“The bake-a-plane project was complete late summer,” he writes. “First flight was a bad landing, which broke the right wing. I made new ones & added tape where needed. A pusher motor configuration proved better than tractor, so I made a pylon to be used both ways & attached by one sheetrock screw.

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Free-Range Professors

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

Diploma

As I’m pulling a battery out of a plane, getting ready to charge it, Dwight is telling me about his diffraction grating project.

“My plan is to use a computer to drive an ultra-high-resolution plotter,” says Dwight, “then I’ll photo etch that image onto a sheet of reflective Mylar.”

Usually I manage my role in exchanges of this sort with cyclical sounds of agreement and understanding. “Uh huh.” Wait 30 seconds. “That’s interesting.” Another interval. “Wow.” Iterate.

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Posted in Baylands | 4 Comments »