UPDATE 29

                                          10/30/2009

We’re home from our last airshow of the 2009 season at Culpeper, Virginia.  The planes are back in the barn, and we’re knee deep in beer cans and cigar ashes.  I’d mention the name of the beer company and the brand of cigars, but they don’t sponsor us.  But it’s still time to celebrate

We aimed for six airshows this year and completed all six of them – successfully with no major mechanicals.  We have a list of minor things to address on the airplane over the winter, but nothing that will keep the airplane from flying.  Nothing at all.

In addition to our airshow schedule, we were successful in several other accomplishments:

First, an additional pilot was declared qualified by the FAA. “Qualified” is not really the correct word here, since Joe Anderson (Major General, USMC (ret), Test Pilot) already had 2,490+  hours in Harriers dating back to 1973.

Joe flew his first Harrier before the U.S. Marines even had a two-seat trainer version.   But he wasn’t lucky enough to go to the UK and get his training there.  As one of the original cadre of US-trained Harrier pilots, he literally read the book, discussed the airplane with his instructor (who had a total of 6 hours in the airplane), and climbed in the cockpit.  The mere fact that he survived should make him “qualified” in my mind.  But here he is, 36 years later with a total of 2,490 hours under his belt.  We thought he knew the airplane well enough to stand examination.  After the FAA examination and a short flight demonstration were complete, the examiner pronounced him “qualified.”

Joe also achieved another major milestone in his flight career this season by surpassing 2,500 flight hours in Harriers.  Not many Harrier pilots reach that milestone.  The typical Harrier flight, especially in the early version the AV-8A, was less than an hour in duration.  The Original AV-8A Harrier typically flew 45-50 minutes for a tactical sortie, (with external fuel tanks), so it took a while to accumulate large hours.  Joe surpassed the 2,500 hour milestone on a cross-country flight in the SHAR to Gary, Indiana.  It only took him 36 years to reach that level. 

Third, Joe is 63 years young. By our assessment, that makes him the OLDEST, CURRENTLY FLYING HARRIER PILOT IN THE WORLD.  If there are any Harrier Pilots out there, who are older and still actively flying Harriers, please let us know, otherwise, we’ll claim that record.

Fourth, I received a low-altitude aerobatic waiver in the Sea Harrier.  This is the first ever granted in the United States.  Foreign Harrier demonstration pilots are under a different system, but US pilots are required to possess this rating to do any maneuvers beyond 90 degrees angle of bank, and I am the first to earn this rating in the US.

Fifth, we refined our logistics plan to support our deployment to far-away airshows.  This is no small feat. We have a 24-foot trailer that is filled with spares, tools, jacks, and all sorts of things we could possibly need while on the road.  So far, only the things that are NOT in the trailer are the items we actually needed, such as a battery, camera, etc.  We’ve determined that if we actually put them in the trailer, we won’t need them.  We stock a HUGE trailer to avoid having to actually use anything.

And sixth, we have some cruise performance figures to determine how much this airplane costs to operate on a cross country flight.  The answer is a lot.  This is not a cruiser to get a hamburger on the weekends.

All in all, this was a successful airshow season.  We did everything we said we would and fulfilled every contract.  We stood several  FAA inspections by different inspectors from different Flight Standards Districts Offices with no discrepancies that were not administrative in nature.  You might recall that the size of the lettering of  “EXPERIMENTAL” did not pass muster, but that was corrected and has not been a repeat issue.  If THAT is the most serious of our offenses, I’ll gladly accept it.

We are itemizing our work schedule for the winter as we put the airplanes down for our annual conditional inspections and getting ready to hit the deck running for 2010.  We’ll join the rest of the airshow community at the annual ICAS convention in Las Vegas early in December to start planning our next season. We already have several repeat customers, but will probably add some new airshows, too. 

I personally want to thank the Maintenance Team for providing me an outstanding couple of jets to fly. There are too many to mention by name here, but they know who they are.  I appreciate all of them being there when I needed them.  All the old AV-8A Pilots out there remember what a kick in the pants Harrier was to fly, and this one is lighter, faster, stronger and easier to fly than any of those.  It’s a rocket ship!  It’s an absolute pleasure to fly and it’s all due to the hard work and dedication of the maintenance team. These guys donate their weekends and evenings to give me a safe, clean and fast piece of machinery.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  There is beer in the fridge…

I also want to thank Joe Anderson for being there every step of the way to keep me safe.  I do the same for him.  Neither of us has a thin skin, accepting honest criticism.  That’s the way it’s been and hopefully, that’s the way we’ll continue.

Lastly, I want to thank our wives for letting us have this much fun! My wife, Pat, has been with us at every airshow, watching over us like a mother hen, feeding our whining faces, and making sure the airplane was secure.  Other wives have been there, too, helping where they could and keeping us in line.  We appreciate your support and thank you!

Without their support and approval, we’d be cutting the lawn on Saturday.  Flying a Sea Harrier sure beats the hell out of that!

Art Nalls