Page 28 - Sept22T

sat a VariEze wing piled with sandbags used for stress testing. I had met him in the early 70s at Oshkosh as he was beginning his rise to fame with his VW-powered VariViggen and the original VariEze. The rest of his career is now world famous. My military career took me away from the EAA for a while, so it was good to soak in the feeling at Mojave. There are many such innovators and inventions on display at EAA’s annual gathering. Some of them will fade away, but some will go on to change the aviation world. It’s amazing to watch the transition from what is often called wacky when first introduced to a new normal for a component, system or procedure.
Airplanes bring us together,
but friendship keeps us together.
– Paul Poberezny
Have you ever created something from nothing: comedy, music, literature, a painting or sculpture? Something func- tional, maybe like a piece of furniture, birdhouse or even an airplane? Something from your mind, an original idea, like John Nash’s Nobel Prize-winning odyssey in governing dynamics: Equilibrium. Do you recall the most difficult part of those original idea projects? For me, it was trying to decide what to write or what to make, thinking of a concept
and getting started – the beginning. Airframes and airfoils, powerplants, avionics, instrument approaches, aerobat- ics, construction materials and techniques, flying songs, poems, stories and manuals – all these things at one time were nothing. They did not exist. Someone at some point said to themselves: “I wonder what would happen if...” Then they performed the first outside loop and the Lomcovak, or made an airplane out of molded foam and fiberglass, or flew an approach without any outside visual references.
Someone made an airplane out of cloth and someone discovered how to weld aluminum. Someone soldered components that had never been soldered together be- fore...and that was the beginning. The ability to transfer fuel in-flight from one airplane to another was developed. Someone figured out that you could design a spaceship that can re-enter the atmosphere based on the drag character- istics of a badminton birdie instead of a flaming meteor. An airplane was flown on instruments for the first time, and an author wrote a masterpiece about a seagull named Jonathon Livingston.
Creating something from nothing: the beginning. That’s a very difficult place to be. Once you pass the beginning, often the rest of the project is simply busy work, making the picture in your mind become a material thing – do- ing the research, testing, problem-solving, trial-and-error and, heaven forbid, the editing. We often take so much for granted. Oshkosh reminds us how much work and how many smart, courageous people went before us and got us to where we are today.
I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The left engine, cylinder #5 in the Duke swallowed an intake valve in June, so it’s out of commission for a while. The in-flight failure was mostly uneventful except for an extremely delayed response from ARFF (more on this in an upcoming T &T). While the Duke gets fixed, I’m grate- ful to have the Part 135 gig to release my mind from the tyranny of petty things. As I finish this article from the “breezeway” of my tent at Oshkosh, B-17s and B-25s flying laps overhead, I’m already looking forward to next year. We need to be grateful for the events, innovators and legislators supporting our passion for aviation. I know that I am. And after a week of camping at Oshkosh, I’ll also be grateful for a real shower and bed.
Preferred Airparts
http:/preferredairparts.com
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737, DC9 and CE-650 with 25,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organi- zation Wings of Mercy, is retired from a major airline, flies the Cessna Citation for RAI Jets, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@gmail.com.
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / September 2022