Videos Archives - Page 3 of 44 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Meet Britain’s only full-time “flying banker”

The Wall Street Journal recently posted had an article along with a video segment about Anne Rendall, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s “flying banker” who’s a real jetsetter in the sense that she has racked up over 9,000 flights over the years, but that’s because she has been serving customers in the sparsely populated Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland for 25 years. She’s also a regular on the 1.7-mile and minute long flight between Westray and Papa Westray, the world’s shortest commercial flight:

If it were not for Ms. Rendall, residents on remoter Orkney Islands would have to spend a day going to and from the main town on a ferry, plus the island’s Internet service can’t handle a large amount of traffic. So its up to her to come and set up a hut or community center to collect checks, dole out cash and open new accounts. Her great-uncle had also sailed the floating bank that served the islands up until the 1960s before being replaced by a commercial air service.

RBS apparently declined to say whether the “flying bank” is profitable as its costs (including Ms. Rendall’s plane tickets and other travel expenses) are borne by the bank’s main branch in the Orkneys, but a spokesperson did say that her costs are offset by the leads she generates to offer customers products such as loans and the like.

Videos: How to mount and fly with an iPad in the cockpit

Jason Schappert, the pilot blogger behind MzeroA.com, has recently made a couple of useful videos about how to mount and use an iPad in the cockpit. In the first video, Jason takes you into the cockpit of his Cessna 150 to show you how he uses his iPad with a kneepad (instead of a yoke mount). Keep in mind that Jason is TALL, as in 6 ft 4 inches or 193 cm’s, and the cockpit of a Cessna 150 is SMALL:

In this other video, Jason shows you some tools he uses and the ways he uses an iPad in the cockpit. This includes on how to run a split screen on the iPad:

It should be mentioned that Jason has a couple of iPad in the cockpit videos under the posts, Check Weather On The iPad and Flight Plan on the iPad. In addition, we also have a number of posts here covering all aspects of iPad usage by pilots, including whether or not to upgrade one, what apps to use and general tips or tricks for pilot users.

Video: Spectacular sideways flying in a Sukhoi 31

Back in the 1980s, Lithuanian born pilot Jurgis Kairys apparently set the standard for how competitors on the international grand prix flying circuit are judged for their flying skills, but in this really cool video posted on Facebook (apparently a segment from the official Australian International Airshow 2005 DVD), he makes his Sukhoi 31 fly sideways about half way through the video:

When asked how it was done, Jurgis just smiled and said: “You know maybe it was a mistake!”

A quick look at Jurgis’ website reveals a couple of other really cool flying videos along with a photo gallery showing some of his stunts at various air shows or aerobatic competitions from around the world.

The OppiKoppi Music Festival’s beer drone technology

If you thought there was nothing drone technology could do that would impact your life in a meaningful way (other than to perhaps spy on it!), think again because at South Africa’s Oppikoppi Music Festival, concert goers could use an app combined GPS technology to have a drone accurately drop plastic cups full of beer:

Since getting to the Oppikoppi festival, which is held on a dusty farm in the northern Limpopo, is a challenge in and of itself due to the poor condition of the local roads, the organizers probably wanted to make it easy to deliver beer to concertgoers.

Carel Hoffmann, director of the Oppikoppi festival, has said an app registers the position of users using the GPS satellite chips on their phones:

“The delivery guys have a calibrated delivery drone. They send it to the GPS position and drops it with a parachute.”

For the sake of safety, Dean Engela, the co-founder of Darkwing Aerials which is the South African company that is providing the beer drone for the festival, told CBSNews.com:

“There’s going to be one campsite designated to the beer drop. The campsite will be notified that there will be drones in the air.”

The octocopter will only fly outside of the festival area while it makes its way to “District 9” to deliver beer while those inside the campsite will be told in advance that a drone will be flying above them during the show. Currently, the drone is hand-guided, but the developers say they will eventually fly on a GPS grid.

The South African built drone was nicknamed “Manna” after the Old Testament story of bread that fell from the sky to feed the Israelites travelling through the desert following their exodus from Egypt. Hoffmann has also told the media: “It’s an almost Biblical thing that beer is dropping from the sky.”

Even Rand Paul, the United States Senate’s foremost critic on drones and drone surveillance, has tweeted a link to an article about the beer delivery drone, adding: “Perhaps I am not against ALL drones!”

The Jetlev: Soar with this water-propelled jetpack

If you are looking for a way to combine water activities and flying, look no further than the Jetlev – which can lift a person 30 feet or about 9 meters high by pumping water from a backpack through a hose connected to a small, unmanned boat:

The Jetlev is starting to show up for recreational rental in warm water vacation spots like San Diego, Key West and Cancun, Mexico, but they have also been a source of concern in Hawaii according to the AP.

Specifically, University of Hawaii coral scientist Bob Richmond has told state officials he is concerned about the noise the devices make because fish avoid areas that are too loud plus he is worried that fish and coral larvae could get pumped through some of the equipment the watercraft uses and die. There have also been complaints from fishermen.

These concerns have prompted the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to call a public meeting last month to discuss the devices. At the meeting, the department’s top enforcement officer expressed alarm over unsafe Jetlev maneuvers, such as riders dive-bombing into the water next to moving boats.

Jeffrey Krantz, the owner of H2O Sports Powered by Seabreeze, which operates the sole Jetlev in commercial use on Oahu, has suggested the state set aside special areas for jetpack use. His company takes about 10 people on Jetlev rides daily at a rate of $179 for 15 minutes while a quick look at the Jetlev’s maker’s website reveals the new 2013-model year JETLEV R200x starts at around $68,500 – meaning Jeffrey has a pretty good rate of return on his investment in the device and he won’t want to see it get banned.

Video highlights of AirVenture 2013 in Oshkosh

AirVenture 2013 in Oshkosh ended last weekend and despite the lack of current military aircraft participation due to government budget cuts, officials with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) say about half a million people attended this year’s show – roughly the same number of attendees as last year. Official figures also counted 2,115 international visitors registered from 64 nations, with Canada (562 visitors), Australia (257), and South Africa (187) being the top three nations (but these figures only include visitors who registered at the International Visitors Tent).

In addition, more than 10,000 aircraft arrived at the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin and the total showplanes numbered 2,341, including 867 homebuilt aircraft, 858 vintage airplanes, 343 warbirds, 130 ultralights, 92 seaplanes, 27 aerobatic aircraft and 24 miscellaneous showplanes. There were also 821 commercial exhibitors – a record.

If you were not able to attend AirVenture 2013, there are already a couple of great videos highlighting the best of what is arguably the most important general aviation airshow in the world. To begin with, there were plenty of lights, pyrotechnics and smoke to make the night airshow at AirVenture on July 31 a real spectacle as you can see from the following videos:

Another highlight of the show was the flypast of Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy, also known as “Jetman,” in his custom-built jet suit along side of a B-17 bomber:

Finally, the Terrafugia Transition “flying car” also made its first public debut flight:

Next year’s AirVenture promises to be even more exciting because 2014 will include the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the 75th anniversary of the jet engine.