Introduced in 1911, the Model D was flown by the U.S. After that, you’re just grateful to land and stretch your legs.” It doesn’t carry enough fuel-thank goodness-so it flies only about an hour and 15 minutes. It’s not bad in smooth air, but if you get up into bumpy air, you get worn out because the tail sashays back and forth and slings you around all the time, and you have to keep pressure on both rudder pedals. It wasn’t designed for a cross-country flight. It’s a lot of fun for about 15 or 20 minutes. I flew it to Dayton, Ohio, and I’ve flown it to Oshkosh. “The Dr.I replica doesn’t have a rotary engine, it has a modern engine. Pilot: Mark Holliday was a pilot for the former US Airways. I began to wonder about the pilots who routinely fly antique airplanes: Did they have similar reactions? Here’s what I learned.ĭutch aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker founded an airplane manufacturing company in Germany, producing such military airplanes as the renowned Dr.I, flown by German ace Manfred von Richthofen-the Red Baron. And I had to hold my neck up so long it hurt. But flying this aircraft felt difficult and nerve-racking. After a few hard landings, I got the hang of it and logged a few five-second glides. As for yaw, the rudder, which was wired to the cradle, moved in conjunction with the wings. Activating the cradle twisted the wings (“wing warping,” the brothers called it), and in no time they were turning like crazy. To control roll, the pilot shifted his hips on the cradle he was laying on. By rotating the cross-member with both hands, the pilot could move the elevator up or down. But there was no stick: A horizontal cross-member linked to the forward-mounted elevator controlled pitch. That hasn’t always been the case.Ī few years ago, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, I learned to fly an exact reproduction of the Wright brothers’ 1902 glider, the first aircraft that offered complete control over yaw, pitch, and roll. Airplanes great and small have almost the same feel, and until acted upon by some outside force, most will fly straight and level. Moving the yoke or stick back and forth changes pitch moving it sideways controls roll pushing rudder pedals adjusts yaw. “It’s probably the best solution that I’ve found to lighting up the cockpit.Nearly every airplane flying today, from a humble Cessna to the mammoth Airbus A380, uses the same stick-and-rudder-style controls. “I was skeptical about this at first, but it actually works surprisingly well,” Lee said. There are different activation settings pilots can choose, but Lee demonstrated using a short clench, followed by a long clench, to activate the pair of lights on his helmet. This new helmet is activated by a button which the aviator presses by clenching his or her jaw muscles. Some pilots tried strapping lights to their fingers, or wearing tongue-activated lights on their oxygen masks, but Lee found those solutions clunky or unappealing.

In the past, pilots brought flashlights to read flight documents, but that meant they had to take a hand off their flight controls to hold the flashlight. Those lights help aviators read maps or other documents in flight, but the really cool part is how you turn it on. Promotional images of the Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet (LIFT Airborne Technologies)įit, ventilation and devices aside, another neat gimmick that the new helmet has is a pair of lights mounted to the sides. For night flying, they also wear night-vision goggles, but switching between the two with the old helmet was a real headache. For example, fighter pilots use the Helmet Mounted Cueing System, which shows flying and targeting data on a heads-up display on the pilot’s visor. Aviators have a lot of gear they often have to mount to their helmets to do their jobs. Guido Rietdyk, CEO of LIFT Airborne Technologies, said the goal “is to have the helmet not exceed 2.2 lbs in any size or configuration,” which could be great if “any configuration” includes the weight of helmet-mounted devices. The long-term neck and back health of aviators was one reason why the Air Force started looking for a new helmet. “Rather than waiting until someone has a back or neck problem, we’re already training to be stronger before problems occur, so we’re better able to handle the stresses.” Clayton “Red Beard” Cruichshank about a physical training program at Nellis Air Force Base last April.

“The idea behind the program is the preventive maintenance,” said F-15C pilot Maj.

Old time pilot art