Linked List: August 2019

Aircraft Carrier Landing 1986 vs 2019

Maybe we do live in a simulation.

Helicopter Flight to Friend’s House

One of a long series of wonderful videos by helicopter pilot Maria Langer, who also writes extensively.

3D Visualization of Air Traffic

I like the one showing holding, approach and take off patterns over a small airport. See also Rosa de los Vientos.

Global Wind Map

A visualization of global weather conditions, which affect runway architecture.

Mysterious Missing Airplanes

Mike Johnston at The Online Photographer:

Using the faintest of photographic clues as inspiration, one of history’s greatest treasure hunters may be on the brink of explaining one of the 20th century’s enduring mysteries. Robert Ballard, the man who found the Titanic, is hot on the case of the mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, looking for her Lockheed on the slope of an underwater volcanic mountain.

Personal Pictures in IL-2 Sturmovik Cockpits

Another popular request has been the ability to place a personal picture in the cockpit of your plane. We have now added this capability.

These are the kind of details we need more of in simulations, that help personalize the world and bring it alive for the player.

If you have not played this wonderful flight simulator yet, an “Endless Summer Sale” is now on, with as much as 66% off the base game.

A Spitfire Girl

The story of Mary Wilkins Ellis, RAF Air Transport Auxiliary WW2 pilot.

On one occasion Mary delivered a Wellington bomber to an airfield, and as she climbed out of the aircraft the RAF ground crew ran over to her and demanded to know where the pilot was! Mary said simply: “I am the pilot!” Unconvinced the men searched the aircraft before they realized a young woman had indeed flown the bomber all by herself.

After the war Mary managed Sandown Airport, an airfield at the Isle of Wight. She died in 2018.

Tacview

Read and record flight data from popular flight simulators like IL-2 Sturmovik and DCS World. Found via Requiem’s latest video: Defensive Spiral.

Kindness in the Air War

Nicely animated story of a BF-109’s encounter with a severely damaged B-17, as told in the book A Higher Call.

DCS MB-339 Flight Model Developer Interview

The Aermacchi MB-339A is a free aircraft for DCS flight simulator that brings the Frecce Tricolore’s flying machine to the digital world. Get it here.

Anemometer

A device for measuring wind speed.

P-47 Pilot Flies IL-2’s Thunderbolt

…he flew for hours, I could not get him off the simulator.

Solar Sailing

A small spacecraft in orbit around Earth has managed to increase the height of its orbit using light from the sun only. Flight by light!

Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye:

Carl Sagan talked about solar sailing when I was in his class in 1977. But the idea goes back at least to 1607, when Johannes Kepler noticed that comet tails must be created by energy from the Sun. The LightSail 2 mission is a game-changer for spaceflight and advancing space exploration.

You may be able to see the spacecraft overhead at dusk or dawn.