Another great YouTube Video from TopFlight.Tv for your weekend viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

The long-awaited (at least for aviation history buffs) film about Amelia Earhart comes out next Friday.

Amelia Earhart has been an inspiration for generations of women (and men) around the world. A recent New York Times article by Judith Thurman called “missing woman” captures her story and the times she lived in very well. I highly recommend reading it.

Ms. Earhart played a major role in Southern California’s aviation history. Her career started here and many of her greatest achievements happened here.

I hope you get a chance to watch the movie. Have a great weekend!

In today’s traffic news, we bring you a rare interview with Veronica Moss – a lobbyist from the Automobile Users Trade Organization.

Courtesy of the great streetsblog and streetfilms.

I wasn’t able to go this year… – but here’s a chance to live vicariously through the good folks at TopFlight.Tv.

First segment includes typical Reno Air Race scenes including the F-22 Raptor that make Sir Isaac Newton go “Hey – this isn’t possible!..”

The second covers a personal favorite: the F7F Tigercat. Enjoy!

The passing of Patrick Swayze yesterday at the young age of 57 of pancreatic cancer was a sad ending to a 20 month struggle with the disease that was fought with dignity and courage.

But to anyone concerned with aviation safety, Mr. Swayze’s record was horrific. Many people don’t know that Patrick Swayze was an instrument-rated private pilot and flew a twin-Cessna 414 (N414PS) regularly from Van Nuys airport in Southern California to his ranch near Las Vegas, NM (that’s New Mexico – not Nevada).

On June 1, 2000 – according to the NTSB report – Swayze’s aircraft with himself and his dogs on board, hit light poles while attempting to perform an emergency landing in a housing development near Prescott Valley, AZ. The pilot and his two dogs were not injured.

The NTSB report is very interesting. According to Swayze, he was in

cruise flight at 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl) when he heard a loud sound. His ears “popped” and his dogs began barking. Concerned that he had lost pressurization, he looked for a suitable landing site. He reported being confused and had a hard time seeing his instruments. After seeing what he believed was an airport below, he circled the field to the left and initiated an approach from the west. On short final, he noticed a truck parked on the left side of what he believed was a runway near the approach end, and lengthened his approach to clear the vehicle by 4 or 5 feet.
Just prior to touchdown, the airplane’s right wing struck a light pole, and lost about a 4-foot outboard section. The airplane then touched down, bounced, and touched down again. It crossed an intersection, and struck a stop sign and another light pole. The airplane then veered right, off the paved portion of the roadway, and struck an electrical utility box with outboard section of the extended left flap. The airplane came to rest, facing south, about 200 yards from the first impact point.

The story continues with 4 witnesses on the ground helping Swayze remove evidence of liquor on the plane

According to the witnesses, the pilot appeared to be looking for something in the airplane. One of the witnesses offered to help. The pilot stated that he was looking for a bottle of wine, which the witness found beneath one of the aft seats. Both the pilot and the witness then exited the airplane with the bottle of wine, which was 1/3 full. Another witness put the wine bottle in his toolbox. The pilot then asked the witnesses to make up a story about what they had seen. They agreed to tell people that they were away at lunch when the accident occurred, and that they saw the pilot and his two dogs walk to the road and hitch a ride.
Three of the four witnesses returned to work and one stayed with the pilot. The pilot asked the remaining witness if he was in New Mexico, and was told that he wasn’t. The remaining witness then offered to drive the pilot into town.

3 of the witnesses were cited for providing false information to police.

Swayze confessed to the NTSB inspectors that he has been smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day, as well as cigars. The loss of pressurization story appears likely, since the pilot smoked in the aircraft and inspectors found that

The cabin altitude controller’s inlet filter was approximately 75-percent blocked. The contamination appeared to be by-products of cigarette and/or cigar smoke;

Mr. Swayze was extremely lucky to have survived this accident. Not knowing what state you’re in and mistaking a housing development for an airport is serious impairment. There was never any conclusive evidence that Mr. Swayze was under the influence of alcohol during the flight and the witness said that he did not smell alcohol on the pilot. However, he was not examined by law enforcement until 10 hours after the crash, so I guess we’ll never know.

As utterly irresponsible and reckless as he’s been as a pilot, he has shown admirable courage and dignity in his later years. Our thoughts and prayers go to Mr. Swayze’s family.RIP.

LA to New York flights have become some of the most lucrative routes for today’s airlines and we take them for granted today. However, few realize that the first commercial transcontinental flight – ever – took off from Grand Central’s runway and was flown by Charles Lindbergh (with Amelia Earhart among its passengers). The trip took 48 hours…

The airline behind the historic flight was Maddux Airlines which was based here and later changed its name to TWA.

Located in today’s Grand-Central Ave between Sonora and Grandview, this airport was originally built in 1923 as Grand Central Airport in Glendale, CA. It was the first commercial air terminal for the Los Angeles area and the first paved runway west of the Rockies. Pretty much all the names associated with the golden age of aviation at the time are associated with Grand Central airport: Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes and Jack Northrop to name a few.

The airport’s official grand opening on February 22, 1929, was a major Hollywood gala that included celebrities such as Hoot Gibson, Gary Cooper, and Jean Harlow. Many of its best known figures arrived in their own planes.

Howard Hughes built and flew his famous H-1 racer here and Northrop started his “Avion Aviation” here as well. Pan-Am, TWA and American all served this airport during its relatively short life-span. The airport closed in 1959 and the premises are now home to Walt Disney Imagineering.

Here’s a beautiful 3 part documentary by the Glendale public library covering Grand Central golden years – enjoy:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Here’s Harrison Ford – chairman of the Young Eagles – in a wonderful short clip about his love for aviation.

Enjoy!

Amazing shot from Ron Dubin’s photography blog:

Kudos to Virgin America for signing Chris Cornell to be a featured artist on its flights system-wide starting in October. Tracks from the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman’s ‘Scream’ album will be played as passengers board flights and will be available through Virgin’s music library.

Trips to the black hole sun will probably not be part of the deal.

Here’s ‘Scream’ for your listening pleasure (will redirect you to YouTube):