BruceAir’s Extra 300L is back in Boulder City, NV

On September 23, I took advantage of good weather, and I flew the Extra300L from its summer base at Seattle’s Boeing Field (KBFI) to its winter home at Boulder City, NV (61B) near Las Vegas.

I followed my preferred route through Oregon and the Central Valley in California, with a final dogleg east near Bakersfield. That flight path adds a leg to the more direct route east of the Sierra Nevada, but it offers many more options (i.e., airports and related services) and much more hospitable terrain for most of the trip.

I plan to bring the airplane back to Seattle in May 2009 for another summer of aerobatic rides and stall/spin/upset training.

Route	Distance	Average GS	Total Time
KBFI-KCVO-KOVE-KVIS-61B	1042 nm	146 knots	7 h 7m

End of Summer Aerobatic Videos

To mark the end of the aerobatic flying season in Seattle, I’ve posted a two-part video of a ride that I recently gave to my most enthusiastic customer of 2008.

The videos are in Windows Media Player format. You can download the free player for Windows or the Mac from the Microsoft Web site.

Note that each file is about 40 MB, so you’ll want a fast Internet connection.

Each part runs about 5 minutes. Together they show a typical aerobatic ride (provided the passenger is up for a full E-ticket experience) in BruceAir’s Extra 300L.

The videos are in the Aerobatic Videos folder on my SkyDrive space. Look for:

• AcroRide-2008-Part1.wmv and
• AcroRide-2008-Part2.wmv

Yet Another Take on the Flying Car

Wired recently posted a story about yet another car-airplane hybrid. This model (and at present–and for the foreseeable future–that’s all it is–a model) is based on a Ferrari 599 GTB, at least in the composite photo that appears in the Wired story.

I wrote about the perennial flying car follies in October 2007. This latest incarnation (ahem) comes from the mind of Paul Moller, who has long pitched–but never actually produced–the SkyCar.

New Eclipse Yoke from CH Products

CH Products announced the Eclipse yoke for enthusiasts of PC-based flight simulations. It appears to be positioned as competition for the Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System.

According to the press release, the new CH Eclipse yoke, which carries a suggested retail price of $249, includes:

• Fully programmable fingertip paddles, ideal for flight and racing simulations
• Programmable trim / scroll wheels with center push function
• Two backlit push buttons and a third traditional push button
• Two 8-way hat with rocker switch and trigger on both sides of handle
• Configurable POV hat for either left or right hand use
• Colored handles for throttle / prop / fuel mixture
• Three color LED selector dial giving you a total of 240 programmable functions with CH Control Manager software
• Six analog 10 bit axes for aileron, elevator, throttle, propeller pitch, fuel and rudder
• New and improved industrial grade material / components; indestructible robust plastic, free floating shaft and clamp extenders for the thinnest of desks

CH Products says the new Eclipse is "scheduled for takeoff in time for the holidays."

I will post a review of the new yoke as soon as I’ve had a chance to evaluate one with Microsoft Flight Simulator.