New Year Blessings

Image taken from Threadless.com.
Link to the shirt can be found here.

Come to Florida. The pandas are doing it... X-D

Things to thank for:

10.) The orchid bloomed when I returned, with more flowers to come.

9.) Coming home from winter wonderland, to find that my roommate and friends are as goofy as ever.
8.) Reconciled with mom this past year.
7.) Learned how dangerous it is to ride a toboggan.
6.) Learned how to sharpen saw blades, split wood, and ride a tractor.
5.) Saw F-WWJB twice in one year...knowing that I will probably never see her again when she goes into service.

4.) Get to know fantastic spotters, oversea and local.
3.) D80 and my Suzuki.
2.) My room is clean, and I discovered that I have a floor.
1.) Meeting Dan.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

P.S. Zack, thanks to you, I have this shirt now. I will wear it to work, and be ridiculed by a 60-some year old Grummanite who still believes women have no place in engineering.

In my messy cubicle, I will be coding, wearing a panda hat with a panda shirt, and drink copious amount of Sugarless Red Bull. I will set the standards for future generation of female engineers. Really, I will.

Avro Vulcan - XH558

I am a newbie when it comes to military aircraft. I started learning about warbirds after one of the spotters from across the Atlantic Ocean made fun of me for calling the Boeing Stearman a "biplane". ;) Since then, I've been doing my very best to have as much enthusiasm for some of these modern day testosterone charged "flying coke cans" as I have for the comparatively "sluggish" but graceful large capacity airliners.

World War II and the Cold War presented a set of aircraft that seem to be a compromise between power and grace. For this entry, I would like to bring your attention to one of my favorite military aircraft. A former bomber for the Royal Air Force, she is one of the strangest looking but in my humble opinion, one of the most graceful, deadly aircraft ever to grace the sky.

Her name is the Avro Vulcan, and as of October 2007, only one has been restored to flying condition.

Avro Vulcan - XH558
Maiden Restoration Flight
Date: 18 October 2007
Taken by: Karl Drag
Location: Bruntingthorpe, United Kingdom
Link to image on Airliners.net

The Vulcan was part of the V-Bomber, a term used for the Royal Air Force strategic nuclear strike force during the Cold War. The three bombers were made from different aircraft companies, but all had names that started with the letter "V": Handley-Page Victor, Vickers Valiant, and the Avro Vulcan.

If you've never heard of aircraft companies like Handley-Page or Vickers, that is because either they do not exist anymore, or were purchased and absorbed by a larger entity. We are talking about the early 1950's when these aircraft first took to the sky, and you probably can't tell from the look of the planes: The aircraft in the V-Bomber look incredibly...retro-futuristic. There is no other way for me to describe these odd birds.

The Avro Vulcan was (and still is today) powered by variants of the Rolls-Royce Olympus, the same line of engines that became the powerhouse for the Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde. The sound that the Vulcan produces, is unlike anything I have ever heard of on other aircraft. When the engine is on full-throttle, she produces this distinct organic "roar" sound. Below is a sample from XH558's maiden restoration flight...you will hear the roar 13 seconds into the clip:

If embedded video does not work, please click here.

She was designed to cruise at an altitude of 55,000 feet, near the speed of sound (around the same as our modern day Boeing 747) with a maximum speed of 0.96 Mach (627 MPH), and to carry a payload of approximately 9.5 metric ton of bombs. By sheer accident, the Vulcan has the potential of stealth (except for her vertical tail plane), because the body of the aircraft has a small radar cross-section.

And the Vulcan is big. Actually, she is HUGE. The currently flying Vulcan XH558 is the variant model B.2, which includes an 111 feet wingspan. However from interviews of former Vulcan pilots, they remarked that despite her large size, she is quite maneuverable, therefore she can roll and behave a bit like a fighter:

If embedded video does not work, please click here.

The following clip shows how the aircraft was flown back when she was still in service. The crew had to wear insulation and oxygen mask to work and breathe at high altitude. This is also a good clip to hear the pilots go through the checklist of initializing equipment, comm check, and eventually, starting the engines. Here again, you can hear that same "roar" sound when the plane took off, right after the pilot said "100, 110, 120, 130...Proceed to rotate."

If embedded video does not work, please click here.

Finally, we have a clip of her maiden restoration flight on 18 October 2007:

If embedded video does not work, please click here.

Thanks to Sonicbomb.com for providing some of the precious footage of the Vulcan.

Flight International did an article about the restoration project and the succesful maiden flight. The link can be found here.

Fly on, XH558...

A Day In The Life...

Passing out from too much Thermodynamics...

Of course, times like finals week always make me wonder why the heck I decided to go back to college in the first place.

Then of course I realize: "Oh yeah...planes..." ;)

Taken on 8 December 2007
Tail No.: G-DAJC
Sanford International Airport (SFB)

Spotter's Log: A380 At Orlando International Airport (MCO) - 13 Nov 2007

A380, serial number F-WWJB, parked just outside of the Continental hangar.

"Hey, just letting you know the A380 will be here like the 2nd week of Nov (if you didn't know already)! "

A fellow spotter, Justin C., wrote to me about this piece of news back in October. I hadn't been following aviation forums. School and work has taken up a large part of my time.

But as soon as I read his email, I immediately researched on Airliners.net forum. Recently, they did a server overhaul and the website has been acting strange since then. Eventually I was able to find out the date and time.

And then the serial number.

F-WWJB.

I paid her a visit back in 19 March 2007, on a soccer mound en route to JFK.

Now, she is coming to my airport. Airbus wanted to check whether Orlando International can handle the A380 in the event when she had to be re-routed from Miami International.

I knew from that point, that on 13 November 2007, I will be taking the afternoon off.

Visitors

Visitors flocked to the Continental hangar to catch a glimpse of the plane that will make Airbus go down in history for making one of the most dangerous economic gamble they have ever made in their 30 years career.

After landing, the A380 taxied to the Continental hangar. The beautiful thing about this visit was that I could see her in open air. In JFK, I was only able to view her behind tinted glass from Terminal 1. This time, I climbed a small wall, sat precariously on the top and watched her from afar.

Spotters from all over the world came to see her. I was surrounded by tourists speaking in German. I was able to meet Justin C. for the first time after many months of email communication. On top of that, I was able to meet Mario, Ricardo, Stephen, and a Delta ramp rat name Mike. Throughout the day, we discussed aviation gossip and possible future for Delta Airlines.

I managed to catch a guy with a D200, trying to get a better view of her through the fence. When he finally scaled the wall and sat next to me, I found out that he is a helicopter pilot and wishes to become a medic pilot. We talked about flying in air shows as a good way of earning hours and building experience, and the latest camera models Nikon released within the past few months (D3 and the D300).

I stayed up there for a long time, staring at the A380 from afar as politicians and businessmen were given exclusive tours to the interior of the plane. It is unfair but that is how it is: People who care about her and travel many miles to greet her stay outside of the fence and see her from afar. People who don't care and are wealthy get the VIP tour.

The Arrival

On 13 November 2007, Airliners.net forum topic on the A380 Arrival to MCO was already going crazy with speculation. Earlier that day, I listened to KMCO from LiveATC.net and noted that at 7:15 AM, the arrival was northbound. While I was at work, one of the spotters mentioned that the controller will change arrival orientation to southbound just for the A380.

I asked one of my friends, who is a pilot, whether it is possible for control to change runway just for one plane. He said that it is possible if and only if the wind is oriented in such a way where changing the runway is feasible. So before I left Melbourne, I checked the wind speed for Orlando: 7 knots from heading 0.0 - dead north. I took a gamble and decided that the arrival will still be northbound, jumped on my motorcycle and headed towards the AirTran hangar near runway 36L.

When I arrived, I met Justin and Ricardo. Justin decided to try his luck for runway 18R, and left to go to the Flight Safety building anticipating a southbound arrival. Ricardo and I stayed at the AirTran hangar and waited.

This was it. No one around had a ham radio so there was no way for us to listen to what the controllers were saying.

Suddenly, one of the spotters shouted: "THERE SHE IS!!!"

I was ecstatic. The same plane that I saw in JFK was gliding in, just like the first time I saw her back in New York City on the soccer field. Everyone around me cheered, and like a dork I shouted as her landing gears touched the tarmac:

"That's right! You LAND INTO THE WIND!!!"

Full Circle

My Panasonic Lumix caught my first A380 shot back in 19 March 2007. The plane was backlit, but to this day, is still my favorite image of the F-WWJB.

Now, with my Nikon D80, I was able to give this camera a chance to capture the same plane I took many months ago.

First capture: Panasonic Lumix FZ50

Date: 19 March 2007
Airport: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
Runway: 22L

Second Capture: Nikon D80

Date: 13 November 2007
Airport: Orlando International Airport (MCO)
Runway: 36L
Accepted by Airliners.net on 1 December 2007 - link to image

I didn't expect to see F-WWJB again after that day in JFK. Orlando Airport is not exactly a main international hub, and chances of an A380 flying into MCO again will be rare, at least in the foreseeable future. I am really glad to have the opportunity to see her again, and this time I was able to see her in the open air. On top of that, I was able to make new friends: spotters from Airliners.net who came out to greet her arrival. I was able to find a small group of people who share my interest and live within the state of Florida.

Epilogue

F-WWJB left MCO two days later, 15 of November 2007 at 6:55 AM EST. I was not able to see her departure, due the fact that I had to study for an exam and needed adequate sleep. Other spotters were able to catch her as she left that morning. They commented that upon takeoff, her engines were serenely quiet as she soared into the sky, an almost angelic presence...

Taken on 15 November 2007
Departure on runway 18R
Photo by Chris Weyer of the ATL Spotters
Link to image on Flickr

Lincoln Spotted On Delta Flight

Courtesy from Aviation Week

From LGA to Washington. Full article here.

Spotter's Log: MCO, Part 1 - JetBlue

I can't wait until winter arrives. The cold weather makes for good, healthy spotting. Spotting during the summer in Florida is just asking for a heat stroke.

Due to the pressing need to do my Thermodynamics homework, clean my room (ha!) and do my laundry, the 26 August 2007 spotting blog will be broken up into three chapters.

First, a history

As a counterpart to Southwest's exclusive Boeing 737 fleet, JetBlue's fleet is made up of Airbus A320s and Embraer E-190s. Southwest, being a much older airline, at the time had a choice between a Boeing 737 or a DC-9/MD-80 from McDonnell-Douglas. They went with the 737 and never looked back, and to this day are still taking deliveries for the 737NG.

JetBlue came in around the mid 1990s, when founder David Neeleman began shopping for a point-to-point vehicle for his new airline. He first went to Boeing for their 737s, but apparently the business/marketing people at Boeing didn't take his proposition seriously. Boeing was getting large orders from Delta and other carriers, and in my humble opinion, probably didn't think too much about this little low-cost startup. The price that Boeing wanted for the planes was much higher than Neeleman anticipated, and they could not come to an agreement.

Neeleman then went to Airbus, who was skeptical at first about Neeleman's intention (e.g. going to Airbus as a leverage for a lower price on the 737s). Eventually, the two companies came to an agreement, with Airbus willing to do all of the custom job that Neeleman wanted. Even though the price was still a little high, Neeleman was satisfied and agreed to go with Airbus.

When Boeing found out about the purchase, their business people called Neeleman asking him to reconsider. They even offered a much lower price for the 737s. But Neeleman said he had already shook on the deal, so Boeing lost a lucrative sale.

Apparently Boeing's business sector had a short term memory, because they committed the same mistake with Frontier Airlines 5 months afterwards. Frontier Airlines now has a mostly Airbus A319 fleet.

Moral of the story?

It doesn't matter if you have the right equipment on sale for the job, all it takes is a group of ignorant businessmen to f*** everything up.

A link to the A.net discussion can be found here.

Awww...

I think only female spotters will say that certain planes are "adorable" or "cute". To the guys, the plane is a thing of power, grace, and..., uh, power. But the word "adorable" will almost never enter their vocabulary of description.

As for me, the 737s and the A320s are essentially cute as a whale, and obviously I'm not the only one who thought of such a resemblance.

Image taken from Airliners.net
Photo taken by Phil Hyde
Link to original A.net page

To enhance their cuteness, JetBlue assigned names to all of their planes, usually with some regards to the color blue. I'm sort of collecting them. A.net has most of them in the database, but I want to see how many JetBlue planes I get to fly/spot within the next few years.

Below is a list of names that I've seen so far (excluding today's trip, and incomplete, as I still have quite a few spotting photos from JFK that I haven't gone through):

Idlewild Blue (spotted at TPA)
For the Love of Blue (spotted at MCO)
Major Blue (spotted at JFK, prior to A380 arrival)
Blue Moon (spotted at JFK, prior to A380 arrival)
Usto Schulz (I RODE IN IT! FIRST JETBLUE/A320 EXPERIENCE!)

Triplets of Blueville

Name: Devil with a Blue Dress On
Tail No.: N570JB
Arrival: 1513h Zulu
Runway: 17L

Name: Blue Yorker
Tail No.: N605JB
Arrival: 1524h Zulu
Runway: 17L

Name: Blue Loves Ya, Baby?
Tail No.: N644JB
Arrival: 1430h Zulu
Runway: 17L

Skylog: Lightning

Well, I wasn't as lucky as Sergio in his lightning shots. However Space Coast has been experiencing some really neat cloud to cloud lightning. So one night, while photographing a rock band at Port Canaveral, I couldn't resist snapping some of the outdoor elements.

TOO LOW!!! (but just barely made it)

A low, LOW, WAY TOO DANGEROUS approach of a KLM 747. Taken from the famous Princess Juliana Airport at St. Maarten.

No, seriously. When a 380 metric ton plane is moving at 130 MPH and is less than 12 feet above you, there really is such thing as BEING TOO CLOSE.
What a normal landing looks like:

A Day In The Life...

Engineers working in the defense industry face the same amount of stress as engineers working for a Silicon Valley company. However after working in both environment, I honestly feel that working at NG can be more stressful than Apple at times.

I found, as I worked with different software groups at NG, that developers tend to pick on each other to alleviate stress. I don't know why, but it does save you from the brink of insanity.

Scenarios

The following scenes have been dramatized for humorous effect. However, rest assured they have transpired throughout my almost ONE YEAR of working at NG (holy crap has it been that long?!).

An aphorism for every morning (as quoted by Crionofarr):

Coffee is the word for god on the minds and lips of every hapless engineers.

One day with a test engineer about someone else's code:

Co-worker: So, how well do you know the code that Aldo wrote?
Me: Well, I only just looked at it a couple of days ago.
Co-worker: Oh good, so you're an expert.

Prior to product delivery, lead/manager tends to check up on the underlings frequently...sometimes more often than it is healthy.

Co-worker: Good mornin'.
Me: If you keep coming in here every morning I'm going to start developing hives when you're around.
Co-worker: ... Well, nice to see you too.

And last but not least:

Co-worker: I know you're a horrible programmer, but can you for once in your life disprove that claim?!
Me: Well, I'm not fired yet.

Warbird On A Highway!

Video caught by a state trooper, a Harvard T-6 on its way to Oshkosh had to make an emergency landing on an interstate due to engine problems.

I would so crap myself if I was driving down the highway with a plane landing beside me.

Panda! On A PLANE!!!

Taken from Jetphotos.net

Only in Japan...courtesy of All Nippon Airway (ANA), the launch customer for the Boeing 787. ;)

Skylog (with planes!)

Parallel approach at dusk, after the rain.

Rain, rain, go away...

It had been raining almost all day in Melbourne. I had been reading Conversations With Glenn Gould and listening to KMCO when around 1700h a smidgen of sun appeared amongst the dark gloomy clouds. I had to go outside...I spend almost all of my work days indoor in front of computers. I needed to see the sun.

So I packed up and checked my motorcycle before heading west on 192. During daytime, 192 is one of my favorite roads to travel: Sparse traffic, no toll booths, and smells of manure every few miles. At night however, 192 can be a very scary and messy place to ride, because most of the road is unlit, and there are A LOT of insects smashing into you at 50 MPH. My face-shield contained an insect collection by the time I returned home.

Oil spill in the clouds

I am not an optics expert, but I think this one is a variant of a circumhorizontal arc. I stopped by the side of the road to photograph this beautiful phenomenon. Other than sharpening and contrast, the colors that you see in the photograph are real.

Sunset and Silhouette

737 Southwest

I wasn't prepared to spot...I decided to head to MCO out of a whim to photograph silhouettes of planes. I had never done it before, and Florida has a tendency to produce beautiful skies right after a hard rain.

Using the 18-200mm lens, I snapped away at the arrivals, paying closer attention to how the sun outlines the planes vs the planes themselves. The transition between sunset and twilight is very short, and I was standing in relative darkness 30 minutes after I arrived. All in all I was only able to get about 20 photos, of course none of Airliners quality. At this point, I really don't care about submitting my photos to them anymore...

Silhouette of 737 Southwest

The Mating Game

Here is what my roommate had to say on the subject:

Fuck the game.

My roommate is AWESOME.

Maybe when more girls stop playing it, more guys will stop too.

Here's hoping.

787 IS OUT!!!

The first 787 on Airliners.net!!! :D

Statues...To Life

Introduction

Remember that any sculpture, no matter how masterful its construction, is simply a lump of solid when bereft of light, shadow, and perspective.

This past weekend at New York City, my mom and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts on 5th Avenue. The last time I was there was almost ten years ago, when I was a first grade brat living in Queens.

I never really cared for Manhattan (and the rest of the world seems to associate New York with Manhattan, even though it is but a small part of a small city in a large state). However, I've always loved Queens, with her factories, low income housing, and ethnically diverse neighborhoods...even more so than the other boroughs of New York City. The community that I lived in was made up of mostly international students with families. The streets were decrepit and the houses were gray, but it was still a fun place for a six year-old running to Dunkin' Donuts in the middle of winter.

Queens is also the home of JFK International and LaGuardia Airport.

When my mother graduated with her Master's degree, we decided to be tourists for a day and explore downtown. Leaving the car at the station in Stony Brook, we took the train and the subway from Long Island to Manhattan.

The Triplets of Static Drama

Statues are great subjects to practice portrait and candid photography. The setting is made for you by the artist, all you need to do is apply drama to that setting.

Good curators and designers at the Met know how to use lighting (artificial or natural) to the artwork's advantage...the choice is up to the visitors as to how to view the pieces and how to let the works affect their emotional states. Too many people go to art museums just to see, but not to feel. The former will leave the building thinking art museums are incredibly boring. The latter will be captivated and not realize an entire day has gone by and he/she has only explored 1/4 of the entire collection.

To translate the sculptures from 3-dimension to 2-dimension allows you more freedom to play with perspectives. An off-centered subject and uneven angles, gives the viewer a sense of uneasiness, and thereby heightening the drama. More contrast can achieve a certain dramatic feel, much like a silhouette of a figure giving the subject a mysterious and brooding look.

Marble sculptures are interesting to work with, because of the way the material scatters light. From computer graphics, I learned that rendering marble, for example, can be quite difficult due to the property of marble being both translucent and opaque. The specularity of marble is also quite different compare to a well polished glass sphere, the latter being easier to model in rendering algorithm.

All these quirks gives rise to difficulty in capturing marble in a dramatic light on 2-dimensional medium. By default, marble sculptures will rarely have sharp angles for the shadows to dwell, so I tried emphasizing the contours and smooth lines of the figure as well as the contrast within the sculpture itself, and also in comparison to the subject's surrounding. The result is that some of the marble sculptures, like Aphrodites from the Grecian History Collection, came out more like silhouettes.

Finally...

Of course, never be afraid to post-process. Consider post-processing as a method to overcome the shortcomings of your camera. Film or digital, good photographers have done some cropping and post-processing to their image, whether the tools be chemicals or software. The photograph is a coloring book for you to paint with your imagination. Don't be afraid to try.

Because I draw and paint way before I seriously went into photography, I have no compunction with playing around with my photographs. Photographers are simply artists working with existing events, creating templates confined by the moment of capture. They tweak their templates to their liking, and the final products ignite the imagination of the viewers...much like a sculpture or a painting.

No amounts of digital editing can turn a crappy template into a good one. Believe me, it is damn near impossible.

Skylog (Rainbow Under The Wing)

Date: 28 June 2007
Route: MCO-JFK
Airline: JetBlue Airways
Model: Airbus A320-232
Tail No.: N533JB "Usto Schulz"

I flew on my first Airbus plane a few days ago, en route to New York City to attend my mother's graduation ceremony. The A320s really are quite adorable, and honestly, quieter than the 737 (which I rode to return to MCO a few days later).

The wires sticking out of the pylons and the wingtip are discharge wicks. They release static electricity back into the atmosphere. The static built-up is caused by the friction on the surface of the plane due to constant contact with high velocity wind, akin to rubbing balloon vigorously against your hair/skin.

Though this is not a very good photo, it was one of those moments in my life when I smiled and felt happy to be alive.

Science Of Gaydar

Today on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert interviewed David France on his recent article attempting to bring to light that homosexuality is a genetic trait, and not acquired through nurture. An interesting comparison came up during the show which had me and my roommate pausing the DVR to determine whether we are "genetically" gay.

Please direct your attention below:

EXAMPLE C: Digit Proportions (Female)
The index fingers of most straight men are shorter than their ring fingers, and for most women they are the same length or longer. Gay men and lesbians tend to have reversed ratios. (Image and caption taken from NYMag)

Kelley's hand conforms to the heterosexual female model, so she is very happy that the test proved true for her. As for me, well, apparently I'm most likely genetically gay.

*sigh*

Well, I guess it is not too far from the truth. I've always said that I'm a gay boy trapped in a female body.

What the hell does it mean to be feminine and masculine anyway? Aren't both standards made on a per society basis?

Full article can be found here.

Jetty Park: Atlantis

Taken 8 June 2007

Aftermath

Landing...without landing gears

A friend of mine sent me this clip, and it is absolutely amazing: You'll want this pilot on your next flight!

Skywest 5741, hold...Hold, HOLD!!!

Diagram that shows where the two airplanes ALMOST collided.
(taken from FlightGlobal.com)

More and more people fly as time goes on. My friend May who lives in Sanford, can coordinate a trip to fly to Taiwan to meet her other friends from different countries flying to the same destination. In the past, traveling from one U.S. city to another meant spending weeks on the road. Now, I can fly to New York City from Orlando for one weekend to attend my mother's graduation.

So it is no surprise that runway incursions are on the rise. FAA reported 330 incidents in 2006. People have been screaming bloody murder for an ATC reform for a very long time, and though there is a plan, implementation phase is slow in coming.

Skywest narrowly missed a collision with Republic Airlines Embraer 170 because the pilot from Republic Airlines rotated (pulled up) earlier than usual when he saw the Skywest on the adjacent runway. Embraer makes light jets, therefore such a maneuver was possible. Imaging if it was a Boeing 747 adjacent to Skywest, it would have been Tenerife Part Deux. An article on this matter can be found here.

Bear in mind that this type of incursion usually happens on airports with runways that criss-cross each other. Tampa International (TPA) and Orlando International (MCO), for example, have parallel runways only, so the chance of such an incident happening on both airports are rather slim.

FlightGlobal also posted an audio stream link to the actual ATC transmission during the incursion. Link can be found here. You can tell, after the incident, that the voice from the Skywest pilot is audibly shaken.

No photos for a little while

No, it is not because I haven't been taking them. On the contrary, I have some shots from the Atlantis space shuttle launch just two days ago taken about 8 miles from the launch pad. I can't show them to you, because I can't get them off the D80.

The D80 and Navi (my Apple Powerbook G4) do not seem to get along. Recently, Navi decided to just ignore the D80 altogether and refuses to recognize the camera. Period.

I knew there would be problem when I got a female camera. It is universally known that not only are women fussier and high maintenance compare to men, but women generally do not get along with other women. Navi, being the female laptop, got along fine with the Lumix because Mito is a male camera. With the D80, sometimes they talk, sometimes they don't. Now Navi is giving the D80 the silent treatment and I am bereft of my photos. The D80 and Navi refuse to comment on the situation.

Interestingly enough, an older Powerbook that I recently bought from Zack is a male, by the name of Legolas (don't make fun of me, Zack named the computer). Legolas has no problem talking to the D80. But all of my photo editing software is on Navi, so it is a bit painful to transfer files to Legolas (with only USB 1.1 transfer rate) and then mount Legolas as an external drive on Navi, and then transfer from Legolas to Navi.

The cause of this excommunication is under investigation.

Yes, you can say I am insane. But I am sticking to my theory.

Airbus Jacket

*UPDATE 5 June 2007*
We have three people interested in the jacket!!! So I will get it as soon as the auction ends. There will be two more leftover, so if you're still interested, go ahead and do a Buy-It-Now by 8 June 2007. I will order the jackets as soon as I get everyone's sizes. Click here for the auction.

Thank you so much!

So...in honor of the first A380 delivery to Singapore Airlines this year, I've decided that it might be cool to have an Airbus jacket. I went to CustomInk.com and designed what I think matches closest to the uniforms that the assemblers wear in the factory (please see photos).


I've posted an eBay entry here. I am looking for at least three people interested in buying the jacket (because I can only purchase in bulks of six or more). The jacket itself is 46.56 USD (as quoted on the CustomInk website), but it gets cheaper when purchasing more than six jackets. The winner will tell me the size they want, and you can get the sizing guidelines here. Also I ship internationally, so let me know which country and I will give you a quote.

I'm not making a profit from this-in fact I'll lose a bit more money after auction fees and PayPal fees. I just think it'll be neat to have an Airbus jacket, but I just want one of them! ^_^!

If this turns out to be successful I might do one for Boeing next year when they deliver their first 787. ;)

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday

AVweb published a link to a spotter's video capturing a Boeing 757 Thompson in a moment of birdstrike upon take off. Though birdstrikes are unfortunately somewhat common, capturing the actual instance on video is very rare. Several things are interesting with this scenario:

1.) As soon as distress signal was confirmed, the whole communication became quiet except the emergency aircraft and ATC.
2.) ATC cleared the 757 to land on any runway as the pilots see fit.
3.) All other planes were on hold during the emergency.

Watch the video to the very end...it is very short.

First Concert Photography

After my first calculus exam, I went home and passed out after work. Around 8 PM, a friend called to remind me of a rock band that is playing in Melbourne. I wasn't awake at that point, so I groggily grabbed Mito and took off.

I was reminded once again why I do not like bars: I went home smelling of cigarettes in my clothes, hair and everywhere. There was a pregnant lady sitting at the corner of the bar smoking. I have not the word to say.

The concert itself was decent...the guitarists are phenomenal but the lead singer could not stay in tune. So instead I focussed on the lighting against the band members and the audience. The music played, and I snapped away...

I was honestly surprised that a few shots came out pretty well. I am still new to using ISO levels higher than 400 (on the Panasonic Mito, that was a death wish), but the bassist above came out well enough out of the memory card that other than a light sharpening, I didn't feel the need to post-process him any further.

Abstract (and an update)

An Update

A few of you were wondering whether I am alive or not. Rest assured...I am, but in a half-dead state and will remain so for the next six weeks.

All I can say is that taking an accelerated Calculus III class during the summer and working a full-time job on two projects that have deadlines around the same time really kills your sleep.