F4U and Atlas

I continue to be excited by the potential of Atlas. I’ve been doing talks on it at conferences and user groups and the buzz is unbelievable. It reminds me of the early days of XML when XML talks packed the house. This week I’m traveling to Atlanta to present Atlas to some big companies down there who have expressed interest. I can’t wait to lay it out for them and see what they think about it.

In between trips, I’ve been squeezing in flying time when weather permits. I have a brand new Top-Flite F4U Corsair (pictured below) almost ready for its maiden flight. It replaces an almost identical plane that I crashed last summer when it suffered an unrecoverable mechanical failure in the air. (A bellcrank in the rudder/tailwheel mechanism overextended and locked the rudder in the full right position. The plane almost hit me before it exploded into the ground.) This one has a Saito 120 on the nose and is outfitted with Sierra Giant rotating retracts. The hardware and electronics were salvaged from my previous Corsair. I’m going to wait for a windless day to test-fly because my other Corsair was a bear to handle in the wind.

Meanwhile, if you need a good laugh, check out “Full Throttle with the Blue Angels.” An Atlanta journalist takes a test ride in a Blue Angels F-18 and experiences a few more Gs than he bargained for. Watch Steve’s eyes roll back in his head just before he blacks out–not once, not twice, but three times! I almost fell out of my chair laughing the first time I watched it.