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Air America 4

2007-03-30T20:19:00.000Z

Ocean City!
Flying by the Beach, then into 24 for Ocean City Municipal. Great veiw over the wing and low enough to look inside the beach front mansions :).

In this one James swears at me. Don't know why...

Air America 3

2006-10-28T19:21:00.000Z

September 2006, had enough of work so went back to Pennsylvannia for more mucking about air side.

Now flying in a Socata Tampico TB9. Much roomier than a PA-28 and has a cup holder...what more you want?

Landing the TB9 at Reading PA

Here we see the TB9 modelled by instructor James. At this point James is unaware that i temporarily lost the keys to his new plane...

James and myself before soloing the TB9. I was somewhat nervous about it because james had only just bought this one and i'd already broken the flap lever the previous day (oops). A snip at $800 to fix (ouch).

Air America 2

2006-06-03T23:09:00.000Z

Now back in the UK and finally got round to adding some more vids....

Landing the PA-28 at Pottstown Municipal early evening. Knew i was being filmed so had to make sure i didn't fluff it up! (14mb)

Landing on a golf course! This was Butter Valley Golf Port.
Extremely short/tight runway between the trees. (15mb)

Cockpit view whilst bringing the PA-28 into Pottstown Muni. (16mb)

Taking Cessna into Lancaster. (25mb)

Flypast at Pottstown Muni. (10mb)

Quick vid of shooting a sig 9mm. Great way to de-stress after work! ;¬) (4mb)

Shooting a .22 (2mb)

Night landing/Philadelphia International

2005-12-12T04:23:00.000Z

Saturday landed at the GA runway of Philadelphia international. Approached during the evening so got a pretty cool view over the docks (was a little low over the cranes though).

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_landing_philadelphia_evening_45mb.avi

Took off and went back to pottstown to complete a night landing which is tougher than it looks because your perception is affected. Was pretty chuffed with that one because we didn't end up upside down.

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_landing_pottstown_night_20mb.avi

Also started snowing here. Got near 7 inches dumped in one night. Cleaning up the car will probably become a regular chore in the mornings.

Streaming Video

2005-11-25T05:02:00.000Z

captainbeard now supports streaming video (right click to download instead). Set this up for flight fans wanting to know how bad i am at landing...

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/cessna_into_lancaster_25mb.avi
Landing the brand new Cessna Skylane at Lancaster, PA.

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/cessna_into_pottstown_80mb.avi
Landing the Cessna at Pottstown (Home airfield). This was a far shorter runway and a little bumpy (wasn't me, was windy).

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/cessna_into_clouds_35mb.avi
Now this is what it's all about, flying the Skylane through clouds with steep turns. Good for waking you up from that hangover...

The PA28, as modeled by flatmate :)

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_touchandgo_reading_120mb.avi
My favorite plane, the PA28 Cherokee. This beauty was built in 1975 so she's older than me. Won't start in the morning on a cold day which is hilarious when you see the faces of your passengers when it cranks. Took it into Reading, PA. This is a Radar controlled commerical airport with 7000ft runways (nice).

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_touchandgo_reading2_42mb.avi Smaller download (42mb) of another Reading Landing.

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_takeoff_lancaster_55mb.avi Good views of Lancaster.

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/PA28_steepturn_25mb.avi Steep turn in the PA28, feels like you're falling out (nah).

Shooting Vids
If you prefer guns, here's some more shooters...

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/smithnwesson4shot_3mb.avi Trying out the Smith & Wesson 9mm Semi-auto.

http://www.captainbeard.com/blog/smithnwesson_casing_hit_shoulder_3mb.avi Same gun but managed to catch a bullet casing on my shoulder this time.

NYC

2005-11-25T04:46:00.000Z

Still busy here. Been to NYC several times now taking friends on sight seeing trips. Managed to find time for some partying though (see 80's Halloween Night pics - I went as a mad scientist to this Halloween gig in Hoboken, NJ. Another bloke went as Magnum PI and lent me his moustache, I think it worked pretty well so gonna grow my own now).

Atop the Empire State Building affords spectacular views of Manahatten in the evening...

The Staten Island ferry also provides great views of Lady Liberty (free ferry too so good if you're on a budget)

So err, which one's the Empire State?

Air America

2005-10-24T02:13:00.000Z

Sunday I booked a lesson in a brand new Cessna Skylane fitted with the Garmin G1000 glass display avionics system. This is quite an honour since the avionics in this plane are actually more sophisticated than many 747's (don't believe me? ask your friendly neighborhood aviator). Features include streaming met data (satellite based weather 'radar'), mode s transponder (provides on screen display of airbourne traffic, and their movements without the need for aircraft fitted radar because it's relayed from ground stations) back-up systems, autopilot, auto xpdr, 2 glass (computer generated) displays for all Nav, enhanced (and i mean enhanced) GPS, ADF,DME,VOR,NDB, airspace & fuel range displays including the ability to automatically select correct radio frequencies for nearby airports. Basically it was incredible. I didn't know how to turn it on though.

Spent the day buzzing overhead Pottstown Nuclear Power station (checkout the yahoo pics) went up to 9,500ft (British reg's state flight at 10,000ft+ should be conducted with an on board oxygen supply).

We manouvered through scattered stratocumulous ;¬) (or cloud hopping) & Gareth was in the back videoing because the pics don't do the experience justice.

Landed at Lancaster airport where we spotted a Challenger (Learjet contender) decided I'd try that one out next week.

Ahh, twin turbofans. Plane $6 million. Capt Beard £4.95 plus benefits.

I'm working on getting web hosting sorted so I can put up the videos (300mb worth!) for now here are the pics:-
Air America flight Pics

Once hosting is running you can download the cockpit view of captain beard landing at Lancaster Airport, PA (bet you can't wait flight fans!)

Caption competition time again:-
Matt says: "I never touched it!"

Debugging

2005-10-19T15:49:00.000Z

Yep we're finding a few bugs round here, (not all software related). Found this one in CMM's 16 & 81. This is a Preying Mantis. Apparently she will attack and kill the male during mating....hmmm.

We called this one Melissa the Malvern Mantis. She's the integration team’s new mascot. We keep her in the coffee cupboard.

Shoot you Sir...

2005-10-09T22:59:00.000Z

Well we've settled in now and are getting to know folks (still working on getting them to allow us to take their pictures ;¬)). A chap at work has a brother who owns a range so the inevitable 'visit' was made.
We signed up with a club and had a go with some semi-auto's.

So after about 4 MINUTES of training we were let loose on the range. The first time i knew the gun was live my hand was shaking, needless to say i gave it a go. Once you tentatively shoot a few your confidence builds quickly (a feeling i fear is addictive) . Here is my target (yes mine i didn't take a photo of someone else's) I'm amazed i hit it at all actually.
After a while we were feeling pretty hard and then a 12 year old kid came in with his dad holding a magnum, fired it and practically blew the target off it's holster. At this point i wanted to go home...
....
Here MrBeard is sporting the Glock 9mm semi-auto, 15rnd magazine loaded but no bullets ($8.95 for 50) . Mr Beard would like to point out that he had no idea what he was doing.

I would also like to point out these things scare the crap out of me....but I'm going back next tuesday to finish off the rounds.

video of firing (10mb)

Going flying over here again soon, hope to get some video of landing at commercial airports.

The Office

2005-09-12T01:50:00.000Z

Got some shots of Tredy & Malvern offices in links section. Will be sorting out a section for the CMM Team soon, but things here are really busy right now.

Always a crime scene going on in the US.

Attempting to look cool. Doesn't really work when u drive a hatchback!

The apartment block is next door to Valley Forge national park which is probably the size of Britain. It's a haven for deer that come out at night to graze on everyone's front lawn! Amazingly they don't mind the cars driving past. You can see them because their eyes reflect your lights, spooky blair witch style.

Coming to America

2005-09-06T15:47:00.000Z

After a slightly turbulent flight over arrived in Phildelphia on time, got off the plane and felt the heat (over 80 + humid). Ok though because they all seem to use nuclear powered air con over here. Picked up the hire cars (Chevy malibu V6 -nice- but stupid name) and drove out of philly to the office. Moved into our apartments over the weekend. Below are a couple of comedy shots at the flat where i am laughing at anyone in the UK coz they're not here:-

Saturday went to the mall which apparently is the second largest in the US so presumably the second largest in the world. Anyone who likes shopping would pass out if they saw this place! It's like a self contained city (all of it air conne'd so there must be a nuclear power plant beneath us-oh probably 3 mile island) with all the major retailers, bars, restaurants etc.

See the USA link on the right for more pics. will be posting more (including Mall City) as I get time but things are pretty busy now. Will also be trying to get shots of the guys in CMM team so you can match a face to the expert!

Flying Vids

2005-08-31T18:29:00.000Z

Uploaded a couple of flying vids from denham. They are quicktime movies. First one is 10mb next one 17mb so if you want to see them i hope u got broadband!

take-off (important)

landing (very important)

(right click link and select 'save as')

For more flying photo's clicking the 'Flying UK' link on the menu bar. hope to get some US pics in near future.

caption comptetition. Can you better my caption for this photo:-
matt: 'what's the spinning thing do?'

peter anand entered a suggestion but it is not legal under the terms of this website. leave your suggestion using the comments feature. prize for best one is all expenses paid trip to philadelphia, use of car, indoor/outdoor pools, multi gym, tennis courts, mall and free tour guide service. (flight not included).

Welcome

2005-08-30T21:58:00.000Z

Welcome to my log. This will be the place where i journal my experiences as an englishman in the USA. I will be posting all the photo's & videos i take here which can be viewed using the links on the right.

Latest photo set is from my leaving do before flying out to philadelphia:-

Please note: Being english i require tea, proper tea. They don't have that here. If you have any spare tea please post it to me, i will pay good money and love you long time.

P.S. feel free to leave comments/abuse as this provides me opportunity to abuse you back.