MBrewington wrote:
No offense taken. OM Systems is leading the camera manufacturers in Image stabilization in the mirror-less world. Plus my new OM-1 II has an electronic GND filter which I can’t wait to try out. The OM menus can be overwhelming at first.
Well the GND Filter sounds neat and so does the 5-axis in-body image stabilization as well.
Have fun with it.
Made a new friend over the weekend, he bought an airplane that has been in the back corner of my hangar for four years, an RV10. I helped him navigate the purchase, get a brand new IO-540 overhauled because it had so much corrosion in it from sitting in a damp hangar before he found me, 55TT, a real shame. Anyway, we put together a team with a great A&I to hang the new engine, a pair of A&P's to do a condition inspection on the airframe and an avionics shop to do a transponder certification. My new friend did his test flight an hour before sunset today and, from what I could see on Flight Aware, he had fun orbiting above KTKI at 200 knots for close to an hour. Tomorrow he heads home to Long Beach and back to his day job, flying the GE 747 engine test bed aircraft.
I took him for some Texas BBQ Saturday night and, of course the conversation was all about flight and how blessed we consider ourselves to have spent a lot of our lives immersed in it. My Buddy is from the UK, about an hour outside of London, and flew fighters in the RAF. His job right out of the service was pretty amazing, he flew a 747 that was modified to launch a 70,000# rocket with a satellite atop it, form 40,000'. He described the procedure as jaws around the table hit the floor. "We climbed to 30,000', pushed to .92 mach, raised the nose into a 40 degree climb until we hit FL380, then we shot the rocket into space." He described the seconds between FL380 and FL400.........."We would release the rocket, the Boeing would be microseconds from a stall, 70,000#'s dropping off the wing at an airspeed that gave us very little control authority would cause the aircraft to roll to the right to an inverted attitude, from there we would initiate recovery of the 747 to level flight..."..........Um............WHAT?!!!!! I was trying to imagine the control forces necessary to throw A 747 around the sky like that, what a job. He launched these rockets/satellites into space from all over the world, occasionally they exploded, but he very calmly explained the procedure for those catastrophic occurrences that helped to keep them from destroying the 747.
So after several racks of ribs we headed back to HQ and did his initial engine run and inspection which was textbook. All in all a great weekend!
JWilsonphoto wrote:
(deleted) Anyway, we put together a team with a great A&I to hang the new engine, a pair of A&P's to do a condition inspection on the airframe (deleted)
Jim, not being a pilot, I understand what an A&P is, but haven't a clue about an A&I. Care to enlighten the clueless?
My "guess" is either airframe & instrument, or airframe and inspection, but as I said above "clueless".
kwbarnes wrote:
Jim, not being a pilot, I understand what an A&P is, but haven't a clue about an A&I. Care to enlighten the clueless?
My "guess" is either airframe & instrument, or airframe and inspection, but as I said above "clueless".
In aviation, particularly under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations in the United States, "A&I" is a common abbreviation for Airframe and Inspection Authorization. This refers to an advanced certification for aircraft maintenance technicians (also known as Airframe and Powerplant or A&P mechanics) who have met specific experience requirements (typically at least three years in the field after obtaining their A&P certificate).
Key Details:
Role and Responsibilities: An A&I holder can perform comprehensive annual inspections on aircraft, approve major repairs or alterations for return to service, and sign off on FAA Form 337 (Major Repair and Alteration). This is in addition to the standard A&P privileges, which cover routine maintenance, repairs, and 100-hour inspections but not full annuals.
Requirements:
Hold a valid A&P certificate.
Demonstrate practical experience in inspections, repairs, and alterations.
Pass an FAA oral and practical exam for the Inspection Authorization (IA) endorsement.
Importance: IAs ensure aircraft airworthiness, helping prevent accidents related to maintenance oversights. They are essential for general aviation, commercial operations, and repair stations.
Thanks for the explanation Ray. I did a quick web search before asking the question and could find references to A&P's (which I knew about), and references to inspectors using (some version of) A&PI, or A&P&I, I don't remember the exact designation, but it used all 3 letters.
That's what threw me. Did the absence of "P" signify something entirely different I wasn't aware of? The only thing I could think of was that the "I" signified a different type of inspector, or someone licensed to work on aircraft instruments. The only way to find out was a more extensive web search (that I didn't have time for), or I could just ask and read the response later.
Ventured into new territory this week with the help of my Buddy Mike B. I set up a four month Timelapse project and I get the impression that this is just the beginning. My client called me in a panic because he is beginning a million dollar backyard project and wondered if there was any way I could get a timelapse going within a day or two. I'll have to admit that timelapse has been a complicated and expensive road prior to this, challenges in mounting, power supply, weather seemed insurmountable. One call to Mike and I had the perfect set up coming overnight, he helped me set it up and JII and I mounted it and began recording the project this morning. Looks like I'll be setting up a rig to capture the stripping and painting of one of our 777 Freighters in the very near future, most likely in New Mexico.
kwbarnes wrote:
Thanks for the explanation Ray. I did a quick web search before asking the question and could find references to A&P's (which I knew about), and references to inspectors using (some version of) A&PI, or A&P&I, I don't remember the exact designation, but it used all 3 letters.
That's what threw me. Did the absence of "P" signify something entirely different I wasn't aware of? The only thing I could think of was that the "I" signified a different type of inspector, or someone licensed to work on aircraft instruments. The only way to find out was a more extensive web search (that I didn't have time for), or I could just ask and read the response later....Show more →
That is what we are here for Ken. Have a great weekend.
Great work Eddie Ray, as usual! Isn't it the truth? You know me, I'm always chomping at the bit for the next greatest piece of gear but I really can't imagine what they could do that would make the R5II any better than it is. Kind of glad about that seein' as I have four of them.............
James helped me on Friday with a logistics center shoot, then we went to the west side of the metroplex to set up our timelapse camera. Somewhere in the back and forth we stopped at a familiar spot so he could shoot some airplanes.........
I have no illusion about being incurably biased where James is concerned but man, we walked into the logistics center on Friday morning and the first shot was a conference room. James and I walked into the room with my client, James looked around and said, "Papa, what do we do about those chairs that aren't the same height?" The client looked at me and burst out laughing.... "How old is this little guy?" He asked, and then he shook his head and laughed again. Kinda proud..............
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I have no illusion about being incurably biased where James is concerned but man, we walked into the logistics center on Friday morning and the first shot was a conference room. James and I walked into the room with my client, James looked around and said, "Papa, what do we do about those chairs that aren't the same height?" The client looked at me and burst out laughing.... "How old is this little guy?" He asked, and then he shook his head and laughed again. Kinda proud..............
It's reassuring to see him picking up at those details at his young age. ( I told mom at dinner and she also had to laugh)
We have a saying here in dutch ( Jong geleerd oud gedaan) translates as What you learn as a youngster is what you do when you're older
Safe to say that if they have the ambition, Chandler and James could take over if you ever decide to retire.
I think your'e known quality will always be guaranteed.
I was trying to imagine the control forces necessary to throw A 747 around the sky like that, what a job. He launched these rockets/satellites into space from all over the world, occasionally they exploded, but he very calmly explained the procedure for those catastrophic occurrences that helped to keep them from destroying the 747. 
