August 23, 2012 - Velocity Formation
Flight |
| Thursday afternoon
I drove over to Frederick Airport to help out with an AOPA (Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association) aerial photo shoot of some Velocity Aircraft
airplanes. We briefed
at AOPA headquarters, pictured here. I'm a card-carrying
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There were four planes total: a
Bonanza which was the camera platform, a twin Velocity, the Velocity I
rode in (pictured here) and a Velocity with fixed gear.
Peter, a former Navy pilot, flew the
Velocity which he owned. I sat in the right-seat and was the
formation safety pilot. Peter hadn't flown formation since his Navy
days long ago so I advised him. He was a little rusty at first but
gradually his form skills came back and
by the end he was constantly moving throttle in anticipation of what
lead was doing just like the good form pilot does.
The Velocity is a four-place kitplane
based on Burt Rutan's Long-EZ design. Peter's Velocity has an
I/O-540 engine which puts out 260 horsepower.
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We were number three. Here are the Bonanza #1 and V-Twin
#2. Dave H. was the form safety pilot in the V-Twin and Chef was the
form safety pilot in #4.
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Cleared for takeoff! |
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| It was late, late
afternoon. Once we got above the haze layer, the bright sun was
perfect for taking pictures. |
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| The Velocity's wing
blocked out view of #4 behind us. |
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| A jetairliner
passed below us, heading into Dulles. |
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| The cumulous clouds
in the distance made for a nice background. |
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They took pictures of the twin and us
in echelon. |
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| Then the twin
returned to base and they took shots of us us. Here's a good picture
of the camera platform. |
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The sight picture is totally different than an RV. You can see
great to the side and down but not so good in the rear quadrant.
Peter let me fly the Velocity for awhile after we broke away from the
Bonanza. The main thing about the Velocity is that it is
fast! I couldn't see the airspeed indicator very well but I saw
enough to know that the Velocity is faster than my RV. With
the four seats and the speed, it is an excellent cross-country
plane.
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| Looking down at
Frederick Airport. |
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| Safe on deck. |
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| The Velocity's
cockpit. I sat in the right seat. There is only one control
stick, in the middle. The throttle is on the left-hand
side. This plane has to be flown from the left seat. |
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#4 comes taxiing in. You can see the fixed gear.
I enjoyed the flight; it was a nice break in the week. I look
forward to seeing how the professionally shot pictures and video come
out.
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