Austin is officially the second fastest growing airport in the United States in terms of passenger traffic. Considering the economic and population explosion of the city in the last decade, that isn’t surprising. Thankfully the airport is taking some proactive steps to help ease that growth, namely adding more gates and a new entire wing of the airport. And in the middle of that wing is one of the things my wife has been the most excited about: Delta’s new SkyClub.
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Opened in 1962 at the peak of the jet age, the Trans World Airlines Flight Center at New York City’s JFK Airport is the epitome of 1960’s design aesthetic. Designed by Eero Saarinen, it housed TWA’s operations at the airport from its opening until TWA was purchased by American Airlines in 2001 when it shuttered its doors along with the airline. The building has since been surrounded by JetBlue’s new terminal, and has been sitting empty ever since. Until now.
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Four years ago I was climbing out of an un-towered airport into IFR conditions when my radios decided to stop transmitting. Thankfully I was still able to hear ATC talking to me and use my transponder to respond, but that event was scary enough to make me never want to relive it again. I immediately went out and bought a handheld backup radio: the Yaesu FTA550.
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Most established airlines these days have a museum associated with them. Southwest has a museum near Love Field in Dallas, American has the CR Smith museum in Ft. Worth, and United has a web page that looks like it was last updated in 2004. The best of these is Delta’s Flight Museum in Atlanta, Georgia where not only are historical Deltas aircraft on display, but there’s even a 747 in the parking lot that is open to visitors. And this specific 747 has a heck of a history.
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Full motion flight simulators are massively expensive pieces of equipment, but for an airline it’s the most cost effective way to train new flight crews before they ever touch the controls of a real aircraft. These simulators use the same controls and instruments as the actual aircraft and are supported on hydraulic actuators that allow the simulator to move and make you feel like you’re actually flying an airplane. It’s probably as close to flying one of these beasts as the average aviation nerd will get, and there’s only one place that rents one by the hour to the general public: the Delta Flight Museum.
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Are you the kind of person that gets all excited about getting their hands on an original Northwest Airlines flight manual? Perhaps you’d like a service cart that’s been lovingly used in service for a few years but is looking for a quiet place to retire? How about an entire row of original 727 seats? All at rock bottom prices? If any of this sounds interesting to you then you definitely need to check out the monthly surplus sale at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta.
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An iPad or other tablet is pretty much a requirement for modern pilots. The amount of information it provides is indispensable whether you’re doing some work in the pattern or blasting off on a cross country flight. But how do you keep your tablet visible and useful in the cockpit? MyGoFlight offers a variety of mounting options for their tablet mounting system, one of which is their glare shield mount.
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I love the GoPro line of cameras. I’ve had at least one in my camera bag ever since the very first Hero video camera was released. I’ve strapped them to everything from firearms to flying machines and used more mounts than I can shake a stick at, but I’ve never had an easy to use mount that would allow me to pivot the camera easily from all angles. Until now.
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There are few things as useful in this world as a good sharp knife. Humanity’s second oldest tool behind a large rock used as a hammer I never leave the house without one. For pilots who might find themselves needing to escape from a downed aircraft or just cut some new tie-downs for their aircraft the Benchmade Triage 915 (or the current equivalent) might be a good choice.
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I’ve found that pilots appreciate well designed and specialized tools. Heck, some pilots still lug around their E6B flight computer because it works and it works well, even though the same thing can be done with an app on their phone. I was looking for a similar solution to my writing needs, a single tool able to draw on my tablet touchscreen and still write on the actual paper paperwork for each flight without breaking after a handful of uses. Enter the Smith & Wesson SWPEN3BK.
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