9-8/25-2011: Breezy Experimental Aircraft

Ever remember watching the movie "Aladdin" back in your childhood days?  Remember that Magic Carpet scene where they fly high above the desert city while the song "A Whole New World" is being played?  That fantasy became a reality after befriending a local pilot who owns probably one of the most bizarre looking aircraft I've ever seen in my entire life.  And to take it over the island of O`ahu, making flybys of the numerous ridges I've hiked on, made for a surreal experience.  Photos and videos can only show a fraction of the experience.  With me working in the airline industry, flying can be a routine thing...  that is when I'm trapped inside a metal tube at 30,000ft.  Try getting up close and personal to the pali in a completely "fuselage-less" aircraft with nothing but your seat holding you up thousands of feet.  It truly was a mind boggling experience!

The aircraft is known as a "Breezy" due to the breezy conditions experienced during flight and apparently it can be constructed by anyone who acquires the blueprints from the original creator.  The wings are from a Piper and rest are a tubular skeleton air frame that supports the rest.  It is so light that one can push down on the tail section and the nose gear will go up.  This is useful as the plane can be positioned just about anywhere by simply pushing or pulling it into tight spots that a plane would never be able to get to by conventional means of taxing.

As of writing this entry, I've made two flights, one on September 8, 2011 and September 25, 2011.  The first flight focused on the Ko'olaus and the three highway saddles (ATC and pilots call these formations "gaps" ex. Kalihi Valley Gap).  The 2nd flight does a low flyby of the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout, causing the tourists to look up at us because this red bird has 2 big angry eyes to stare you down!  If you're a green pig, I'd run!  Following the Pali Lookout is a leisure cruise along the windward O`ahu coast northward towards North Shore and back over the Wahiawa Plains.

To the pilot: Mahalo nui loa for taking me into a new dimension...  literally!

Photo from the 9-8-2011 flight (Photo album)                     Photo from the 9-25-2011 flight (Photo album)

Experimental Aircraft

Video:

9-8-2011 Flight

9-25-2011 Flight