Our granddaughter accompanied my wife on a commercial flight to Las Vegas to attend the 90th birthday celebration of my wife’s mother.  When I received a text that they had arrived safely, it included a picture showing our 4-year old GK sitting on the edge of the pilots seat, holding the control yoke with one hand and throwing a switch with the other.  I assume the plane was powered down at the time, since I heard nothing about the incident on the six o’clock news. 

The friendly pilot had noticed a child peering into the cockpit while deplaning and invited her to come in and look around.  A simple gesture on his part opened a world of awe that our granddaughter will never forget. Part of the joy of having kids is seeing their faces light up at the wonders of the world. If only we could keep that sense of awe…

A high school buddy of mine with an interest in aircraft took me to LAX to see one of the first 747’s land.  In those days, you could park on Aviation Blvd and watch the arriving planes pass directly overhead just prior to touchdown.  For someone who had not yet studied fluid dynamics, the spectacle of that 4-engine beast was incredible.  More recently, my wife and I were returning from a trip to Italy when we took a bus out onto the tarmac and walked up to a 787 Dreamliner.  Standing in line near the massive left engine to climb the stairs, I was struck with the inadequacy of my fluid dynamics education to fully comprehend how such a machine could possibly travel 4500 miles at nearly 600 mph and 40,000 feet.<continue reading>