My aviation claim to fame..........

kgruber

kgruber

Final Approach
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Jan 3, 2007
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Skywag
............and no other pilot has ever done it!!

My family vacationed in Hawaii almost every year. We were always on the lookout for the "green flash."

I was chief pilot for the Bon Marche dept stores in the Northwest. The had 41 stores in the 11 western states. We flew a couple of King Airs, a 65-A90, and later a KA200.

On a westbound return, it looked like good conditions to observe the green flash from altitude..............but I got a flash myself!! Would it be possible to climb during the flash and convert it into a beam of light? We asked center for an altitude block above us.

As the last limb of the sun went down, sure enough, there was the elusive "green flash." We immediately initiated a climb and were able to catch the flash for a few seconds.

A glowing and lasting beam of light lasting a few seconds!!

Well, that's it. MY great claim to aviation fame!!


Image courtesy.....Craig Tooley...... RuffImage.com
 
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I have always heard of the green flash but until now I never knew anyone that has actually seen it.
 
"Stand Byyyyyy to Start Engines," Dan Gallery's novel about Naval Aviation in the 50s, has one of the young ensigns doing this. The book is fictional, but obviously folks had been thinking about it.

Ron "Sea Bat" Wanttaja
 
Sweet!
A rare sight indeed, and to capture in a photo...

(I've seen it too, but I was cheating. At the South Pole Station, it lasts a week.)
 
kath said:
Sweet!
A rare sight indeed, and to capture in a photo...

(I've seen it too, but I was cheating. At the South Pole Station, it lasts a week.)
Click to expand...
When was you there? I have a Nephew that did a couple winters there. About 8 years or so ago. He was a cook.
 
luvflyin said:
When was you there? I have a Nephew that did a couple winters there. About 8 years or so ago. He was a cook.
Click to expand...

2002.
I was a grantee.
Looking for neutrinos.
 
kgruber said:
Damn!! And here I thought I was finally famous! At least in my eyes.
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So that photo is not your photo (as the linked article shows), but you are claiming that it is? What an I missing? Is this a joke or a lie?
 
kath said:
2002.
I was a grantee.
Looking for neutrinos.
Click to expand...
Do those things have any application other than finding out if the Universe is going to collapse someday? I may have asked this before. If so, I forgot.
 
kath said:
Sweet!
A rare sight indeed, and to capture in a photo...

(I've seen it too, but I was cheating. At the South Pole Station, it lasts a week.)
Click to expand...

Not my photo. Never claimed it was. It was 30 years ago. Photo lifted off the net for those who've never seen the "Green Flash!"
 
I remember The Bon Marche. My mom would talk about going to "The Bon."
 
Ooops, I also inferred it was your photo...

luvflyin said:
Do those things have any application other than finding out if the Universe is going to collapse someday? I may have asked this before. If so, I forgot.
Click to expand...

You can use them for astronomy. Just like telescopes collect photons from the stars and gas and distant galaxies, our telescope collects neutrinos. Just as different wavelengths of light (radio, visible, x-ray...) tell you different things about the sky, neutrinos bring unique information. In particular, very high-energy neutrinos come from very intense and explosive places, such as supermassive black holes.

My picture of the green flash, taken (awkwardly) through a small telescope, which is why the secondary mirror appears out of focus and why it's upside-down:

GreenFlash.JPG
 
.... "Common Sense"

The lapse in common sense is on your side Gruber. You shouldn't post someone else's photo without providing proper attribution to the person who took the pic - or at least mentioning where you found it. Don't blame others for misinterpreting your misleading post. Whether or not it was intentional is irrelevant.
 
Mountain or molehill? ;)
 
I totally could have sworn that was the elusive green flash converted to a ray of light as captured through a rapidly ascending King Air’s dirty windshield. The resemblance is amazing.
 
</begin nerdjoke>

Fly a King Air fast enough, and the light from the sun gets greenshifted...

</end nerdjoke>
 
Cap'n Jack said:
It can become a mountain when a professional photographer's image is being used without permission.
Post that sentiment here, and you'll politely be ripped a new one: https://photography-on-the.net/
;)

Fortunately, my pictures aren't good enough to warrant sharing or piracy :(
Click to expand...


Done! See post #1
 
This post could be another aviation claim to fame...

One of the few on poa to admit and correct an error. Without escalating it to lofty heights the most planes won't reach.

Admirable admiral.
 
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