Gastons 2012 - Don't miss it

steingar said:
You have the worst luck with that aircraft. That said, being a teenage IFR pilot with your own airplane more than makes up for it.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly...don't you complain about things like that when I have to scrape together every penny to go flying over an hour from my house in someone else's airplane! :)
 
rsnowden said:
It was great seeing everyone this year though it was entirely too short a visit for the Snowden family. I am already looking forward to next year!
Click to expand...

I've got a video to post of your departure. You guys took a tad more runway than Mr. White. ;)
 
flygirl34q said:
Nate and Karen, Danielle and I took a side trip to Branson on Friday and I lost my good tie-down spot when I got back. :(
Click to expand...

But we got your claws pounded in and honestly, if the wind had come up, you'd probably have been better off. Those Gaston's ropes were a little dodgy. They're at the end of their useful life, methinks.
 
Did you have any scary takeoffs or did Michael make it again this year. :wink2:
 
denverpilot said:
But we got your claws pounded in and honestly, if the wind had come up, you'd probably have been better off. Those Gaston's ropes were a little dodgy. They're at the end of their useful life, methinks.
Click to expand...

I bought those CLAW tie downs at Oshkosh last year and they really do work. I couldn't get them out of the ground on Sunday and was about to go see if I could find one of the Gaston's guys to help me, but then Jesse came by and fortunately un-earthed them for me. I need a new hammer now though... the tie downs work great, but the hammer they give you with them... doesn't. :dunno:
 
Greg, can you see if any of the pictures of the deer around the airplanes Friday night that we took with Michael's phone turned out? Would like to see them posted here. 54... and a bunny.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Greg, can you see if any of the pictures of the deer around the airplanes Friday night that we took with Michael's phone turned out? Would like to see them posted here. 54... and a bunny.
Click to expand...

Don't know. I asked. He is sending them to me and I will post them when I can.
 
We're sorry we missed Gaston's Summer this year, but had a great time at Put-In-Bay. Glad you all had such great weather!

We decided against Gaston's partly because we were going to have to have the plane back by noon on Sunday, only to find that we actually had it until 10PM! Just as well,
as we were able to make it to my niece's 10th b'day party!
 
gprellwitz said:
We're sorry we missed Gaston's Summer this year, but had a great time at Put-In-Bay. Glad you all had such great weather!

We decided against Gaston's partly because we were going to have to have the plane back by noon on Sunday, only to find that we actually had it until 10PM! Just as well,
as we were able to make it to my niece's 10th b'day party!
Click to expand...

All very logical.

But you missed a lot!

Next year: Jambalaya! :D
 
We missed you too! And you may not have to wait until next year for Jambalaya. AirVenture is the end of next month! That's what Leslie made last year!

(BTW, it looks like her mother will be joining us again this year! :) )
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Greg, can you see if any of the pictures of the deer around the airplanes Friday night that we took with Michael's phone turned out? Would like to see them posted here. 54... and a bunny.
Click to expand...

Well, the pictures aren't too good. An image of a peacock thrown in for good measure.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0070.JPG
    IMG_0070.JPG
    122.9 KB · Views: 36
  • IMG_0071.JPG
    IMG_0071.JPG
    113.1 KB · Views: 32
  • IMG_0072.JPG
    IMG_0072.JPG
    145.2 KB · Views: 36
  • IMG_0054.JPG
    IMG_0054.JPG
    250.4 KB · Views: 35
Last edited:
Okay... Some of the photos...

46c4c095-11b9-41ce.jpg


46c4c095-11ca-cb2f.jpg


46c4c095-11dc-8ade.jpg


46c4c095-11ec-6239.jpg


46c4c095-1200-c70b.jpg


46c4c095-120d-b5e8.jpg


46c4c095-1219-3864.jpg


46c4c095-1224-b683.jpg


46c4c095-122f-11ef.jpg


46c4c095-123d-2ce1.jpg


46c4c095-1249-6e5c.jpg


46c4c095-1268-395a.jpg


46c4c095-1275-4ae3.jpg


46c4c095-128c-19b9.jpg


46c4c095-1296-d9e3.jpg


46c4c095-12a2-685c.jpg


46c4c095-12b1-a01e.jpg


46c4c095-12bd-b98d.jpg


46c4c095-12ce-a233.jpg


46c4c095-12e0-97ac.jpg


46c4c095-12eb-ec05.jpg


46c4c095-12f9-1a96.jpg


46c4c095-1309-e48a.jpg


46c4c095-1316-a8f9.jpg


46c4c095-1326-c728.jpg


46c4c095-1334-ba6e.jpg


46c4c095-1340-e561.jpg


46c4c095-134d-dc60.jpg


46c4c095-1360-8f4f.jpg


46c4c095-136c-5bf7.jpg


46c4c095-137f-470f.jpg


46c4c095-1393-e89d.jpg


46c4c095-139f-5846.jpg


46c4c095-13aa-ec86.jpg


46c4c095-13b7-2114.jpg
 
There's more photos coming including night shots, and videos still to upload...
 
denverpilot said:
Waaaaaaait a sec... Somehow after all this time I didn't realize PoA Troy was THAT Troy. Holy crap.
Click to expand...

He and Kent (and Bill) are internet famous. Kent tells me that is like being as famous as a pro bowler. Or maybe Bill told me that. I forget.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
He and Kent (and Bill) are internet famous. Kent tells me that is like being as famous as a pro bowler. Or maybe Bill told me that. I forget.
Click to expand...

Knew that very well... Just somehow my brain never connected "PoA Troy" with "Podcast Troy".

And last time I saw him in person, Bill wears bowling shirts, so it was probably him. ;)
 
Greg's departure...


Sorry it's shaky... I was walking around another airplane that was going to be in the shot trying to hold the iPad steady.

I ran it through some processing to help that, but it's still pretty wobbly. Oh well.
 
Last edited:
I had forgotten that YouTube has some industrial strength stabilization filters. I've applied them to all of the above videos, and once they're done processing, the stabilized versions will be what's seen above... if you've already watched and want to see better versions, wait a bit... and then watch. :)
 
BrianNC said:
I thought Jesse went in an F33, not a V-tail. Or have I got the wrong Jesse? :)

Was a V-Tail ever referred to as a Debonair? :wink2:
Click to expand...

Bah.... crap. Tired... that's Spike. I changed the text here, but now need to go change it on YouTube...

Also realized I was uploading "large" not HD... sigh. Not going to bother changing it, but if anyone wants their original HD version, holler and I'll figure out a way to get it to you, of any of these.
 
denverpilot said:
I had forgotten that YouTube has some industrial strength stabilization filters. I've applied them to all of the above videos, and once they're done processing, the stabilized versions will be what's seen above... if you've already watched and want to see better versions, wait a bit... and then watch. :)
Click to expand...

I was wondering what stabilization software you had used! That did a pretty nice job. Almost looked 'steady-cam'-ish.
 
Nate, how'd you get such great night shots of the planes? Almost looks like you set up lights!! (I'm thinking long exposure due to the background blurring)
 
Be damned if I ever show up to Gastons. Last thing I want is youtube movies of my ham-fisted flying. No need to give the FAA any more evidence.
 
gprellwitz said:
We're sorry we missed Gaston's Summer this year, but had a great time at Put-In-Bay. Glad you all had such great weather!
Click to expand...
But for a flip of the coin, I might have met you guys! I opted for TVC instead and had a nice little bike ride in the heat. PiB would definitely have been cooler.

We decided against Gaston's partly because we were going to have to have the plane back by noon on Sunday, only to find that we actually had it until 10PM! Just as well,
as we were able to make it to my niece's 10th b'day party!
Click to expand...
Happy birthday to her! For myself, Gaston's is out of the question until I have the IR. Too much chance of having to cancel reservations last minute, or getting stranded for days by low clouds. But hopefully by next year that problem will be remedied...
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Nate, how'd you get such great night shots of the planes? Almost looks like you set up lights!! (I'm thinking long exposure due to the background blurring)
Click to expand...

One of the very cool features of the Sony ALT SLRs is they have a night shooting mode that incorporates the built in (or external) flash for the foreground but holds the shutter open for an extended period after the flash to bring in the background.

So it's essentially two shots in one. The low light performance of Sony's sensors is wickedly good, compared to DSLR's I've owned in the past. There are other downsides to the A55 body though...

If I'd remembered a tripod they'd be much better. Also using the built in flash means the foreground grass right in front of the camera is over-exposed. A remote flash stashed over near the aircraft pointed up would make those much cleaner shots. The on board flash is firing for all its worth in the dark like that.

Both types of shot can be cleaned up in Photoshop, but no time to do it in these.

I was gone so long that evening because I was playing human-tripod on every shot. Most of those still have handheld blur in the background. Breathe out. Hold breath. Squeeze. ;)

I really wanted the shot of David's plane with the flagpole in the background to come out, and must have tried to hold it still enough about 20 times. It would have jokingly gone well with his Thursday night joking around about "'Merica!"

By the way, this is officially Pilots of 'Merica now here, isn't it, after all that? ;)

We have got to keep that boy out of the energy drinks. Note to self. :) :) :)

There's another night/dark shooting mode where the shutter stays open a long time but the camera is actually taking multiple scans of the full sensor. It then digitally puts them back together and sharpens all the edges that it finds and cranks up the equivalent of the "exposure". You can handheld shoot that thing in incredibly dark conditions.

My only complaint with the camera is that my body "back-focuses" a little bit with my telephoto kit lens. I haven't bothered to find out at a shop if it's the lens or the body, but it's likely the lens. The other kit lens doesn't do it.

I want the Minolta mirror reflex (think mid-grade telescope here... Not the long ones, the big fat round ones) 500mm fixed lens for airshows. I don't think I'll have the $ saved up before OSH but I have a family member who has one who might let me borrow it.

People don't like the mirror lenses because of the ring-shaped bokeh they create when set up for low depth of field shots. This doesn't matter as much when shooting a blue or cloudy sky as the background. The lens also requires a metric crap-ton of light, also not a problem shooting things in the summer sky. The only downside is a 500mm lens on a cropped sensor camera is going to be a MEGA zoom and aiming is going to be "entertaining". High-speed broadside passes, well.. I'll probably have a lot of headshots. ;) The lens also has some vignetting at the corners, but that can either be an effect for some shots or cropped off digitally or fixed digitally later from the RAW file.

Camera geekiness. Like. Never get to spend enough time shooting to get really good. The Sony makes up for a lot of my shortcomings. ;)
 
steingar said:
Be damned if I ever show up to Gastons. Last thing I want is youtube movies of my ham-fisted flying. No need to give the FAA any more evidence.
Click to expand...

That's easy to fix. Stop being ham-fisted. ;)

If there were ever an incident, the SD card would probably have an accident of its own.

I probably wouldn't go so far as to smuggle the card out in a body cavity like some reporters around the world have done in lands non-friendly to reporters... But I could certainly swap in its stunt double. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top