Wasabi Air Racing

07/23/2026

Flight Test Update

Update on the test program for the eFlyer2 at Oshkosh 2026.

Thank you Anthony for recording this, excited about the next phase of this project.

https://youtu.be/JRB92FgkcQk?is=47C9Vpe9Y4bIm7bs

EAA - The Spirit of Aviation

Experimental Test Pilot Elliot Seguin gave the visitors in the Bye ...

05/28/2026

Van's Aircraft has assembled a team of pipe hitters up in Aurora. It was refreshing to be around dedicated talented folks focused on a cool problem with the right tools to get the job done.

airplanes are cool

05/11/2026

N218RJ the first production CAP 21 is for sale. Act quick this historic aircraft won’t be available long.

04/17/2026

Prototype mesh networks for the fire environment

A busy Tuesday with Chase Schulze and the Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) team flying firebombers in Arizona.

The goal of the project was to demonstrate data sharing between ground and air resources in the fire environment using an FM mesh network. Then present that updated targeting information to the pilot on an actual water drop.

As the maturity of the sensors and weather prediction tools for fire continues to skyrocket two questions remain:

1. How much latency is acceptable transmitting tactical data in the FTA?

2. What is the most efficient way to present this information in the cockpit?

It’s not a question of if these problems will be solved but when and by who.

Thank you to STI and to Rutledge Airborne for all the coordination.

Rutledge Airborne

04/02/2026

3 million acres in 20 minutes

A tour of the Aruaco wildland fire Mission Control.

Here in Concepción Chile the efforts to protect the nations natural resources is treated as the priority it is.

The protection of the trees isn’t critical just to the country (2nd largest export) but the company (Aruaco) produces roughly half of its revenues from wood based products.

As a result these privatized fire suppression efforts get top technology and being private are managed in a fundamentally different way than in the US.

This room controls all the fire recognition and response for the 3 million acres of land. Remote mounted cameras watch for indications of fire, AI determines if it is a wildfire (or road dust) and (if fire) determines if the risk the fire will spread constitutes a response. And within 3 minutes dispatches the aerial resources.

The pilots then have 7 minutes to be airborne for the 20 minutes maximum flight to the fire.

These time metrics are tracked and the individual contributors performance against them is reported daily.

It was a treat to see the control room, thank you to Aruaco and FireVision for the hospitality.

airplanes are cool

04/01/2026

Long Range Tractor

Here at the Concepcion Fire Base on the coast of Chile the fire season is winding down and with that the aircraft are prepared for their next deployments.

This Air Tractor, Inc. 802 is outfitted with survival gear and long range radios for the 5000 mile ferry to Spain to support their fire season.

The hopper is sealed shut with RTV and turned into a fuel tank, allowing the trip to be split up into three legs, first to the eastern coast of SA, then Dakar Africa and finally Spain.

Pilots are paid a bounty for the higher risk flight on top of their normal flight pay.

Long live the mighty PT6

airplanes are cool