Sponsored L-39 32 Hr Virtual Flight Live Blog

For more information about the flight click here for the event page.

Thanks to everyone for your support, the pilots, bloggers / tweeters and everyone else involved.

All of the tweets, blog updates and Facebook updates are now below along with a list of the live stream videos.

Live Stream Videos:
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbS63IgKsc
Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMu1ayAF7E
Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgShK_BvKTY
Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A75DaWQ2SMo
Part 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI1f5IZF3Xg
Part 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuOk1XbRXN4
Part 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcsebk87J7w
 
22:08Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Finally finished flying, time for bed. I'll try to compile all the posts, tweets and blog entries into the blog page along with the live videos (little airshow at the end)

-Facebook

22:00Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

That's finally over!! 31 hrs 46 mins of flying. Systems...OFF Canopy...OPEN Sleep...NOW! pic.twitter.com/FRKRWSRSwQ

  -@GHaley13

20:21Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Bad weather in the Alps and it's dark but we've made it to Innsbruck and on target for the finish

-@GHaley13

18:35Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

And we're off. Leaving Lyon to Vodochody via Switzerland. ETA is 10:30Z (GMT) 11:30ish (BST)

-@GHaley13

18:09Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Final live stream to show my insanity, should be a good one as we go through the alps! youtu.be/kcsebk87J7w

  -@GHaley13

17:51Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

On the tarmac at Lyon, time for dinner.

-@GHaley13

16:01Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Making good progress, quick fuel and food stop at Southampton, will be on the way again soon. Watch at youtu.be/LuOk1XbRXN4

  -@GHaley13

15:02Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Touch down at Leeds Bradford for fuel! Soon departing for the Midlands and South West. Lots of flyovers so stay tuned

-@GHaley13

14:33Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Diverting to Newcastle due to bad weather at Edinburgh. Pushing south away from Scottish weather!

-@GHaley13

13:51Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Livestream up: youtu.be/LuOk1XbRXN4 departing in approx 5 minutes

-@GHaley13

13:01Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Touch down in sunny Scotland, time for lunch! Taking off for Birmingham at 14:50, check out the live stream at 80000ftandclimbing.blogspot.co.uk

-@GHaley13

12:05Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Last leg before lunch, Faroe Islands to Inverness! Less than 12 hours to go! Thanks for all the support!

-JB

12:03Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Just refuelled in the Faroe's. Taking off for lunch in Inverness, ETA 13:55 BST

-@GHaley13

11:01Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Just arriving in South East Iceland, picking up fuel and then heading to the Faroe Islands. Watch us on our live feed: youtu.be/mI1f5IZF3Xg

 -@GHaley13

10:30Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Flying across Iceland, slightly delayed due to a slight detour.

-@GHaley13

09:05Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Live stream part 5 is now up, departure minute 30 youtu.be/mI1f5IZF3Xg

  -@GHaley13

08:32Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Now in western Iceland! Time for breakfast then ready to depart at 10:30 BST

-@GHaley13

05:47Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Time to get moving again then, Iceland here we come!

-@GHaley13

04:49Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Planned Time of departure from Greenland 05:40Z (GMT)

-@GHaley13

04:48Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Finally in Greenland, time for a power nap before the next long leg to Iceland

-@GHaley13

02:09Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

As we get ready to leave Goose bay it's time for live stream part 4! youtu.be/A75DaWQ2SMo
 

-@GHaley13

02:05Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Long range tanks now fitted, time to push on from Goose Bay headed for Greenland.

-@GHaley13

00:48Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014
Goose Bay here we come!

-@GHaley13

00:00Z (GMT) 02nd August 2014

Some high level cruising has saved us some fuel so we're skipping Halifax and powering on at 33500ft!

-@GHaley13

23:58Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

@AirplaneGeeks I'm currently in the middle of this and thought you may be interested 80000ftandclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.ht…

-@GHaley13

23:55Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
Progress, darkness is coming though. Now approaching Nova Scotia! pic.twitter.com/6V6Os2XJq5

-@GHaley13

23:07Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Time to leave behind Logan International and head out towards Halifax in Canada

-JB

23:03Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

I started a live stream on @YouTube: youtu.be/cgShK_BvKTY?a
 

-@GHaley13

23:01Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Time for the flight sim marathon to continue. Goodbye Boston!

-@GHaley13

22:35Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
On second final into Logan International, first time we've been early. Great news!

-JB

22:32Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

On final for Logan International in Boston. Looks like we'll be on the ground early which is great to see

-@GHaley13

20:58Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
Refuelling at Toronto in thunder storms, time to head to Boston via Niagara falls! A pass under Rainbow Bridge to come!

-@GHaley13

19:18Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Thundering away from Thunder Bay in 5 L-39's and a 737!

-@GHaley13

19:02Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Time to roll out of Thunder Bay, keep track at 80000ftandclimbing.blogspot.co.uk

-@GHaley13

18:47Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Now for part 2 of the live stream youtu.be/egMu1ayAF7E take off as soon as I've eaten!

-@GHaley13

18:42Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Finally down at Thunder Bay, 40 mins behind schedule but making up for it with a short dinner break so we'll still be departing on the hour!

-@GHaley13

18:40Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
Finally landed at Thunder Bay, Canada. 40 Mins Behind Schedule but takeoff will be on time in 20 mins.

-GH

17:48Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Leaving behind Winnipeg now, heading down to Thunder Bay for a short dinner break. Thanks for your support again!

-@GHaley13

17:45Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Just left Winnipeg, hoping to make up some of lost time by running at full power all the way to Thunder Bay. Keep up to date on the live stream!

-JB

17:07Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

30 miles to Brandon for a low pass then onto Winnipeg Intl. Keep track of where we are on this live map: fsopen.co.uk/maps/index2.ph…

-LW

17:03Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
70 miles to Brandon for a low pass then onto Winnipeg Intl. Keep track of where we are on this live map: fsopen.co.uk/maps/index2.ph…

-@GHaley13

16:39Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

En route to Brandon Municipal Airport, taking off now, see you at the next stop

-LW

16:31Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Just landed in Regina Intl. Time to refuel and we'll be off! Keep following, we'll be heading to Brandon Municipal Airport next. Any donations greatly appreciated.

-LW

16:27Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Just about to land at Regina Intl. Quick fuel stop and we'll be airborne again!

-@GHaley13

15:58Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Making progress across Canada, just over 30 mins till next stop! Keep track on the live Youtube stream youtu.be/fDbS63IgKsc
 

-@GHaley13

15:30Z (GMT) 01st August 2014
First stop in Lethbridge done and aircraft fully refuelled. Time for wheels up in Lethbridge. Thanks for all your support. Remember to keep the donations coming in!

-JB

15:28Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Great to hear so many of you are following our epic trip across continents. Thanks for all your support!

-@GHaley13

15:27Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

On the ground in Lethbridge, a little behind schedule but planning to make up time on next leg.

-@GHaley13

15:24Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

@GHaley13 On final to Lethbridge for first stop of the 32 hour marathon! pic.twitter.com/dnESeteK9E

-@jamesrbaker

15:14Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Live updates available on the blog also 80000ftandclimbing.blogspot.co.uk

-@GHaley13

15:10Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Were 15 minutes out of our first stop at Lethbridge. Glad to see so many of you enjoying the live stream on youtube. Remember to keep up to date on twitter @GHaley13 and @jamesrbaker If you are able to donate, see the details on the event page. Thanks

-JB

15:02Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

We're making good progress across Canada. Expected into Lethbridge in approximately 25 minutes at 15:25Z/16:25GMT or 08:25 Local (UTC-07:00)

-@GHaley13

14:24Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Back online again! Back in the air in the next few minutes

-@GHaley13

14:19Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Some slight technical difficulties... will be back in the air ASAP

-@GHaley13

14:12Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Fundraising for @1206SqnATC new flight simulator with a 32 hour Flight Sim Flight from Vancouver to Vodochody, CZ. Keep donations coming in!

-@GHaley13

14:07Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

We're in the cruise now at 11,000ft and leaving Vancouver behind us.

-@GHaley13

14:03Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Airborne in the 32hour flight sim marathon. Watch online on youtube.com/watch?v=fDbS63… and follow live updates on the blog! 

-@GHaley13

14:00Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

We've got positive rate, and gear is up

-JB

14:00Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

And it's breaks off in Vancouver!

-JB

13:58Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

We're taxiing now! Live stream is up and ready. Pre-flight checks complete were ready for breaks off in 45 seconds

-JB

13:36Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Getting close to wheels up now. All set up and ready for you to watch online. Join us on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbS63IgKs which is going live in just under 24 minutes!

-JB

10:23Z (GMT) 01st August 2014

Not long until takeoff now, 14:00Z (GMT) or 15:00 British Summer time for those in the UK.

Make sure you tune in a little before then as the takeoff roll will start at 14:00:00Z :)

-GH

18.45Z (GMT) 31st July 2014

For all the Tross pilots there is a new Aircraft package available from the downloads section of the events page.

-GH 

14:02Z (GMT) 31st July 2014

Wheels up at 14:00Z tomorrow as we depart Vancouver!

Final preparations are done and will be moving the computer this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

For those not familiar with military time codes Z (Zulu) is UTC/GMT so for those in the UK it's an hour behind local time.

-GH

 For more information about the flight click here for the event page.

Arduino Update

Well I said I'd be in touch with an update on my Arduino project so here it is...

Unfortunatly this is going to be rather a short post as the news is that the Arduino switch box doesn't work.
I've taken a few snaps for you all to look at so you can see the hours of soldering that's gone into it!

One day it will be finished but with exams coming up I don't expect to have any more news on it until late June.

I am working on a proper post which I hope to have finished by the end of the week.

Until then...
Graham Out.

Arduino Time

In my last post I said back to normal, though I'm not sure I know what normal is any more. Either way I'm just making excuses once again for my delay in posting.

On to what this is all about...

Just over 2 weeks ago I ordered myself an Arduino Mega, for those not familiar with the Arduino set-up, "Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software." (www.arduino.cc)

An Arduino Mega 2560 [http://store.arduino.cc/]

My plan for the Arduino is to make a cheap and easy 'cockpit' for flight sim. I say 'cockpit' as the plan is to have a small set-up with some main functions on flight sim. Although I'm sure I probably could make a full cockpit with a few Arduino's, (not quite sure of the plural there,) while I'm at uni I just need a small set-up that means I'm not trying to click on things in the screen whilst everything shakes around mid-flight.

The 'Cockpit'
The main things I plan to include are:
-Main Battery, Alternator/Generator and Avionics switches
-Light Switches
-Annunciator lights
-Gear & Flaps switches and indicators
-Clock (FSX time)
-Fuel %
-Com radios
-Nav Radios
-Other radios (ADF, Xpndr, DME)
-Basic Autopilot

Hopefully I can get all of that working. Currently I have the gear and flaps as well as a few other bits working and at this point I must say thanks to Jim for his 'link2fs multi' software (http://www.jimspage.co.nz/).

Aside from my personal cockpit build I have also written the code for and made a start on some F1 style starting lights for the Engineers Without Borders Pedal Powered Scalextric, a videos is attached below, I will put another one up in a separate post when I have finished it (currently waiting for a second arduino to arrive).

Anyway, that is all...

Like and Subscribe,
Any comments or questions then post below!

Folding @ Home

What is folding at home?

I’m guessing that most of you don’t know about Folding at Home, what it is or what it does. Basically Folding at Home, or F@H for short, is a programme developed by scientists at Stanford University that you can run on your PC or Playstation 3; it runs in the background using up your spare computing power in order to fold proteins. If you want to know more about what that actually means then go and have a look at the Folding at Home website folding.stanford.edu

The Folding at Home website homepage

If you don’t want to read the complicated bit, Folding at Home simply calculates what proteins will do in certain circumstances. By doing this cures for Cancers, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s are being discovered. Are you wondering how your computer can manage all that yet? Well with over 150,000 computers folding worldwide the folding at home network is the largest distributed supercomputer in the world. Distributed computing is simply the distribution of work units to someone that completes the calculations for that unit and then sends the result back so they can be compiled with other results in order to discover the above cures.

Why fold?

I fold because it makes me feel a bit better when watching comic relief and all the adverts for charities that are on TV. Seen as I don’t have the money to give to charities, folding is an easy way to help out and I don’t really have to do much in order to do it. I know my reasons are fairly simple but from reading forums I know that many people fold as they (or people they know) have been affected by one of the issues that F@H sets out to solve. An excellent feature that has been introduced to the programme allows you to choose what sort of work units you fold, for example you could only fold Alzheimer’s work units, though you can just fold any unit given to you. Some people just have F@H running in the background like I do, but others have dedicated systems running 24/7.

Folding at Home Viewer

How to fold?

So hopefully you’re interested in making a difference and folding. If you want to get involved then head over to folding.stanford.edu and follow the instructions (it’s really not difficult), you don’t even have to open the programme up when you start your computer. I fold for team 98860 which is the Redline@OC3D team. OC3D is a reviewing website for computer parts, and in my opinion it’s one of the best out there. The team is currently 45^th in the world which is impressive when you compare it with the teams around it.

If you do start folding then just be aware that checking your stats is slightly addictive, whether it’s to see if your latest work unit has been added or seeing how you’re doing compared everyone else in the team. Stats can be found on the F@H website by clicking the link in the F@H client or a slightly better website in my opinion is http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_list.php?s=&t=98860&p=2 which creates graphs of everyone’s and every team’s stats. If you click on the link then you’ll find me about half way down the page under the user Hails13.

My folding stats

If you are interested in folding then click one of the links to the F@H website and I look forward to watching you fly past me in the team table. If you have any problems with setting it up then give me a shout and I’ll do my best to help.

Well I promised in my last post that the rest would be shorter, I lied... sorry. After the feedback that I’ve had so far it doesn’t look like many of you will mind though. Thanks for all the feedback and please feel free to continue liking, sharing and commenting on the blog.

What's this all about?

Seen as this is my first blog post I'll explain what on earth I'm posting it for.

Seen as I am going to university (hopefully) in September, having a blog seems like the best way to keep anyone that wants to know in the loop about what's going on in my life. If you don't want to know then don't feel obliged to read it, but hopefully you will enjoy it and if it turns out how I hope it will then it may well serve as a useful guide for anyone going to university.

As it says in the little description that I have put at the side, I will be talking about my experiences at uni as well as some parts of what is going on in my life spiritually (as above if you're put off then feel free to ignore any posts along those lines, but hopefully everyone is open minded enough to have a quick glance anyway). Also anything interesting that I learn or see in the news may get a post, especially if its aviation or computer related. This is after writing my extended project earlier in the year which was titled: "How to increase the efficiency of aircraft". This left me with loads of ideas and an insight into so many new discoveries and inventions that are out there and I feel that some of them are too good or just too weird not to be shared.

Okay, now you have a vague idea why I'm writing, I'll explain the name and background of the blog as well as a bit about me.

The above (and background) photo is a picture of me flying a Grob 109 (Vigilant) back on 11/03/2012, a week before I flew the same aircraft solo (ZH129) around 632 VGS (Volunteer Gliding Squadron) at RAF Ternhill. I don't have a Private Pilot's Licence (PPL) yet but I intend to have one in the future and may well be doing a bit of flying whilst at uni.

As for the name of the blog, 80,000ft and climbing seemed like a fitting title for something about a journey including aircraft and spirituality. For anyone that doesn't understand the quote the SR-71 "Blackbird" is a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft capable of speeds 3 times faster than the speed of sound, so generally the pilots don't have to worry about being hit by things very much.

Screenshot from the Tom Clancy game "HAWX"

Finally a bit about me, and don't worry, my posts won't usually be anywhere near this long.

I am currently studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-Level and should be going to The University of Sheffield in September to study Aerospace Engineering. Since 14 I have been in the Royal Air Force Air Cadets which is an organisation that has provided me with tons of information about aircraft as well as some amazing opportunities such as my gliding scholarship above. 

 I'm sure if you continue to read then you will learn plenty about me as I go along and I hope anyone that reads this gets something from it. Please feel free to comment or contact me privately.