While reporting this week on a retired Cold War fighter, a Saab J-35 Draken, gathering dust at Stockton Metropolitan Airport, I made a call to Skip Holm, veteran U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and Lockheed “Skunk Works” test pilot, air show, movie and TV exhibition and stunt pilot. Altogether, he has logged more than 15,000 hours in fighter-type aircraft.
He called back too late for publication, but did provide some additional insight. The last person to pilot the Draken, now being offered for sale by Wolfe Aviation for a private owner, Holm said the jet was “very fast.” That’s something coming from a guy who’s flown the F-117, U-2R and F-22, among other notable craft. He noted that while at cruising speed, just under Mach 1, the Draken can easily slip past the sound barrier if the pilot unintentionally lets the nose drop. Many aircraft in contrast, Holm explained, need to have the power turned way up to go supersonic. And, he said, the Draken is probably the fastest plane available to U.S. civilian aviation.
Holm said that particular aircraft has also made some commercial and movie appearances. He piloted it in “Fire Birds,” a sort of “Top Gun” featuring Nicholas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones as U.S. Apache helicopter pilots taking on drug gangs flying their own war birds. While the 1990 flick was roundly panned by critics, it does feature some nice shots of the Draken (in black paint), zipping over the desert Southwest.
A video “J35 Draken in Fire Birds” with Swedish subtitles is posted on YouTube (sorry, embedding disabled).
YouTube also has an interesting period piece, apparently a Saab aircraft marketing film, showing the Draken in development, testing, radar locking onto a high-altitude target and shoot-down. Enjoy.
It’s good to have a hobby
Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning introduced the second-generation model of his “hobby” project, or as he put in during the news conference “one more hobby,” Apple TV.
Black is a slimming color and the new black box is indeed a svelte version of the original Apple TV in white. It has no hard drive, is about 1/4 the size of an already trim package, and it’s price has been slashed to $99.
Plugged into your television set (HDMI), via Wi-Fi or ethernet, it’ll stream TV shows from ABC and Fox, ABC Family, Disney Channel and BBC America for just 99 cents (Jobs suggests other broadcast networks will follow) as rentals (buyers have 30 days to start watching and then 48 hours to finish or view repeatedly). There will also be first-run movies at $4 for high-definition and and $3 for standard-definition on the day of DVD release. Netflix subscribers can stream content from Netflix’s library. And anyone can tap into YouTube videos, as well as photos on Flickr, and videos and photos on MobileMe. Movies, music and photos stashed on your Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch may also be tapped by Apple TV for display on your living room big screen.
Sounds pretty good as far as it goes, but I suspect this will remain an Apple hobby, not another consumer technology monster. There’s just not enough selection. Specifically, where do consumers used to the hundreds of channels available on cable or satellite to do for their fix of the Food Network, ESPN SportsCenter or Comedy Central? Another issue for many TV viewers in our diverse San Joaquin community will be the lack of foreign-language programming.
You’ve gotta have an answer when the kids start chanting, “I want my MTV.”