Geek Gestalt

Boeing's first 787 Dreamliner touches down at Boeing Field in Seattle, about three hours after taking off for its first-ever flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

SEATTLE--It turns out that Boeing's 787 Dreamliner can land too.

Just three hours after taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., for its first-ever flight, the 787 made a gentle landing in a pouring rain at Boeing Field here. It marked the completion of an extremely vital step for this long-delayed and keenly watched $10 billion project.

As has been well-chronicled, the 787 project has been delayed for more than two years. Boeing rolled out the plane to great fanfare on July 8, 2007--07/08/07--and promised that its first flight was just months away at that point. But structural problems, a machinists' strike, supply chain shortages and cost overruns have forced Boeing into one public delay after another.

But after the aerospace giant got the plane through an essential test last week--the so-called taxi test, in which the plane is sent rocketing down a runway at high speed in order to lift its landing gear off the ground--all systems appeared to be ready to go for the first flight.

And indeed, on Tuesday morning, at 10:28, in front of thousands of company employees and an impressive phalanx of press, the plane took off. And quickly disappeared into a very cloudy sky. That flight was originally expected to last for as much as five-and-a-half hours but was cut short by poor weather throughout the northern Washington state region.

At 1:33 p.m. Pacific time, the plane landed, just minutes after having appeared miles away in the completely overcast sky.

Mike Carriker, Boeing's chief 787 pilot, signals his feelings about the planes long-awaited first flight.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Befitting the public relations nature of Tuesday's developments--and the obvious opportunity for Boeing to pat itself on the back for finally crossing this important milestone--it came as no surprise when, minutes after the maiden 787 was pulled up directly in front of a giant tent where the press corps and countless Boeing employees were waiting, Scott Fancher, the 787 Dreamliner program's vice president and general manager said, "This is a day that changed the history of aviation" and that the 787 has become the "first truly all-new airplane in the 21st century."

Those statements had to do with the fact that the 787 is made from carbon fiber, becoming the first major commercial airliner to be made from composite materials.

Fancher also took the opportunity to claim that the successful flight was a "statement of our nation's competitiveness," a clear poke at Boeing's European arch-rival, Airbus.

787 Dreamliner lands for first time (photos)

During its three-hour-and five-minute flight, the 787 reached a height of about 15,000 feet and a top speed of 207 miles an hour. The pilots had to scuttle their original plan of flying out over eastern Washington state. Chief pilot Mike Carriker said that a scout plane had flown ahead of the 787 in order to check out the intended route but had determined the conditions there were too rough for the tests that Boeing had hoped to execute during the flight.

After the 787 was towed back in and parked in front of the tent, Carriker and co-pilot Randy Neville emerged, beaming. Carriker pumped his arms high above his head and the crowd cheered.

Back on the ground during a question-and-answer session, Carriker joked that, "I thought the landing was pretty good, I don't know about you." And Neville said that the flight had presented the two pilots with no surprises. "The airplane did exactly as we were expecting," Neville said.

Carriker explained that just the act of getting the 787 in the air had gone a long way toward answering diagnostic questions about the plane. "We figured out more things about this airplane in ten minutes of flying," he said, "than we have in probably the last 100 days."

The 787 as it pulled up in front of a tent full of Boeing employees and reporters.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

And amplifying that point, Carriker said that once he and Neville were airborne, they had set out to execute a "very, very, very aggressive plan. In spite of the continuously descending cloud cover that forced the shortening of the flight time, they were able to complete about half of their intended tasks he said.

Still, the bad weather gave the pilots a chance to put the plane through some paces they had not intended until later in a testing program that could last as long as nine months before the planned delivery of the first 787 to All Nippon Airways in late 2010. Neville said that included flying in icy conditions and in strong turbulence.

And there were some very small victories, too.

"We even got to do a functional test of the windshield wipers," Carriker joked.

Asked when the second 787 test flight will be, Carriker said that today's plane--the first of six Dreamliners that have been built--was ready to head back up for another go. But he suggested it would be at least after the new year before the second flight.

At 10:28 a.m. PST on December 15, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner finally took air. It was the plane's first flight, more than two years after it was officially rolled out on July 8, 2007 (7/8/07).

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

EVERETT, Wash.--At long, long last, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is aloft.

On July 8, 2007 (7/8/07), in front of thousands of enthusiastic onlookers, Boeing rolled out the 787 at its mammoth assembly plant here. The aerospace giant promised to change the nature of long-haul flight, making it significantly more efficient than ever before, and promised to showcase the new plane with its first flight just a few months later.

But one delay after another has substantially slowed the 787 program, and even though the plane was brought to the flight line last May, and it was expected that the first flight would take place sometime in the second quarter, that didn't happen. Until Tuesday, when at 10:28 a.m. PST, the maiden voyage of the first Dreamliner finally lifted off from Boeing's Paine Field here, quickly disappearing into a thick cloud cover. The plane is scheduled to land in a few hours at Boeing Field, near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, about 29 miles south.

For Boeing, Tuesday's development is one of its most significant in years. The 787 Dreamliner, which is built from carbon fiber composite materials and has new-style curved wings--allowing it to fly 20 percent more efficiently per passenger than other planes of its size--was meant to be the company's best chance to dominate the next generation of super planes. Originally, said Boeing spokesperson Russ Young, the idea was to build a plane that was 20 percent faster. But eventually, the company decided, after discussions with potential customers, to go for more fuel efficiency.

But the delays--a machinists strike, a problem with the joint between the wing and the fuselage, shortages of parts and supplies, and more--cost Boeing that advantage. And in the interim, archrival Airbus got its much-heralded A380 plane off the ground and into the hands of several carriers. Today, the A380 is flying regularly scheduled service on airlines like Qantas, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and others.

Still, with the kind of time and money Boeing has invested in the 787, it was hardly going to drop the program because of some delays. Instead, it fought through the problems and continued forward. Last week, the company completed the last tests necessary to get the green light for the first flight, and today, the plane took to the skies in front of a large audience, some of whom were said to have paid $250 for the privilege of watching. Also on hand were thousands of Boeing employees who had front-row seats alongside the runway.

At long last, Boeing's 787 takes flight (photos)

Of course, while all eyes were on today's flight, there is a great deal more work to do before Boeing can deliver its first 787 to a customer--expected to be All Nippon Airways in 2010 assuming no more major delays--or see the plane carry its first paying passengers.

For one, there are six 787s that will be part of the test fleet, with 34 total test pilots. The planes will be put through a battery of in-air stress tests to determine if the model is ready for prime time. All told, said Young, the six already-built 787s will be put through more than 3,000 hours of test flights. In addition, there will be more than 4,000 of ground tests. Young said either the fourth or the fifth 787--in terms assembly order--will be flying tests with a fully fleshed out interior.

Just seconds after the plane took air, a trail plane flew by, much to the delight of the thousands of people on hand.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Among those tests are:

• A maximum energy refused takeoff, in which the plane is loaded to its maximum weight and its brakes ground down to the minimum level allowed, and then taxi at full speed down a runway before hitting the brakes. One aspect is to make sure there is no fire.

• In-flight stalls, where pilots will make the plane stall at heights of between 10,000 feet and 15,000 feet to ensure it is capable of regaining control and stability and that it doesn't go into a spin.

• Engine out on takeoff, where pilots will cut off power to one engine, and make the plane take off in spite of the powerful asymmetrical thrust twists that result.

• Tail-strike takeoff, in which the pilots will get the plane in the air despite striking the tail on the ground on takeoff, causing flying sparks. A wood panel will be attached to the tail to make sure the fuselage isn't damaged.

• Landings in severe conditions, including strong headwinds, crosswinds, and tailwinds.

• Being put through severe temperature extremes.

• Lightning tests, in which the fuselage will be hit with simulated lightning at a lab at Boeing field.

The importance of Boeing's ability to complete these tests and get the 787 into the hands of its customers can't be overstated. Back in 2007, the company touted the fact that it had received 677 preorders from 47 carriers, making it the most preordered airplane in commercial aviation history.

Surprisingly, Boeing said the delays have not forced customers to back out and that today, there are more than 840 preorders. Young said any carriers who backed out did so for financial reasons. "It's a tough time in the industry," he said.

NASA Ames' Vertical Motion Simulator, the largest-such simulator in the world, has been used since 1980 to help train pilots to fly helicopters, fighters, and space shuttles. Now, it is being used for training on the next-generation lunar lander.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--There I was, staking my claim to a pilot's slot in one of NASA's next-generation lunar landers, and to be perfectly frank, I think I'd better not quit my day job.

"I think we probably walked away from that," said NASA aerospace engineer Eric Mueller, after one rough touchdown. It was an overly charitable assessment of my performance. I'd hate to know what he was really thinking.

If you've been paying attention, you're probably aware that there are no current missions to the moon, and so you know that I wasn't actually trying to land there. But I was piloting the same equipment that real-life astronauts have been using to prepare for potential future lunar trips, and so you'll have to forgive me for being a bit disappointed that my skills are likely not up to snuff.

Motion simulator readies NASA for moon landing (photos)

This indulging of my astronaut fantasies was part of a visit last week to NASA's Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS), the world's largest tool for training those whose actual job is to fly lunar landers, space shuttles, helicopters, Joint Strike Fighters, and even bobsleds on the skills and tricks necessary to get their crafts safely to their destinations.

Based in the Aviation Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center, the VMS offers those who use it six degrees of freedom, including 60 feet of vertical and 40 feet of lateral motion simulation inside a huge, 100-foot-tall chamber that looks like something over which an auto mechanic would salivate. Those "flying" the simulator (see video below) have 20 feet of movement in both in the left and right directions, as well as 4 feet forward and back, and 25 degrees of roll, pitch, and yaw.

Originally opened in 1980 to enable pilots to test-fly helicopters, the VMS is currently being used, among other things, to help NASA get ready for what is likely to be its next great mission: a return to the moon with Constellation, the space agency's long-awaited next-generation program and the followup to the Space Shuttle program.

Over the years, according to Kathleen Starmer, the deputy director of NASA's SimLabs outreach team, VMS has been used by a wide range of private companies and military agencies that have needed to run vertical motion tests, including Boeing, Lockheed, Grumman, and others. And today, even when the simulator is not set up for faux lunar landings, it is in use 100 percent of available time, Starmer said. Those wishing to use it need only show that their project can offer some benefit to NASA, and be able to pony up about $5,000 a day.

Flying Altair
But I hadn't come to the VMS to see what it would be like to fly a helicopter. I'd come for a shot at Altair, the next-generation lunar lander, and the one that will be the business end of the Constellation program, at least on the surface of the moon.

According to Karl Bilimoria, an aerospace engineer in the VMS program, NASA is now in the process of running its third formal Altair simulation. When reporters aren't being allowed to barely land in the simulator, "pro astronauts," as Bilimoria put it, are coming to Ames and spending full days in the VMS. One reason for that, he said, is that with Altair, the pilots will need to master pinpoint landing accuracy: they'll need to put the craft down within 10 feet of their designated landing sites on the moon, requiring far more precision than what was required of the pilots of the Apollo age.

This is expected to be a difficult task with Altair because one of the design philosophies of the Constellation program will be to shave as much mass as possible off the payload in order to reduce takeoff weight--and save tremendous amounts of money that each additional pound costs to put in space. Bilimoria said NASA hopes to outfit Altair with the smallest possible control jets, a configuration that makes minute control of the landing craft more difficult than was the case with its much sportier Apollo counterpart.

Which would mean, of course, that NASA is trying to offset the loss of some of the brute force control that comes with less propulsion on the lander with state of-the-art electronics: advanced control systems and advanced cockpit displays.

It might not be possible to achieve the kind of landing accuracy NASA wants with the reduced control jet profile, Bilimoria said, but "before we throw our hands up," it will try to solve the problem with technological advances. "We can always squeeze out a little more," he said. "The question is, is it enough?"

To date, Bilimoria said that multiple simulations have shown that technology isn't quite up to the task at hand, and that it could be another year of running tests in the VMS before it's known if the goal is possible. Of course, any return trip to the moon is many years away, but Mueller explained that NASA is doing this work now in order to have the most advanced notice possible if it's going to be necessary to design Altair with larger control jets.

Rough landings
Inside the cockpit, I was strapped in and given some quick instruction (see video below) on how to read the two major digital displays and how to use them in conjunction with a set of joysticks to properly land the craft. The space is set up to resemble what an actual Altair interior would look like, down to the view out the window, and the narrow working space that is partially made possible by having both the pilot and co-pilot stand up straight rather than sit down.

In fact, the Altair cockpit simulator is one of five separate "interchangeable cabs" used in the VMS to mimic different kinds of vehicles, from rotorcrafts to fighters to transport vehicles. Each cab can be set up with conventional aircraft instruments or advanced avionics, depending on the needs of the client using the simulator.

On an Altair pilot's right is what is known as a vertical situation display, which Mueller said is a fairly typical glass cockpit-type display that, for the most part, would be familiar to fixed-wing pilots, and which is new for a lunar lander. The idea, said Mueller, is that this display provides good cues for landing.

On the left side is the horizontal situation display, a newer system that provides Altair's pilots with velocity vectors, and a touchdown display. This system features a set of "bells and whistles" developed at Ames and designed to help the pilot keep a "nice hover" over the landing spot and to improve their hover and descent skills.

One display in the cockpit shows the ground and the landing pad, and the lander's progress towards a proper touchdown.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

And, just to help the pilot with more true-to-life visual cues, there's also a "view" out the front windows, as well as a view from straight down underneath the lander at the ground below.

For someone skilled at piloting any kind of aircraft--even simulated ones in video games--landing the faux Altair is not that hard. The visual cues are extremely intuitive--basically, just keep a little dot in the center of the screen by tapping the joystick one way or another--and it's designed to be fairly simple, in the VMS, at least, to land.

Adding to the realism, of course, is the fact that the cockpit rocks back and forth and left and right, as it would in real life. So if you overcorrect, get ready to tilt the wrong way. Given my lack of skills, I found myself doing that far more than I should have.

Still, in each of my landing attempts, I managed to get the craft onto the lunar "surface," not even crashing once.

The progress of the lander is marked by the green line on the display in this picture. The long, squiggly line is evidence of a rather lengthy and roundabout approach to the lunar surface.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

To be sure, though, none of the current or future astronauts have to worry much about me being a competitor for their spots on actual moon missions.

Nor would they worry about competition from a CNET colleague who accompanied me to the VMS. As he attempted to fly the lander, his progress was recorded as a long, very squiggly green line on one of the displays, evidence of a remarkable lack of precision.

In the control room, two VMS scientists watched my colleague's progress and shook their heads.

"We've never seen anything like this," said one, of my colleague's roundabout approach to the ground.

"He still hit the pad," said the other. "It's amazing."

Mattel's i-Tag, a new augmented reality-based toy that comes with 'Avatar' action figures that will be released in October. Could this be the future of toys?

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

I have seen the future of toys, and it is augmented reality.

That was my conclusion Monday after seeing Mattel's i-Tags, new technology that will be included with action figures the company will make for "Titanic" director James Cameron's new film, "Avatar."

For those not familiar with augmented reality, it's an overlay of digital information or imagery on top of real-world objects. AR, as it's known, "is a field of computer research that deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time," according to Wikipedia.

Or, as Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst with Needham & Company in New York called it, AR is "jet fuel for the imagination."

In the case of the "Avatar" action figures, AR is being implemented in the form of small plastic cards--the i-Tags--that kids can hold up in front of any Webcam. When they do, a fully 3D digital image is superimposed over the card on the screen. This can be anything from a simple set of information about a character from the film to a full-on, five-on-five shooting battle involving large military helicopters and flying dinosaur-like creatures called Leonopteryx.

The i-Tags, along with the "Avatar" action figures they're based on, will be released in October in advance of the December 18 release of Cameron's film.

There are five levels of i-TAGs, each of which corresponds to a specific level of interactivity with the AR. At level one--which will cost $8.95 per toy--kids who hold the card up to their Webcam will see some information on their computer screen about the character. At higher levels, though, they'll be able to "push" buttons on the card, allowing them to manipulate the digital character or vehicle that pops up (see video below).

While AR is beginning to show up in many arenas, from video games to movie advertising to baseball cards to exploratory toys, Mattel said that the i-Tag is the first-ever retail toy implementation of the technology.

And let's be honest about Mattel's implementation: it's cool, if fairly limited. At its best, two kids with Level 5 i-TAGs could put their "Battle Packs" to the test and watch as five warriors pop up on both sides of the screen and proceed to battle it out in, seemingly right in front of the kids.

And to be sure, for a 6-year-old, or even a 10-year-old, this could be pretty exciting. But I'm willing to bet a 15-year-old is going to get the maximum out of this system pretty quickly.

Augmented reality has already made it to some markets, as in the case of Topps baseball cards. The Topps implementation was also done by Total Immersion, which is behind the technology in the Mattel i-Tags.

(Credit: Topps)

But to me, this isn't about today. This is about what's coming down the line, and what i-Tags and augmented reality making it to the retail market now means for the future of toys. And that's because this, as first-generation technology, is just scratching the surface of what's going to be possible in a year or two when growing public awareness of AR meets lower R&D costs and motivates developers the world over to see what's possible with this new medium.

"It's a very important thing, because the evolution of toys has been about solitary action," McGowan said. "We've had Web sites that interact with toys, but we've been missing the feedback with the toy...We've seen interactive toys 1.0, but nothing that goes back to the toy. I think augmented reality is creating a loop that makes two plus two equal five."

Think about it. The possibilities are just about endless, and could mean a whole new life for the kinds of toys that kids at first play with a lot, and then quickly abandon. By embedding special software in imagery that can be placed just about anywhere on a toy, toy makers will now have an incredibly wide range of virtual things to add to their physical toys.

Whether it's battling aliens or dancing dolls or branded pets, the sky's pretty much the limit for what could be done with AR and toys. And it's not about Mattel at all. Or at least not entirely about Mattel. It's really about the entire toy industry and the imaginative ways that toy designers figure out to build AR into their creations.

Indeed, it may be more accurate to say that, assuming the market is proved out quickly, the only limitations to how to deploy AR in or with toys could be what toy makers can think of.

Instructions on the side of an augmented-reality-embedded toy from Mattel's 'Avatar' collection.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

To McGowan, there really is no limit to what can happen with this technology, but he thinks that it's important that a company like Mattel is taking the step of introducing AR to the market. Yet he also applauds the company for being subtle about AR in its marketing. In part, that's because of the state of the economy.

"Mattel is being smart, and downplaying" AR, McGowan said. "They're not trumpeting it as the hottest thing. They're not saying it's going to set the toy industry on fire. Why set it up that way?"

Yet this is extremely new technology and, so far at least, people don't seem to be putting a lot of energy into embedding AR into toys. Which isn't, of course to say that the technology won't be the next big thing.

McGowan believes there isn't any corner of the toy industry that won't benefit from new technologies like this, whether it's dolls or airplanes or anything else.

"With the concept of play, going back to the stone ages, kids emulate what they see in the world, and emulate what they see adults doing," he said. "It's their imagination that makes things real. And that imagination can be augmented...Every kid has always taken a little paper airplane and imagined they've been flying through the sky. Now that can happen a lot more realistically."

For today's picture of the day challenge...win a prize for being the first to name this art project and the artist.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Update (9:04 a.m.): We have a winner. It seems that many people knew of, or had visited, Nancy Holt's "Sun Tunnels," close to the town of Lucin, Utah. It also seems that the hints provided and/or Google may have made this one a little too easy. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Road Trip picture of the day challenge.

BOISE, Idaho--If only I'd known, when I began Road Trip 2009 nearly three weeks ago, that running a picture of the day challenge would elicit such a large response.

Over the last two days, I've posted two photos, one of an odd large yellow sphere in Arco, Idaho, and the other a Cold War era Bomarc B surface-to-air missile, currently housed at the Hill Air Force Museum near Ogden, Utah, asking my readers to identify them. I'm not sure if I've ever gotten so much e-mail. So, the picture of the day challenge continues.

Your task: be the first person to send me an e-mail--with "Picture of the Day" in the subject line identifying this art piece, and the artist who made it. I won't ask you to say where it's located, and I'll even give you one hint: it's in Utah, not far at all from the Nevada border.

If you have an answer, please e-mail it to me at daniel--dot--terdiman--at--cnet--dot--com. The first person with the right answer (including the name of the artist) wins a prize. Once I've identified a winner, I'll post an update with the answer.

Good luck.

For the next several weeks, Geek Gestalt will be on Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be writing about and photographing the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Colorado. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

At exactly 3,000 miles into Road Trip 2009, CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman and the Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel SUV he's road-testing were on the road alongside Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

CRATERS OF THE MOON, Idaho--It's hard for me to believe, because I still feel like I just started Road Trip 2009, but I've already driven enough miles to have crossed the entire United States.

Already it's been 18 days, and on Wednesday, I hit exactly 3,000 miles since I started this project. And it was in one of the most foreign and awe-inspiring places I've ever seen: alongside the road adjacent to Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

I'll post a story and photo gallery on this huge and incredible place tomorrow, so I won't get into details on it now. But suffice it to say that if you spend any time here, you know a little bit about what it must be like to walk on surfaces that aren't here on Earth.

The odometer may read 1,000 miles, but Road Trip 2009 has actually been on the highways of Colorado, Utah, and Idaho--with brief crossings into Arizona and Nevada--for 3,000 miles already. How many more miles will there be?

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Since I hit 2,000 miles, meanwhile, I've been extremely busy. I've stopped by the Golden Spike National Historic Site, where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met for the first time, forming the transcontinental railroad. I've walked on Robert Smithson's masterpiece of an earthwork, Spiral Jetty, which seems to float on top of the Great Salt Lake. At the Utah Test & Training Range, I've seen how the U.S. Air Force trains its pilots on America's largest bombing range. I've played with my iPhone and seen how it integrates seamlessly with the Audi Q7 TDI I'm road-testing. And I've been the first reporter to see the completed Ares I test rocket that will be fired in August in what will be an important first step to getting people back to the moon.

Now, I've moved on, have visited Craters of the Moon, and have urged my readers to help me figure out what to do in Boise, Idaho. I've also picked your brains about the best apps for the new iPhone 3GS.

Each year, Road Trip challenges me with an incredible roster of destinations and a non-stop pace. But it's always worth it. And whether I'm driving enough miles to cross the country, or adding enough miles to return again, I'm going to keep on sharing my experiences with you. I hope you enjoy them.

For the next several weeks, Geek Gestalt will be on Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be writing about and photographing the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Colorado. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

A MUTE, or multiple threat emitter simulator, which is designed to throw up electronic challenges to pilots attempting bombing missions at the Utah Test & Training Range.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

DUGWAY, Utah--"We train warriors and test weapons."

That's how Col. Jeff Snell, the commander of the 388th Range Squadron, which operates the gargantuan Utah Test & Training Range (UTTR), summed up the main mission of his command.

I had spent the day visiting part of UTTR's Maryland-size facilities, and discovered that Snell's words were a very succinct way of explaining what really goes on at the range: Air Force pilots fly in there in screaming-fast aircraft to run bombing training missions, often in advance of deployments to either Iraq or Afghanistan, and, less frequently, the Air Force uses the facility to test out various weapons systems.

Unless you knew it was there, you wouldn't know it was there. There is so much desert in northwest Utah, much of it with small, Afghanistan-like mountains, that except in very rare cases, the public never goes anywhere near UTTR. And that means that pilots flying missions there have almost unfettered scope for firing away at their targets, often with live bombs or missiles.

Indeed, unlike other bombing ranges around the country, all of which limit the direction in which missiles can be fired, UTTR offers the Air Force no such limitations. Instead, the property is so big that in most cases, there is nothing to stop pilots from firing any which way they please.

As part of my Road Trip 2009 project, I was given a tour of part of UTTR by Maj. David Dunklee, the detachment commander there. He explained that his team--mainly made up of civilians--have four main tasks: setting up and refurbishing targets; photographing missions, with centimeter accuracy; challenging pilots on missions with all manner of electronic threats in attempts to make the missions as realistic as possible; and basic infrastructure management.

Photos: 'Train warriors, test weapons'

View the full gallery

While the first and the last of those duties are probably the most time-consuming, the most complex parts are the middle two: photography and challenging pilots during their missions.

The point of the photography component is to record every last bit of data about each and every mission that is run at UTTR, and that's a big number. According to Snell, there are about 15,000 sorties a year at UTTR, most of which are training runs. Pilots will fly all kinds of aircraft there, including the politically controversial F-22, B-1s, B-2s, F-15Es, and others.

Scattered around UTTR are small white domes called cine-theodolites. These are camera batteries in which operators are able, through very high-powered lenses, to capture imagery of elements of bombing missions, and, when combined with at least two and, ideally, three other Cine-Ts, as they're called, Dunklee's people can triangulate and create a "centimeter accuracy" record of what went on during a mission.

And that's important, because the critical part of the missions that are run at UTTR is giving decision makers, pilots and others involved in the Air Force, a way to see exactly went right and what went wrong during a mission, or with a test weapon, so that they can determine the pilot, or the weapon, are ready for prime time.

This is called "scoring" the missions, and with more than 300 targets scattered all over UTTR, it is important that Dunklee's team have infrastructure in place where and when it's needed so that every mission can be scored.

Realistic conditions
But pilots wouldn't get much out of running training bombing missions if they had free and clear access at their targets. That's why another task of the Dunklee's people is to run interference, and to, essentially, be the "bad guys," as John Bridgman, a quality assurance operator, put it. To that end, Bridgman and his colleagues are given control of systems that can transmit many different kind of threats that pilots will have to contend with as they scream over UTTR in their aircraft.

Several drones that will be used as unmanned flying targets for the pilots attempting missions at the range.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Those threats can be anything that a pilot might encounter in actual combat: shoulder-launched missiles, surface-to-air missiles, other airplanes and so on. "We throw everything we can at them," Bridgman said, trying to simulate shooting them down.

Additionally, Bridgman's team moves its equipment around so that they can "attack" from anywhere, making it impossible for pilots to learn where the threats, of which there are at least 75 different kinds, might be coming from.

Another element of presenting pilots with realistic conditions is giving them moving targets. Already, UTTR has two autonomous tanks that are capable of pulling targets around on trailers at slow speeds. But now, the Air Force is preparing to roll out a new system, a GPS and transmitter-geared-up Ford F-350 truck that is designed to pull a target around without a driver at 55 miles an hour.

The truck cost the Air Force more than $100,000, Dunklee estimated, so it's crucial that pilots not hit it. But with precision weapons, and long trailers, no one is too worried about losing the pricey vehicle to a rogue bomb. Rather, they hope, pilots will hit the inexpensive targets placed on the trailer.

At UTTR, there are other target scenarios going on than just pilots firing directly at targets. Those types of missions are intended mainly as training for the pilots. But there are also test of weapons systems such as cruise missiles. In that case, pilots of bombers like a B-52 will fly into UTTR and fire such a missile, which, in an attempt to simulate the up to four hours of flight time it might have in combat, will proceed to "spaghetti" overhead until finally zeroing on its target.

Back at Mission Control
The command center for UTTR is at Hill Air Force Base, which is north of Salt Lake City and about a two-hour drive from UTTR. There, Snell and his team, as well as any of a wide range of "customers," including personnel from the Air Force, other military services, the Defense Department, defense contractors and others can watch the missions play out in real time, thanks to Dunklee's photography team.

The various tracking systems deployed at UTTR allow those in the command center to see very accurate and up-to-the-minute data about the missions, giving them the ability to understand precisely what is happening at any given moment and, later, to make decisions based on that information.

And while the most common mission of Snell's 388th Range Squadron is training pilots who are headed for combat, it is also to evaluate new weapons systems.

In August, then, the 388th will begin a weapons systems evaluation program (WSEP) that will last for three weeks. Personnel involved in the evaluation will begin to show up at Hill up to a couple weeks early for preparation. A WSEP, Snell said, is designed to produce an end-to-end examination of a weapons program, of everyone involved in it, and of their ability to react to conditions on the ground.

All told, given how many people are involved, both at UTTR and at Hill, how many bombs are dropped annually and how many sorties are flown there, it's amazing that the Air Force is able to pull it all off without the general public even knowing it is going on in their backyard.

But that's the advantage provided by a piece of land that is protected by mountains on several sides and which is the size of the state of Maryland. And while there have certainly been deadly cases of miscalculation in airborne attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force feels that those who train at UTTR are as well-prepared as a pilot can be before heading off into combat.

On June 22, Geek Gestalt will kick off Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Colorado. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

At the United States Air Force Academy on Thursday, 1,376 basic cadets arrived for initiation.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--"Get off my bus!"

As the door opened, those words exploded out and it seemed that everyone within a few hundred feet must have heard them. But there was no doubt the two or three dozen on board did, as they came scurrying off at high speed.

These were one busload of the 1,376 members of the United States Air Force Academy's class of 2013, and, less glamorously, the brand new basic cadets who had arrived here Thursday, many just weeks out of high school.

Accustomed to being on top of their respective worlds--they had high grades, top SAT scores, and were chosen from among nearly 10,000 applicants to the Academy--these men and women were now reduced to being screamed at by fellow students just two years ahead of them.

As part of Road Trip 2009, I was on hand Thursday for what is known as "in-processing," the initiation of the new class of students and I can tell you that the scenes from all those movies of drill sergeants yelling at new recruits at the top of their lungs, blood vessels bulging out of their necks, are not far from the truth.

But that was later in the day. First, the 1,300-plus new students had shown up, many with parents and brothers and sisters in tow, and as an observer, it was hard to tell any difference between that scene and what you'd see at any college's first day.

Photos: Getting screamed at, Air Force initiation style

View the full gallery

Yet there was a sense of nervousness and seriousness palpable in the air. It was clear these new students were aware that they were in for something that would take their lives in a new and extremely difficult direction.

But you have to think it's what they wanted.

"I'm feeling a little, I'd say, anxious, nervous, and excited," said Joel Starkey, 18, of Atlanta. "I wanted to fly since I was in about third grade, and I want to be an officer in the military. I want to commit myself to something bigger."

Nearby, an interesting scene was under way. Twin girls were huddled with their family, and when I approached them, I discovered that the girls, Catherine and Irene Joyce, 18 and from Omaha, Neb., were joining up, as was their first cousin, Molly Bush. It turned out that Bush's father was an Academy graduate, as was her sister.

For Catherine Joyce, her first day at the academy--and whatever indignities it might bring--were clearly stepping stones to a career she seemed very certain she wanted.

"It's exciting and I'm honored, and it's a privilege to be here," Joyce said. "I learned about (the Academy) by visiting and speaking with cadets and officers, and everyone in the Air Force told me the best way to become an officer was to come to the Academy."

On the bus
I was allowed to ride one of the buses away from the intake hall and toward the actual grounds of the Academy. Onboard, the basic cadets looked tight and nervous. One of the more senior cadets had gotten on behind them and immediately began barking out commands to quickly find a seat. He leaned over to me at one point and whispered that "it's about to get loud." And then, without warning to the basic cadets, he began screaming out commands, telling them exactly where to hold their hands, not to speak unless spoken to, that they must recite the seven basic--and only--responses to questions they were now allowed and more.

"Have I made myself clear?" he bellowed.

"Yes, sir," the basic cadets called out.

"Have I made myself clear?" he shouted even louder.

"Yes, sir," they responded.

Soon, a woman cadet in the back of the bus began her own shouting, snidely calling out the names of West Point, Annapolis, and the Officer Candidates School, the officer training grounds of, respectively, the Army, Navy, and Marines. "Nobody even comes close," she yelled. "We are the service academy for the last superpower on the face of the planet. You have made the right choice."

By now, the bus had stopped. We were at our destination. But the door hadn't opened yet.

"If any of you are not a person of absolute integrity, stay on my bus," the first cadet hollered. "If you are not willing to sacrifice for your nation, stay on my bus. If you accept the minimum as your own personal standard, stay on my bus. If you are not ready to give your best...stay on my bus. (And) you'd better be ready to live up to the legacy in front of you...and that begins right now!"

With that, the doors opened, and the veteran cadets screamed some more, now ordering the newbies off the bus at an even higher volume than before (see video below).

The freshmen grabbed their gear and hustled off the bus. They ran to where a cluster of blue-uniformed cadets were waiting in front of a large mat emblazoned with footprints for them to stand on.

A fresh veteran cadet stood in front of the group of newbies and shouted out his commands. That they were to keep their feet each at a 22.5 degree angle from their head, meaning that their feet would be open at a 45 degree angle; that their hands should be held, cupped, at their sides, with their thumbs even with the seams of their pants. And then he ordered his cadre of veteran cadets to "correct" any mistakes they saw in how the new cadets were standing.

This, of course, was their excuse to loudly, energetically, and enthusiastically rush around and berate the newcomers. One by one, it seemed, they would be singled out and screamed at for this or that mistake (see video below). I could tell the veteran cadets were enjoying this, finally their opportunity to shift forward their revenge for when this happened to them two years ago.

It went on for a while, and then, finally and mercifully, it stopped, and the new cadets were ordered to grab their gear and head off up a ramp to begin the next rounds of processing.

Box Boy
For many associated with the Air Force Academy, the most memorable basic cadet of the day--and maybe ever--was a tall brown-haired kid who emerged from the bus lugging a giant box on his shoulders. The scene was absurd, and he was immediately set upon by several of the cadre, who shouted out things like, "Are you kidding me," and, "Did you bring your Xbox and your TV?"

This new cadet will forever be known as 'Box Boy,' since he arrived with this giant box. The veteran cadets who welcomed him did so with insults, derision and incredulity.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Box Boy, as he quickly began to be called throughout the Academy, had clearly miscalculated, and not only would he likely never live down the shame of having brought this giant box with him, but he'd also have to spend the entire rest of the day carrying the box on his shoulders, as basic cadets have to lug their gear with them the entire first day.

Another basic cadet also had attracted a huge amount of attention from the group. At one point, I counted at least seven cadets circled around him, screaming at him and yelling and belittling him. I asked someone why he'd been singled out, and was told that this particular basic cadet had somehow let it be known that he planned on being the first man on Mars, and that his time at the Academy was little more than a brief stepping stone on his way to glory as an astronaut.

He may be right. But on this day, he was just fresh meat, and a prime target for ridicule.

From there, the new cadets went on through several more procedural steps toward actually joining the Air Force. They got immunized, they got haircuts, and then they had to take their formal oath (see video below) to the service. They gathered in a conference room, stood up, repeated the oath as recited to them by a woman officer who, when finished, said simply, "Congratulations, you're now in the Air Force."

Hard to believe it was three years ago
While waiting in the room where the men were getting their hair cut, I came across Cadet First Class--meaning, a senior--Frank Mercurio. He was talking about the new basic cadets and what they must be feeling.

"I think they're real scared, real worried about how hard it's going to be," Mercurio said. "It's going to be the hardest thing they've ever done in their lives up to this point...The first day is so overwhelming. You just get things thrown at you and you can fold up like a deck of cards, or carry through."

I asked him if any of the new cadets ever backed out, and he said that in fact he'd heard that just today, one had gotten off the bus, made it to the mat with the footprints, and "turned right back around and got back on the bus."

It turns out that a few dozen of the basic cadets will end up dropping out or leaving for one reason or another, but most will stick it out and eventually become Air Force officers.

But all that seems so far away when, for the first time, they're sitting in a barber's chair, having their hair shaved off.

I stood and watched as several of the kids went under the razor, going from shaggy-headed to buzz-cut. And then, as one of them got up to leave, his barber, a cheery, flamboyant woman named Hannah Love, said, "Oh, look at how cute you are. Bye."

Correction at 7:10 a.m. PDT: The name of the Marines officers school has been fixed

For the next several weeks, Geek Gestalt will be on Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be writing about and photographing the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation, and more in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

Hoover Dam was a big hit from Road Trip 2007. What will be the biggest surprises of Road Trip 2009?

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)

In the United States, the major east-west Interstate highways are denominated by multiples of tens: I-10 goes from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Fla. I-40 goes from Barstow, Calif., to Wilmington, N.C. I-80 goes from San Francisco to New York.

The north-south Interstates, meanwhile, are denominated with fives. I-5 goes from the U.S.-Mexico border, through San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Seattle and ends at the U.S.-Canada border. I-15 goes from from San Diego to the Canadian border near Sweetgrass, Mont. And I-95 heads north from Miami all the way to northeast Maine.

Over the last three years, I've spent part of each summer doing a project called CNET Road Trip, and each time I've driven long distances through a specific region of the country. In 2006, it was the Pacific Northwest. In 2007, it was the Southwest. And in 2008, it was 4,593 miles through the Southeast.

All told, I've covered 12,853 miles and 17 states. But one of the little details about the three trips that I've enjoyed the most is that combined, I've driven at least a few miles on every one of those north-south divide-by-five interstates, except I-35. I spent a lot of time on I-5 on Road Trip 2006; I touched I-15 and I-25 on Road Trip 2007; and I actually hit I-45, I-55, I-65, I-75, I-85 and I-95 on Road Trip 2008.

On Sunday, I'll begin Road Trip 2009 in Denver. And looking back at that U.S. map, I realize that after this year's journey--which will take me through Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming--I'll have also driven on each of the divide-by-ten Interstates except I-30. Looking at that map, clearly there's a hole in the country I need to think about for future Road Trips.

Photos: High-tech gear complements Road Trip 2009

View the full gallery

Nevertheless, this time around, it's the Rocky Mountain region and a bit of the Great Plains. It'll start off with a drive--in the Audi Q7 TDI I'll be road-testing--to Mount Evans, due west of Denver, which features the highest paved road in North America. And given that the Audi has a so-called "clean diesel" engine, I'll be writing a fair bit about that technology and what it means for fuel efficiency and the environment.

There will be three major themes this year: military and defense; energy and sustainable living research; and America's natural wonders. To be sure, there will likely be plenty of little meanderings off those themes, but they will be the major backbones of the project.

That means I'll be visiting places like North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD/Cheyenne Mountain); the Air Force Academy; the Department of Energy's Idaho National Lab; a series of locations in and near national parks in Utah that were first put on a list by the Bush administration for drilling to private interests and then taken off the list by the new Obama administration; a firefighting technology center in Missoula, Mont.; a maker of commuter train engines in Boise, Idaho; an innovative wind farm in Wyoming; Air Force Space Command, also in Wyoming; Yellowstone National Park, also in Wyoming; the Badlands in South Dakota; a nonprofit working to help Boulder, Colo., transition to a peak-oil environment; and much, much more.

But even though I've worked out a more complete itinerary this year than I have in the past, I've still got plenty of wiggle room for unexpected discoveries. And I hope that you, dear readers, will get in touch with me as I go with suggestions for places to go and things to see.

Among the many high-tech gadgets Terdiman will be road-testing will be the new iPhone 3G S.

(Credit: Apple)

Along the way, I'll be blogging constantly, posting regular photo galleries and some video, Twittering like mad, organizing meet-ups through Facebook; and giving away a whole series of things, including DVD sets from Showtime, Halo: ODST game codes from Microsoft; lots of video games; and more.

As I have each of the three previous trips, I'll also be bringing a long a veritable Best Buy's worth of high-tech gadgetry to test out. Among the devices are Apple's brand-spanking-new 13-inch MacBook Pro and iPhone 3G S; Verizon's MiFi 2200 mobile hot-spot; Iridium's new 9555 satellite phone; Inmarsat's Explorer 500 mobile satellite modem; Amazon's Kindle 2; and LiveScribe's Pulse pen; and more.

Last year, I took thousands of pictures with Nikon's D60 digital SLR. This year, I'll have Nikon's new D5000 dSLR, which adds HD video capabilities. I'll also be shooting some HD video with Flip Video's UltraHD. And I hope to edit some of the photos and video with the applications in Adobe's Creative Suite 4 Master Collection, and will be printing photos on Hewlett-Packard's Officejet H470wbt, a fully mobile printer.

And when I need to chill out and watch a movie, I'll have a pair of Sony's MDR-NC22 noise-canceling headphones to listen with.

On Road Trip 2009, Terdiman will be taking thousands of pictures with the Nikon D5000, which can also take HD video.

(Credit: Nikon)

I intend, during the trip, to blog about my experiences using each and every one of the products I'll have with me.

As in previous years, Road Trip 2009 will be both a great deal of fun and a tremendous challenge. I'll be working nearly nonstop, posting stories constantly, driving several hundred miles a day on average, and even trying to get a little food and sleep. And I'll be by myself most of the time.

But I will have plenty of good music to listen to, thousands of miles of beautiful country to look at, and the chance to visit some of the most interesting destinations this country has to offer.

It is a tough job. But as they say, somebody's got to do it.

Starting today, please check out the Road Trip 2009 page frequently, follow my Twitter feed, and join my Facebook fan page. I'll do my best to bring you along with me.