Statement in Response to Social Media Commentary on the Horizon Air Q400 Incident

As someone who is aspiring and currently working towards a career in the airline industry, I was deeply disturbed by what has become known as the 2018 Horizon Air Q400 Incident on the night of Friday, August 10, 2018, where a ground service operator for the carrier stole an out-of-service Bombardier DHC-8-402 twin-turboprop aircraft and made an authorized takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on an apparent hour-long joyride with some aerobatics. Following the erratic flight, which prompted a military response with fighter jets, the twin-turboprop crashed on a sparsely-populated island just east of Tacoma, resulting in the complete destruction of the aircraft and death of the perpetrator.

Immediately after the crash, some video footage of the stolen aircraft emerged, including one showing it doing the aforementioned aerobatics. In this day and age of social media and how quickly information and misinformation gets passed around, there have been plenty of commentary regarding this incident observed since its occurrence. Many of the comments suggests people were impressed and praised the perpetrator for what he was able to accomplish flying the aircraft he stole, calling him "epic" or a "legend" or with some other praise-worthy term as some sort of folk hero; even an Internet meme about him has emerged.

While everybody is entitled to their own opinions and thoughts and are free to express it, there is nothing impressive about stealing an airliner and flying it in a reckless manner around a major population center. Impressive flying is done in a controlled environment, such an air show if referring to aerobatics, and in a professional manner with nothing but the highest standards adhering to aviation regulations. This was a criminal act that could've easily resulted in a terrible loss of innocent lives; thankfully, that wasn't the case this time. We should never ever look upon this act as anything but a reckless criminal act that put property at risk and endangered the lives of untold numbers of innocent people. The facts are clear that the perpetrator stole an expensive airplane, went on a “joyride," in controlled airspace while putting other people and property at risk before crashing and ending his life; yes, he had problems, but he’s no hero. We can and should mourn for the family and friends of the perpetrator, but avoid glorifying his criminal act that could have resulted in the death of God-knows-how-many on the ground.

Furthermore, this particular incident demonstrates the extreme lengths that people sometimes go to end their lives when they feel like there are no other options. A career in aviation celebrates people's strength and bravery while working in the industry. While that is part of what makes aviation great, it is not a sign of weakness to admit that you are overwhelmed. In fact, doing so is usually the first step towards addressing your challenge. We are all human; we experience joy and and sometimes extreme disappointments in life. We might have a unique job in a unique industry but our challenges aren't that different than other human beings working in completely different industries. Sometimes those disappointments can add up and feel overwhelming. But we don't ever have to do it alone. You should know that no matter how bad your situation may seem, there is always hope.

If you are feeling down, don't go it alone. Reach out to someone. People care way more than you think. And there are ways to get help without impacting the career that you've worked so hard to achieve. If you see someone who is struggling, don't pile on. It takes a strong person to reach out to someone who is hurting.

I don't take anything about this sad, messed-up situation lightly, especially since I'll be going into the industry this incident affected. There will no doubt be repercussions and knee-jerk reactions in response to this incident that may or may not result in some sort of policy changes that would be necessary to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

The Horizon Air Q400 involved in the incident.
Photographed May 2015.

Statement in Response to the Announcement of PlaneImages.net Shutting Down

This morning, I received an E-mail where I learned that PlaneImages.net, an aviation photography website will be shutting down as of July 15, 2018 due to an unsustainable business model and lack of funding from a venture capitalist. PlaneImages was meant to make plane-spotting and aviation photography, two old, tired hobbies fun and revitalize great photographers by making a home for their work that would otherwise never have been accepted onto screener-based websites and stepping away from catalog data-basing.

There is no hiding that fact in how disappointed I am to hear that such an incredible website is shutting down. PlaneImages was a huge win for underdog photographers such as myself, who don't have the means or resources to make our photos "high-quality," at least according to overly-high standards of elitists from other, screener-based websites. While we can all agree or disagree on what's considered high-quality based on personal preferences, such screener-based standards suppresses creativity, and is an insult to the vast majority of aviation photographers and the incredible work they otherwise produce. PlaneImages encouraged artistic creativity and recognized contribution in our photos, as the site provided the perfect platform to showcase my best work after nothing but negative and insulting experiences with other screener-based aviation photography websites.

The shutdown of PlaneImages.net, once again leaves us underdog photographers in the shadows of those elitist photographers and their screener-based sites with their high, often unattainable standards.

That being said, I wish to express gratitude to the founders of PlaneImages.net, Beau, Jake and Drew, for taking a stab at addressing a plane-spotter's frustrations and delivering a service for the aviation photography underdogs via funding often out of their own pockets and in their own time. I wish them the all the best and hope that one day, they will find the proper and sustainable means to open a website (without the screening!) that showcases aircraft in real-time that will ultimately change the aviation photography/plane-spotter game for the better.

Statement Regarding to Name Change in Blog Title

Greetings to you all.

Some may have noticed the slight changes that have been made for this blog. From here on out, "Michael with a "K": Passion for Aviation" will now be called ""Wild Card" Aviation Photography." In the eight years since starting up this blog, my passion and overall support for the aviation industry has grown. As previously stated in my page introduction, "The primary purpose of this blog is to showcase the best of my aviation photography."

In early 2012, I started up my Facebook page to serve as the main gallery for all my aviation photos because that was the year I got into planespotting and I started taking many more photos from then on. I initially called this page "Mikel Wynn - Aviation Photography" and later changed it to "Mikel Wynn - "Wild Card" Aviation Photography." I chose to utilize Facebook because many aviation photography-dedicated websites such as Airliners.net only accepted the best of the best and many photos are often rejected by its website screeners and moderators who determine what quality is good for the site's standards. Then in 2014, I created an account on PlaneImages.net when it became available; it was one of the first aviation photography databases that I know of that accepts all photos and has no screeners to determine photo quality. In fact, the moderators of PlaneImages encourages users to be artistic with their photos!

Meanwhile, my blog used the name previously stated above. I initially adopted "Michael with a "K"" as part of the blog name because it was catchy and sort of served as a nickname (given that my name is spelled in such a way) that one of my high school math teachers gave to me so she can remember me. I graduated from high school in 2009 and now that I've been at it as an AvGeek (short for Aviation Geek) for a while now, I felt that "Michael with a "K"" became somewhat old news, stale, and even a little irrelevant to aviation. After some thought, I decided to change the name of this blog to better match with my aviation gallery on Facebook.

Many other aviation photography-dedicated Facebook pages that I follow have catchy and clever names and I wanted to do the same. I chose to implement the words "Wild Card" because it is a reflection of my life and personality. I consider myself a bit of a wild card in my family and among my peers because I don't often conform to cliches, taboos, and even certain norms and styles many are expected to follow. I even consider myself a bit of a black sheep or a social outcast mainly among my peers because not many people I know share the same interests I have in aviation. As a child, I grew up struggling to overcome language barriers between Japanese and English and partly as a result, I often struggled in elementary and middle school because at first, I struggled to think and communicate in English and I grew up with not many close friends, thus feeling like a black sheep or a social outcast. On a more relevant note, I also chose to use "Wild Card" because of what I like to photograph with aviation as my primary subject. In the field of aviation, there are many "wild cards."

One is often in the form of a rare, one of kind aircraft that might be the only one of its kind left in the world from a historical standpoint:

An airworthy Bell P-63C Kingcobra on display at the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg, Idaho. Only a handful of this World War II-era fighter are left in existence with only about two or three airframes in the world still airworthy.

A North American P-51C Mustang on display at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. While there many P-51s left in existence and in flying-condition, the -C models of this World War II-era fighter are significantly rarer. 

The Horsemen Flight Demo Team performing in three North American F-86F Sabre jets at the 2015 Oregon International Air Show in Hillsboro, Oregon. It is a real treat to see one F-86 fly but seeing three fly in formation doing aerobatics choreographed to a beautiful piece of music truly is a privilege!

Another "wild card" include aircraft with unique, one of a kind or one-time paint schemes and liveries:

A Van's RV-9A with a unique sea turtles mural painted on the vertical stabilizer (something that my sister would appreciate!) at Independence State Airport in Independence, Oregon. Van's RV aircraft are truly wild cards because as kit aircraft they come in different variants and the owners of such aircraft get to paint their planes in their own styles.

A Van's RV-12 at McNary Field in Salem, Oregon. This aircraft uses flames painted on the fuselage as a cheatline. Really, the only word that sums up the appearance of this aircraft: Badass!

Icelandair Boeing 757-200 named Hekla Aurora in a northern lights-themed livery departing from Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon on the inaugural flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. This is the only aircraft in Icelandair's small fleet that has a special livery and seeing that they used it for the inaugural flight between Portland and Reykjavik made this opportunity even more special and memorable.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 in its 'Starliner 75' retro livery departing Portland International Airport. Many major airlines throughout the world has at least one aircraft in their fleet painted in a retro livery in commemoration of their early days or to remember a by-gone era.

 Aviation "wild cards" to me also come in the form of a common aircraft making rare appearances (often as a charter) in places where they're not commonly seen or aircraft/airlines you never heard of before or just don't see on an everyday basis:

United Airlines Boeing 747-400 at Eugene Airport in Eugene, Oregon on a military charter. In a city served mainly by small regional jets, catching a mainline jumbo-jet like the 747 at regional airport like the one in Eugene is a rather bizarre, but welcome occurrence.

World Atlantic Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-83 at Eugene Airport on a college sports charter. There are often airlines people never heard of mainly because they're based on the other side of the country or probably because their business model is strictly focused on charters so they're rarely seen in many places.

Fournier RF-5B Sperber motorglider parked on the ramp at Independence State Airport. There are so many aircraft that I've never seen before and even aircraft I've never heard of!

In 2015, I switched to a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera after about three years shooting with a digital "point-and-shoot" compact camera and later on, an ultra-zoom digital camera. Since switching to DSLR, the overall quality of my photos have improved rapidly and I have not gone back to my older cameras since then. As a result, I have continued to seek improvement in my personal photography skills with my DSLR camera as it came with new set of unique challenges. With these challenges came the continued desire to seek out the "wild cards" of aviation and photographing them. When opportunities to see rare or unique aircraft whether it be of historical reasons or something appealing, I desire to get the most unique angle and best quality images (based on my own standards!) that my skills allow when engaged in aviation photography, hence my grown passion for such a field.

That being said, I thank those of you who have been following along in my aviation expeditions. Whether you are long-time followers or just stumbled across this amateur work of mine, your interest and shared passion in the field of aviation exemplifies just how tight-knit the aviation community is. And I certainly hope you'll appreciate and enjoy the next big aviation photography highlight of mine. Until I get that opportunity, blues skies, and tail winds to you!

Regards,
Mikel Wynn (a.k.a. Michael with a "K")
"Wild Card" Aviation Photography

Statement in Response to the Shoreham Royal Air Force Association Airshow Accident

I have received several questions from friends and acquaintances regarding air show safety and certain risks associated about them. Having attended many air shows and even working at one, as well as witnessing a crash or two in addition to many near-misses, and feeling strongly about supporting air shows for various reasons, I hereby offer the following response:

In the wake of this most recent air show disaster that occurred in the U.K. the other day, there is guaranteed certainty that commentary and speculation with no relative context will arise. The media is bound to broadcast incorrect, often not-so credible information while so much detail remains unavailable or unknown at the moment. And unfortunately, next to the fatalities that resulted in this accident, the public will prematurely jump to conclusions based on said information released by the various media. And without a doubt, these anti-air show groups will milk this for all its worth to further their (in my opinion) ridiculous and irrelevant agendas to get all air shows banned over "safety concerns." I put those two words in quotation marks because like all sports and anything outdoors, there are associated risks. But like all sports and anything outdoors, you take the necessary precautions to minimize and mitigate potential hazards that come from said risks; air shows and the people who bend over backwards to organize them does just that, often working together with aviation regulators.

Last month, I attended the Oregon International Air Show up in Hillsboro, OR and it was one of the best I've seen in a long time. And I plan on attending the National Championship Air Races in Reno, NV next month. Whenever I go to these type of events, I don't even think about the risks associated with being an air show spectator, not even in the back of my mind. If you think that way, you have no business being at these sort of events. And I say the same to these anti-air show groups who are wasting their time: If you're so worried about safety, don't even get involved and let those of us who actually want to be at these events enjoy the air show. I am personally grateful to live in a country where air shows happen all over the place; many countries around the world have national bans that prevent one from happening over their respective soils. In my opinion, air shows are very safe overall. Not only do these events provide entertainment, but it is an opportunity to provide significant tourism revenue, education, and employment. Air shows are opportunities to see history come alive when vintage and historical aircraft that are still airworthy fly. I personally find it a true privilege to see old fighter planes from World War II or the Cold War in flight. And most important to me is that patriotic aspect air shows bring through the demonstration our country's military as well as their historical warbird contemporaries; I am proud to be an American whenever I see the Air Force Thunderbirds or Navy Blue Angels or even an old American warbird fly. To me these aviators display some of the truest patriotism this country has ever seen.

With that said, accidents do happen from time to time. And when they do happen, let the professionals assigned in investigating the causes do their jobs so they can formulate the appropriate responses to prevent similar accidents happening again, and ultimately preserve a unique, but important pastime. Don't dismiss an air show just because you've seen footage or images of a crash that occurred at one.