irrational fear of flying

[bigbill]

Isn't that where they keep the aliens?

Pretty sure. I stopped there in 2018 on my way back to NE Texas from Phoenix. I had decided to drive home to Paris, TX, without using interstates. I ended up using nine miles of I-25, stopping overnight in Roswell. It seems like the entire town is somehow devoted to alien "research." I got up and rode the next morning before making the rest of the trip. It was tricky; GPS kept trying to reroute me to interstates, but I completed the journey, and it only added a total of about 5 hours.

The instructor pilots ferry the T-6 II trainers, and the students take a commercial flight. He's in ground school now in Corpus and is enjoying it. I asked him if his trainer would say NAVY or MARINES, and he said it had to do with which plane you get assigned that day.

[72gmc]

I ended up using nine miles of I-25, stopping overnight in Roswell. It seems like the entire town is somehow devoted to alien "research." I got up and rode the next morning before making the rest of the trip.

Did you visit the Little A'le'inn? I had those folks on a radio show years ago. Friendly enough, but as I recall quite serious about the little green man thing.

[vertical_doug]

I'd be properly funding and recruiting for a lot of federal/state agencies while pushing back against the folks who tirelessly work to sell off government. In the battle for economic/power primacy 'twixt nation state & govt in the public interest, and corporations, I'd say that the corporations are winning.

It echos what a senior guy in NYDEC told me years ago around fracking regulations and enforcement, if you don't fund it, it doesnt happen. True everywhere in Gov.

[vertical_doug]

Bill, Can you ask them about the Flying Jellyfish UFO in Iraq?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird...-sighting-iraq

[Chik]

This had to come…
IMG_4294.jpeg

[bigbill]

Did you visit the Little A'le'inn? I had those folks on a radio show years ago. Friendly enough, but as I recall quite serious about the little green man thing.

We stopped at that place on our way back from Reno a few years ago. That part of Nevada has many small places like that, most include a brothel, and about half are closed. They pop up where companies are mining and go away when the mine closes.

The cool spot is Creech Air Force Base about an hour northwest of Las Vegas. My wife did much of their art, most of which is displayed in facilities requiring really high security clearances. She made a really large copper repousse of their emblem, and has made several small versions of the emblem that are presented to airmen to recognize good work. All of her work has cost the Air Force far, far less than a special wrench for an F-15. The base exists for UAV training and operations. I have no insights anymore, but I imagine air force guys sitting in a facility flying Predator drones half a world away.

[rwsaunders]

I'm guilty...Dads tracking flights.


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C15Aj...on_share_sheet

[vertical_doug]

The Wall Street Journal has a long read on Boeing- 'This has been going on for years: Inside Boeing's Manufacturing Mess'

The engineer, John Hart-Smith, warned colleagues of the risks of the subcontracting strategy, especially if Boeing outsourced too much work and didn’t provide sufficient on-site quality and technical support to its suppliers.

“The performance of the prime manufacturer can never exceed the capabilities of the least proficient of the suppliers,” Hart-Smith wrote. “These costs do not vanish merely because the work itself is out-of-sight.”

Here is the cloud link to the White Paper from 2001- https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...on-outsourcing

'Many of the problems with Boeing jets since the deadly crashes can be traced back to a production system adopted by Boeing and its aerospace rivals before Hart-Smith’s paper. Dozens of factories build key pieces of 737 and 787 jets before they are assembled by Boeing. One of them is a sprawling fuselage plant in Wichita, Kan., that Boeing owned until 2005.

At the time, then-Boeing executive Alan Mulally said selling the factory to a private-equity firm would let Boeing focus on final assembly, where it could add the most value to its airplanes.'

The Fuselage company has become part of Spirit Aerosystems now.

I do feel for current executives as they are left holding the bag from decisions made by their predecessors 15-20 years ago. But they have a chance to clean up the mess. That's why they get paid the big bucks.
But unfortunately, more and more, even if they don't clean up the mess, they get paid the big bucks by keeping it together with duct tape as Chik alluded to above.

[72gmc]

I appreciate investigative journalism but also have feelings when WSJ reports on the profit-driven decline of a company. I associate Wall Street and the distorted priorities it creates among executives with a lot of these cost-cutting strategies that lead to long-term decline.

[jclay]

[B]
"would let Boeing focus on final assembly, where it could add the most value to its airplanes."

What a bunch of BS.

It's about C-Suite pay/bonus packages...and in a supporting role, ROI & increasing shareholder value.

Period.

[rwsaunders]

Door plug sealed…uh check…RW on the aisle with nobody in the middle, check…smallest pack of sawed-off pretzel sticks with a 5oz. Seltzer water, check…smooth as a baby’s arse flight, check…taking a route with an arc over Canada…that’s a new one for me…I hope that Alaska doesn’t hit me with a tariff.

[72gmc]

Avoiding the jet stream, I’d guess? They should hand out Caramilk bars while you’re north of the border.

[j44ke]

Due to malfunctioning warning light in the cockpit, that plane is only cleared for flying over Canada.

[rwsaunders]

There’s only one direct flight between SEA-PIT and it’s on Alaska and both flights are daytime flights. So my pattern over the past few years has been to fly Alaska to Seattle late on Sunday, then take a redeye on Delta from SEA-DTW-PIT on Thursday evening, as that my is best option for getting home, or close to home. I based that flight choice on the driving distance from Detroit to Pittsburgh in case that flight is canceled, and DTW is a nice airport with great amenities (Illy coffee shop and several Delta Sky Clubs) if one has to spend extended time in an airport. They know how to plow snow there too.

With a number of their 737’s under examination, Alaska has eliminated some flights due to aircraft being offline, so now the SEA-PIT flight is routed through Cleveland (CLE). One crazy round trip for that crew. SEA-CLE-PIT-SEA, with a slight curve over Canada last evening.

[72gmc]

I joke about Caramilk but I’m serious about taking my wife to Europe via Iceland Air so we can get the free Eitt Sett candy on the plane.

[bigbill]

When I was still in the Navy and making monthly trips to the US from Rome, I was stuck with whatever flight was arranged for me, all on domestic carriers. Going to Europe for pleasure, I prefer KLM because of the service. The meals are delicious, a beverage is offered every two hours, including brandy, and their gate staff is very efficient. I also like entering the EU through Amsterdam. We are looking at a trip to Rome for Christmas this year as soon as I know my graduation date for my current master's program. We can fly direct to Amsterdam from Vegas (10+ hours) then a domestic flight to Rome. We also looked at Egypt and most flights to Cairo route through Rome or Paris. We're going to let things simmer down before seeing the pyramids.

[BBB]

Door plug sealed…uh check…RW on the aisle with nobody in the middle, check…smallest pack of sawed-off pretzel sticks with a 5oz. Seltzer water, check…smooth as a baby’s arse flight, check…taking a route with an arc over Canada…that’s a new one for me…I hope that Alaska doesn’t hit me with a tariff.

I'm glad to see the duct tape actually worked!

[Tom]

Little known fact. They used Gorilla Glue.

[echappist]

Now a wheel has apparently just rolled off from a front landing gear on a Delta 757 taxiing for take-off (gift link)...

I've heard of car wheels rolling off of vehicle axles when improper spacers are used, but this is more novel.

[gregl]

Now a wheel has apparently just rolled off from a front landing gear on a Delta 757 taxiing for take-off (gift link)...

I've heard of car wheels rolling off of vehicle axles when improper spacers are used, but this is more novel.

It happens more often than we'd like to think. As a kid living in Miami, I vividly remember a wheel coming off a 747 on its takeoff roll. The wheel/tire rolled into an employee parking lot, destroying a vehicle.



Greg