Car Stupf

Jun. 27th, 2016 12:54 pm
frustratedpilot: (Default)

To condense a lot of happenstances into something more undestandable:

* My car's brakes were inspected a couple weeks ago.  There's still some horrible noise coming from the rear, but the problem I'd had was for the most part fixed.

* Dad traded in the Cadillac for a Camry--and two weeks later got in an accident with it.  On Wednesday I'll take it to the repair shop for him.

* We were planning on a trip up north to coincide with Dad's high school class reunion, but that may not happen if our money situation has a big crimp in it.

FP

frustratedpilot: (Default)
And I may as well blab it because I don't think I have any hope of patenting it--and because I think the sooner it's put together by somebody--anybody!--the better.

I was watching the news coverage of the aftermath of the NAS Oceana F-18 crash and how the newsies were saying it could take weeks to arrive at a cause of the accident. I remembered that most military jets didn't have flight recorder systems as such, simply because they didn't have space for them. And then I realized that the aircrew already were plugged into the plane whenever it was in operation. The helmet headset. Run a data feed from the aircraft's computer to a memory module in the headset and then there would be a flight datalog even if the crew ejects from the plane. The module wouldn't have to be big...probably smaller than an iPod.
frustratedpilot: (Default)


I don't think this made the news.

Is Writer's Block...dead?
frustratedpilot: (Default)
My day started before 6 AM with the school day (mostly practical work--the Afternoon session went better than the Morning one), and then after I got back to Rather Manor 'round Tea Time (this time the Tea came with a can of Ravioli) it was into Knoxville for the monthly IPMS meeting.

On the way there, I was in the middle lane of I-40 between the Asheville Highway and Cherry Street exits when a car in the fast lane shed a hubcap--which whacked Moonshine's bumper and front driver's side fender. I'm very relieved that I didn't overreact and cause a real accident. I couldn't check the damage very well (as it was getting dark when I got to my destination) but it all seems superficial.

I've been trying to stave off a head cold since Sunday and it's been tough. Rather Manor has no central heat as the propane tank is being changed and the new one has yet to show up. (We're changing suppliers.) I'm not sure a sick day would help. Week after next is Fall Break anyway.

More to come.
frustratedpilot: (Default)
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There is no single factor. The accident I was in back in High School, my sister (driving) was impatient, failed to keep her awareness when visibility was poor, and drove too fast for the conditions. The problem is that it would have taken an accident sooner or later to temper her behavior behind the wheel.
frustratedpilot: (Default)
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Stop allowing lawmakers to roll back regulations that were put into place to stop financial fraud. It was fraud that brought this catastrophe on.
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Chuck Mangione, "Firewatchers"

I can't embed so I'll link.
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I slept in on that day, like I had been every day before and most days since.

Just a friendly reminder: 1) We have NOT gone to war with any of the nations that the 9/11 hijackers came from. (Because they were outlaws in their home nations, of course.) 2) Bin Laden is still allegedly alive and at large, and probably will still be after January 2009. 3) The United States has done NOTHING to win the hearts and minds of the kinds of people in the Muslim world from whom the hijackers came. 4) I expect things to get a lot worse before they ever get better.
frustratedpilot: (Default)
Remember me saying that the predatory lenders who fomented the mortage crisis have moved on? Well, it appears they are also hitting student loans. One of the biggest flight schools in America just filed for bankruptcy liquidation because (at least in part) their students were being shut out of tuition credit.

Any industry that depends on credit to keep themself going is likely to be hit hard in the coming months. The rot is much deeper and in more places than people realize.
frustratedpilot: (Default)
--Your circuit's dead! There's something wrong!



No wonder Boeing left Seattle...the town wasn't big enough for it AND Microsoft!

FP
frustratedpilot: (Default)
Via Aero-News Network: The Brazilians succeed where Scratch Fury of PvP failed...

Santa Claus Shot Down Over Brazil

A helicopter transporting a man dressed as Santa Claus was shot down Sunday over a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Reuters reports no one was hurt in the incident, which forced the helicopter to make an emergency landing. ExpandRead more... )


Rudolph and the boys are taking home Combat Pay this year. I imagine they'll spring for Kevlar harness blankets in 2008. Sign of the times.

FP

PS: Producers Are Money-Grubbing Scum.
frustratedpilot: (Default)
PHOENIX - Two news helicopters collided and crashed Friday while covering a police pursuit on live television, killing at least two people. Both helicopters went down in a park in central Phoenix and caught fire.

The collision happened as the two choppers broadcast coverage of police pursuing a truck. Cameras aboard both aircraft were pointed at the ground, so viewers did not witness the accident. The first indication of trouble came when pictures from one of the helicopters broke up, then showed spinning images before the station switched to the studio.

Television station KNXV reported that it owned one of the choppers. The other was from KTVK, which reported that the pilot and photographer were killed in the crash.

Within a minute, other stations with helicopters in the area began reporting news of the crash.ExpandRead more... )


One of the Knoxville TV stations has aerial traffic coverage by plane and they insist on showing the pilot as he's giving his report. He's playing to the camera and joking with the studio anchors while his machine wanders aimlessly. I'm afraid the idiot's going to crash one of these days.

FP
frustratedpilot: (Default)
Hey.

Crashes at air shows, even when unplanned, still happen about every year, so I wasn't so surprised to hear about the mid-air collision at Moose Jaw over the weekend.

But I was surprised--and saddened--to hear that Jimmy Franklin was one of the pilots killed.

http://www.xteamairshows.com
http://www.franklinairshow.com/photos.htm

I'd seen his earlier act, in person, in 1988 at an airport near Orlando. At the time, his Waco biplane still hadn't received a jet engine under the fuselage, and his "dueling partner" for the act was Eliot Cross in another Waco. Describing and cheerleading the action over the public adress speakers was sometime wingwalker/stuntman Johnny Kazian, who punctuated every powerdive and lomcevak with his trademark "Oh yeah!"--which, if he had a good audience, would echo all across the flightline.

My father and I came to the show and dodged rain and mudpuddles much of that day. But Franklin and Cross and Kazian made it all worth it. The other two air acts we saw were Bob Hoover in the Shrike Commander, a Marine Corps Harrier demo and the Thunderbirds in their F-16s. Hoover had the skill, the Harrier had the magical moves, the T-Birds had the tight formations--but the Dueling Wacos had the showmanship.

Luckily, the Dueling Wacos did another show, as part of the Reno Air Races, which was partly recorded by Skyfire in their 1988 video...which I happen to have. So I watched it this evening.

Jimmy Franklin's stunt work appeared in movies too, such as Choke Canyon and Forever Young. He had other acts in his repertoire...in one he would take on the Darth Vader-esque guise of the knight Sir Zar the Gallant. For that role he had a hotrodded Piper Aerostar instead of the Waco biplane. I wish I could have seen that routine.

You'll be missed, Jimmy. Oh yeah.

FP

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Stephen R Bierce

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