New Year’s Wish

Best wishes for a safe New Year’s eve and a bright, prosperous year to come… And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere ! And gie’s a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught, For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness…

New National Defense Strategy Released

…And it is an interesting read, informing the potential rationale behind some recent decisions, such as the Navy stepping away from the DDG-1000: Future Challenges Risk An underlying assumption in our understanding of the strategic environment is that the predominant near-term challenges to the United States will come from state and non-state actors using irregular…

No Easy Days

Eighty feet & 7 inches wingtip to wingtip; 700 sqft of wing surface; Controls linked by a conglomerate of torque-tubes, hydraulics and cables (old school fly-by wire) and a propensity for interesting excursions in the “burble” which can manifest at the ramp: So Nose – how would you grade it? Oh, and don’t forget the…

See and Avoid

30 June 1956. Two airliners, a TWA Lockheed Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 are eastbound, in uncontrolled airspace in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. Both were flying under visual flight rules ostensibly to avoid the thunderstorms building in the area. At 1056 local, the DC-7 struck the Connie from above and behind, severing…