No matter who wins the presidency this coming November, one legacy of the 2004 election is likely to be the shrewd and effective internet-based campaign techniques used by the Dean camp. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s tough to argue with the way they’ve taken the digital domain by the horns.

Now the Dean campaign has a new kid on the block: BushTax.com. Many Dean supporters refer to it as gospel on how the Bush administration has covertly taxed every “working family” so some vaguely defined uber-wealthy jet-setter can snidely crush them under the wheels of the obligatory gold-plated Hummer.

I find it interesting that a Google search for links to BushTax.com turns up no rebuttal to this web site yet. So perhaps it’s time to take a look at it with a skeptical eye. BushTax.com starts out with a sweeping overview of the problem:

Rather than take responsibility for our common future, Bush has shifted costs to states and communities, who then pass them on to you.

Shifted costs from where? If these costs were previously borne by the Federal government, they weren’t paid for by the tooth fairy. They were paid for by the taxpayers. What does it matter whether they are funded via Federal or state government? And if you have to pay $1,000 in tax, wouldn’t it be better to pay it to your state or city instead of the IRS? At least that way, you’d know taxes are being spent where they are collected.
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This fascinating photo was sent by a fellow T210 pilot:

The pilot of this (now totaled) helicopter was trying to taxi past a maintenance hangar when his rotors cut into the hangar doors. This shredded the doors, rolled the aircraft over, and blew shrapnel through the hangar into several aircraft parked inside, including a jet.

It wasn’t a small whirlybird, either. It was a 9 month-old Eurocopter AS-365 Dauphin worth more than $4 million. Lord only knows what the cost will be to repair the hangar and other damaged aircraft.

Moral of the story: most accidents happen on the ground, not in the air. In fact, I believe the worst aviation accident in history was a ground mishap (I intentionally exclude 9/11 because that wasn’t an accident). Two 747s collided on the ground at Tenerife Island in 1977, killing 583 people.

Could it be that nothing has been added to the House of Rapp for eighteen days?

Yeah.

By way of explanation, I can only proclaim “Life is short. Opera is long.” Especially when it’s a Mozart opera. Nothing personal, Wolfgang…

Speaking of which, it’s a pleasure to report that Opera Pacific’s production of Cosi fan Tutte is finally over and we’re moving on to more interesting fare. I’ve got some backstage photos from Cosi if you’re interested.

Next up is Bernstein’s Candide–a show I was patently unfamiliar with until recently. It’s not exactly a perennial favorite on the operatic or musical theatre stage, which is a shame because the music really sparkles. I can’t think of another show that has an aria, waltz, tango, ballad, and mazurka all in the same score.

Candide is quite timely. Voltaire’s classic was selected by Leonard Bernstein and Lillian Hellman as a way of lampooning the the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Today we have the Patriot Act and jingoism to worry about.

My favorite number from the show is “I’m Easily Assimilated”, where an old Polish woman raves about the virtues of adopting the local culture:

You must be Spanish too / Do like the natives do
These days you have to be / In the majority

Anyway, after Candide comes a revival of the Carmina Burana/Pagliacci pairing we did a few years ago. It’s just about the only production during my nine years with the company that was loved by critics, cast, and audience alike.

So while the next few months will be busy as all get out (whatever that means), I predict they’ll be great fun, too.

Last September a Thunderbird F-16C crashed just after takeoff during an airshow performance in Idaho. The pilot managed to eject 0.8 seconds before impact and walked away with only minor injuries.

As one might expect at an airshow, there were many cameras trained on Thunderbird #6 when the accident occured. Even so, this photo showing the $21 million jet just before impact is quite remarkable.

Even more remarkable is this video clip from an onboard camera showing the split-S maneuver and subsequent ejection from inside the cockpit. It’s a 4.1 megabyte mpeg, but if you can swing the bandwidth I highly recommend watching it.

As a side note, the accident investigation report was issued this week. It concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error. The pilot misinterpreted the altitude required to complete the “Split S” maneuver. He made his calculation based on an incorrect mean-sea-level (MSL) altitude of the airfield. The pilot incorrectly climbed to 1,670 feet above ground level (AGL) instead of 2,500 feet before initiating the pull down to the Split S maneuver.

It was a simple mistake. Unfortunately the stakes are very high when you’re performing low-level aerobatics.

Update - Feb 25, 2004: This entry has been receiving a lot of hits, so I thought I’d upload another video of the crash (1.3 meg, WMV format)–this time as seen from the ground. It’s every bit as dramatic as the cockpit video.

Update - Sept 21, 2004: If you liked this entry, there are a few more video clips you might be interested in.

Who says flying cargo is boring?

Certainly not the DHL Global flight crew that landed their crippled Airbus A300 at Baghdad International Airport last November. Their jet was hit by a surface-to-air missile at 8,000 feet while on descent for landing in Baghdad. The missile tore off a large chunk of the left wing, which sounds bad but is not typically fatal. Many aircraft (the B-17 and DC-3 come to mind) have sustained astounding damage and still returned safely from combat.
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