Anyone want to take a guess what the pilots of this aircraft were doing when the plane crashed?

It may seem cruel to make light of an accident that took two lives, but I can’t help but chuckle when this appears in an official NTSB accident report:

EXAMINATION OF THE INDIVIDUALS’ CLOTHING REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF RIPPING OR DISTRESS TO THE ZIPPERS AND BELTS

My home base airport sits in the Santa Ana canyon area of Southern California. It’s so heavily traveled by general aviation aircraft that a certain paranoia about a midair collision sets in. Everyone–and I mean everyone–keeps their eyes peeled while flying near Corona.

When flying over less populated areas, however, a certain complacency can set in. After all, midair collisions are extraordinarly rare. According to the Air Safety Foundation’s most recent (2002) Nall Safety Report, there were only 5 midair collisions for the entire year nationwide, and only three of those were fatal.

(Imagine a year in which there were only three fatal automobile accidents in the United States. Hard to do, isn’t it? Sixty thousand people die on the roads every year.)

But that complacency can come back to bite you in the ass just as it did to a C-180 and Beech Baron over Tehachapi in January. There are no pictures of the Skywagon, but here are a few of the Baron. Note the blood on the back of the pilots seat.

Gotta give credit to Massive Headwound Harry, though. He got that plane on the ground in one piece–no easy feat considering the flight conditions. Despite the way it looks, I’m not sure the damage was critical. The wing spar, attach points, carry-through, control cables, wiring, and gear were all well below the affected area.

You’ve gotta love the NTSB way of phrasing things. My friend Dan pointed out that they make it sound as though the “precautionary landing” was optional. No, when there’s a 200 mph breeze in your face, you’re bleeding from the head, and your twin engine Baron has just been transformed into a convertible, continuing on to your destination is probably not an option.

I doubt there is a single voter the nation’s electorate who hasn’t at one time been told that “if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain”.

And it makes sense, doesn’t it? The last presidential election only reinforced the importance of voter participation. Those that don’t take the time to cast their ballot have little credibility when it comes to debating the merits of the issues or people contained on it.

Should our elected leaders be held to a lesser standard? I don’t think so. That would by hypocrisy. That’s why a CNN article on today’s Senate budget vote is so distressing. It notes the following:
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There are as many types of weblogs on the World Wide Web as there are people to read them.

But one of the most timely weblog subcultures is a unique brand of no-spin news borne out of the war on terrorism. They’re often referred to as “war blogs” — online journals updated remotely from the Middle East by soldiers who give first-hand accounts of what they’re experiencing.

I don’t follow too many war blogs, but one I did check out periodically was Bob Zangas’ Journey in Iraq. Bob served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2003 with the Marine Corps, then returned a few months ago as a civilian to work with the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Sadly, Bob was killed a few days ago when his car was ambushed at a roadblock just south of Baghdad.

Though I did not know him personally, it’s clear that both the U.S. and Iraq will be poorer for his loss. Bob has taken his “final flight” (as we aviators like to say), but the legacy of his work will — God willing — bear fruit in that hostile desert for generations to come.

Semper Fidelis, Bob.

There’s a new design in town. There are seven other skins here, but this is the first one that leaves the old layout completely behind. The others are all variations on a single design.

I’ve taken to calling this new skin the “Starsky & Hutch Go Flying” theme. It has a certain hip 70’s panache to it, don’t you think? The jets careening around at odd angles bring to mind my instrument flight training. Those of you who are IFR-rated pilots will know what I’m talking about. (continue reading…)

Hardly a day goes by without a pleading email from Angel Flight West headquarters seeking an available pilot and aircraft to get someone to medical treatment.

The email I received today was heartbreaking, even by AF standards. Cheri — the mission coordinator — was trying to get a Navy medical technician from San Diego to Texas for the funeral of his niece, Amanda. AFW can often get free airline tickets for this kind of thing, but apparently all flights are completely booked because of spring break.

Spring break?! Salt. Wound. Rubbing.
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Palm Pilot, that is. For years, I’ve had a Palm Vx [see it], a PDA renown for its ruggedness and reliability. I literally would toss the Vx around the house, stuff it in my back pocket, etc. I even sat on it a few times, but it soldiered on with nary a complaint.

The battery life in the Vx has been declining over the past few months, but I’ve been reluctant to let it go. It’s like throwing away a friend, stupid as that sounds. Funny how we get attached to every little inanimate object, isn’t it?

But the other day I bit the bullet and sprang for a new Sony Clie PEG-TJ27. Moore’s Law proves true once again, as the Clie was procured for only $199 while the old Vx cost nearly $500.
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Richard Clarke is testifying before the 9/11 commission right now. I’m listening to the audio feed via CNN and wondering how can we be expected to take him seriously until we know how he went from American Bandstand host to counter-terrorism guru.

On the one hand, he’s got a book out that claims the Bush administration ignored his warnings that al Qaeda was a threat. On the other hand, he’s also said things that directly contradict this. His motivation escapes me. I’m sure there were many behind-the-scenes machinations that we in the blogosphere are not privy to, but it’s not helping his credibility at the moment.
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In the aftermath of Israel’s assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, many people have made reference to Hamas’ “extensive social network” and all the wonderful things it does for the Palestinian people. Manish over at Damn Foreigner (whose civilized style and thoughtful viewpoints I greatly respect) notes:

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, 90% of Hamas’ approximately $70 million budget goes to “an extensive social services network, which includes schools, orphanages, mosques, health care clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues.” Hamas has two divisions, a political and a militant. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was the head of the political division. He definitely had blood on his hands, there is no doubt, but he had little involvement in planning terrorist strikes. His charitable work made him extremely popular in the Occupied Territories. In fact, the US and other countries didn’t put Hamas on terrorist organization lists until after Sept. 11.

Maybe I’m just crazy, but I see this as a non-sequitur. Even if Hamas gave billions to charity and cured cancer, it wouldn’t counteract the violent deaths of innocent civilian women and children specifically targeted by their terrorist operatives.

In fact, the social network can be viewed as nothing but a way of building political support for their terrorist activities. Quite a brilliant idea, really. Provide food and medical care to Palestinians with one hand while blowing up people with the other.

Does it really matter how directly involved Yassin was in planning terrorist attacks? I think not. He was the longstanding leader of an organization whose primary mission is the obliteration of Israel. They specifically rule out any kind of peace, negotiation, discussion, or compromise. They want one thing: to see as many dead Israelis as possible.

Israel was as justified in removing Yassin as the United States will be in getting bin Laden.

Poor Lesley! She got into an accident today. I swear that Saturn of hers has been through the wringer. First she had to defer a lot of maintenance on it because she was out of work for a while. Then someone vandalized it in her complex. Now this.

Here’s what happened: Lesley was on her way back to work after lunch and was sitting in some traffic on the 405-South onramp when a white SUV struck the Saturn from behind, pushing her into the vehicle in front of her. Then the SUV driver took off!

A simple accident is one thing. Accidents happen. But a hit-and-run will land you in jail. Now it’s a criminal act. She wasn’t able to get the plate number before the bozo in the SUV (why is it always an SUV?) bolted. And to add insult to injury, no one even stopped to help or see if she was hurt.

The damage to her car is mostly cosmetic. The hood is badly scratched and bent, and there’s probably some damage to the rear bumper system but I think the engine escaped injury. The Camry that was in front of her apparently really got banged up, though. And of course Lesley’s insurance is going to have to pay for that in addition to fixing her own car.

It really pisses me off that someone would hit her and then run! Wherever that scumbag is, I have no doubt karma will find him eventually. If nothing else, he’s probably going to have a few sleepless nights wondering whether the police are going to show up at his door.

San Diego’s MCAS Mirimar has long been known as “Fightertown USA”. But with all due respect to the Navy and Marine Corps, I’ve always considered Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas to be the true Fightertown.

For one thing, Nellis home of the both the Thunderbirds and the USAF Weapons school. In addition, it hosts a seemingly unending series of large scale multi-service and multi-national training exercises under the Red Flag and Green Flag monikers. These exercises cover huge expanses of the Nevada desert and frequently include participation by our allies. To the best of my knowledge, the operation at Nellis is far larger than anything going on at Miramar.
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Well I’ll be damned! The thing actually flies.

My good friend and fellow pilot Dan Checkoway’s RV-7 made a successful first flight yesterday. I’m bummed that I missed the big event. I had (wait for it) a rehearsal that kept me in Orange County. So what else is new?

Hard to believe the plane is now flying. I’ve seen it so many times as nothing but a massive collection of seemingly random parts. I was thinking back to the day I helped build a workbench and run electrical power in his shop, or the times I helped rivet the fuselage or wings. Seems like a long time ago. Heck, it was a long time ago.
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So this is how it’s done now?

Several hundred people stormed the small yard of President Bush’s chief political strategist, Karl Rove, yesterday afternoon, pounding on his windows, shoving signs at others and challenging Rove to talk to them about a bill that deals with educational opportunities for immigrants.

The first bit of education those people need is a lesson in civil discourse. It’s one thing to hold a protest — that’s a right guaranteed by the Constitution. But invading a private home unannounced and making demands while physically assaulting the building is un-American.

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When you’re pilot-in-command of an aircraft, you like to think you’ve really considered all the what-ifs and have a plan for dealing with them. What if the engine fails. What if the flight controls jam. What if we hit a bird. What if there’s a fire on board. What if the landing gear will not extend.

But in all my hours of flying, I have to say I’ve never considered what I would do in this situation.

An elderly man recently diagnosed with a brain tumor leaped to his death from a vintage airplane he rented to celebrate his 88th birthday, officials said Tuesday. Joseph Harold Frost took off his safety belt at 300 to 400 feet, stood up in the open cockpit of the two-seat biplane and went over the side Monday. The pilot tried but failed to wrestle him back into the plane and nose the aircraft upward to force Frost back into his seat.

I feel terrible for the pilot. When you’re in flight training, it’s drilled into your head that as PIC, you’re responsible for the safety of the flight. That means the aircraft and passengers. Since this flight was a birthday celebration for the old guy, the pilot figured he was giving Mr. Frost a fond memory.

Now obviously it’s not the pilot’s fault that Mr. Frost jumped, but it’s gotta be tough returning to the airport alone when you took off with a passenger in the front seat. It sounds like he made a valiant effort to keep Mr. Frost in the plane. But as with any two place open cockpit biplane, there’s not much you can do if the guy up front decides to sky dive without a parachute.

A new radio network with a liberal slant called Air America hit the airwaves today. It’s getting a lot of press — as it should. I wish them all the best. Their marquee host thus far is Al Franken. Not exactly my cup of tea politically, but Al’s certainly funny guy. He’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and I guess we’ll see if people really like him.

The most puzzling aspect of this network is the name. Air America was a covert “airline” owned and operated by the CIA in Vietnam. It supported most of their operations there and was so secret that even some of the employees didn’t know who they were working for. John Deakin, a former Air America pilot, has written a bit about flying for “The Company”.

I’m not sure why a liberal talk radio network would settle on this name, but I’d bet it’s intentional. Even the Air America Radio logo looks like something the CIA would have come up with.