Snow is a funny thing. It reinforces the essential truth that airplanes are both incredibly strong and terribly fragile. Snow looks pretty, but when enough collects on the top of an aircraft’s wing while it’s parked on the ramp, the sheer weight of that snow can be enough to damage it. I can’t find it at the moment, but AVweb has a… Read more →
Month: February 2006
Orange County TFR
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!   Or…. perhaps not if you live in the Anaheim Hills area. ANAHEIM – A wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds quickly spread over 800 acres of the Cleveland National Forest a few miles east of Orange County suburbs on Monday. No homes were immediately involved but State Route 241 was closed in the area… Read more →
United Airlines Out of Bankruptcy
To quote Frank Costanza, “I’m back, baby!”. United Airlines exited bankruptcy protection today. I suppose that should be cause for celebration, as many (most?) people doubted the legacy carrier would even make it this far. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping for the best. United is a historic airline — it was founded by Boeing and has ties to the… Read more →
A Different Perspective on Iraq
Iraq is now creeping away from murderous authoritarianism to face the more normal messes of a creaky Third World nation: corruption, poverty, health problems, miserable public services. And that is vastly preferable to what came before. American Enterprise editor-in-chief Karl Zinsmeister just got back from Iraq, and he looks at the war’s progress from short and long-term historical perspectives. His… Read more →