Clayton Bigsby

When I went they didn't give a shit what you used out in the field, it didn't have to be an up-to-date uniform. I think one of my BDU sets didn't even have nametapes or patches. But anything on-campus, different story.

It's a nice story, who knows how accurate it is or not.

Yeah, nope. This shutdown only affects the NexGen implementation stuff, facility renovations and construction projects, etc. Only 4,000 employees are affected, like architects, people like that. The operational pay comes from a different budget. The age old 'different pot of money.'

First F-35A to Eglin

Like like like!!!

Quite a few airline 707s there. Parts source for the E-3s and E-8s?

Schneider Weise. 8/10 Still not as good as Lohrer Urtyp 1878, but close. And I found it at my corner liquor store here in CA.

Well the aicraft looks to be N787BA and is in the expensive house colors (not the simplified cheaper white colors the other test articles are), so I think that's ZA001 - first one built. I'm guessing the trailing static cone will stay through the flt test program.

Amon Amarth = rad viking heavy metal. Swedish tho. Just sayin.

Conjecture

French C-135FR. I think they wear helmets.

LiveATC.net is likely how they found out; sending around Executive One Foxtrot is a big deal (although I wonder if there'd been the same reaction/news if it'd been a vehicle incursion onto the runway or some other cautionary go-around). LiveATC can be a nice tool for practice, reviewing phraseology, etc but it's also a constantly running archive of stuff you say on the radio - it's all being archived, and people get busted for doing stupid shit on the radio by that (Controller kid @ JFK comes to mind). Also, it's the media...they're in search of a story, and the sleepy/screwed up controller is such an easy one to pick at these days (it really doesn't help when people keep fucking up). In a month it'll be something else, remember when it was "drunk" airline pilots? I think it could be FAA management grandstanding to make it look like they're doing something to these rogue controllers? There's a big gulf between FAA labor and management, the current labor contract with bargaining units expires in 2012 and I'm sure there are those who would like ammunition to have the next one be more restrictive. Word on the street is the Miami Center sleeper was dimed out by a fellow controller over a personal beef. I hope that's not the case.

Cuz controllers be fucking up! Big Ray won't let us sleep! ZOMG PLANES HAD TO LAND UNCONTROLLED OH THE HUMANITY!!!

I wonder if the approach controller mistakenly assumed the VIP aircraft was a C-32 or VC-25, which are heavies for wake turbulence application and have different in-trail separation requirements than regular larges. Have not read the NOTAMs but was the parallel runway unavailable for some reason, or were there taxiway closures forcing back-taxi? EDIT - callsign was, and should be Exec 1 Foxtrot. I thought Exec 1 only applied to commercial civilian transpo.

Those controllers @ ADW weren't the ones fired - that was the one @ Tyson-McGhee (the willful sleeper) and the supervisor @ Miami Center who used the Southwest 737 to check on a NORDO GA plane (and violated separation requirements because both aircraft were IFR and you can't apply visual separation to aircraft you can't talk to). It's funny how the press latches on to the tower as the root of all these issues - the Andrews tower didn't do anything wrong, what I've heard is that the approach controller (at a separate facility) fucked up big time and shipped the C40 at 3.08 miles behind the heavy (5 miles is needed for in-trail wake turbulence separation, unless you get visual separation, which they apparently weren't using), so tower got handed a shitty situation and had the C-40 do S-turns to increase distance and allow the 'massive' C-17 to clear the runway. That wasn't enough so the C-40 got sent around. Which is no big deal, go-arounds happen all the time and don't get reported and they're certainly not operational errors (deals) unless the other guy isn't past the hold short lines before the inbound crosses the threshold. Next you question the sequencing, any presidential aircraft even with foxtrot suffix has the highest operational priority over others so sending the first lady around sounds ridiculous in the first place, but I wonder if the C-17 was an Air Evac, and Air Evacs/Lifeguards also are top priority over other traffic.

Could it have been a full electrical failure (caused by the short that gave the smoke in the cockpit), and so the aux hydraulic pumps weren't working? Flying off the RAT, so limited electrics and hydros? I can't see from the pic if the RAT was deployed. Even if so why would the engine driven pumps stop working or providing pressure? So was the request for the longest runway because they had to stop on brake accumulator pressure? Also regarding the TRs on the A320...do you have to close them below a certain speed to avoid comp stalls or something? EDIT - ok so just read one of the links, yes the RAT was deployed. I guess as that stops spinning as you slow down...I'd guess that's why loss on rollout of steering and anti-skid? Found this comment...

Don't forget unzipped zippers...

Gravity

Uhh, all 10 F-35s are grounded following a double-generator failure sustained inflight by an F-35A at EDW. So look for that timetable being slowed a bit. Here's the beef

The wrecked air base is apparently Matsushima AB, a training base - their F-2 RTU is (was) there, so is a Kawasaki T-4 squadron that is also the Blue Impulse demo team.

And they're Mitsubishi F-2s, not F-16s.

Holy shit, well put

Well, the Brits evacuated their citizens with a frigate and some Herks landing in the desert to get everybody out. We closed our embassy, had to charter a civilian catamaran for some of our people (that couldn't even leave the port for several days due to the sea state), and have been taking no for an answer for flights in/out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-middle-east-12588947?SThisFB

Ah, my bad, I thought the CF6 was the only 767 engine. Well, GE's getting business to put them on C-5Ms, so... I think I heard that Boeing recently built up a new 767 assembly line on the backside of the Everett factory - move the line out of where it is now and make room for more 787s (though building those isn't a problem in Everett right now, it's where to put them once they're assembled).