TreeA10

The 787 has a cursor control like a touchpad on a laptop but it has a hand rest so your hand isn't bouncing around excessively. Some are touch sensitive and therefore very quick and skittish and you can find yourself zipping over 4 screens quickly. If they could dampen that out, it would be more user friendly, particularly in rough air. Screen displays are nice. If you don't need it, you don't see it. For instance, once the gear is up, no more gear indicator, same for flaps. Cabin pressure, etc. not displayed unless abnormal. I think a touch screen would be a pain in the ass.

If you ever decide to walk into the Passport office to do a one day update, you will have an unpleasant flashback. Some "security" guy yelling "PLEASE SILENCE YOUR CELL PHONES. NO PHONE CALLS WHILE IN LINE. DO NOT SIT ON THE FLOOR (this is in the hallway before being allowed entrance into the hallowed waiting room with seats). DO NOT BLOCK THE HALLWAY. HAVE YOUR PAPERWORK OUT READY TO REVIEW" and then you get into the inner sanctum and you encounter the federal employees of which you have such fond memories. It did bring back such unpleasant memories of endless BS.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-24/lockheed-f-35-s-reliability-progress-has-stalled-pentagon-told

I think Trump's whole statement was "....like people from Norway AND ASIA." The media conveniently leaves the last two words off his statement because it does not fit the liberal narrative and hampers their ability to stir up shit. Having been involved in Operation Support Democracy (also known as Operation Support Democrats, The Haitian Invasion, and/or Operation Rum Punch by those of us that ended up in Puerto Rico), the pre-attack briefing given by the Intel folks pretty much painted a shithole picture of a country. We were only going to shoot TP ammo so we would decrease the odds of setting the slums on fire which could not be put out once burning. Our only "armored" targets were thin skinned V-150s and the 30mm TP ammo will punch through 4 inches of armor so no big deal but you lose the HEI effectiveness on area targets that have no armor such as people. I flew into Haiti after the latest earthquake with a 767 full of relief cargo and aid workers. Looked and smelled like a shithole. Last but not least, liberals will say we can't send illegals back to their home countries BECAUSE????...their countries are shitholes. The liberal "scream at the sky" emotional meltdown continues. For those who haven't read it, author Jared Diamond (also wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel) wrote Collapse. The book covers failed cultures from the past that are no more other than what we find via artifacts. He also does a great job describing FAILING cultures and compares Haiti to the Dominican Republic where the former is failing and the latter is doing okay despite being neighbors on a small island. Both books are good reads.

Moving back to the lower 48 from Alaska, we drove one car and shipped one car, a 7 year old Mazda 626. A couple months later, we drive from Shaw to Charleston to pick it up and actually walk right past it. Didn't even recognize it. The hood, trunk, and roof had numerous dents, crush areas, and lots of rust. Fortunately, no glass was broken so water inside the car wasn't a issue. I can only guess they threw chains OVER the car and tightened them to chain it down. Insurance paid to have it fixed.

Not the ideal post location but it is Syria related. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17493/russia-says-january-5th-attack-on-its-syrian-air-base-was-by-a-swarm-of-drones

I'm not sure how "The Disaster Artist" would stand on its own without having seen "The Room." Last week, my son cued up "The Room" with Rifftraxx (snarky commentary from the same guys that did Mystery Science Theater 3000) and it was both painful and funny watching this train wreck of a movie. The thoughts of A) who paid for this crap to be made? and B) who thought it was good or a good idea? kept running through my head. We saw "The Disaster Artist" yesterday. "The Disaster Artist" answers some of those questions and it's funnier having watched "The Room." "The Disaster Artist" is the faithful recreation of the story of making that movie and a damn near exact recreation of some of the scenes from the movie (Just before the credits roll, they do a split screen showing clips from the original and "The Disaster Artist") so you get a taste of how truly bad the original movie was. So, funny movie but funnier if you see both and I don't think it matters which you see first.

Nothing was more amusing than a Blk 42 F16 dude complaining about being thrust limited to a Hawg driver.

They need to make this about "a cause." For example, wear a vagina hat and you are sending a message and applauded. These guys need to say they were showing solidarity with prostate or testicular cancer victims or something along those lines.

There are power outlets by each seat.

Can't comment on anything regarding the hiring process since I was hired at AA in January of 99. I am a 787 FO. Flying history-wise has been the 727, 757/767, MD80, back to the 757/767, 737, and 787. Currently got a bid in for the 777. All was sitting reserve except the 737. I live just over an hour from DFW so I bid short call since I'm too junior to hold a line. Sitting short call means I don't fly much, maybe one or two trips a month. I went 95 days last Spring and 105 days last Fall between trips. My observation is wide body international is a completely different airline than domestic narrow body. The airline life sucked in the 2003-2015 range with our faux bankruptcy then the real bankruptcy but things have definitely improved regarding pay but work rules have taken a hit.

Grounding guys while suffering a shortage of pilots at the same time giving monetary incentives to keep pilots fails to pass any semblance of a common sense test. Which is why you may be correct regarding AF decision making.

Order a leather nametag with just a set of wings. Remove the Command patch and put your favorite squadron patch on. Wear. Leaving it hanging in the closet seemed like such a waste.

I've always thought limits were set for a reason. If anything goes wrong, whether fatigue related or not, extending your day is going to be questioned by just about everybody and will be the first nail driven by the higher food chain CYA crowd.

Steve, After reading your book "Red Eagles", I was visiting a neighbor and discussing your book. His eyes got kind of big and he took me into his "I love me" room with all of his memorabilia from his military career. There was a Red Hat patch on the wall along with a variety of instruments like altimeters, airspeed indicators of Russian extraction along with a couple MiG models on his desk. I hope Doc's family will eventually hear the story of how unique and important his job was to our nation and to the survival of his fellow aviators who may have to face those threats.

I think that pegged the fabulosity meter at full rainbow.

After 30 years and 12,000 hours of flying commercial and military jets, I finally got around to getting my Commercial Single Engine Land rating a couple years ago. Haven't done much with it other than rent a Cessna or fly a friends Navion around the local area. My 175 hour CFI looked at my background and said "Hey, you can probably teach me." My response was, "I know nothing of small airplanes and will probably kill us both." Went fine other than the humorous attempts trying to find the runway in the flare after many years of sitting 10-12 feet off the concrete.

I didn't write it, just did a cut and paste.

WHAT'S THAT NOISE AND WHY IS IT THE FUEL BURN OUT OF WHACK??? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/air-india-forgotten-landing-gear-low-fuel/ Plane nearly ran out of fuel after pilots forgot to bring up landing gear Hugh Morris 28 July 2017 • 12:31pm 3-4 minutes Two pilots have been suspended from duty after their aircraft, carrying 99 passengers, nearly ran out of fuel because they forgot to retract the landing gear after take-off. Air India Flight AI676 was en route to Mumbai from Kolkata on July 22 but was forced to divert to Nagpur when the crew became alarmed by the speed at which the aircraft was losing fuel thanks to the additional drag created by the extended wheels. An unidentified source told the Times of India that the “brand new Airbus A320”, one of the most fuel efficient aircraft in existence, had struggled to climb after take-off, prompting the pilots to settle on an altitude of 24,000 feet as opposed to a usual cruising height of 35,000 feet. The source, who made a point of saying that both pilots were women, said it flew like this at 230 knots - as opposed to around 500 knots - for about an hour-and-a-half, while the extended landing gear dragged heavily on the aircraft. At this point, 90 minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour flight, the crew requested permission to divert to Nagpur as their fuel would have run out before reaching Mumbai. “When preparing to land, they decided to lower the landing gear. At this point they realised that the wheels had been out all the while from Kolkata,” said the source. A playback of the flight from FlightRadar24.com shows it failing to reach an altitude higher than 24,000 feet but put the aircraft’s speed at just over 300 knots. A spokesperson for Air India told the Times of India the pilots have been “de-rostered” and the airline is investigating. The problem is more often experienced in reverse when pilots have difficulty lowering the landing gear during an approach. Such landings are called “belly landings” as aircraft attempt to negotiate a touchdown without wheels. This has been known to occur because crew simply forget to lower the gear. One such incident happened to a light aircraft in 2015 when a pilot, distracted by a moose on the runway in Alaska, forgot to lower the landing gear, meaning his twin-engine Piper PA 31-350 landed on its belly, skidding across the tarmac. The report from the National Transportation Safety Board read: “While on final approach, an airplane that landed in front of him reported a moose in the vicinity of the runway. An airport maintenance person announced on the common traffic advisory frequency that he was attempting to chase the moose off of the runway. The pilot became distracted trying to avoid wake turbulence from the preceding airplane and monitor the location of the vehicle and moose and failed to extend the landing gear prior to landing.” A remarkable video from 2011 shows a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport without its landing gear, grinding to a halt on the runway on only its fuselage. There were no injuries.

Here in Texas, a medal license plate to include the air medal, will get you free parking at the terminal so you don't have to park in the employee lot and wait to ride the bus with the cast of thousands.

Do it. I flew for 21 years out of 28. I would gladly do the first 10 again in a heartbeat. Great people, great times.

Bikini contest to pick the summer intern at a power plant!! https://www.cnet.com/news/power-company-holds-facebook-bikini-contest-to-choose-interns/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=595035e6a167da00074f55a3&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

That'll buff right out.

Went 105 days without flying last Fall. Flew one trip last month. So far this month, I did a landing currency sim this morning. Not sure I can keep up this hectic pace.

Maybe the woman was an entrepreneurial spirit engaging in an old profession in modern transportation and free wouldn't fit her business model.