This is the part about aviation that always kept me stone cold sober about risk management and when to say “ain’t flying today, guys” and then move on with the day, don’t pollute your judgement with “maybe I could have…”. Not with general aviation limitations.
I did a bunch of Angel Flights, which was really rewarding, but a couple of times I had to turn down a mission because of WX and one day I was just sick, had some chills. Just say not today, don’t look back.
The small jets are awesome and can get you into a lot of airports, but especially with owner-operators / single pilot I think we’re seeing some intersection of GA risk factors with near airliner level hardware. (Don’t know the situation with the Citation, the NTSB will sort that out.)
The way you guys do it is truly the envy of the world. Incredible technology, great decision support, CRM & the safety culture… it’s revolutionized even airline safety, which was already a lot safer than driving.
The jets we use are EDF (electric ducted fan). They look cool, they sound cool and really produce thrust. It’s a fan tightly enclosed in a round tube. The big boys use actual turbines, but are legal in very few places around the state.
In the past couple of years, the manufacturers have added telemetry to indicate airspeed, remaining battery, temperature, etc.
The A-10 goes about 110 mph level flight at full throttle. The flaps don’t induce ptich change because they deploy gradually and use an elevator mix to keep things level. It’s all programmed into the radio transmitter.
Your approach to flying is absolutely spot on ! As Clint Eastwood so eloquently said " A mans got to know his limitations "
Years ago I was flying a guy back from Texas and a winter storm was approaching New Mexico, I told him we couldn’t continue ( flying a 310 with no de-icing boots) he tried pushing me because he had a business meeting to get to. I dropped into ABQ and told him if he wanted to get his meeting alive he would be better off catching a Southwest flight. Which he did.
As the old saying goes, “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots!”
“Get-there-itis” is a far too common cause of aviation tragedies. It’s what killed Kobe Bryant’s group. It took the lives of 9 family members from Idaho Falls who were pheasant hunting in 2019. I can imagine at least one having said, “If we’re not back for Thanksgiving dinner my wife’s gonna kill me.”
You’re exactly right. The pilot was a bombastic (no pun intended) Lt Colonel.
“The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland’s personality and behavior, USAF leaders’ delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland, and the sequence of events during the aircraft’s final flight. The crash is now used in military and civilian aviation environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management. It is also often used by the U.S. Armed Forces during aviation safety training as an example of the importance of compliance with safety regulations and correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.”
Yes, the reason that the rocket club (UROC.org) exists is to get FAA waivers. Tripoli is the national organization that regulates experimental rocketry, which includes making your own propellant as seen in Kip’s video. I would guess that less than 5% of launches I’ve seen were experimental. The rest use commercial motors, Aerotech in Cedar City is by far the biggest vendor. They can only be shipped hazmat, so you try and buy from a local vendor that attends the local launches.
Been to Deer Creek and Sand Hollow and a couple other places with bass but not the same as Midwest top water plug fishing in rivers and lakes there. Maybe I need to find the right place but the bass I’ve caught in Utah were small and off spinners when fishing for other things.
If there’s some places to plug for 5-7lb large mouth bass in state let me know!
I’ve gotten heavily into board gaming over the past few years. Went from just a few basic games…to a few hundred. Plus a custom gaming table complete with felt cover and recessed tabletop (so the dice don’t roll off).
Gaming has come a long way since Monopoly and Yahtzee. The game currently on my table (Middara: Unintentional Malum) is a massive campaign with story branches, character development, and an entire narrative that could easily take 70-100 hours to complete. It’s incredible.
Gaming has become a really fun - if a bit expensive - hobby, The kids love it, and we all spend a few hours every week playing together.
1 - Surfing. Almost exclusively along the 35 miles of coastline of Vandenberg Space Force Base. About 25 years ago a group of us, after two years and more red tape than any human should ever have to endure, got approval to form a surf club. Membership requirements are; current employment at the base or retirement from the base (yours truly), satisfactory completion of American Red Cross First Aid Water Safety, follow the rules (no solo surfing), and pay $24 per year. The last few years, increased presence of Elephant Seals (Great White shark prey), has added spookiness, especially when there’s only 5 of us in the water along a big stretch of coastline, versus a public surf break with 105 people in the water (i.e., 1 in 105 chance). There have been four shark attacks on base in the last 15 years, two fatal.
2 - Alpine skiing. One five day trip to Alta, two - three four day trips to Mammoth Mountain, CA. Except this year I’ll be heading to Steamboat Springs, CO in early March (NCAA skiing championships).
3 - Reading books. Almost all non-fiction, from books requested online from a seemingly never ending supply available from the dozen libraries that make up the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties library network (blackgold.org), which are then subsequently delivered to my local branch (Orcutt). A free privilege that seems almost to good to be true. I’ll become aware of a book somehow, even books released a day or two previous, and 95% of the time a copy is part of the inventory. Once or twice a year I’ll read a book that I deem a keeper, to become part of my personal library, for future reading and reference. The Shallows by Nicholas Carr is a recent addition, it addresses the smart phone addicted scatter brained nature of our culture and society, “To be everywhere is to be nowhere” - Seneca (50 AD).
