I have a rule that I have to get at least ONE good meal on a trip… 
This one also goes out to A Girl and TSM, and MSgt and Mrs. B!
I wasn’t driving, so I even hoisted an Orion for y’all. And yes, it was as good as always!!!
Now slogging back to the states… It’s gonna be a LONG day…
It’s a repost, but worth taking a moment to read… We were chatting this morning about those we’ve lost over the years…
I saw the car pull into the drive, ’69 or ’70 model Cadillac Deville, looked factory-new. It pulled into the parking lot at a snail’s pace.. An old woman got out so slow I thought she was paralyzed; she had a cane and a sheaf of flowers–about four or five bunches as best I could tell.
I swear that damn dog is nuts…
Waiting to see his reaction to the baby…
Sigh…
You hear about E-Ticket rides, but this one IS one!!!
F/A-18 running VR1251 from Punta Gorda, CA to Fallon, NV…
Notice how he was looking back over his shoulder? He was looking for his wingman, to make sure he was at the correct interval…
A bit of background- VR (Visual Routes) are four digit routes that are 1500′ AGL and below and ‘normally’ no faster than 420 kts IAS. In actuality, they are normally flown between 250′ and 500′ AGL, and ‘squeaked’ up to 500 kts if there is nobody watching…
You can go to the web page below and follow the route. It’s the thin grey line with the numbers 1254 on it. Note to the arrows- It’s ONE WAY…
http://skyvector.com/?ll=40.13363596234544,-124.47825622762655&chart=301&zoom=2
Now ‘my’ E-Ticket ride was NUC-VR1350-Boardman, Boardman-VR1352-FAL. Got to do that one in the right seat of an A-6 back in the day… 🙂
Fun? Oh hell YES!!!
But also serious training, rolling inverted and pulling over ridge lines is done to minimize the planform, minimize the balloon (negative G) effect, and get the airplane back down quickly. This is also important to minimize the radar vulnerability by keeping the airplane below the bad guys radio horizon (which is why they fly down valleys).
Enjoy the ride, and be thankful we have folks willing to take the challenge to do this not just in the day, but also at night and in bad weather…
h/t JP
You think English is easy??
I think a retired English teacher was bored…THIS IS GREAT!
Read all the way to the end, this took a lot of work to put together!
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse
4) We must polish the Polish furniture..
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time topresent the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. – Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’ ?
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is ‘UP.’
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?
Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends.
And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warmUP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the wordUP in the dictionary.
In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many waysUP is used.
It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing Up.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP,
for now my time is UP, so…….it is time to shut UP!
h/t JP
I cannot express how sad I am at the shooting that happened at WNY yesterday, and how pissed I am that once again good folks are dead for no apparent reason. We’re still waiting for the full list to find out if we’ve lost yet more friends. Thoughts and prayers go out to those families who’ve lost loved ones today. Please keep them in your hearts.
On a joy side, PPP is now back to being PP (Pissed off Paramedic), she delivered a 6lb 14oz, 19 inch long baby boy at 2156 last night PDT. Haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet, as I’m out of pocket, but I did get a text. Both are doing well, if a bit tired.
Defacto gun registration in MD???
Over the weekend, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and the Maryland State Police released the confidential information of people applying for firearms purchases to five massive state agencies. The stated purpose, according to a police statement Saturday night, was to speed up the processing of a backlog of 39,000 applications.
/snip/
Citizens of states without such restrictions may wonder why the police are involved at all in the purchase of a firearm. Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat with ambitions for higher office, does not allow federally licensed dealers to have direct contact with the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System. Maryland law demands that a dealer go through the state police for the background check before releasing a gun.
Read the whole thing HERE.
This makes NO sense, but MD is a dem run state… sigh…
Larry The Flag Man…
Patriot Guard Story…
If ‘we’ lose our First Amendment rights, will videos like these go away? Will turds like Westboro be allowed to sue to have them taken down?
I don’t know… I really don’t…
Pilots: People who drive airplanes for other people who can’t fly.
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Military Pilots: Cold, steely eyed, weapons systems managers who kill bad people and break things. However, they can also be very charming and personable. The average Army Pilot, despite sometimes having a swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring. These feelings generally just don’t involve anyone else.
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Words of Wisdom From Aviators:
· Flying is a hard way to earn an easy living.
· Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane; the pessimist, the parachute.
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If helicopters are so safe, how come there are no vintage helicopter fly-ins?
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Death is just nature’s way of telling you to watch your airspeed.
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Real planes use only a single stick to fly. This is why bulldozers and helicopters (in that order) need two.
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There are only three things the copilot should ever say:
1. Nice landing, Sir.
2. I’ll buy the first round.
3. I’ll take the fat one.
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As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you and one of them will be:
a. One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight.
b. One day you will walk out to the aircraft not knowing that it is your last flight.
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Regarding aircraft, there are Rules and there are Laws:
The Rules are made by men who think that they know better how to fly your airplane than you.
Laws (of Physics) were ordained by God.
You can, and sometimes should, suspend the Rules, but you can never suspend the Laws.
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About Rules:
a. The rules are a good place to hide if you don’t have a better idea and the talent to execute it.
b. If you deviate from a rule, it must be a flawless performance (e.g., If you fly under a bridge, don’t hit the bridge.)
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The ideal pilot is the perfect blend of discipline and aggressiveness.
The medical profession is the natural enemy of the aviation profession.
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Ever notice that the only experts who decree the age that a pilots career is over are people who have never flown anything? Also, in spite of the intensity of their feelings that the pilot’s day is over, I know of no expert who has volunteered to be a passenger in a non-piloted aircraft.
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Before each flight, make sure that your bladder is empty and your fuel tanks are full; check T/O wt….
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He who demands everything that his aircraft can give him is a pilot; he who demands one iota more is a fool.
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There are certain aircraft sounds that can only be heard at night.
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The aircraft limits are only there in case there is another flight by that particular aircraft. If subsequent flights do not appear likely, there are no limits.
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Flying is a great way of life for men who want to feel like boys, but not for those who still are.
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“If the Wright brothers were alive today, Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs.” — President, DELTA Airlines.
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In the Alaskan bush I’d rather have a two-hour bladder and three hours of gas than vice versa.
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It’s not that all airplane pilots are good-looking. It’s just that good-looking people seem more capable of flying airplanes.
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An old pilot is one who can remember when flying was dangerous and sex was safe.
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Airlines have really changed — now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant.
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I’ve flown in both pilot seats, can someone tell me why the other one is always occupied by an idiot?
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Son, you’re going to have to make up your mind about growing up and becoming a pilot. You can’t do both.
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The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline baggage
h/t JP
Apparently there is now a ‘definition’ for journalist…
And guess who doesn’t fit the definition!!!
Bloggers and websites!
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) insisted on limiting the legal protection to “real reporters” and not, she said, a 17-year-old with his own website.
“I can’t support it if everyone who has a blog has a special privilege … or if Edward Snowden were to sit down and write this stuff, he would have a privilege. I’m not going to go there,” she said.
So does this now, or will it open bloggers and websites up to legal action/lawsuits???
Probably, and maybe a left handed attempt to ‘control’ bloggers? I dunno…
SO I guess my question is, what happened to the First Amendment???
Your thoughts?