What is the problem with the health passport? Seems like it would speed up the government required review of our Covid-19 status before boarding. Might be useful for those places that require a Yellow Fever vaccination as well.

(Written on 2021/01/15)(Permalink)

Flew into LHR on Guy Fawkes night years ago as a passenger on a crystal clear night and was stunned by the amount of fireworks throughout the region. It easily exceeded what I would see on 4th July in California. Would I could not tell was if there were any fireworks in front of or below the aircraft. Kudos to the flight deck for staying focused on landing the aircraft professionally and not being distracted by the spectacular displays outside. Being England, it is likely all the fireworks were "fireworks"!

(Written on 2021/01/08)(Permalink)

An A-380 would seem to be the perfect aircraft to convert to a cattle car carrier. Already works for humans as cattle, why not cattle as humans? Remove the seats and you are nearly there. Little problem of how to manage the bovine liquid and solid waste awaits some talented engineers. The WSJ says there are a number of pigs being flown to China to rebuild their herds after the cull they had to go through.

(Written on 2020/11/13)(Permalink)

By 1987 the main street going down to the Holiday Inn appeared to have been paved with crushed beer cans. A novel sight at the time. Not to be outdone, here in San Francisco we have poo paved sidewalks. Did you get to go scuba diving? Not sure if there are other non-WWII related reasons to go there. Incidentally, did you know Moen Island was the practice target for the Tibbets group when they were using "pumpkin" bombs? Explains some of the huge craters there.

(Written on 2020/10/24)(Permalink)

We had probably the same flight crew composition (3+1) plus a priest on the return leg. The Continental/Air Micronesia flight I was on was May 23, 1987, #956 TKK 1405-0430 on 24th in HON. The priest was not part of the flight crew, but needed. The Phonpei (think that is the same as Ponape, they have been changing names around, like Truk is now Chuuk) runway at one end was being rebuilt so the runway was shorter. That made for a carrier-type landing and takeoff, minus the catapult of course. The Catholic priest's had been in Truck for something like 15 years and was making a trip to NYC for some church event recognizing his service. The local CAT team (some sort of US military SeaBee type group; lots of young guys with an appreciation of drink) give him a really good sendoff with lots of liquid spirit and he was very hung over by the time they poured him onto the plane. When the O2 masks popped he was one startled guy -- as were the rest of us dodging the stuff in the overhead b

(Written on 2020/10/24)(Permalink)

Sorry, Kwajalein, not Majuro. Big difference.

(Written on 2020/10/23)(Permalink)

Flew an Air Mic 727 combi HON to Truk and back, 727 with cargo front/passengers in rear with access through rear stairs, humongous oversized landing gears. Had pilot, co-pilot (maybe navigator too, cannot recall) and very oddly, a mechanic. We needed the mechanic due to the strip at Phonpei being under repair and the aircraft making a hard landing causing O2 masks to pop and seals in the rear center engine to fail. Mechanic reviewed, did god-knows-what, declared good to go. On lift off an extra very loud bang. Pilot came on and announced the center rear engine had failed. Good news: we were OK. Bad news: Nearest crash facility was HON and we could not make it. US Military on Majuro took pity and allowed us permission to land there as it was an emergency and they had crash facilities. A bit comforting/disconcerting was when we came through on the outbound leg there was a C-130 (we were told, hard to tell from little pieces) spread out in little pieces between the two main runw

(Written on 2020/10/23)(Permalink)

Cool! Got delayed once on a dirt strip in Namibia by an adult porcupine who decided the center of the runway was a good path to take. Pilot had to get out and encourage the critter to take the first unmarked runway exit. Brave pilot to me, those things weigh up to 25 kilos and can move fast when they want to and carry serious protection. Critters on the dirt runways in Africa are common enough to make the active checklist.

(Written on 2019/07/12)(Permalink)

If the hotel industry treated customers as the airlines do in seeking the cheapest rates, the hotels would be renting you a sleeping bag with directions to the nearest public park. Seat width and pitch are health and safety issues, something well within the proper realm of a regulatory agency in a vibrant capitalist economy. Requiring wider seats to reflect the growing waistlines of passengers and increased pitch to avoid DVT and similar issues, plus assuring passengers can have a strong chance of evacuating an aircraft in the terror and confusion of a major accident seem very reasonable goals—and what a responsible agency would seek. Government agencies do not function like private enterprise. See “Bureaucracy” by Ludwig Von Mises to understand why we in the private sector have expectations in conflict with the structure and authorities of an agency. Short answer for here: In general, Agencies need the cover of their supervising body (Congress here) to take any controversial actio

(Written on 2018/09/28)(Permalink)

Yes, if it is a certified companion cow. For a few bucks, your doc will write you a letter of need.

(Written on 2018/06/01)(Permalink)