Aviation
I think a lot of people will enjoy this, not just airplane nerds like me…
From: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2012/02/a-touch-of-truth-and-humor-for.html
787: She is drop-dead gorgeous, she has all the “right” friends, and all the boys want to date her. She loves spending time at the spa, and she is addicted to social media. Predictably, she is a drama queen. Every little problem gets blown out of proportion, resulting in tears and tantrums. She has an attitude of entitlement, believing that everyone exists to serve her needs and desires.
767: He isn’t terribly smart, or good-looking, or popular, or talented. He is a little clumsy and socially awkward. Though he is a diligent and reliable worker, his only real option for the future is to go into the military, because frankly he has little prospect of finding employment in the private sector. But bless his heart, we love and adore him.
777: He’s the family overachiever. Eagle Scout, 4.0 average, captain of the football team, scholarship offers flowing in, a gorgeous and smart girl friend. He wonders to himself how he could possibly be related to this cast of characters, and secretly wishes he weren’t.
747: Quiet and studious, she tends to keep to herself. She’s a bit heavy and has a touch of asthma. She seems wise beyond her years, and is burdened by an unspoken sadness. Yet she is unfailingly loyal and will go to the wall for you. Others would do the same for her in an instant.
YAY BLUE ANGELS. It’s Seafair. I love this. Haters can just STFU for a weekend…I’m sorry their delicate constitutions are so offended because it’s the end of the world and its soooo loud and it lasts days and days and days and days….you live in a loud city! whatever!
YAY!!
Greetings from flight level 330
Over Idaho on the way to DFW enjoying WiFi Internet on my laptop from
33,000 feet..first time I’ve had the opportunity. I know this has
been around for a while now, but I’m old and it still gives me a big
WOW factor that I can browse the net from 33,000 feet while traveling
at mach 0.80 on a tiny little netbook at connection speeds I would
have sold my soul to have 10 years ago.
It’s really cool.
Sorry it’s so weird and vertical — I only had my iPhone with me.
Lunch time treat! 787 on approach
I was able to get off work early as I did server maintenance this
weekend and then today had to drop off some recycling in SODO….and
look what graced my late lunch! A 787!
Update!! Two of them in a row! I got a video of the second one and
will post later, because, well, like any good airplane dork would do,
of course 🙂
Recently I’ve been on a mission to find old books I remember reading
as a kid. I found this one "New York to Rome: Jet Flight 808" with an
amazon.com merchant in used condition (of course since it was
published in the 60’s!) for 4-5 bucks. Winner! So I grabbed it. I
must have checked-out this book in middle school at least a hundred
times. It’s a very glamorous, technical look at a TWA 707 flying
across the Atlantic. It was old even when I was in school…but the
dreamer in me didn’t care.
Anyways I finally got the thing in the mail. I opened it up and was
thrilled to find a signed little card typed-up from TWA public
relations wishing someone happy holidays. This book was originally a
gift (from the card it indicates an advance copy to boot!) from the
now long gone Trans World Airlines.
What a cool little find!
Kona to Hilo via Kohala coast, Upolu point, Hamakua coast and back via
Waimea. Cessna 182 N5692P 2.2 hours of time logged. Simply awesome.
Read to the end…the reporter chose to quote me! April and Steve (also quoted) are good friends of mine as well (fellow airplane geeks)
787 is moving!!!
This just cries out to be ridiculed and made fun of as wide as possible. Seriously, this is a professional news organization in an area where aerospace is one of the top 2 industries.
Seriously, KOMO, you deserve all the raspberry you can get for this. It’s just sloppy and lazy. No excuses — you are NOT the average person who may not see the difference — you are in the business of ACCURACY and by god in the Seattle area you need to know your airplanes. Would a TV station in Detroit make a story with a caption about a Mustang yet have the picture be a F150 truck? Must I even explain this to you?!
Next you’ll show a screen shot of Apple Macintosh OS X in relation to a Microsoft Windows 7 story. Seriously, guys, this is that bad…and if you can’t see that — wow, I’m astonished and kind of embarrassed you are in my town. You guys are being THAT stupid. And you haven’t even corrected it after hours of people leaving comments on your own website!
Shame on you.
Here’s the link to the story, which hopefully they will correct. But I took a screen shot to proove KOMO’s stupidity:
I’ve been blogging for a decade. 10 years already… huh!
While this is certainly an interesting point in a time line, it’s really only an electronic analogue to a diary. I’m sure many people have been keeping diaries for longer. Nonetheless I’m kinda tickled to meet this milestone. I started “blogging” before “blog” was even a noun or a verb; indeed before it was even a popular catchphrase. Indeed I had my first web page back in 1995 (See my “Deep Archive” link above)
That’s a lot of time and bandwidth (timewidth?) dedicated to my own banter. What have I accomplished in that time?
As it turns out quite a bit. I became a true adult (still out for some debate). I had a successful consulting company (official corporation even!) and then transferred clients/closed it after my clients became successful and got gobbled-up by other, bigger corps in what became the dot com bomb. I moved to California and back. I bought a house. Got cats. Sold a house. Bought a condo. Used five different types of blogging software. Stumbled into a great relationship. And generally observed what made me laugh and ranted upon the stuff that irritated.
As I look back at some of my entries it makes me smile and laugh a lot. Also I cringe a lot…was I THAT shrill, really? Or was I THAT stupid, really? But that’s the deliciousness of time and becoming older — the cumulative benefit of your experiences always makes you wiser and wiser.
So what will the next decade have in store? Who knows….That is what is fun, and worth living!
-Garrett
1998:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1998/
1999:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/3/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/
2000:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/3/
2002
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/1/
2003:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/2/
2004:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2004/1/
2005:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/2/
2006:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2006/1/
P.S.: I’m going to attempt to add these old entries to my database. So if you subscribe to the RSS feed you may see a slew of new entries. I’ll be careful to set the date in the posts properly, but I’m unsure if they will appear in the RSS feed because they are “new” entries as far as the database is concerned…
The 25th anniversary paint job Horizon Q400. Nice ride…they had Top
Pot donuts for us this morning 🙂
My God, I think that’s me there…
I have a secret…I know a spy! Really. Okay, maybe not true “Cloak and Dagger” type stuff, but in an industrial way. I bump into Boeing’s “analyst” for Airbus all the time at my local watering hole. We talk aerospace and aviation shop talk. It’s like my dream come true.
We’re enjoying drinks right now…
Shhhh…mums the word. I have no other evidence to support my claim. But then again, if I told you more I’d have to kill you… 😉
From a trip report I posted to airliners.net.
The actual trip to Vegas was nice — very relaxed. I didn’t even bring my laptop!! Although I later was feeling quite detached from the world. Guess I have Internet addiction, but since I can claim that is my career hopefully I can avoid those nasty visits to the therapist LOL!
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Bottom lines at the top:
–Nice new airplanes, of course.
–Nice staff, not outlandishly cute, but happy & professional
–Exit row reservation of $15 is worth it
–Upgrade to first class $50 worth it…perhaps
–Red is cool, but needs some work. Holds promise
–Will definitely fly again; all-in-all superior to other competitors that I have flown
In brief…my first time on Virgin America as I was trying their product to see what the fuss was all about after a 3 day quickie in Vegas. I usually fly either Alaska (We’re nearly slaves to it in SEA for west coast stuff) or Southwest for short trips like this.
I forgot my camera — 20 lashes with a noodle, I know.
LAS-SFO VX909
Scheduled: 3:35P
Actual: 3:35P
Load: 85-ish%
Reserved an exit row window on this leg. Found the legroom more than some domestic first class cabins I’ve sat in. Definitely worth the $15 for me. Seats are comfy and did not feel “squashed” into them and I’m a pretty big guy. The side wall does start curving into your headroom if a window seat, though. Not enough to make me unhappy for 1.5 hours. Weather was gorgeous all along the coast, so spot on-time departure. Arrived 40-35 minutes early into SFO!
The Red in-flight entertainment is nice, but still seems buggy — slow screen redraws and artifacts. Google maps is slow. TV is good. Music good (obviously as a Virgin product…) Navigation of the screens was a little confusing, but I’m getting old and analog, so perhaps it’s just me. Once the kinks are worked-out and the final features added it will indeed be killer.
Now had a 4 hour layover in SFO, but that was planned — had dinner with some friends which was fabulous. Returned to the airport an hour before departure only to find a gate change to the other side of the SFO Int’l terminal to G83. Quite long walk — not something you want to do when you have no time.
SFO-SEA VX748
Scheduled: 8:45P
Actual: 8:45P
Load: poor (perhaps 33%?)
Got an upgrade to first class on this leg. After cheap Vegas hotel and no gambling I figured i could afford the $50 upgrade luxury to try it out — I AM an airplane lover after all, so it’s research, at least this is my excuse to myself… 🙂
First class is really akin to a good International business class. Unbelievable seat pitch — I could not reach-out and touch the seat in front of me without getting out of my seat. Seat comfy. Only annoying thing was there is no place to rest a single drink glass as the arm rests are padded and contain the tray table on one side and the Red screen on other.
We were served a BBQ chicken salad, which I poked thru as I was stuffed from dinner, but it was good and appropriate for the quite late hour. All-in-all for this short flight the $50 wasn’t particularly worth it when I knew from the first flight that $15 extra scores an outstanding seat totally sufficient for 1-3 hour coastal flights.
I later sat in a “normal” coach seat for a few minutes. It did feel more constricted, obviously, but I would not hesitate to sit in one of these either. As good or better than other airlines.
Oh, and we arrived 30 minutes early in SEA as well. Must have been the excellent weather, I’m sure. Vividly shows you, however, how much delay airlines pad into schedules some times (yet still are late…I know, a huge other topic! 😉
Summary:
IMHO this is a superior product compared to the normal airlines I endure when doing quick flights on the west coast. Perhaps not mind-blowingly so, but definitely a noticeable step above the rest. If Virgin America flies to a destination I want to go to I will choose them over anyone else from now on; let’s hope that network of theirs is expanded. I think they have the potential to really take-on a certain airlines if they can hang in there during the tough times and passengers take notice.
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http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/135267/
I’m a sucker for witty writing that is of the dripping-with-sarcasm-yet-only-one-inch-from-the-truth category.
This is a prime example. Although Seattle is finally getting it’s 3rd runway this November after decades of constipation, London Heathrow (perhaps the most important international aviation gateway on Earth) is just now getting it’s druthers and really getting deep into the expansion mode.
So my fellow airliner geeks at airliners.net (a.net) have risen to the occasion and have commented on possible timelines as such!
to wit, in part (fair use):
“June 2009 – Submit public tenders for various designs for its replacement.
July 2009 – All designs rejected by local residents.
August 2009 – A rare and previously thought to be extinct breed of dust mite is discovered in T2.
Late-August 2009 – A charity single entitled “Save the mites = Save our future (and our Children’s future)” is released by two ex-Pop Idol nobodies. It goes straight in at number one.
September 2009 – Local residents set up an action group called T.W.A.T.S – (Team Worried and Against Terminal Success) which pickets Parliament to demand that the area is left for animals to graze on, as anything other than this course of action represents what basically amounts to Planetary Homicide. They lodge their formal complaints to the planning commission, which rules that in light of the new complaints against the massive expansion of Heathrow airport and the obvious and irrefutable damage replacing the terminal building will do to London’s green belt, that all previous planning permissions and tenders are null and void. A new planning process is started.
October 2009
OK, I’m late to the party… (big surprise!)
This commercial that United aired during the Olympics is simply a masterpiece. It is an epic film in 60 seconds.
Normally I’m not a huge sappy guy, but this one softens even my hard edges. It is so nuanced and heartfelt — literally; the way the heart gets cut-out and slipped in a pocket. They way you see the light thru the empty heart during the presentation. They way the bird flies thru it and the score is outstanding. Plus just a hint of United’s famous use of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at the end, which has to be one of the most effective, and really great, corporate identities out there.
Just too bad United is really going through some rough times, as obviously they have some incredible talent and feeling somewhere in that leviathan body. This is beautiful.
Anyways, here it is…
Today I went to the McChord AFB Airshow with my airliners.net friends April and Steve — was a complete blast and the weather was perfect. I got my airshow need taken care of for the year. It was great.
I took mostly videos instead of photos. Here’s some of the best. The first two are experimenting with larger sized videos
An F/A-18 rips by at mach 0.99:
Thunderbirds solo cross:
B2 stealth:
Thunderbirds loop:
After waiting 2 hours to get out of the Parking lot, April MADE us stop at Ikea (where I left my car and carpooled with them) and eat meatballs, fries and gravy — with the gravy over the fries…Hmmmm. Must be a Canadian thing… 🙂
I finally had some time to clean my photo pile and get some of that organized. I downloaded Picasa from Google — and I’ll be if that ain’t the best little utility ever for organizing and creating photo albums (once you find the time).
The scary part, though, was Picasa found everything — and I mean everything. So some editing had to take place! 🙂
I organized a bunch of stuff including the full set of photos for my recent Paris trip. Here they are:
Full Paris Compilation:
Misc albums that amused me:
It’s the takeoff. Below is a great example. Just like the takeoffs I had in my AA 757’s to/from JFK on my latest trip.
It’s that whiiiirrrlllllbzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZiiing sound. It’s just like candy. And the harmonious ZZZZZbuuuurrrrinnnnng power reduction. Love it. Give me more power!!! Gives me goosebumps every time. Turn up the volume to an embarrasing level — this one is great.
Since I moved to Capitol Hill, I’m able to receive Air Traffic Control (ATC) frequencies into Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport. In fact, I live 1,420 Ft from the imaginary airspace “intersection” that marks the start of the final approach from the north to Seattle.
So I decided to sponsor a live Internet audio stream of Air Traffic Control. You can listen to it at http://www.liveatc.net/ (click the “listen to Live ATC feeds” in the sidebar and scroll-down to “SEA Final” — there are a number of SEA feeds, actually. I’m the one with 133.65 as the only frequency)
133.65 is the final approach sector for KSEA — Seattle-Tacoma International. Busiest times seem to be around noon, 4-6PM and 8-10PM.
Seattle has 2 (soon to be 3) close parallel runways oriented north-south — named runways 16/34. You can click on the chart to the right to see a bigger image of this. When landing and departing to the south 16C is used mostly for arrivals, with 16L used for departures. When the weather is really bad or foggy they switch to the Instrument Landing System (ILS) on 16L as the ILS for 16C appears to not support bad weather CAT2/3 operations anymore because of contruction of the third runway.
In the summer, and in better winter weather, Seattle usually lands the other way to the north, using runways 34C for arrivals and 34R for departures
After-hours this frequency can be combined with one or all of the feeder arrival sectors, so you’ll hear ATC, but not pilots. Also sometimes you’ll hear some bleed-over of a Seattle radio station in the background — their main broadcast antenna is only 1 mile from me, so with it’s huge power output sometimes you’ll be stuck listening to Seattle’s best smooth jazz — sorry! Could be worse…
Here are charts and info for KSEA
Here is an airspace illustration I created of major arrival and departure routes into SEA. The triangle symbols are the major intersections along the routes (Imaginary places in the air programmed into aircraft navigation databases) The hexigonal-type symbols are actual radio navigation stations on the ground. The 3-letter acronyms you see are the codes for other radio navigation stations outside of the chart
This is far from complete, but a good intro into how traffic is sent in/out of the Seattle area.
Today is 07/07/07 — fun!
Got to see all the Boeing airplanes fly into BFI today — saw it from my roof as they approached. The 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777! Whew! I’m such an airplane freak. I almost peed my pants.
I must admit I’m getting very excited for the 787 rollout tomorrow. I won’t be up in Everett as it’s invite only and the best view will probably be on my HD TV. However, come first flight in Aug/Sep — you bet I’ll be there!!
Edit: Here’s a great set of photos from the PI:
