Great reporting as usual by Dan Johnson on the first TL “Sparker” to arrive in the U.S.
"First One in the USA — Flying TL’s Luxurious, Mosaic-Ready Sparker Aircraft”
At $327,000, this is not a low-end “starter" or trainer, but a serious luxury two-seat airplane that sees cruise speeds of 165-175 knots with the Rotax 916iS.
Is is being aimed squarely at the Mosaic-ready LSA (mLSA) market.
Budapest to Lyon: Why I chose to take a night train with my 6 year-old son instead of a flight
It was my six-year-old son who figured out a way to make that happen. Engrossed in a picture book about trains, he came across one that depicted a family sleeping peacefully in a couchette.
FAA really has to step up on mental health. FAA really has to step up on mental health. Even seeing a counselor is seen as undoable let alone a psychologist.
The FAA needs to change the rule and be 100% clear on a statement that seeing a counselor for any reason can cannot be used as actionable against you in any way. There has to be a first step taken towards mental health and seeing that first level of mental health that counselors provide is so critical.
We can have a rational discussion on what happens if additional steps need to be taken by someone going to a psychotherapist or psychologist. But there NEEDS to be a path forward that is not punitive and has real career options for those who need a medical.
There has to be a way to take a break (if/as needed), get the help, and come back with out undue career damage.
I'am now flying so rarely, that when it happens I am faster to realise the privileged view you get to see in exchange of a few hundreds bucks:
points of views that have been impossible to several hundred thousands of generations of homo (homines) sapiens...except the last two or three, and we are the end of this list.
Awesome!
(these were the swiss alps flying from Zurich to Bologna)
I watched a bit of the first episode of "SkyMed", a Canadian TV series about general-aviation medevac flights in northern Manitoba.
The acting is horrendous. The scripts are worse. But the King Air and hangars are kind-of cool, and the scriptwriters at least knew to have the pilot call "Radio" instead of "Tower" at an MF field.
Now, if the pilots would only stop making 90° banked turns with a critically-ill patient on board. That's a lot of Gs. 😕
What's the best airfare search site if you're based in the U.S? @FrommersMag has ranked 10 of them, testing 32 itineraries that included last-minute flights, major gateways and unusual destinations. Here are the results.
The miraculous evacuation of 367 passengers and 12 crew members on the Airbus A350 that burst into flames upon impact with a Japan Coast Guard plane at Haneda Airport in Tokyo has to be one of the airline industry’s biggest “saves.”
The next time the FA starts talking about safety before a flight, take off your Beats, pull out your Airbuds, STFU and LISTEN.
The Euro, Canadian, and US forecast models all agree on a big storm for Wed Jan 10th.
Euro - mostly rain
Can - about 30cm snow
US - about 40cm snow
A while ago, they were forecasting some additional smaller storms before and after the 10th. Those storms are now forecast to take the El Nino track across the US.
Will this big storm actually occur, or will it too get diverted onto the southern track as we get close to the 5-day window of accurate forecasting?
@johnefrancis As an instrument-rated pilot who flew a small plane inside the @#$%@ clouds for 18 years, I developed followed a few survival rules for weather forecasts:
Morning-of is reliable, perhaps, 80% of the time.
The night before gives some indication of what might happen.
A weak before is largely fiction.
That's not to say that there won't be a storm; just that the models a week out aren't precise enough to say the exact day and/or location.
Analysis of #SARSCoV2#transmission in #airports based on real human close contact behaviors, Journal of Building Engineering
> The average close contact ratio in 9 airport's areas is 25.4 % (ranging from 6.1 % to 55.0 %), with passengers having the highest frequency of close contact in manual check-in areas. During close contacts, the average interpersonal distance in airports is 1.2 m (ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 m), being shortest in boarding areas. Face-to-face close contact is highest in charging areas, with a percentage of 46.9 %. Dining areas have the highest virus exposure risk for both short-range inhalation and mucosal deposition, followed by manual check-in areas.
I'm terrible on planes. I get so anxious that I've barfed on more than one occasion. I am generally frozen with terror from the time the plane starts moving until the time it stops.
So naturally, we are flying to our destination tomorrow instead of doing what I wanted and driving to it instead.
I've had three panic attacks about the flights and almost returned my tickets. I'd rather spend Christmas alone at home.
A good article by Russ Niles on #AVweb. The story deals with #aviation, but is widely applicable and well argued.
One of the most interesting, frustrating, entertaining and occasionally frightening tasks of the modern-day editor is monitoring the comments on the stories we run. Most outlets have disabled comments because it’s just too much damn work to filter out the mean, hateful and irrelevant missives that inevitably appear no matter what the topic. It must be all Trump’s fault. Or wait, maybe it’s Biden’s.