Flyers rule!!!!

Pirate...the article I link in the previous post states that there is evidence the plane climbed to 43,000 feet.  The limit on altitude is ... I think, 30-35,000 feet?  Can't recall exactly...but I do know it's mostly related to pressurization issues.  Would a plane at a higher altitude than the reg still have better range?  I am pretty sure it would, though the gain might be marginal.

Malaysian military radar showed the plane climbing to 45,000 feet -- which is above its approved altitude limit -- soon after disappearing from civilian radar screens and then dropping to 23,000 feet before climbing again, the official said.

Operational ceiling for the A/C is around 41000 feet; at that point, the speed range between stalling out, due to low speed and totally losing control effectiveness due to high speed is about 10 MPH; not a place you want to be.

The way the Malaysian government is handling the whole thing leaves one to wonder if they're hiding something. Malaysian Airlines has the reputation of being a competent,  professional outfit. Can't say the same for their guvvies. We've already had one instance where a veteran airline captain of Islamic faith deliberately crashed his aircraft for Gawd knows what loony reason. The poor families of the "missing" passengers must be going though sheer hell.

Assuming the plane was hijacked, where would you land it? Something the size of a fully loaded treble seven requires a LONG, VERY HEAVY runway to be put down in a "reusable" condition. Not many of those that aren't under close scrutiny. This sounds like the opening of a Tom Clancy thriller.

The sound of freedom!

Freddie who?

as long as the underfloor heat was working ...

Roger that; I then flew all the way from Okinawa to Tokyo  on a frosty C-141 holding my feet up off the cabin floor!

When I was stationed in Okinawa we use to hop C-130 flights over to the Philippines for a little R&R.....and some other things.

I was in a Navy P-3 squadron stationed at Kadena AFB.

I was once in the Philippines on a "Space A" ticket over the holiday season;  I had an early Julian date, so we managed to get on a C-130 headed back to Okinawa, leaving a mob of similar travelers behind. When we got  to Okinawa, they were all waiting on us! A C-141 availability opened up just after we left Clark, and they all got on that bird and passed us up.

May the farce be with you?

I'm old enough ( no comments from the peanut gallery, Pirate ) to remember other "down" periods in Vol football, but I can never remember a streak of so many "weird" bad breaks as we've had the last few years! .

"Zactly what I was waiting for.  Is "the curse" finally lifted?

Not to mention the F Layer of the ionosphere (why the power must be reduced at nightfall) and/or scattered E Layer.

In a previous life I analyzed vertical and oblique ionosounds to determine operating frequency/frequencies of a certain device.

Govspeak for Sigint weinie?

The P-38 we restored was a Lima model.

That's what I miss most from leaving DC area. Doing volunteer work at Smithsonian Air and Space, I got to communicate with a lot of folks all over the world who were doing A/C restoration work. When we visited our niece in Dallas, I got to schmooze with the guys keeping up the B-24 for the CAF. Wife and niece were bored, but patient while I spent an hour talking shop!

What's really neat about the Red Bull "P-38" is that it's an early model (actually the F-5 photo-recce version of the P-38F). Beautiful aircraft!

another good guy goes away. RIP Buttroast!

7 replies, almost 200 hits; boy, are we all bored or what?

Sitting here, minding my own bidness and wondering how long it would take for this to come up. You're slipping Navol, it took almost a day. 

Hey, that joke was so old, it took me a day just to dig it up and dust it off!

I started to put that in my post but decided I would leave it set up for someone else.

You're welcome. 

Never can pass up those high hanging curves!

We were at my friends' lake house in Abbeville County. Driving one of the country roads on the way to breakfast Saturday morning, I came flying around a curve and hit the brakes when I saw a large white dog in the middle of the road. Lucky for the dog I stopped in time. Oddly though, it wasn't a dog.

It was a goat.

Did tnflower's avatar get loose again?

Don't forget the Museum of Scottish Whiskey's liquor store!

Wish I had a 4 hour layover in Amstersdam in the morning ...

The Vondelpark is always open for business.

Careful!!! Although Korea has "officially banned" the eating and farming of dogs for food it still happens. I know, I've eating it before. And yes, it was pretty tasty.

"Kaegogi" from a yellow dog! Finest kind!

Hot air balloons + power lines = Tennessee basketball 

That's more in the neighborhood of "comet + Earth = mass extinction"!

Hot air balloons + power lines = Kentucky football

So, is that an invitation to stay at your house?   

The latch string is always out; however call ahead, so we can disarm the security system!