Not as annoying as the constant Muzak music blaring incessantly at the crowd, most of wh have earbuds/headphones/Bluetooth hearing aids that can stream their own music - or nothing if they wish. We have far too much ambient noise already without needlessly adding to it. And, my audiologist fitted my hearing aids with open domes to maximize their effectiveness for my particular hearing loss. So, to defend against the noise onslaught, I would have to remove my hearing aids and use headphones, in which case I could hear neither the awful music nor the announcements...wait a minute, maybe I'm not something!

(Written on 09/01/2023)(Permalink)

Ken, you're missing a couple of zeroes. 5 gigs will hold 120 hours of mp3-quality audio. a 500 gig drive (actually 512 gig), should hold north of 12,000 hours of audio. Just sayin'

(Written on 03/24/2023)(Permalink)

Seems to me the math should be straightforward: longest flight capability + maximum ground hold + taxi time to/from gates + 1.25 safety factor (similar to structural design allowances, for example). Anything else is political.

(Written on 03/24/2023)(Permalink)

I have to wonder how the worst-case-scenario of injury by the "loop-and-strap" restraint would compare to the injury consequences as an unrestrained projectile?

(Written on 03/24/2023)(Permalink)

1. Why was the LAPD helicopter not in communication with the BUR tower? Seems to me the pilot should face some disciplinary action for failing to obtain permission to approach/land? Or, if they did obtain permission for touch-and-go, how was this a surprise? 2. BUR authority was established in 1928, ninety five years ago. Why did the zoning officials allow recent development to encroach on its glide path/air space? And, why is this the airport's problem/fault? 3. How is a routine go-around a near miss? Must have been a slow news day.

(Written on 03/24/2023)(Permalink)

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean the world's not out to get me, so my CDO has served me well - that's OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be. Indispensable attributes for flying and for engineering.

(Written on 11/04/2022)(Permalink)

Just trying to wrap my head around 80 countries voting for Russia inclusion. How much more damning evidence do they need?

(Written on 10/07/2022)(Permalink)

Yeah, Rob. That is a classic Confined Space that OSHA regulates very specifically. Can't believe a commercial aircraft maintenance facility didn't have the observer, portable quad gas monitor, full body harness or rescue retrieval equipment. Or, if they did, why didn't they take action at the first sign of distress or out-of-range monitor readings?

(Written on 09/16/2022)(Permalink)

This seems like seriously bending the FAA/DOT 3-hour taxi limit, but then that's par for the course for an airline that's now a shadow of its former once-great self. Once upon a time I was a die-hard Platinum Mileage Plus and Red Carpet member until 22 years ago I was unable to fly for nearly a year due to medical reasons. On my next Mileage Plus anniversary they busted me back to basic mileage plus and rescinded nearly 400,000 bonus miles. I sent a letter to the mileage plus and Red Carpet offices and got no reply. I decided I should be as loyal to United as they were to me so, of the nearly 1,500 flight segments in the past two decades since then, I don't even have to take off my shoes to count the number of United flights I have taken.

(Written on 09/02/2022)(Permalink)

This looks like a solution looking for a problem. He presumes everyone will have access to the cloud, but I have found wifi connections to be spotty, and at some airports, expensive, and although charging resources are improving, they are not yet sufficiently available. And, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with linking my devices to an airport network that creates another hacking risk. Here's a real problem to tackle: misleading flight performance data. The FAA keeps so much data for on-time/delay statistics that let airlines manipulate their data to appear more on-time than they are. Landing, or touch-down times are meaningless and misleading. The only flight performance datum that means anything is when the door opens at the gate so that I can get off the plane. When I traveled a lot in the past, I kept a spreadsheet of exactly that so that I could both keep track of my flight travels, but also look at airline performance that could influence my ticketing choices. I saw that some air

(Written on 08/19/2022)(Permalink)