For the folks that are caught up in the LA fires.

It isn’t like they didn’t have DAYS of warning, that the fires were there, and that there was likely going to be high winds that would fan and spread such fires to very dry vegetation.

If you didn’t get your most valuable possessions to safety already, and your family and pets out of the danger zone, then I find it hard to feel sorry for you.

You chose to live in an area where this is not an irregular occurrence. Failure to prepare leads to less desirable outcomes..

yeah, so I hadn’t been flying much, what with the holidays, the clouds and icing conditions and other factors.  I did some pattern work a couple of weeks ago, but no real flying.

And I had bragged to some friends that were complaining that “there is no good chines food around here” that I knew where there was the best chinese food…and it was only about 40 minutes away.

The challenged me to show them.

I did. (I never said that the 40 minutes was by car….)

So Saturday, we met about 11 at the airport and took off and flew at 10,500 ft …..

Over a snow covered landscape

to Champaign, Ill …where we landed and got a crew-car and proceeded to drive north  and got the best chinese food I know in the midwest…at Golden Harbor Chinese restaurant.

We ate a shitload of assorted foods, Gen Tso’s Chicken, Pork Dumplings, Beef With Broccoli, Chicken Mushroom, and some other stuff I simply don’t remember. 5 people ordering several things to share….

I was so hungry, and the food smelled so good, that I forgot to take any photos of the meal though….

The consensus was that it is, indeed, the Best in the Midwest.

The 340A may well have been over gross weight after that when we took off for home, We ate a LOT. Luckily it was cold and smooth, so we got off the ground ok. Wind was 310 at 9 and the runway is 320 and 8000 ft long…..

‘Twas a good time, and I got to burn some avgas, get the plane warmed up and dried out, 1.4 hours and 2 landings…both of which were better than I had been doing lately.

The only downside of the day was that the gasoline powered tug in the hangar shit the bed. When I went to crank it over, it was flooded with gasoline and the crankcase was also flooded with gas. I assume the float stuck in the carburetor. It was hydrolocked and no oil (or at least too much gas) in the crankcase….Luckily I had felt the need to take the truck instead of the car so we had a trailer hitch and I was able to borrow a towbar and use it to pull the plane out.

Putting it back in the hangar using the truck was ….challenging. I haven’t used a towbar to push a plane into a hangar in a long time. Like backing up a pair of hay wagons. ….2 pivots.  With a bunch of derisive comments from my associates, and a bit of spotting to make sure I didn’t run into another plane (or the doorway, for that matter), we got it back in the hangar. I didn’t even need to unhook and rehook.

On the MU-2 front, they smoke-tested the avionics yesterday, will do testing this week, and final calibrations the week after that. I get to train on it on or about the 28th.

Anyone know of someone who is in the market for a really high performance pressurized piston twin? Higher output engines, VG’s and High-lift Roberson flaps too…..200 knots all day long. You can pretty much take off from any paved runway in the US. Land in less than 1800 ft and take off in less than 2500…..At full gross wt too.  (Not that I do that very often, but you can….) I do have to sell this plane as I can’t afford to feed two of them…..

past security and got onto the planes?

Is the airport security that much of a joke? (That was a rhetorical question….the answer is yes, it is)

(This isn’t the first time even)

Two people are found dead in landing gear of a JetBlue plane in Florida after flying in from NYC

If two people can access the gear well of an airplane and hide there, they could also plant explosives or other items.

Think about that.

Don’t wanna be called a fool, and stubborn?

Don’t act the fool, and don’t be stubborn about it.

Today was the feigned “Insurrection” at the Capitol. Planned, executed, and documented by the Left and the DOJ. Aided by the Media, the story was massaged and twisted until they could Blame Donald Trump for the crowds action.

It is unknown for sure exactly how many in the crowd were agents-provocateur, but we do know that there were many. We do know that the doors, in many cases, were opened by the Capitol police to facilitate the entry of the crowd into the building.

While it was a “Protest”, it was, in no way an “Insurrection” despite what the Media and the left (but, again, I repeat myself) portrayed it as.

It is also the day Ashley Babbitt died at the hands of an incompetent and extremely frightened Lieutenant Michael Byrd. His conduct was deemed acceptable by the same administration that covered his other misdeeds and he was exonerated.

This pretty much covers my attitude about the coverage by the media:

Kinda a natural progression from what I posted yesterday.

“Pain is information”

Read the whole thing

Lots of people never learn.

ETA: And the people who could most benefit from his message (especially the second half) will likely discount or ignore it.  Especially if it hurts them to realize what his message is, and who it is aimed at.

So I saw a dude (and yes, it had the adam’s apple, so a dude) wearing a skirt with leggings (and really nice heels) and a shirt that said “Everyone is entitled to their own view of reality” I couldn’t help but tell him: “No, reality is what it is, denying it makes you a fool and an idiot.” He got mad and pouted. No matter, he’s still a man, in a skirt. Not a chick. “Don’t call me Stupid!” say he. “Then don’t act stupid or say stupid shit, says I”…He flounced off in a huff. I laughed out loud at his back.

Reality is what it is. If your viewpoint, your version of reality,  is different than everyone else’s, you need to look at what you think…..Ferinstance: if you think that saying that the world is flat is correct in the face of evidence otherwise, then you are wrong. Period. Full stop. Believing the world is flat is, frankly, stupid and delusional. Getting angry because your “viewpoint” is rejected, and lashing out is childish and spiteful and just plain foolish. We, as a society, are just as foolish by allowing people like the dude above to think their (obviously invalid and foolish ) view is valid and acceptable and putting up with their stupidity just gets us more stupidity. White is white, and black is black, saying that they are another color is lying…to yourself.

Just because a woman wants to think “Big is Beautiful” doesn’t mean that fat girls are as pretty or attractive as women who take care of themselves. Shy’s lying to herself or to her fat friend.  Trans people (I.E. Men that pretend to be women or women who pretend to be men) are not the opposite sex just because they put on a skirt or pants. To believe otherwise is stupid. Trans men can’t have babies or nurse, and trans women are not strong men, even with supplements of Testosterone. Saying otherwise is stupid.

Believing that wearing a mask is gonna protect you from covid is acceptable, if foolish. Forcing others to wear a mask because you believe it is helpful is not. Thinking you are a woman because you (a man) put on a skirt harms no-one. Demanding that you be allowed into women’s spaces such as bathrooms or locker rooms is unacceptable. Believing other than the facts is….stupid. Don’t be offended when people call you stupid or foolish for stating such bullshit or for acting the fool.

Sodium Lauryl sulfate in your shampoo is not somehow bad for you…Vaccines don’t cause autism. Believing otherwise with out evidence is a religion, not reality…Much like the Flat Earthers. And it is stupid. Deal with that.

People who deny reality because it makes them uncomfortable or they just don’t like what is….are fools. There are many fools that think that they can spend more money than they bring in each month, and then are surprised when they go broke…Old ladies who simply try to ignore what they don’t like are just as bad (and older women do this a lot, simply because they don’t like things the way they are, so they ignore reality), as are old men who think they are just as attractive to 20 year old women as younger, more virile men and have a chance…… Fools, all of them. Often stubbornly foolish in denying reality…Sticking to that belief in the face of evidence that shows otherwise is stupid. Otherwise intelligent people are often stupid. Of course, telling or showing them that they are stupid (and being stubborn about it) often angers them even more, making them even more stubborn….and more stupid.

I can believe I can fly all I want, right up ’til I step off that cliff. Being upset when reality (and the ground) smacks me in the face is stupid….Stepping off the cliff is stupid. Don’t like the truth? Reality and the world just don’t care. Being upset that you can’t fly is also stupid.

Man or woman (and those are the only choices), to deny reality is stupid and it really is stupid to think otherwise. Reality is what it is.  Deal with it. Stop being foolish.

We, as a society, need to stop pandering to people, be they straight or trans or gay, men or women, old or young, that feel that their alternate view of reality is just as valid.

that finds the story that we are being given about the Army Ranger that supposedly blew himself up using a rented Cybertruck and some “Improvised explosives” somewhat….odd?

Dude should have known how to do better at improvised explosives….I could do better, and I have not got the experience he has.

The use of the Turo App that was the same app as the New Orleans killer for acquiring a vehicle.

He was, apparently a new father.

Just home on leave, and he decided to so this?

The more you dig, the weirder it gets. Either there is something we aren’t being told, or this is a put-up….but why him?

Lots of other strangeness, but at this point I am starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist…even to myself.

What say you?

Might well be true

You decide