FIRST!

Nice stuff, Bill.

And the book? (Crickets chirping...) ;-)

I was in such a hurry to be first, I forgot to sign my comment! That was me, above.

Oh, and it's not that Kevin didn't read to the end. I added that after he reminded me. Thanks pal!

Young man, if you don't get yer ass in gear about that book...

It's great to have you back!

Hehehe! I'm in the top 10!

Excellent post, Mr. Whittle. We await the book with great anticipation...

Actually, Benjamin, it'd be even better if you awaited the book with a list of giftees and an open checkbook ;^)

Regarding Comments Spam: Install MT-Blacklist. It works beautifully, and is easy to install.

Great to have you back, sir.

And with such a plethora of great news.... congratulations to the Great Hairy Silverback!

Likewise to you, Mr. Whittle. Life is better when you have someone to fly with you, to sail life's oceans and to ride life's highways; and that not alone.

Having all of us along with you in spirit pales in comparison to the lovely and spirited company you keep, amigo.

From my perspective, subtract my pressure from your shoulders insofar as your essays and book are concerned. They'll all come at the right time, and I have no doubt they'll arrive exactly when needed.

Life's funny that way, more often than not.

Fly happy, write with a free heart.

I know it'll be worth the wait.

It always is.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Congrats to GHS! Proud to welcome another birdman to the fold.

Da Vinci wrote that "when once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your face turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will long to return." And the poor guy never even got to solo.

Take your sweet time on the essay, Bill. Hairball or not, I'm sure it'll be a welcome respite from the daily grind.

Grey Matter
Naval Air Station Whiting Field

KUDDOS!

BRAVO!

AMAZING!

BILL HAS DONE IT YET AGAIN, BY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!

FANTASTIC!

Congratulations GHS! Man, I'll be happy if I do half that good on the FAA test next year, from what I've seen from it...

Don't worry about ranting Bill. The readers need to get them to cool off just like the writers do.

Bill,

Great to see that you haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth (except, of course, for those undoubtedly brief excursions into the wild blue yonder.)

I agree w/ Blog Jones - use MT-Blacklist. Trouble is, there isn't yet a version of it for MT 3.0, so you'd have to forget (for the nonce) about upgrading.

I do the backend work on a couple of MT blogs, so let me know if you need a hand.

Rant On! Rant On! Rant On!

Get it out of your system and into ours--we like the way you write.

Bill and Dana,

YAHOO!

Dana, Congratulations on befriending a great essayist who can also mind the tiller of a bucking airship.

Bill, congratulations on befriending a SINGULAR MIRACLE: a strikingly photogenic lady who--- despite some brain injury that keeps her from seeing you as you appear to the rest of us--- clearly enjoys YOUR company!

Hope you inspire each other for many decades to come.

DM

I beg to differ (surprisingly).

I do not "argue" with myself when I'm driving alone on long hauls, for that would imply that I disagreed with myself. No, there's ALWAYS a unanimous consensus in my car. What I do is "orate" -- to a deeply enthralled audience-in-absentia, I might add -- and not for purposes of convincing myself of anything or honing any arguments, but solely to eat up the damned miles. Or perhaps more importantly, to eat up the damned HOURS. And it works. You should try it.

But thanks for the glowing (no, make that downright "incandescent") mention. Over-the-top though it may be, I see no need for any editing.

And I cannot WAIT to meet Dana in person next week. I may even use deodorant.

GHS

I use MT-Blacklist, but you have to keep updating it or you'll fall behind.

::shakes fist in air:: SPAAAAAAM!

Long time ago, a lady student at West Sacramento made a hard landing, then ran off into the grass. The seat in her J-3 was just a canvas strap and it broke when she hit, dumping her butt down to the bottom fabric.

Congrats, GHS! Double happy to you, Bill. I love the pictures. I have a pic of when I soloed and I don't look anything like you icy cool hombres. I look like a hound dog fished out of the lake after falling off a speedboat. Eventually I stopped shaking. (Eventually.)

Second part of double happy -- she's lovely, and obviously smart to have landed you. My writing soared when I found the love of my life. Don't worry about rants or whether it looks like a hairball to you. Just write!

Congratulations GHS!

And fair winds and following seas to you, Bill, and the fair Dana.

It seems to me that a good rant now and then would prevent spiritual constipation. Bring it on! (Seems to work for Rachel...)

Meanwhile, we'll be here, throwing frisbees, waiting for the show to begin....

Skeeter

You might consider moving to something like WordPress. It's all dynamically generated, so you never have to do the rebuild thing like you do with Movable Type.

In MT your options include IP banning, MT-Blacklist, or upgrade to v3 and deal with TypeKey. You could also dispense with MT's commenting system altogether and go with Haloscan or something like that.

Re: flying, your first instructor was right. Judgement is the key in aviation. ASF statistics show that about 86% of accidents are caused by pilot error, 14% by mechanical failure. That means we are far more likely to hurt ourselves than anything that might go wrong with the aircraft itself. Even engine stoppage is something most often caused by the pilot (fuel exhaustion).

--Ron

Great to see your words of wisdom doing Emmelmens in the blogsphere. And it seems you have found a fellow travler who shares your love of things aerodynamic. Good luck on the book...as Jim mentioned above great things will come when they deem the time is right. And to the keeper of the comment section...congratulations...there is no greater feeling than to be at the controlls of something allowing you to ...well yeah the adult was doing the situational awareness thing...but the *inner child* was doing handstands and jumping for joy ....the first time I ever had the stick truned over to me....don't know how else to discribe it.

As for future postings...even if it is a hairball ....when made of golden fleece...there is still value there.

Ok, yeah, she's pretty, and apparently fun and all. But that's it? She got any money?

(I just did the automatic flinch-thing my mom smacked into me when I was an ill-mannered kid).

Enjoy life y'all. And I'm sure your rant will be edifying. Go for it.

Awesome, GHS. Congrats.

Now not to reveal my utter geekhood, Bill, but have you ever watched Joss Whedon's short-lived "Firefly" TV show? It was really good sci-fi, but like most really good sci-fi it got canceled. Anyway, the lyrics to the show's theme song always make me think of you pilot types:

Take my love.
Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don’t care, I’m still free.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Take me out
to the black.
Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back.
Burn the land and boil the sea.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Have no place
I can be
Since I found Serenity.
But you can’t take the sky from me.

Lyrics by Joss Whedon, who I'm sure is far to kind, generous, and intelligent to sue the likes of me.

S

Yes, but can she shoot?

;p

I don't know whether we've established yet that Bill can shoot...:-)

Though, if he ever makes it out Dallas way, I'm sure that the L33t Master of Firearms will remedy that, right quick.

Congrats to all. Not to rain on the parade, or defend the intellect of Hollywood's elite, but there are several celeb flyers, the most visible being John Travolta - muti-engine commercial rating - whose private airplane is a 707.

Great article as usual Mr. Whittle.

Congrats to the GHS.

One very minor nit. The F-102 wasn't a Mach 2 fighter. In fact, the original version couldn't break Mach 1. Then they reconfigured it to conform to the Area Rule, and got it up to about Mach 1.3 max. The "B" model which became the F-106 was a true Mach 2.5 plus interceptor.

BTW, Sandor, nice to see the lyrics from FireFly. Great show. Got my DVD's through Amazon.

Rich

LUNATIC -- [DELETED] BW

I keep thinking about a sigh that hung over one of the stairways at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

"A superior aviator uses his superior judgement to avoid situations which might require his superior skill."

It's true.

Come to think of it, perhaps that is the thrust of TRIBES.

There are some fields, most notably aviation, in which the idea of responsibility AND of authority is hammered into the participant. Every pilot is painfully aware of the fact that if he screws up, the sky will try terribly hard to kill him. On the other hand, every pilot is also aware that he has absolute control of the aircraft. FAA regulations be damned - FAR 91.3 is crystal clear on the ability of the pilot in command to do whatever it takes to avoid a mishap.

On the other hand, there's another world. A world in which there is neither responsibility nor authority, only blind luck.

I suspect that the conflict between power and luck drives the differences between the TRIBES.

Good to see you're still around, Mr. Whittle. I really haven't been visiting the site obsessively waiting for your next essay, regardless of what your logfiles would say. They lie.

O/T...normally I'd never have anything to do with MSNBC, but it reminded me of the end of Victory:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5673094/

Bill,

I know how you feel, spam actually took my site down. No more blog.

And I'm one of the ones waiting with a gift list and open checkbook, so get that book out!

It's nice to hear from you every once in a while, even between major essays. And I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'd all love to hear you rant.

We have established that Bill can shoot.

Bill, while the world waits for your book to hit the shelves, your dreams are coming true.

Olympic Soccer: Iraq 4, Portugal 2.

Via Allahpundit.

Aw Chap, you stole my thunder. I wanted to point that one out myself.

How cool is that!

GHS

That is awesome cool.

And the U.S. chicks beat the Greek chicks yesterday, 3-0. Woo hoo!

So, GHS, is there an Orlando resident discount for a flight? "Blog wireless from high above sunny Orlando."

I think you've got quite a business opportunity here.

JK

OK, now you're just showing off :-)

Congratulation, GHS.
Does this mean you can now give 20 minute, 10 minute, 1 minute, and 10 second warnings to yourself ?

Congrats to GHS, from one trudging slowly (but happily) behind him on the path.

And as for the rant...well, at least from you we know it will be an eloquent, well-reasoned, and entertaining rant. :) (And, considering the business you work in, a well-deserved one too.)

Welcome back.

Always a pleasure to see you checking in, Bill.

I love the smell of Avgas in the morning. Smells like victory!

Why, yes, JK, indeed there is an Orlando-resident discount rate if we go up for a flight. However, that discount rate is for ME.

Per FAA regulations, as pilot, when carrying passengers, I must pay AT LEAST my pro-rated share of the rental and fuel expenses (i.e.; 50% if there's two of us on board, 33% if there's three, etc., etc.). Any less and it counts as a commercial flight, and I'm a LONG way from being licensed for that. In other words, if I take up a paying passenger, at least I save MYSELF 50%.

So, ya' wanna' go? Take advantage of that one hour a day that it's NOT raining here in central Florida? Kawl me. We'll tawk (but kawl AFTER Hurricane Charley's blown through).

And Bonnie, don't worry -- I didn't look that cool the day of my solo either (I didn't look that cool the day Bill took that particular picture either, for that matter -- Bill clearly doctored it up in post-editing). You might have looked like a wet hound dog, but I looked like a wet gorilla with its first hangover. Nothing to do with nerves... I just sweat a lot.

And just so everybody knows -- in "BW'S BIG ADVENTURE" (another of Bill's "travelogue" postings, much like this one, in the right margin of his title page), there's a picture of Bill posing next to a "Velocity" experimental aircraft (the same one that I'm sitting in in THIS article). Well, my father went and bought him one of those (the whole reason I got my pilot's license), and, since Bill is practically part of the family (actually, I think Dad likes him best), he's authorized Bill to fly it whenever he wants. Of course, the plane's in Florida, and Bill's in L.A., but that's not Dad's problem.

Anyhoo, the point is, Bill (and Dana) are flying down here next week (on the 18th), so that Bill can get his in-type familiarization training in the Velocity (on the 19th), then (on the 20th and 21st) the 3 of us are going to pile into it and fly up to Dad's place in North Carolina, pay him a "visit-o-thanks," then fly back again.

In other words, considering the combined competence behind the stick of that aircraft, this may very well be Bill's last essay (unless he finishes TRIBES before Wednesday), and my last comment. It's a shame about Dana.

I try not to dwell on it.

GHS

He's back! He's back!

Quit doing that. I was getting worried.

Looking forward to your rant.

Dangnabbit, GHS, I was so hoping to meet you and Dana sometime. It was a happy Friday until just now. Well, it's been nice knowin' ya.

;^)

Rant away, Mr. Whittle! The way you write, your rants will more more readable than most of the stuff I read every day.

If you, GHS and Dana are flying to NC, maybe I'll look up and try to catch a glance of the plane if it flies over my humble little abode.

Congrats, Steve! Did you take your checkride in that Velocity? :-) Hey, Bill - I did my last BFR in a DA-20 - nice little airplane. The kids had a great time when I took them up after my checkout. Super visibility, which is of course critical for giving rides. The fighter-plane canopy adds to the cool factor. I suppose in FL you have to actually check for the red 55 between the seats on preflight, at least in summer. December in MN, it's purely a formality. :-)

"...go with Haloscan..."

I've had pretty good luck with Haloscan.
A bit of advice if i may,receive all the Blessings from the Mormans that you can.
They really helped me!
Best of luck to the two of you!!!

Bill,

All you need now is to get that RW certificate! Of course, you have to be able to think with both your right and left brains at the same time...and besides that, helos are SOOOOOO much more fun to fly than fixed-wing!

just read GHS's post above. You guys better stop in Valdosta to say hi! Maybe if you're nice I'll take you up to Moody and show you the contraption I fly.

Welcome back; as always, a delight to read.

"So maybe we should both lower our expectations some. Let me get this out of my system."

I'm still looking forward to seeing it. I think that while the ideological civil war going on in this country may not be as violent as the war in Iraq, the outcome is equally important to the future of our country... or what it becomes.

Publish what you've got, please. When the muse strikes, it can always be revised.

LR

...just getting news of the devastation that Hurricane Charley has unleashed (it's early Sunday morn here)...

...condolences and great sympathy to the those who have suffered such great loss...

...stay safe and heartfelt best wishes...

Finally got my power turned back on! 23 hours in the dark and steamy heat! And we're among the FIRST in Orlando to get our lights and A/C back. Hoo-hoo! Shower takes second place to checking in at "E3" though.

I tell you, man, this place -- this city -- is a wreck. If I had a clue how include some of the digital pictures I took this morning in this comment, I'd do it. My favorite 11-year-old oak, which I raised from a sapling myself, got knocked over last night -- even snapped the roots, so no propping it back up again. Must say my goodbyes, I guess.

Worse though, all the local airports took a beating. Orlando Executive had piles of tumbled airplanes scattered all around the field, uprooted from their steel-cable tie-downs and tossed against the buildings and fences. I dread to go check Kissimmee Gateway where I learned to fly, and where most of the little Cadets and Warriors just sat parked in the grass.

Thanks for the thoughts, "Frank in Adelaide." (is that "Adelaide," as in the capitol of South Australia?) Now we need "Jason Kallini" -- another Orlando-ite -- to check in. Let us know he's alright.

To "corrie:" no, I got my checkride in a regular old garden variety Cherokee. I'll be a while working my way up to the finicky Velocity (the thing's got no flaps... doesn't know how to slow down).

Now must go make arrangements to chop up my favorite tree. Later, folks.

GHS

Condolences on the tree, GHS. Sounds like it was a bad one down there, but count yourself lucky if a tree was your greatest loss. As a Florida native (now living in Seattle) I know what it's like to open the storm shutters and see how much of your life has blown to the next county. Hope O-town gets back on it's feet quickly!

My condolences to the Floridians and other East Coasters affected by Charley.

As a native Southern Californian, I'll take an earthquake any day over a hurricane.

Take care, y'all.

Congratulations Bill and GHS both, and condolences on the hurricane damage. Mother Nature is a tantrummy bitch from time to time.

Go right ahead and rant, Bill. I find that the harder I try to always maintain my goodwill and optimism toward my fellowman no matter how big an ass they're being, the more likely it is that a few weeks later I'll have cut off all contact even with friends and be muttering some variant of "I hate all of humanity" while I bury myself in novels until I feel better.

Soccer update: Iraq beat Costa Rica 2-0 on Sunday to reach the Olympic Games quarterfinals. Woo-hoo!

Sorry about the gap in correspondence (as well as my spaminator duties). We got our power back, but we still don't have cable, and our phone keeps dropping off-line. Just got it back a few minutes ago, hence my reappearance.

To those who sent me e-mails about the spam that's appeared in other comment streams, sorry, but I couldn't get to your e-mails any faster than I could get to E3, thanks to BellSouth's "deplorable" record with restoring phone service to something like half a million customers in less than 3 days (just kidding -- the reconstruction effort down here has been downright heroic -- no complaints, really).

Anyhoo, provided the phone lines can stay connected now, I am back on the job. Keep up the dialogue.

GHS

My power is finally back up. I'm okay, as is everyone I know in Orlando.

My home and property were completely untouched, thankfully, which is more than I can say for many neighbors. I work at the airport, so I've been handling twenty thousand delayed passengers, sheltering people, and still helping out around the neighborhood.

We're getting it cleaned up, but what a couple of days. I have some photos up on my blog, including some of Orlando Executive Airport. It's not pretty. I live nearby, and they lost at least one hangar, and over twenty aircraft.

I'm glad to hear that you're okay, GHS, and I'll take you up on that flight offer, just as soon as this city is back under control.

JK

This comment is not related to anything currently here, but I thought it might be of interest to Eject^3 readers.

I saw President Bush today in person... he made a stop to Traverse City, Michigan, and after waiting in line for several hours I managed to secure a fairly decent vantage point for his speech.

President Bush is, in my opinion, better in person than on TV. He exuded confidence and optimism-- you could tell that nothing was forced and nothing was faked. You could also tell that he truely enjoyed interacting with people. At one point while working the crowd he borrowed a camera and was taking pictures... he was really having a blast.

On a previous comment stream, GHS spoke of Mr. Whittle's true passion for what he believes. There is no doubt in my mind, after seeing it in person, that this is true of President Bush as well. Can the same be said about the senator from Massachusetts?

Bush gave one of the best speeches I've ever heard. He talked passionately about many of the things Mr. Whittle does-- about the mind and culture of the enemy and how to defeat them... about the courage to do whatever it takes for victory.

But I've taken up enough of Mr. Whittle's bandwidth. I will now reset into Lurking Mode.

-Benjamin

Hi GHS,

Indeed it is Adelaide in South Australia... Greetings all!

Just as an aside comment... E^3 for me has been a real inspiration since it's inception, and previous to that, Bill's inspired comments on other blogs.

In my circle of friends and acquaintances, the politics are pretty well oriented to the left. I've found that in discussions and debates, that whilst these people have argued using emotions and concepts that don't really make a lot of rational sense, I have been able to remain calm, using facts, logic, sound reason and just plain old good commen sense (IMHO).

I owe a great depth of gratitude to Bill and you all for the approach that you take to life in general, I guess... I've learned a great deal from reading this and other blogs in the States, and I must say that I've been changed as a person over the last few years, and I couldn't be happier.

Whilst I've always approached life asking questions (answers don't inspire me nearly as much), and have adapted myself accordingly, the change has been (relatively) pretty fast paced in the last couple of years, particularly since 9/11. I am beginning to think people have forgotten.

Anyhow, press on chaps! So much to do, and so little time...

Cheers, Frank (Who Stands With Both Eyes Open)

Bill,

I didn't read most of the comments so I don't know if this has been suggested yet or not but a simple way of preventing mt-comment spam is to rename the comment script to something other than mt-comments.cgi to do this you'll have to change a few files in moveable type, including the mt.cfg file and update your blog templates to call the new filename.

First choose a new name for your comments script, I chose 'frankfurter' for my site because I'm just weird but any name other than 'mt-comments' will be fine. Next open the mt.cfg file and search for mt-comments.cgi in the text you should find a place that says something like "By default, the script that Movable Type uses for comments is called mt-comments.cgi..." below this block of text there will be some commented out statements, one will probably be "# CommentScript mt-comments.pl" delete the # and change mt-comments.pl to whatever you decided the new comment script will be named. If that block of text doesn't exist don't worry about it, all you really need is to type "CommentScript new-file-name.cgi" on its own line in mt.cfg. Save mt.cfg and upload it to your server overwriting the old file.

Now you need to go into MT and take a look at your mt templates, basically your main index and maybe your date-based archive template. Search these templates for 'mt-comments.cgi' and replace them with the new name you have selected. Save the templates.

Finally, rename on the server the file mt-comments.cgi to whatever name you chose at the beginning. then go into MT and rebuild your entire site.

Hopefully this will help stop the robots who invoke the comment script without actually visiting your page but legit commenters will have no problems since they actually click on the link from your page. This worked great for me, I have never bothered with MT-Blacklist or anything else. I don't know how long-term this solution is, it probably depends on how popular it becomes before spammers program the bots to search for the comment link and find the name of the script. But it has worked fine for me since I thought of it about six months ago.

Let me know if this helps or if you need any clarification or help, etc...

Good luck,
Matt

Holy crap!

Hurry! Hurry!

The spam bots are attacking! It's "I, Robot" all over again!

Quickly, GHS! Man your battle station!

Here's some post-Charley pics for you. I live very close to MCO, and I understand the eye passed pretty close to my neighborhood.

http://slartibartfast.blogfodder.net/archives/2004_08.html#010811

Congrats to GHS!

Had my private pilot checkride on July 20th (anniversary of the first moon landing) after starting my lessons by calling flight schools on Dec. 11 (we all know what anniversary that was!) The FAA knowlege test wasn't THAT bad (I aced it), but then I speak from the perspective of an old electrical engineering major.

But for the most part, I agree with Bill: most of those Hollywood celebs would only get a third of the questions right. That's the score you should get from random guessing, and these clowns would be like monkeys at a keyboard. I certainly can't imagine someone like Babs, the Ditzy Twits, or Alec Baldwin being able to understand _any_ of the questions. Michael Moore would at least have the brains to come up with a creative misinterpretation of the question. (Since it's multiple-guess we'd be spared his answer, which would probably blame GW Bush for wake turbulence and SIGMETs.)

Ah, well, but they MUST be smarter than me because they have soooo much more money than I do.

(eagerly awaiting the rant)

Hee-hee! God, I love this crowd.

Great hearing from Down Under, Frank. I lived in Canberra for 3 years myself -- between the ages of 8 and 11, back in the mid-60s, back when the Sydney Opera House was barely a hollow shell surrounded by scaffolding -- and I can't wait until I've amassed sufficient funds to return again. I've climbed Mt. Kosciusko, but not Ayers Rock... swum off Bateman's Bay, but not the Great Barrier Reef. I know, I know -- I might as well have not been there at all.

And Matt: knowing that Bill seldom checks his comment streams after about the third day following the posting of his essays, I shall call him myself tonight to make sure he looks into your recommendations.

To LC Steve: Friday morning, Bill and I (and of course Dana) will be flying up the eastern Florida coast as far as Jacksonville, then bee-lining it straight to the Macon Co. Airport in Franklin, NC, southwest of Asheville. If your house is somewhere along that route, keep an eye skyward between about 10:00 and noon. We'll be the backward-flying airplane, with the little canard wing in front, and the big wing (and the pusher-prop) in the back.

And stract: if only I'd known. I was based up at Robins AFB for several years. Very familiar with the area. What DO you fly, by the way?

Anyhoo, back to de-spaminatin' and praying for basic cable to return.

GHS

Outstanding GHS! Congratulations, happy times, etc. etc.

Y tu, Senor Bill. Congrats on landing yourself a hottie who likes the same things you do.

Yay, everyone's happy...now, let's get that book out, say?

GHS -- check your e-mail. Glad your plane survived the onslaught.

Everyone else, I fly the mighty HH-60G Pave Hawk.

Congrats to Bill Whittle on his new lady friend.

And to GHS on the pilot thing. Verra nice indeed. No offense to Bill, but I think that's way more impressive. ;)

Greetings to Bill and the lovely Dana.

Congratulations to GHS.

I've been reading this site for quite a while. You wrote HONOR just a couple of months after my own Father's funeral. I'm still patiently awaiting the book.

Posts like this latest make me wish my 108-3 was airworthy, my medical was current, and my reserve was in date.

Keep up the good work.

Blue Skies...

Fast Richard

This story arrived in my email today, and I thought that it was relevant:

A photographer from a well-known national magazine was assigned to cover southern California's wildfires. The magazine wanted pictures of the heroic work the firefighters were doing as they battled the blazes.

When the photographer arrived on the scene, he realized that the smoke was so thick that it would seriously impede or even make impossible his
obtaining good photographs from ground level. He requested permission from his boss to rent a plane and take photos from the air. His request was approved, and via a cell-phone call to the local county airport, necessary arrangements were made. He was told a single-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

He arrived at the airfield and spotted his plane warming up outside a hangar. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted,"Let's go!"  The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind, and roared down the runway. Within just a minute or two of his arrival they were in the air.

The photographer requested the pilot to "Fly over the valley and make two or three low passes so I can take some pictures of the fires on the hillsides."

"Why?"  asked the pilot.

"Because I'm a photographer for a national magazine,"  he responded,  "and I need to get some close-up shots."

The pilot was strangely silent for a moment; finally he stammered,  "So, you're telling me you're not the flight instructor?"

Bill,

With about 700 hours in the F-102, I'd like to take issue with the idea that it was hard to fly or a widow maker. That's not to say that it doesn't take a certain amount of care and judgement to fly a high performance jet fighter.

By comparison with it's contemporaries, it had a better accident record than the F-100, the F-101, or the F-104. Of course, that was still about four times the accident rate of current frontline fighters. In roughly three years in a frontline fighter outfit we didn't lose a man to the F-102.

It had a better cockpit layout and was more comfortable than the T-33, the F-86D or the F-100 (I've also got about 700 hours in the F-100). The control harmony and hands-off stability were better than the F-100. It had better high altitude performance than the 100, and was more maneuverable above 30,000ft. It did share the same problem that all of the century series fighters had: DONT get behind the power curve on approach! It didn't, however, have the problem that the '104 and '101 had of being very close to an uncontrolled pitchup condition at missed-approach airspeeds.

All in all, the Deuce was a great bird and I still consider it the best all-around airplane I have flown (although the YAT 37 was a blast the one time I had a chance to fly it. Lots of excess thrust!).

John F.

Olympic soccer update: Iraq advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday and will play against Australia. Woo-hoo!

Being an ex-Student Naval Aviator, and having tusseled incompetentlywell and heartily with the forces that are trying to kill you in the sky (the Marine Captain in the back seat :@)), I can indeed verify that it is possible to teach a Lowland Gorilla How To Fly.

I soloed, forgetting the location of Whiting Naval Air Station only once, for about 4 minutes (it was a LONG 4 MINUTES), and only stalling the aircraft one time 8 feet off the deck. Boy, Beech builds them Navy T-34 Trainers strong!

While my inherent mental insufficiencies were rapidly discovered in Helo training, and I was sent Back to the House (this was after the First Gulf War, during the RIF), I can also comfirm that there was a plethora of knowledge we had to acquire about the FAA rules, WX, and myriad other things. I was great in this department, a real FLying Lawyer. Too bad the Navy couldn't have kept me on in that capacity!

I really admire this blog - Koko like! Koko bookmark, make favorite in browser. Blog good. GHS good! Good GHS! Good Koko!

Nick, don't you just hate it when you get lost on Course Rules? At least you didn't try to land at South Field. The most "dangerous" thing I ever did on solo was fly around with my O2 mask on and the canopy open for about 30 minutes.... it was fun! Crewcanopycordsmaskharnesscrouchdivepull (but for us it's a bailout, not an ejection...)

-Off Topic-
Bill, I need to say thanks. Just finished Boyd and all I can say is what a great read. Thanks for the recommendation. Its amazing how such a jerk in his personal life can contribute so much to strategy. The book has colored my perceptions: Marines get even more respect and they have always been tops in my book, Army drops another notch from ok, Air Force I'm starting to wonder why we keep them around. F-15 drops a small peg because I wonder how good it could have been. F16 stays about the same (what a plane!) A10 gains even more ground. Its amazed me ever since I saw two of them at an airshow demonstrating how one can be on target continuously (the other is turning back). Oh and my respect for Dick Cheney has increase yet again. Not only does this guy have what it takes. He knows when to go get an expert and make it happen... Thanks Bill

GHS: I got three words for you

Hoorah Lightning Bolt

congrats on the flying status

GHS: Thanks for letting Bill know about my solution. I've just found that it is best to leave the word 'comments' completely out of the name of the comments file.

Nick and Stract . . . Long live the Turboweenie! Nice to see all the horror stories as I plug along thru FAM-2 with VT-3. Just pray you're not below 1200ft or it turns into speedcleancheckfeatherlooklockabcpulltalksquawk . . . and pray you find a place to put it down. I'll take the ejection seat any day.

Ooops, posted and forgot to sign . . . ;-P

Bill - just wanted to say that I've just spent the day in Gainesville. Checking out UF and all.
Gators kick @$$!

A fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

obviously whatever you did to your MT didn't work....

Looks like it's time to install Jay Allen's BlackList there Bill. It really is not hard to install and it will take care of these annoying spamments.

It will take you about....15 minutes (or so) from start to finish...I highly suggest it.

Wait! It may just be that the comments from Magazine Subscriptions Site and Discount Perfume & Discount Cosmetics are really a secret code!!!!!

I think you're on to something, David...

Is it possible that Bill has been kidnapped, locked in a bunker somewhere, and is trying to signal for help via code?

(GHS, are you SURE Dana isn't a communist agent who has infiltrated Bill's defenses in an attempt to silence him forever? Just asking.)

Spam Spam Spam Spam,
Spam Spam Spam Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!...

...arrr, those Monty Python boys have been busy....

Iraq Beats Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Soccer tournament...

Bastards!

Hahahahahaha!!!

Well done fellas!

They meet Paraguay in the semis... Bring it on! Go Iraq!

Okay, I'm back. Sorry about the delinquency in my "Surly Gatekeeper" duties, but I've been out of town for the last 4 days -- with "Bill and Dana" -- running my hairy hindquarters up and down the eastern U.S. in our spiffy new aerospace vehicle. Many a stellar adventure (and one pivotal MISadventure) to relate to anyone who might actually be interested, but I'll leave that up to Bill to pass on, since this IS his blog. And besides, unlike me, HE actually knows how to include pictures.

Suffice it to say that these were not just some really good days for him, not even "some of the best days" of his life, but he had the official "greatest time of his life." So rest assured, as soon as Bill's done caroming around south Florida, catching up with relatives and whatnot, and once he's flown back to LA-la Land Monday night, he'll be posting again right soon.

So I bite my tongue now and move on.

Again, sorry about the accumulation of cyber-shit during my absence. If you ever read about some hacker-puke who was found dead, bludgeoned to death with his X-Box, and with his computer keyboard shoved all the way up his ass, remember, I was with YOU that day.

GHS

Sounds like a blast.

But... ummm... pretty sure I won't be able to offer you an alibi. Or rather, any alibi I could give you would probably just get you in more trouble.

If I were you, I'd go with using A Recovering Liberal for an alibi. She makes cookies. Cops would never question her credibility.

LOL! As a matter of fact, krakatoa, I just finished baking six dozen chocolate chip cookies. Want some?

While we're waiting for Bill's "rant", I have an election question for people here. Do you guys believe that Kerry cheated in Vietnam, or shot himself, or whatever? I know Bush approves of his record, but it seems that a lot of Republicans don't.

Personally I'm okay with his war record. Thoughts anyone?

Ryan:

Cheated; yes. Shot himself; no (and I haven't heard *anyone* claim he has). All irrelevant... also yes, but Kerry was the one who made Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign. I'd much rather the candidates deal with current issues, and until they do, I'm joining Michele in eye-glazeover land.

Congrats to GHS, as well as Bill and Dana (but for different reasons... heh). Looking forward to the Rant, Bill.

Enough of Kerry's war record. The Kerry campaign probably would prefer to keep the focus on that, because only those few people present can actually KNOW what went on. Better to consider what WE can see for ourselves. Here's a bit of my post on my own little blog today:

Do you remember the week the newsreaders added the word GRAVITAS to our lexicon?
...
Before the election campaign of 2000 our lives were blissfully free of discussions of GRAVITAS. Then with the abruptness of a pimple erupting prom night, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and the rest were earnestly agreeing with each other that George Bush "lacked GRAVITAS."
...
It was a snotty way of telling us peasants that we shouldn't vote for Bush because he really didn't have the appearance of dignity and seriousness expected of a head of state. Well, now there is a presidential candidate with gravitas. In spades.

Evidently, Mr. Kerry was fed gravitas instead of mother's milk as a baby.

He leaves gravitas-soaked footprints where he treads.

He has to have it scraped from his important suit when he sends it to the cleaners.

He excretes gravitas with his perspiration; leaves gravitas stains on the pillowcase.

So FREAKING what?

Where was his gravitas when he was sponsoring legislation, which is supposed to be the task of a legislator?

Can you remember the single piece of legislation sponsored by Kerry to actually be passed on favorably by his fellow senators?
His own official website does not identify it. It only shows a tally sheet year by year: bills sponsored, bills passed. Total for a decade of service in the Senate, 28 sponsored, ONE passed.

I guess I'll have to do some more darn research.

Why is there no discussion of Kerry's legislative leadership and accomplishments by ANY of the Mainstream Press nor Network News Anchors? Why are we NOT being reminded hourly by the newsreaders who so conspicuously endorse Kerry, about all the wonderful legislation he sponsored, or the bills he voted FOR and AGAINST?

Oh, yeah. He voted BOTH ways on the war against Iraq... THAT we've heard about plenty.

Well?????

No one is jamming their transmission. We are huddled around our receiver sets, hungry for information...

???

The silence of the media on Kerry's record since his four months in Vietnam speaks with devastating eloquence. They looked at his record and *HAD* to realize that it could only damage his chances for election to remind people of what he has said, and which bills he's supported and opposed.

But he sure does a good job of looking serious.
I bet when he orders a meal in a restaurant, that helps keep the wait staff on their toes.

Islamic fundamentalist America-hating terrorists, you'd better watch your ASSES! We have a candidate with GRAVITAS!

Surely, in some fourth-floor walk-up in Brooklyn, a conversation just like this might happen:

"Sayeed, is it your will to detonate this day some C-4 on the public way where walk many infidels which is a stink in the eye of the Almighty?"

"Afendi, most assuredly not, for by the Prophet's beard, the hated nation of our enemy has brought forth and set against us a person fairly sloppin' over with GRAVITAS!"

"Accursed be him that so hinders our blessed and compassionate plan to blow up all creation in the name of Merciful ALLAH! Would that we yet contended with only such as George, whom we deemed quite devoid of this Gravitas..."

Hee-hee-HEE! Good one, DM. I've got to get over to your blog more often.

GHS

More Olympic soccer news:

The Iraqi soccer team's improbable run at an Olympic gold medal ended Tuesday night with a 3-1 semifinal loss to Paraguay. The Iraqis still have a chance for a bronze, which would be their war-weary nation's first medal in 44 years.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/soccer/08/24/iraq.paraguay.ap

Nice rant, DM

The exertion of writing anything coherent, much less something anyone besides your mom would want to read, is amazing. My tiny investment over the last few weeks really makes me appreciate all the more the incredible job Bill has been doing here these past two years. But the central question keeps coming back to me (as I’m sure it must also to Mr. Whittle) WHY AM I DOING THIS? Why not put the energy into bowling, or looking for a woman, or investing in real estate at rock-bottom prices?

Then I hear some cretin who can’t tell a proton from a crouton calling George Bush a MORON because of the way he pronounces "nuclear." It reminds me that Edmund Burke was talking to US RIGHT HERE AND NOW. (You know, "All that is necessary for the Triumph of evil is... etc.)

Not that *I* am setting myself up as a GOOD MAN, but I do believe that the people supporting Kerry have simply decided they don't care how numbingly mediocre this guy is; they don’t acknowledge the betrayal that is the corrosive core of his public career; they only want to have THEIR GUY in the White House, regardless of consequences.

You could say there’s not much percentage in preaching to the choir--- i.e., commenting on a blog where you can be pretty sure most of the folks will at least read and consider your ideas, even if they don’t agree. So I’m trying to post comments on a bunch of sites.

Of course, contrary views are zapped by the censors at the sites with readers most in need of challenge.

I dunno. Seems like the internet is really getting to a point where it can make a difference. Build community. Exchange ideas like people used to do with letters and sealing wax. God will smite us if we just leave the field to the barbarians! If there is no God...

I still don’t want the crouton/proton question left in the care of the cretins.

Having a family composed entirely of die-hard Democrats, I can state that a great many of them don't even care about Their Guy winning...they just want to make sure The Other Guy loses.

Ouch.

A person close to me is a liberal, and I have sadly watched over the years as he has lost his ability to reason. Since lefties have to deny reality, they cannot afford to allow any standards into their lives. If they do, all is lost.

Now I've seen this lacquer of the soul creep into his choices of literature and movies. He loved "The Ring" because it was creepy and the idea of a girl coming out of a tv was nifty. When I asked him what he thought about the idea of this movie -- that there is supernatural evil but no supernatural good, and the only way to defeat evil is to find it another victim -- he looked at me blankly. He didn't like the Lord of the Rings because there were no blacks in the film. He thought they should have had more ethnic diversity. Honestly.

Can we change these people? I would say, sadly, no. But we can make sure our youngsters grow up reading Whittle and Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and understand the difference between right and wrong.

And those who haven't completely encased their brains in acrylic might stumble onto sites like this one. I believe the words here and elsewhere can help people learn the beauty of reason and truth.

Bonnie,

change is possible. I am from the left side of the political spectrum and a registered Democrat with no plans of changing my affiliation. I have standards -- high ones -- to which I hold myself and others.

The words here and elsewhere, as well as the patience of two libertarian friends, instigated my recovery from uninformed, misinformed and idealistic liberalism. Again, I say change is possible.

a bit ashamed to add something to a 100+ comment list...

Have you resolved your spam/comment problem ?
MT-Blacklist does the trick very well (did it for me), but is not suitable for MT 3.0.

Waiting for THE BOOK.

Well, I guess I'd better say SOMEthing...

A few postings back, I made mention of our recent little flying adventure, saying "... Many a stellar adventure (and one pivotal MISadventure) to relate to anyone who might actually be interested," then promising that Bill would be posting again right soon. Unfortunately, it appears that the "misadventure" is, for the time being at least, preoccupying Bill moreso than the other, hence the absence of a new post.

Basically, to keep it brief, our brand new airplane blew a cylinder on its brand new 60-hour engine during flight. Bill did a masterful job of dropping into an airport in the middle of Georgia for an emergency landing, but we had to leave the airplane in a hangar there, and finish the trip in the world's crappiest rent-a-car. And ever since then, we've been listening to the engine manufacturer deftly backing out of its warranty obligations (claiming that it looks like pilot error to them, even though only their warranty guys have seen the pictures, not their technicians), and the aircraft builder (who installed and maintained it) claiming that the extensive internal damage COULD have been done in just one flight (which the on-sight mechanics and several other aviation experts that Bill has contacted say is patently ridiculous).

Suffice it to say, Bill is taking this all rather personally (and understandably so), and while these "negotiations" drag on, his mind is not on his blog or any form of inspirational writing. So bear with him -- this too shall pass. And when it does, Bill will tell you ALL about it. Trust me.

I don't want to say more and steal any thunder from his eventual write-up, AND I don't want to turn this comment stream into a 300-post dialogue on the evils of corporate America or make it an all-aviation discussion, but I thought you should know enough to at least understand the delay.

Hang in there. It all works out in the end.

That's what I've been telling Bill all week.

GHS

Thanks for the update, Mr. GHS.

Persistence is the key. Remember Galaxy Quest: Never Give UP!!!! Never Surrender!!!!

Hey, Stephen Greene over at Vodkapundit mentioned a George Will television interview in which the subject of America's boredom with the space program.

Evidently, despite the thousands of published reports of the Scaled Composites successful suborbital flight, a lot of people are still unaware of the