Nipple Rings & Terrorists?

A woman from Texas had to remove her nipple rings after TSA agents demanded they be removed at Los Angeles Airport. The woman, 37 year-old Mandi Hamlin, was able to remove one nipple ring but had to use pliers to remove the second ring.

Hamlin had set off alarms while being screened. She offered to have a female agent examine her, but the TSA required she remove the piercings.

Unless the terrorists have devised a new type of IED that can fit into a nipple ring, this seems a bit overkill. The fact that our borders are as porous as a screen door and anyone can come into the country seems to have gotten past King Duhbya and his War on Terror. We sure won't have any nipple ring IED's going off anytime soon.

Hamlin has demanded an apology from the TSA. I think $he may be demanding $omething more $ub$tantial in the future.

New Video From "Groucho" Bryan Duke

Bryan Duke again has a great new video. Sit back, tighten your seat belts and enjoy.

My Jaw Dropped

This has absolutely nothing to do with flying. I watched this video and was speechless afterward.

Name That Plane 2 Contest (HINT)

Ohh-kay...no guesses yet in the Name That Plane 2 contest. The CASH PRIZE is still in play!

A hint: The aeroplano is a venturi ducted fan that ran the full length of the aircraft and the pilot sat on the top of the tube. Let's get a winner this time.

Video of Saudi Airlines 777 Landing with Hole in Wing

"SA FLIGHT from Jeddah to Riyadh on 10.03.08. Damage on right wing of 777 just a few minutes before landing at 900 m altitude. Hydraulic lines cut and fluids are draining huge hole in the top of the wing. This looks like mechanical failure of certain parts - it happend with a very loud bang."

Updated 3-14-08: N412RV Flies!

According to Vans, RV-12 N412RV:

"On March 12, Van took advantage of a good patch of weather and made a short first flight. He reported that the new wing flew much like the old one and the elevator was slightly lighter. (The following day, today, the weather was miserable – gusting winds and blowing rain – so we will have to wait for more details of flying qualities and performance.)

Final details of the kit and kit pricing are being analyzed and worked out. No orders will be taken, waiting lists established or bribes accepted before April 8."

Wings of Freedom March 13-23

If you're anywhere near Dallas Love Field, take the time to tour the great bombers of WWII. If you have an extra $325.00 to $425.00, take a flight aboard one of these historic aircraft.

Admission to the walk-through tour is only $12 adults and $7 for children 12 and under. No reservations are required. Be advised that if you take the young ones that they may become addicted to flying as I did when my dad took me to my first airshow.

NTSB Releases Preliminary Report For Titusville Crash

The NTSB has released the preliminary report for the accident that claimed 3 lives on March 1 at Arthur Dunn Air Park in Titusville, Florida.

The report states that the Velocity Aircraft, N244CU, departed the runway and collided with the Vans RV-8, N128RV.

Here is a partial from the report:
"According to witnesses, the purpose of the arriving flights was for the participation in the Experiment Aircraft Association's (EAA) monthly pancake breakfast. There were several witnesses that had arrived at the airport in airplanes just prior to the accident. The witnesses stated that a flight of 4 RV-8's landed in formation. Following uneventful landings the 4 RV-8's were exiting the runway at intersection B. The lead RV-8, N128RV had entered the intersection and was midway between runway 15 and the parallel taxiway when it was struck from the left side by the Velocity.

Witnesses stated that the Velocity had landed on runway 15 following the flight of 4 RV-8's and departed the runway on the left side entering a grassy area separating the runway and taxiway. The Velocity continued in the grass and witnesses stated that they observed the Velocity collide with the RV-8 in a left bank and with full engine power. Both airplane's exploded into a fire ball.

On scene examination of the RV-8 found it in a grassy area adjacent to intersection B. The wreckage was on a heading of 280-degrees. The fuselage, cabin and upper left wing were consumed by the post impact fire.

On scene examination of the Velocity found it inverted 330 feet beyond the RV-8 coming to rest on a heading of 330-degrees. The fuselage, right wing and cockpit were consumed by the post impact fire."

RV-12 N412RV Rollout

Note the new ("not yellow") paint scheme. If I can make the drive, I'll try to get some pics of the RV-12 and post them here.

Realtime Tracking for Endeavour and the ISS

NASA realtime tracking.

Direct Link For STS-123 Endeavour Flight

NASA TV This link will open in Windows Media Player®. Endeavour is scheduled for launch at 2:28 a.m. EDT.

Raw Video Footage of Titusville Crash

Here is KXLY raw video footage from the crash of a Velocity aircraft with a Vans RV-8 on March 1, 2008.

New Airline Safety Video

Name That Plane 2

There was no winner in the first "Name That Plane" contest, so the CASH PRIZE will roll over to the new contest. The correct answer to plane #1 was "Optica Scout".

Again, the rules are simple. Name the plane and collect the cash. Here is plane #2.

Light Plane Violates Washington, DC Airspace

Shortly after 6:00 PM on Wednesday, a light plane flew into the Washington restricted airspace. The twin-engine Beech flew in from the North at 14,500 feet and below the 18,000 feet floor of the restricted space.

Two F-16's scrambled and intercepted the aircraft within the restricted airspace. The fighter pilots identified the aircraft and escorted it outside of the restricted airspace.

Federal law enforcement admits the plane was in airspace near the U.S. Capitol but did not say how close it was.

In this day of EFIS and GPS and post 9/11, these incursions should never happen. If we are to maintain a reasonably open sky for ourselves, these incursions need to cease. With presidential campaigns in full swing, we pilots must be extra vigilant to TFR's that may pop up with little notice.

Lake Villa, IL Man Makes Poor Choice For Landing

Lake Villa resident Robert Kadera, 65, unfastens a tension cable to remove ski landing gear from his 1949 Piper Clipper as he prepares it for transport Monday at Ernie's Service Center in Vernon Hills. Kadera, who landed his plane on the Marriott Lincolnshire Golf Course Saturday, had the plane towed to Ernie's by the Lincolnshire Police Department. Police and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating charges and whether to revoke his pilot's license. (Tribune photo by David Trotman-Wilkins / March 3, 2008)

Robert Kadera, 65 made a poor choice of landing sites that could mean charges will be brought against the Lake Villa pilot.

Police received numerous worried calls about a plane circling twice, and then touching down at the Crane's Landing golf course at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort. Officials thought they might have a crash with victims.

Kadera was running late for his son's tennis tuneup so he had hopped in his Piper Clipper with his 14 year-old son, Isaac. They flew above the congested roads and landed at a golf course across a highway from the tennis club, where skis on the underside of plane glided across the snow-covered fairway.

Police would not allow Kadera to fly his plane off the fairway at the Marriott resort. Instead, the plane was towed following a 7-hour operation.

Heartstopping Landing Attempt

Amazing new video today of a Lufthansa jet, flying from Munich to Hamburg with 137 passengers, veering back and forth in 150 mile per hour gusting winds. The plane came within "a split second of crashing" and after just touching down, a wing tip hit the runway and the plane bounced sideways on the runway. The now-hailed pilots shot back up, tried again and landed safely.

Titusville Crash Update And video

The Orlando Sentinal is reporting that a third person has died following the crash of 2 homebuilt aircraft yesterday. There is no information on the person who died and it is not known whether it was the pilot or passenger.

How Stupid Can The Non-Flying Public Be?

This comment, from an article written on the Titusville, Fl crash made me laugh and want to strangle the author. My comments are in yellow.


"#1 Phil White - Nedw smyrna Beach Fl - 3/2/2008 3:38:00 AM Why do the Federal and State authorities continue to allow experimental planes to be built and fly. Are these planes checked before their first flight by any authority or does someone just build the plane and take off? So, Phil...they were flying something that was built over a weekend with chewing gum and electrical tape, huh? Try putting 4, 5, 6 or more years of your life into building an aircraft. Too many people die in these planes and something should be done to regulate them as automobiles are. Phil, do you realize that more people are killed each year in cars, than were killed in the entire Vietnam war? (57,695 killed by cars in 2006 - 52,000 American soldiers were killed in battle in all of Vietnam) If you want to see a lot of deaths, go to the NTSB aviation database and search for all Cessna/Fatal. The reason why the experimental class of aircraft has seen a rise in accidents is because more are now flying. For comparison, which automobile has the greatest number of accidents? The Toyota Corolla. Because it's unsafe? No, because it is the all-time largest selling automobile is existence. After working 10 years as a trauma tech, I can assure you that cars kill much more than aircraft. You can't build and experimental automobile and drive it without federal and state authorities looking over your shoulder! Usually most of these crashes are experimental planes with an older person behind the controls. Older pilots are evidently not as regulated as the older people with automobile licenses are. They should probably be checked more often both mentally and physically the automobile owners." Okay, now you hit a sore point! I lived in Cape Coral, Fl "the home of the newly wed, and the nearly dead", I can attest that older drivers are NOT checked, physically. Try flying with anything wrong. Have a heart attack...they take away your driver's license? Nope...but a pilot will be grounded. The funniest part is that the "old pilots" were on the ground in their RV-8 and were hit by the Velocity aircraft. The comments that this "expert writer of commentary" left show how poorly the non-flying public understands flying. We need to educate them

Name That Plane

Be the first to identify this aircraft and WIN!! A prize of $1.37USD* will be awarded to the first person to correctly identify the aircraft above.

*The prize winner will be required to drive to Idanha, Oregon in order to pick up their winnings. All travel expenses will be paid by the winner. If the winner declines their prize, no alternate prize will be offered and the grand prize will roll over to the next contest. The winner is responsible for all taxes and must agree to allow their images to be used for advertising purposes without any further compensation.

Does It Snow In Oregon?

Idea For Sorting Rivets

I was reading Matt's RV-7 Project blog and wondering if there is an easier way to sort various-sized rivets that sometimes come "grouped" into a single bag.

My idea is to take a piece of Delrin® or other hard plastic and use a router to cut an angle, equal to the angle of the rivet head, along the length.

At the botton of the groove, an additional slot that is equal to a specific length rivet would be routed. You could have multiple sorters for different size rivets.

You should be able to pour the rivets into the trough and they should settle into the groove and all rivets beyond the depth of the groove would stand "proud" of the trough. Remove these and you should have all equal length rivets.

A (very rough) drawing of the cross section shows above.

Comments?

Update On Titusville Crash

According to the Daytona Beach news-journalonline.com

"TITUSVILLE -- Two Spruce Creek residents were killed Saturday morning in an airplane collision at the Arthur Dunn airport, according to wire and witness accounts.

According to Keith Phillips, president of the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 288 in Spruce Creek, the two men aboard -- William Hess and Phil Schacht -- were taxiing on the ground in an experimental aircraft when another plane lost control while trying to land and struck their plane.

Phillips was in the air at the time and witnessed at the accident. Members of the EAA club were flying to Titusville for a pancake breakfast.

Two unidentified men in the other aircraft were severely burned and were taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to wire reports."

2 Dead 2 Injured in Florida Crash

Photos courtesy Associated Press

Photo courtesy of KOMO News

Cell phone image by Susanne Cervenka of Florida Today.

According to Channel 6 in Florida, 2 people were killed and 2 were severely burned when two planes collided at Arthur Dunn Airpark in Titusville.

Early reports claim that one aircraft was on the ground and another aircraft was circling and approaching to land.

The accident occured at the monthly pancake breakfast of the EAA Chapter 866.

There are no reports of who was killed or gender or ages.