Air-Minded: On a Boom and a Prayer
Fighters don’t carry a lot of fuel, and what they carry they burn at a great rate.
Tuesday Bag o’ Off-White
I was going to write a Veterans Day post but settled for a couple of short entries on Facebook and Instagram, along with some photos of combat veteran aircraft from the air museum. Writing about my own service seems, I don’t know, self-serving? Like I’m asking for a pat on the back? For doing something I loved doing?
Air-Minded: Get Your Motor Runnin’ (Updated 11/6/19)
I’ve been thinking about the different methods of starting aircraft engines. Today you start almost all aircraft piston engines the same way you start your car: by turning on the ignition and engaging an electric starter motor. Of course this wasn’t always the way. In the beginning you had to hand-prop them. If you own […]
Air-Minded: PASM Photoblog XVIII
I don’t know why, with my fighter and trainer background, I should be drawn to this old Buff, but it fascinates me and I come back to it again and again.
Neutrality in the Commons
In the 1980s DoD policy forbid airing partisan commentary on common area TVs and radios. CNN, which in those days was a pure news outlet offering around the clock international and domestic reporting, was authorized, and it ran in the background on TV monitors at military command headquarters and the Pentagon.
Representing (Updated 9/11/19)
I don’t think of myself as a conformist, although I served on active duty and wore a uniform every day for 24 years. Even today, I feel proud when I put on my uniform shirt to go work at the air museum. I’m still me, but I’m happy to represent institutions I believe in and voluntarily join, and feel like wearing their colors … no different than a Hash House Harrier or Hells Angel … sets me apart.
Grifters Gonna Grift
Color me shocked to learn Trump has found a new way to prop up his money-losing businesses.
Dawn Patrol
These are the best mornings. Up early, walking through the neighborhood while it’s still cool, policing the back yard for dog poop, coffee and a hot muffin for breakfast, a devoted dog by my side, the rest of the morning mine to write, read, or whatever I want to do.