Air-Minded: Bitchin’ Betty (Updated 4/25/19)

When Sexy Sally started warning B-58 Hustler crews about engine fires in the 1960s, it was a major innovation, and using a woman’s voice was considered a brilliant stroke: human factors researchers thought a woman’s voice—rarely heard on the radio and never on the intercom—would cut through other chatter and get the crews’ attention.

Tuesday Bag o’ Crossed Lines

Monday last I had to haul my miserable hacking feverish runny-nosed voiceless self home from Pima Air and Space Museum after the first tram tour of the day, leaving my co-volunteers in the lurch. I made up for it yesterday with four nearly back-to-back tours, one every other hour, from the first tour of the day to the last.

Air-MInded: Wings of Freedom Photoblog

The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit that, among other things, tours the country with a fleet of WWII-era aircraft. Last weekend its Wings of Freedom Tour stopped at Marana Regional Airport, just north of Tucson, and I rode out to see the planes.

Ideas for the Task Force

Sexual assault in the military continues to be a huge problem. Arizona Senator Martha McSally recently revealed that, as a young fighter pilot, she was raped by a senior officer. She called for the creation of a Department of Defense sexual assault task force, and yesterday acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan agreed to form one.