"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Aviation-related posts
Is air power the new face of successful war-fighting? Much to the dismay of the boots-on-the-ground zealots … the answer for today’s democracies may well be “yes.” During the summer, while U.S. ground forces in Iraq were distracted investigating potential war criminals in their midst, air power delivered a major success. … When thousands of troops […]
My friend Dick Herman, in a comment to an earlier entry, asked for my thoughts on the warrior ethic. For a few years, back when my career was on fire, I was on the staff of a joint command, working with Army, Navy, and Marine officers. Army and Marine officers could philosophize about the warrior […]
What fun! Went flying with a buddy this morning, a retired USAF lieutenant colonel with a background in B-52s and C-130s. He knows people I flew with, I know people he flew with, and, like me, he was once a headquarters flight safety chief. Running out of things to talk about was never a problem. […]
This entry was posted by my co-blogger Dick, a writer and former squadron mate: For the record, I was in the pit of Stormy’s F-15 when Paul flew his flight lead check out of Soesterberg, like in 1981 or there abouts. That mission told me all I needed to know about Skid. Yeah, he had […]
Several years ago, when I was chief of flight safety for one of the USAF’s major air commands, I was ordered to interfere in an ongoing major aircraft mishap investigation. My mission was to shift the investigation from the track it was on (the right one) to another track (a false one). Some explanations are […]
Funny, I have the same reaction when I hear air traffic controllers whine about stress . . . Drudge links to this Evening Standard article: Commuting ‘more stressful than flying a jet fighter’. Lead sentence: “A major new study claims the average journey by train or bus is more stressful than being a fighter pilot […]
I spent almost 2,000 hours of my life sitting on that seat, and I know it’s a damn good one, but I’m sure glad I never had to use it!