I too was sorry to hear of Don's sudden passing. If you examine information posted by others from Don's blogs you can see he had in interesting and varied career and had the pleasure piloting a list of notable aircraft. Earned my Private Pilots License on 4 July 1965. Earned my A&P license Sprin...

The media has reported that the plane broke up in flight due the the large debris field. They have also reported it was intact until it struck the ocean due to the fuel oil slick. They also reported that the plane might have been flying too slowly through the storm cells. Now this. The New York Time...

Here's speculation that the plane didn't break up until impacting the ocean and discussion of 2 debris fields 90 km apart. Excerpt: As several ships trawled the crash site in the Atlantic, Brazil's defense minister said a 20-kilometer (12-mile) oil slick near where the plane went down on Monday indi...

Excerpt: The Wall Street Journal reported that UAL Corp's (UAUA.O) United Airlines had asked Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (EAD.PA) to put forward competing bids for up to 150 new airliners, contrasting with many who are axeing or delaying purchases. The deal could be worth more than $10 billion for the ...

Someone will not be getting his Wednesday evening special.

No Tuna Casserole tonight?

Nicely Played, Mr. Pilot.

Here is a stock CNN piece on the A330. Excerpt: According to aviation expert Kieran Daly, the A330-200 is a "reliable, ultra-modern, state-of-the-art airplane," with an impeccable safety record. He told CNN that there has only been one reported incident when an aircraft of this type has cr...

All good suggestions (except for mentioning a certain website). I'd also recommend having a couple of questions ready to ask them toward the end. While it isn't out of line to ask what sort of activities they have in mind for interns, the question should demonstrate your knowledge and interst in the...

I submit, madam.

Are you referring to Sindeewell or to the hamberger-serving nurses?

Why not revive this thread with the following - a meal to die for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKRSYAuSNg

(Another report to elicit a response from Verbal) Excerpt: Airbus upbeat on A350 timetable AIRBUS chief executive Tom Enders is confident the new A350 XWB aircraft will not run into the problems experienced by its A380 superjumbo or the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. * * * The 787 is almost two years late a...

Start-Up? Excerpt Boeing starts 787's Trent 1000 engines, juggles Qantas deliveries Monday May 18, 2009 Boeing planned to start the Trent 1000 engines yesterday on its first 787 test aircraft and is finalizing a deal with Qantas to avoid Dreamliner deferrals. ZA001, which spent last week completing...

To hijack the thread for a moment, even though texting is not a direct causal factor in this crash, NTSB is very focused on personal electronic devices. The Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth, CA (25 fatalities) involved an engineer texting at the time the train passed a critical signal. The street...

More Presss Coverage: Excerpt: Colgan Air Pilots Faced Long Commutes, Low Pay, Second Jobs Under questioning from the board, Mary Finnigan, Colgan's vice president for administration, reported that Rebecca Shaw, co-pilot of the crash plane, drew an annual salary of $16,200 a year. The board also sai...

Here is a little more information. The crew was discussing their lack of experience with icing conditions just prior to the following: Moments later, the crew lowered the plane's flaps and landing gear, and the plane quickly encountered trouble. The plane's "stick shaker," a stall warning ...

I don't. I go to the bathroom right there in my seat. Is this too much information?

Surely you unbuckle first.

Some updates: Captain's Training Faulted Excerpt Capt. Marvin Renslow had never been properly trained by the company to respond to a warning system designed to prevent the plane from going into a stall, according to people familiar with the investigation. As the speed slowed to a dangerous level, se...

Perhaps the two previous posts are among the finest examples of the differences represented by the resident experts on these pages.

Airbus Cuts Some A380 Deliveries Amid Weak Demand Excerpt: Airbus said it will now deliver 14 A380 aircraft in 2009 instead of the 18 it had predicted in January. As a result, in 2010 it will deliver more than the previously expected 20 A380 aircraft, the company said, without providing a specific ...

Last Saturday I took two flights from the east to west US coast and returned on Monday. All the while I only saw a couple of people wearing dust masks and only on Monday when the media was conceeding that the flu might not be of epic proportions. Two with masks were in the SFO terminal walking towar...

Verbal's post reminds me of a time in the late '70's when I and a colleague found ourselves in a roadside bar where the juke box was entertaining the patrons with that moaning song. Down at the end of the bar, at each chorus a drunken derelict of an old woman would slur along with Morris Albert (or ...

locomotive engines Now, there's a man's engine...... no sissy boat motor there...... Indeed . Here's a promotion for a video of Union Pacific's Big Boy 4-8-8-4 locomotives from 1941. The name came from one of the workman at the locomotive plant having chalked "Big Boy" on the smoke box of...

locomotive engines Now, there's a man's engine...... no sissy boat motor there...... Indeed . Here's a promotion for a video of Union Pacific's Big Boy 4-8-8-4 locomotives from 1941. The name came from one of the workman at the locomotive plant having chalked "Big Boy" on the smoke box of...

I still have stacks of copies of letter I wrote when seeking jobs - some of them during times of economic downturn. Most of them were fruitless but a number of them resulted in a series of improving jobs in my chosen career. You've a network (professors, friends, family) and the drive to succeed. Th...

Pension stolen by the Chairman of the Board

Not this Chairman