“…“Both of these accidents were entirely preventable,” thundered Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the Commerce Committee’s chair, during an exchange with Muilenburg. It was Wicker who invited the contingent of victims’ relatives to rise with the photos of the departed, as Muilenburg turned in his chair to look at them.
“As I watched those loved ones stand…my anger has only grown,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “Those pilots never had a chance. These loved ones never had a chance. They were in flying coffins as a result of Boeing deciding that it was going to conceal MCAS from the pilots.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) agreed, telling the CEO of the Chicago-based Boeing, “Youset those pilots up for failure.”…”
This is political theater AT ITS WORST! TLJ flew to Pensacola Wednesday on Southwest, and we’d have had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER with her traveling on a 737 MAX, and no concern joining her…provided we had a well-experienced pair of pilots at the controls.
Unfortunately, as Shakespeare so eloquently noted in Hamlet, therein lies the rub, as the Ethiopian Airlines first officer in the accident had under 300 flight hours…IN TOTAL; less than we had upon completing initial Navy flight training. And we’d be willing to bet our entire net worth, unlike us, he’d have been as useless as a…
While Boeing doesn’t have completely clean hands in this, as we detailed back in March (twice), we’ve got two good Naval Academy buddies, both former F-14 drivers…both retired, highly experienced 737 pilots…both of who spent their last two years flying the 737 MAX. One actually flew the crash scenario in a simulator and said he had no problem dealing with the problem. The other commented, “At [U.S. carrier], we all adhered to one “motto”, if it isn’t doing what you commanded it to do, turn it off and FLY the jet!“, which includes the MCAS system.
Here’s the juice: too many pilots today have too few flight hours, many of who only know how to interface with a flight computer and DON’T know how to FLY AN AIRPLANE!
At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, here are three more examples of when a cockpit crew’s over-reliance upon automation, lack of understanding of aircraft systems and/or lack of basic stick-and-rudder skills ended in disaster:
Asiana Airlines Flight 214: It was the pilot-in-command’s first hands-on visual approach…into SFO…on a clear and sunny day…in a 777! Whooda thunk he’d suck the power back, then forget to bring it back up as the aircraft slowed?!?
Air France Flight 447: The first officer on an A330 bound from Brazil to Paris grossly overreacted to a minor instrument icing problem, stalled the aircraft at altitude, then rode it all the way into the Atlantic with the joystick full aft, never once dropping the nose to escape the stall.
New Zealand Air Flight 888: During a stall test as part of an acceptance check flight of an A320, an experienced cockpit crew never noticed a warning telling them to manually trim the aircraft as the flight computer was no longer functional, instead over-relying on the aircraft’s safety systems to address the problem.
And there are many more. Our point is this: while automation is great (the Miracle on the Hudson was due, in no small part, to the A320’s flight computer keeping the aircraft at the optimal angle-of-attack), when push comes to shove, a pilot of Sully Sullenberger’s experience at hands-on flying is who we would want at the controls…other than, of course, ourselves. 😉
For more on the subject, we recommend this article (gasp!) from the New York Times, which, while more than a little heavy on the Boeing-is-guilty-by-virtue-of-being-a-corporation blame, still stresses the inadequacies of Third World aviation training.
Now, here’s The Gouge!
Since we’ve already thrown the bullsh*t flag once, we’ll toss it again, as…
“Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., ripped into her political opponents on Thursday, denouncing what she called a “double standard” in politics that allegedly punished her while letting President Trump and others off the hook.
“I am leaving now because of a double standard,” she said. “I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip. I’m leaving because I didn’t want to be pedaled by papers and blogs and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I’ve ever seen — and the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand their audience by distributing intimate photos of me — taken without my knowledge, let alone my consent — for the sexual entertainment of millions.”
Hill claimed that she was leaving as men remained in Congress, the Oval Office, and the Supreme Court after being “credibly accused of acts of sexual violence” — a clear jab at Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh…”
Sorry,…for the “sexual entertainment of millions”?!?
As we noted in our last edition…
If Hill’s photo was used for anything, it was as an emetic. Sorry Katie, but when it comes to double-standards in cases of sexual harassment in Washington, your party not only pioneered it…
…but pretty much has a corner on the market!
And since thrice is a charm, we hurl the bovine excrement flag a third time in response to…
“White Americans are “still running” elsewhere when minorities and immigrants move into their communities, Michelle Obama observed Tuesday. The former first lady made the remarks at the Obama Foundation Summit, held at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
In a sit-down interview with journalist Isabel Wilkerson, in which Obama was accompanied by her brother, Craig Robinson, an executive with the NBA’s New York Knicks, Obama described when she first became conscious of what’s been called “white flight.”“We were doing everything we were supposed to do – and better,” Obama said of her family, recalling when they got a new address on Chicago’s South Side.“But when we moved in, white families moved out…”
Where to begin?!? First, the article misquotes Moochie, who didn’t use the term White “families“, but rather White “folks“. Second, would it be too much to ask Moochie for proof of her claim?!? After all, now that you’ve moved in, are all the “White folks” moving off…
…Martha’s Vineyard? Have all the White families fled…
…Kalorama to avoid the Obamas?
Who better to give the truth to Moochie’s lie than the Hodge twins:
“CNN went apesnit Friday night on the news that Facebook had tapped Breitbart as one of the sources for its new “news tab.” National Reviewwas also tapped, indicating that Facebook is making an effort to be inclusive in its understanding of what news is. Perhaps Facebook has noticed that a declared ideological agenda, as opposed to an undeclared one, is insufficient cause for disregarding a media outlet.
CNN’s Brian Stelter used a chunk of his Friday-night newsletter to waste everyone’s time reporting that various like-minded individuals were of like mind; literally all of the “experts” he contacted for comment about the inclusion of Breitbartwere established anti-Breitbarters who he knew would provide him with anti-Breitbart comments.Why reporters continue to launder their opinions through cherry-picked experts, professors, wonks, and fellow journos is a mystery. Why not just tell us what you, Brian Stelter, obviously think, which is that Breitbart is beyond the pale and ought not be admitted in polite company?Make the case, Brian Stelter! Don’t hide behind your friends’ opinions. The case can very easily be made. Except…not by you…”
As we again mentioned in the Wednesday edition, our contemporary MSM reminds us of the Yellow Journalists of yesteryore: primarily William Randolph Hearst and the “sainted” yet “stained” Joseph Pulitzer.
As the builder of Xanadu instructed us, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war!”
In a related item from The Babylon Bee as forwarded by Jeff Foutch records…
Everyone praised the classified “Hero Dog” for taking down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Everyone, that is, except CNN, who quickly searched through the dog’s internet history and college yearbooks.Sure enough, CNN found a picture of the Hero Dog partying at obedience school. In the picture, the dog is seen sniffing a butt without consent.
“Oh yeah, good old [redacted]? He was nuts!” said one German Shepherd who attended Old Yaler Obedience School with the hero dog, according to a CNN report. “He was always sniffing any butt he could find. Cats, dogs, humans, you name it. He didn’t have a preference. He identified as pansniffual.”
Troubling reports from classmates indicate that the dog sniffed all these butts without consent.
The dog wrote cryptic things in his college yearbook, apparently referring to different butt-sniffing maneuvers such as the Surprise Sniffarooski and the Canine’s Triangle.
The dog has issued a statement: “I like butts. I’ve always liked butts. I still like butts, but I never sniff butts to the point of excess. Who’s a good boy?I am.”
Democrats immediately called for the dog to be court-martialed and for the death of Baghdadi to be overturned.
Meanwhile, as this next photo confirms, every hero has a sidekick:
For anyone interested in seeing how political correctness has infested America’s education system, check out the latest from Fred Hess at AEI. Be certain to click on the petition and defense links featured in his commentary, as well as the comments section at the bottom of the petition.
More proof, as if any were needed, Progressives are positively, irreversibly…
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