The US Hamster Wheel

[Slasher]

I'm sure New Zealand has and is making a contribution to the well-being of the world, enlighten me as to what that is, as I don't know.

Meat! Specifically steak cuts. Best in the bloody world.

I've eaten Argentinian, Chinese, 'strayan, English, Frog, Russki, Murrican (LA and NYC) and the Kiwi version tops 'em all.

On every CHC and AKL nightstop I did with SQ my cholesterol and iron would shoot through the roof. Then down the butchers to order tons of the bloody stuff then vacuum packed to take back to SIN. Cheap too as the NZ$ wasn't worth much.

Must be something in the NZ grass or water.

[Boac]

The mighty intellect at work again

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

"I meet and talk to “foreign governments” every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about “Everything!"

Oh boy!

[Woody]

The mighty intellect at work again

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

"I meet and talk to “foreign governments” every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about “Everything!"

Oh boy!

I’ll sleep easier tonight knowing this

[llondel]

It survived tenaciously, but the US brought it to a new level of humanity, respect for the individual, Freedom and liberty, and the rejection of empires, colonialism and totalitarian ideologies. I'm gratified that you may have finally taken notice.

Not as free as you might think when you take a closer look. Permits for this, forms for that, petty rules dreamed up by local bureaucrats. That's not to say anywhere else is any better, and some of the rules are backed by logic and reason, but there's an awful lot of excess crap that probably shouldn't be there.

I see Mitch has been caught building his own personal empire with his Transport Secretary wife favouring projects that help the family and make him look good for re-election. If that was happening in a banana republic the US would be denouncing it as corruption. Freedom and liberty provided you're a white male, otherwise here's a whole load of other rules and restrictions for you, with the death penalty (carried out by your local cop) in some cases if you step out of line, and sometimes even if you don't.

[Boac]

I see the Chump has managed to correct his major faux pas with the Whales but still has not listened to (or probably not understood) any of the briefings about HMQ who is Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dullard!

[BenThere]

Be generous, Boac.

Most Americans, especially those without passports, regard HMQ as 'Queen of England'. Our native history books about the US conflicts with the Monarchy in centuries past reinforce England as the focus, not 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. George III was KOE. In that light, please cut some slack. Further, as tweets are the president's choice to communicate his thoughts, they are subject to auto-correction so that 'Wales' might be converted to 'Whales' perhaps. I concede that at his level he should pay attention, and perhaps have an editor review his tweets before hitting the send button, but I cut him some slack there, too, as I value his direct communication with me and the masses more than I value niggling with the small stuff. We all can decide whether we agree or not if we can get past the petty critiques of form. His motives and meaning are usually obvious.

The message of his tweets in general is usually quite direct, clear, and naked of subterfuge. The nice thing about President Trump is that everyone knows where he stands when he posts his thoughts, usually late at night, a time when our former president might have been sleeping or stoned. President Trump doesn't drink or do drugs, and puts more energy into his job than we have seen in a president in our lifetimes.

[Boac]

"I concede that at his level he should pay attention" - a welcome chink in the armour. Melanie agrees. (PS 'Chink' is ENGLISH slang (racial, of course) for a Chinaman.)

"everyone knows where he stands when he posts his thoughts," - except all those who are mightily confused by conflicting statements?

The only slack I would 'cut' this person is in the rope before the trapdoor opens.

[Undried Plum]

[Boac]

Republican Congressman Sam Graves:
"In May, Graves insisted that “facts in the preliminary report reveal pilot error as a factor”. He went on to claim that “pilots trained in the US would have successfully been able to control this situation”.
I guess he is hoping that the pilots of UAL 627 were not American?

Another Republican trumpet'. Where DO they find them?

[BenThere]

As far as I know United 627 resulted from a hard landing not related to the automation and training for automation anomalies and systems knowledge. And no one was hurt on United 627. Hard landings and runway excursions occur but are not frequent. If you want to make the case to disparage American carriers and their pilot training why don't you google data on general accident rates of nations with air carriers. Extra credit if you can break out incidents due to pilot error. Also consider the number of US carrier flights operated every day.

Pilots are human and do make mistakes, even US pilots. My point was that major American carriers flying modern, automated airliners train their pilots to understand their automation and know how to overcome it when it goes awry. It was drilled into me every nine months when I went to Atlanta for recurrent training and evaluation in the simulator. It appears to me that the pilots of the two recent 737 Max crashes didn't adequately understand their automation and how to override it when necessary, though I haven't seen the results of the investigations.

[Woody]

Ben difficult to train on a system that the manufacturer doesn’t tell you about.

The MCAS was not mentioned in the aircraft's flight crew operations manual (FCOM), the basis for airlines' documentation and training. According to Boeing, "a pilot should never see the operation of MCAS" in normal flying conditions,[3] and it is "fundamentally embedded in the handling qualities" and "not a separate system to be trained on",[2] hence there is no need to inundate average pilots with more information than they need or can digest.[5] In the rare cases when the system activates, its operation will "likely go unnoticed by the pilot."[3]

[Boac]

Not if you are a Skygod, Woody.

[Woody]

Not if you are a Skygod, Woody.

Not many about these days

[Boac]

Lots in the USA

[BenThere]

Perhaps one advantage is that large American carriers have the resources to ascertain the shortcomings of manufacturer supplied documentation and derive counters to the threats. I think that may be what Delta did after Air France crashed an A330 into the Atlantic. I got posted to the A330 after that crash and by the time I got to Atlanta for training Delta had already assessed what happened and trained me on how to overcome the circumstances that led to the disaster.

I think it's less that we Americans are sky gods or better than anyone else. But it isn't easy to get hired by a major American carrier. You need a lot of hours and have to prove a spotless record and a reputation for character, reliability, attitude and other positive attributes. Smaller carriers world-wide, I suggest, have lesser standards, lesser corporate expertise to identify and counter threats in training, and a smaller group of individuals to choose to become their pilots, hence they have more accidents.

For the reasons above and others, I want to fly on Delta, American or United and will choose my destinations (now that I'm retired virtually all my air travel is recreational and discretionary) accordingly. I also approve Speedbird, Lufthansa, KLM and Air France, but to a slightly lesser degree.

[llondel]

For the reasons above and others, I want to fly on Delta, American or United and will choose my destinations (now that I'm retired virtually all my air travel is recreational and discretionary) accordingly. I also approve Speedbird, Lufthansa, KLM and Air France, but to a slightly lesser degree.

Air France? Really? You're braver than me then.

[John Hill]

I guess I am stuck at home then Ben as I do not think any of those carriers operate to our town.

[Boac]

Bad news, Trumpers- it's from the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/ ... r-identity

[Undried Plum]

This time it's the Secy Defense Designate, Patrick Shanahan. He's stepping back through the revolving door and going back to Boeing. Something to do with a domestic disturbance involving his wife and a baseball bat. Nice.

His replacement is a Raytheon man. Vice President of Government Relations. Nice.

An interesting combination of fascism and corruption at play there.

[Boac]

An unsurprising and probably accurate analysis of the Chump's re-election prospects from our favourite newspaper. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... e-election

At the moment I can see no alternative but a different Republican candidate. The Dems are shot.