Here is the NTSB’s Preliminary Report on Steve Fossett. I must admit, I was a bit surprised. To list injuries as “1 Fatal” seems a little premature to me, but, it’s been weeks now and still there’s not a single serious lead in the mystery of Fossett’s disappearance. Not only that but his airplane’s emergency locator transmitter and the Breitling Professional Emergency Mission Man Watch he was reportably wearing have apparently never emitted any detectable distress signals.

So where on Earth is Steve Fossett? Only time will tell. I have a few of my own theories, some of which are quite “far out” but have already been posted to the Internet in other blogs, etc, so I won’t waste your serious time by posting them here. (In short they have to do with military airspace and the lack of dry lake beds in Nevada big enough to support a land speed record outside of anything restricted by the military). I fly over northern Nevada all the time and when compared to Bonneville in Utah, the pickings are quite slim for a speed record and I must admit I was also a bit surprised that Fossett wouldn’t have just picked Bonneville for his quest.

On the other hand, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very big place (not to make the understatement of the century). I also fly over them almost weekly and I look down every time hoping to get a glimpse of anything attributable Fossett’s search. Additionally a radio is usually set to 121.50 and I haven’t heard any distress signal out there since the date of Fossett’s disappearance.

So in conclusion, I must say that from now on when flying over the search area I will always be reminded of Steve Fossett, and I just hope this mystery comes to a close in my lifetime now. On the other hand, he could just walk right out of the forest and it probably wouldn’t surprise me that much either, ironically.

~Capt’n chris

Filed under: TidBits | |

Check these videos out, if you haven’t seen them already.

Recently at Portugal’s Evora Air Show a TAP Airlines A310 banks left too soon after a low fly by and it’s wing tip almost “TAPs” the ground [No pun intended - Author].

This airplane was on the back side of the power curve, low, dirty and slow. This is one of the most challenging control phases of flight for any airplane. New pilots practice it - It’s called MCA, short for minimum controllable airspeed, and it’s taught just prior to learning how to land. The only difference is that instructors have their students do it thousands of feet up in the air so that there’s lots of room for error.

Here, this experienced TAP pilot demonstrates minimum controllable airspeed at very low altitude with a very big airplane in front of a very big crowd. Now, part of the purpose behind airshows is to thrill people, but this could have been catastrophic and it makes you wonder what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall inside the Chief Pilot’s office on this one.

~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Videos | |

Well yesterday I got into a (somewhat heated) debate over my last post, Southwest and the “Tail(s) of Two Hotties.” Granted it was with a friend, actually one of my best friends, who is just as opinionated as I am, so go figure. But I have a lot of respect for him, he raised some good points, and I would like to re-post them here. Note: I did ask him to sign up for the site but he’s rather busy as the founder of a big company and so I understand as he just doesn’t have any time except for that required of an occasional visit now and then. For the sake of anonymity, I’ll just refer to him as LKKIII.

My friend’s main points:

• Southwest should not be telling it’s customers how to dress
• Hottie #1 is not looking for 15 minutes of fame
• Southwest should put it’s customers first, not it’s employees
• My friend’s quote: “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have a problem with skimpy dressed women on airplanes, I was surprised”

I’m going to address my friend’s points now.

Southwest should not be telling it’s customers how to dress
I agree, but I guess I just didn’t do a good enough job of saying that in the post- My main focus was on the 15 minutes of fame element, the part I still disagree with as far as everything is concerned.

Hottie #1 is not looking for 15 minutes of fame
My friend said that Hottie #1 is being offered money and invites to appear on national TV, as opposed to pursuing it. Well I suppose that’s true. But isn’t Hottie #2? I can’t imagine she isn’t… So where has she been?

Southwest should put it’s customers first, not it’s employees
Ah…. Okay well I understand that’s a staple of modern business today, and I’m not going to argue with someone of my friend’s statue and position in the business world over it. I’m not saying that’s wrong either.

But exactly not doing that is one of the things that has made Southwest “work.” What I mean by that is this: In an industry where employee morale seems to determine to a large extent an airline’s ultimate success or failure, Southwest has demonstrated that by empowering their employees and making them feel important, they then become owners and therefore show a higher sense of concern for the company’s overall well being by default. Southwest president Colleen Barrett recently stated “We are in the customer-service business; we happen to offer air transportation. We consider our employees to be our number one customer, our passengers our second and our shareholders our third. If we give great customer service to our employees as leaders, they will in turn provide it to their customers, who are the passengers. And the rewards will be there for our shareholders.” I believe that any company is only as good as it’s employees.

My friend’s quote: “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have a problem with skimpy dressed women on airplanes, I was surprised”
I don’t. In fact the last thing I typed was: “Maybe Southwest will see all this as a wake up call and finally revert to it’s old (and much more preferred - Author) flight attendant uniforms…? Fingers crossed”

And with that I leave you with this: Go to Southwest’s website and take advantage of their new “Skimpy Fares” sale!

And to my friend, thank you for your interesting viewpoints and I hope to one day see you join up here.

~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

Kyla Ebbert - Hottie #1Well it sure seems like Southwest Airlines has been in the news a lot lately, and none of these recent news worthies have had anything to do with cheap fares. First it was an attractive, young, and very blond Hooters Waitress named Kyla Ebbert. Then it was Setara Qassim, an equitably hot brunette who was asked by a Southwest Flight Attendant to cover up as well. [Her assets also, presumably? Author].

I won’t get into the details of either [newsworthy?] story as the networks have done a fine job of saturating us with that. But, I did come away from both of these ‘ordeals’ with additional observations (other then the obvious) that I’d like to share with you. And for the sake of complete grammatical laziness, from now on I will refer to the young women, Kyla Ebbert and Setara Qassim, as Hottie #1 and Hottie #2, respectively.

Okay, where do I begin? Well for starters a lot of people are saying that Hottie #1’s skirt wasn’t too short, but I did find a reference to something shall we say, quite interesting. In doing research for this article, I found this: On NationalLedger.Com, they talk about the Good Morning America interview with Matt Lauer, specially when Hottie #1 sat down. You could say it was sort of like Sharon Stone’s famous “exposure” in the movie Basic Instinct. Except with panties on (white panties, to be exact). And this was the same skirt Hottie #1 was wearing on the Southwest flight. Go figure! Unless it’s already been edited, you can see what I’m talking about by clicking this link, you pervert.

Moving on, if you’re a beautiful young female with a stronger balance sheet then ExxonMobil and a flight attendant tells you to cover up, how far you run with it when you get off the airplane is up to you- Or, you could just jump right out of the airplane at 35,000 feet and start early. It sure seems as though Hottie #1 did just that, doesn’t it? I mean she’s been on every news broadcast around. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even goes on Dr. Phil to work through her Southwest inspired “trauma.”

Update: Since starting this article I’ve learned that Hottie #1 is really going on Dr. Phil! Yes!!! The show is set to air on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. If you don’t believe me, CLICK HERE or HERE. Folks I wish I could make this stuff up, really, I’d be in a whole different career.

Now, I don’t want you to think I don’t have any compassion here folks, really… I do! What both of these women went through must have been embarrassing. I just have a problem in general with what people are willing to do in order to get 15 minutes of fame. Southwest said it apologised back in August and it should have been left at that.

So, having to deal with one woman’s pursuit of fame at their expense, Southwest has decided to take this story run with it themselves. And so in their typical good old fashioned humor, they’ve turned it into a marketing ploy with the Skimpy Fare sale for the next 10 days… And I say good for Southwest.

But at first Southwest wasn’t going to apologise for anything. In wanting to uphold the time honored tradition of putting their employees first, Southwest president Colleen Barrett said in a speech recently at Texas Christian University “I just can’t do that to the customer service supe (supervisor), he handled the situation discreetly and with patience, and he did not deny her boarding.” According to that same source Barret also said “I’m sure she will probably have a movie contract by next week…”

Setara Qassim
Hottie #2Hottie #2 has yet to do much of anything along any of the same attention getting lines (that I could find), other then this interview. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps she realized she actually wouldn’t get long lasting fame and fortune from it.

Out of curiosity though, I did an extensive Internet search on Hottie #2, however. Other then the usual single news article, re-printed on various news sources, I did find something interesting. Hottie #2’s picture came up on a WireImage.Com listing from 2006. In case you’ve never heard of WireImage, their About Us page says in part that they’re “an authority for celebrity imagery.” Here’s the picture I’m referring to: here.

I presume it’s the same person as in the WireImage photo. That distinctive name, same hair color, figure, etc. It was taken at the Korn “See You on the Other Side” Tour Launch Party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Friday January 13, 2006 in LA. And actually I have no idea what to make of it other then she’s Hollywood Elite who frequents such events. But WireImage took the time to take her pic, cite her name, etc and I just find that interesting. A Google search of the other girl (her sister?) in the pic doesn’t return anything meaningful and life-changing either. Oh well, poo-hoo I’m devastated.

And with that folks… This dog, goat, horse & pony show must come to an end. Or will it? Maybe Southwest will see all this as a wake up call and finally revert to it’s old (and much more preferred - Author) flight attendant uniforms…?

Fingers crossed!
~Capt’n Chris

Filed under: Editorials | |

The PBY Catalina09/12/07 0500Z - I’ve just fixed the problem causing none of the episodes to download. It was a coding issue within one of the plugins in use. Thank you for your patience.

It’s PlaneMadness Episode #16! Join me in a fascinating interview with Joe Schiel, vintage aircraft restoration extraordinaire and PBY Catalina Pilot.

Links to More Info on the PBY
PBY.Com - This site is for PBY enthusiasts and researchers
The PBY at Wikipedia

Enjoy!
~Capt’n Chris

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