Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2005

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was good, all things considered. I flew a 7.2 hour mission that lasted nearly the entire day. I flew with a Pilot-in-Command that I have not flown with before and he was very relaxed about letting me fly the entire mission. I got some great flying done.

We began the day by flying a country music star named Aaron Tippon to our base for a concert. I did not know who he was but I guess he is pretty famous. I got a picture of myself with him in front of the helicopter. It turns out that his son-in-law is a pilot here and that Mr. Tippon is a private helicopter pilot himself.

After flying the performer, we did some more battlefield circulation and then returned to Speicher in time for thanksgiving dinner. The dinner had all of the expected foods - turkey, ham, sweet potatos, stuffing, pie. The food was average, at best, but the thought was nice. I was thankful for returning safe from the mission, having a good day of flying, and having a great group of friends and family here and back home.

I am attaching a photo of me with Aaron Tippon.

Tire economics

November 21, 2005

WIth a need to replace the wheels on the Passat searching for information on how wheel size influences fuel economy is my new pastime. Tire Rack has an article suggesting that "upsizing" to performance tires may cause an increase in rolling resistance. This seems to be logical. There is also the trade off in weight. Low-profile tires are lighter but the wheels they mount on are heavier than their 15-inch brethren.

If low-profile did better in the lab would not the Ford Focus have standard 17-inch wheels instead of 12- or 13-inchers? Another article from a trucking publication says "When low profile tires first came out, they were about 4 percent more fuel efficient." It concludes "With today's new tires, there is virtually no difference in mpg due to tire size." I'm leaning towards believing this. Apparently it is true for large trucks and if anything it seems smaller wheels may provide better economy. Certainly when it comes time to buy new tires the standard-sized option will be significantly cheaper. Added to the extra shock-absorbing and the possibility that the next pothole won't require a new set of rims and the idea looks pretty good.

Recent Missions

November 19, 2005

I have not been flying very much recently but the missions that I have flown have been pretty interesting. I flew a "hero" mission and a mission with an Apache. These are different from the usual "battlefield circulation" (read bus driving) missions that I usually fly.

A "hero" mission is a mission to pick up the body of a soldier killed in action and transport the corpse to an air force base for the final trip home. I was on the night standby crew a few days ago when we got word that we were needed for a hero mission. A soldier had been injured by a roadside bomb the day before and had passed away. We launched as the second flight in a formation of two ships to get the body. We landed at the pick-up site and got out of the aircraft to pay proper respects to the body as it was loaded on board the lead helicopter. The crews lined up on either side of the cargo door while the chaplain, his assistant, and 2 soldiers from mortuary affairs carefully loaded the flag-drapped body bag. We stood at attention and saluted in the dark. No one discussed the meaning behind behind the mission very much.

The next day we were tasked with flying as the sister ship to an Apache and carrying several officers on board to a meeting at another base. We flew lead. I had to keep our airspeed down because Apaches cannot keep up with Blackhawks, at least not when they are loaded with rockets, missles, and 30 mm ammo for the cannon. It was cool getting to fly with another type of aircraft. I have attached a photo.

Rural areas question Las Vegas water grab

November 18, 2005

The Clark County Commission, Las Vegas Valley Water Authority, Clark County Water Reclamation District and the Big Bend Water District are set to vote today on resolutions to support the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to sink $2 billion into a system of pipelines purported to meet Las Vegas' water needs.

At hearings yesterday the several local groups and rural residents spoke against the proposition. "There is not enough research to support what they are trying to do," Ann Brauer, chairperson of the Indian Springs Town Board told the hearing.

Earlier this month Las Vegas councilman Gary Reese was the lone "no" vote when the Las Vegas council voted to support the water grab.

None of the political entities in or around Las Vegas has yet explained what they will do after this water grab fails to supply the needs of the valley. At some point perhaps they will begin to consider the necessary limits on growth the the middle of the desert.

A fabilous MySQL tool

November 17, 2005

NAVICATA couple of days back I had the opportunity to listen to a session on MySQL from Apple's 2005 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). The speaker mentioned Navicat and their MySQL tool. Two downloads later (one on OS X and one on Windows XP) and I'm convinced.

Navicat is simply the greatest interface for maintaining MySQL databases on any platform. There is a Linux version I haven't tried yet but I'd have high expectations based on the Windows and Mac products. The company also has a new PostgreSQL product but I've had less success with it. Back to the MySQL version. In just minutes I had the free trial version fix a database broken by my paid copy of MyDBConverter. Without explanation MyDBConverter had opted to sync only 455 of the 1450 rows in a table. Navicat had no problem making the conversion happen smoothly.

Maniac Monday

November 14, 2005

On the way to Vegas this morning the "Emissions Workshop" light came on again on the Passat. Over the next few dozen miles the "check engine light" flashed on and off, mileage was poor and the engine ran rough. The first debate is where to take it to get work done. Last time it went to a shop other than the dealer they couldn't read the code on the computer as Volkswagen keeps them shrouded in secret-decoder ring fashion. Deciding the least of all evils was the dealer I called to make the appointment hoping they could get it in this week. Findlay Volkswagen went one better and got it in and out today. One two coils later they have called to say it's ready to pick up.

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