Calling Out the Sheep

As I mentioned in Dispatch from the Front at LewRocwell.com I was accused of "calling out the sheep". They were apparently offended by this innocent mask. I don't understand why. It provides better protection than the cloth mask they wanted me to wear.

Are We Doomed?

This is getting away from the aviation theme of this blog but it is important. It is a continuation of my attempt to bring attention to the ruinous times in which we live.

I recently had an article posted at LewRockwell.com that shows what we are seeing is not new. The post is here.

There is also an important powerful video on the same subject. You can see it here. It tells the truth. 

YouTube labels it "inappropriate & offensive" and requires that you "Click to Accept.

It's had almost 1.5 million views in 3 weeks.

Your Fear of Flying

I am talking to YOU, pilots.

Actions speak louder than words, they say. I think it is true. A person can talk all he likes about what his motivations are, what his plans are, how he is going to accomplish this or that. But when push comes to shove watch what a person does. He cannot fake that. By his actions and not his words you will know the real person.

Many pilots adopted wearing masks early to protect themselves from the corona virus. Then altruism reared its ugly head and mask wearing was demanded to show you "cared" about others. It became a propaganda statement rather than a protective measure.

Wearing the mask says I am afraid. Afraid of catching a cold.

When it comes to the corona virus if you deduct all the unnecessary nursing home deaths, the gun shot victims classified as a corona deaths, the heart attack victims classified as a corona deaths, the deaths that were not reported until months after they occurred thereby jacking up the death rate for the month they were reported and the deaths that doctors guessed were caused by corona because their hospitals are reimbursed at three times the flu rate you are left with a disease that is marginally worse than the flu.

So pilots are clearly afraid of the virus. Their employers are forcing them to appear fearful to the public. Passengers see pilots with their masks on. They get the message that pilots are afraid of the virus.

In the general population the chance of death from the virus is about 40 per 100,000 people. The occupational death rate for pilots and flight engineers is far higher at 58 per 100,000. Thus it follows that pilots must be far more afraid of flying than they are of the virus.

Do you think anyone wants to trust their lives to a pilot that is afraid of flying?

Second Inaugural Post

Hello…hello…hello. 

Anybody out there…there…there?

If words fall on a blog page and no one is around to read them was anything said?

It’s been ten years since I posted anything here. No one left any comments. I lost interest after a few months. In fact I had forgotten all about this blog until the recent unpleasantness in my life. You can read about it in my article “Dispatch from the Front” at LewRockwell.com.

My sudden change in finances had me thinking about Internet revenue possibilities. My retirement program should be adequate but a little extra would be nice. That meant I would need to start a website or blog. Then I remembered…Oh Yeah! I HAVE a blog! Somewhere.

Here it is! Had to Google myself to find it. With this post I am resurrecting that blog.

I have begun a new adventure. If you know me you are not surprised. One friend has an address book dedicated just to me. He had gotten tired of erasing and rewriting address entries. Now he just adds them to the list. Don’t worry Hal. I didn’t move this time.

I have to thank Becky Akers for encouraging me to submit my story to LewRockwell.com. Becky is an accomplished writer. She writes for LewRockwell.com, the largest libertarian website in the world. She has also written two historic novels: Halestorm, about the heroic Nathan Hale and Abducting Arnold, a story of Benedict Arnold you are not likely to see anywhere else.

I have provided links to Becky’s books on Amazon but I do not get any revenue from them. I don’t think this blog qualifies for Amazon’s affiliate program because the posts are so old and most of the links no longer work. It will take me a while to update the blog and apply for Affiliate status.

I would also like to thank Cindy Beyerlein, PhD, for her emotional support during this. She is a friend and financial advisor. She didn’t know that I had resigned from my job until after the fact. Then she scrambled to analyze my new situation. If you are in need of a financial advisor that really cares about her clients she can be contacted at Ameriprise Financial. I get nothing for this referral either. (Well, she may give me a hug me the next time we meet. It’s the “hugs-for-plugs” program).

Here’s the link to my article: “Dispatch from the Front”.

[Updated July 11, 2020 to reflect posting at LRC]

Is the future here?

From control centers around the U.S. the military can attack targets with impunity anywhere in the world. Bomber pilots are becoming obsolete. Fighter pilots will probably be next. Here's a video of a (simulated, I think) drone attack executed from somewhere in Nevada: We could probably eliminate airline pilots as well. The only obstacle is money and public acceptance. I am hoping that lacking the latter I can stay employed.

This Day in Aviation History

Dec. 23, 1986. Voyager completed its flight as the first aircraft to fly around the world without refueling. Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the airplane was aloft for 9 days.

And I thought 3 hour trips were too long!

Haul Gas!?

Or not.

Most people look at the cost of fuel at their departure point and if it's cheaper than the cost at their destination they load up. But it's not always that simple. It takes more fuel to carry more fuel which negates much of the savings.

I developed the following charts for the Boeing 737-300. Your mileage may vary. I had our flight planning service (Air Routing) show how much extra fuel (in pounds) we burned for each 1000 pounds of extra weight we carried for each trip. Over the course of a few weeks I was able to come up with Chart 1. This shows that there is a direct correlation between distance flown and extra fuel used. This is expected. There were more data points than shown here which were scattered along the trend line. This was due to different winds on different days but I think the results are close enough to be useful in making fueling decisions.

I then calculated the break even point for a given amount of fuel at arbitrary prices for origin and destination. I kept getting inconsistent results as I varied the fuel prices. After much number crunching I discovered that the break even point varies with the extra fuel burn andthe departure point fuel price. Chart 2. Not quite so intuitive but it does make sense. If you want to carry a lot of extra fuel you need a greater savings per gallon to pay for it.

Enter Chart 1 with the mileage for the next leg. Go up to the line and to the left to find the extra fuel burned per thousand pounds of extra weight.

Enter Chart 2 with the fuel cost at the departure point. Go up to the line for extra fuel burn for the next leg. Note that the legend on the right is in inverse order from the chart. This is the way my spreadsheet wanted to do it and I did not feel like arguing. Interpolate if necessary. Go to the left to find the fuel savings required to break even. Any savings above this justifies tankering. Naturally, if the destination fuel is cheaper then you do not want to tanker fuel.

By using these charts we are tankering less fuel than we used to which makes our home base FBO happy.

If anyone sees a flaw in my reasoning or calculations please let me know. Meanwhile maybe you can save your company money by not tankering.