Thursday, May 10, 2007
Paris and the Loss of an Angel (Unrelated Topics)
Greetings everyone! El Capitan has me sitting in for him while he away on TDY to beg for funds for his pet project. For those of you who follow are aware of what he is working on, it really is an important piece of equipment. I have a colleague I fly with out here who will be going back to the aircraft El Cap is working on and all he can talk about are those pods and what they can do. I wonder if he knows that there is no money for them....
I apologize for not posting on the blog sooner, I just started an alert rotation and things have been a bit busy. But without further delay, let's get started.
Paris and The Law
Paris Hilton just can't keep out of trouble. The following article details her DUI, probation, subsequent repeat violations, and sentence:
http://kutv.com/entertainment/local_story_124175620.html
First of all she is driving drunk which shows incredibly poor judgment. Then she continues to drive on her suspended license which shows even worse judgement. Then she gets cited two times for driving on that suspended license. Her publicist releases a statement that she was unaware that her license was suspended. How can she claim ignorance and not knowing the terms of her probation? Is California's state justice system so screwed up that they don't explain punishments? How can this woman possibly mount any credible defense for her actions? Finally, she is late to court. I don't think she had a good reason for that either. That kind of behavior shows blatant contempt for the court and she is lucky she wasn't penalized for that either, even if it was just rescheduling her court date at the state's convenience. Then she fires her publicist, blaming him for allowing her to drive on her suspension:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3146648&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
It almost defies belief that this girl is so delusional that she believes it is someone else's fault that she violates her probation multiple times and her sentence is "cruel and unwarranted". Her lawyers even claim she is being singled out for unfair treatment due to her celebrity status. Maybe it is all the people around her filling her head with these ludicrous notions. It is time for one of Paris' entourage to tell her that her money is not enough to buy their complicity and it time for her to grow up and take responsibility for her actions. For the sake of the Hilton Corporation, I hope she expresses no interest in running the company.
Sad Day for The Blue Angels
During the air show at Beaufort MCAS, LCDR Kevin Davis was killed during a performance with the U.S. Navy's precision air demonstration team, The Blue Angels:
From discussions I have had with other naval aviators, there is speculation that the cause of the crash may have been GLOC, g-induced loss of consciousness. I know that the Air Force's air demo team, The Thunderbirds, and The Blue Angels do not wear g-suits to assist them in resisting the effects of g-forces during their maneuvers. The reason given is that due to the airbladders in the suit inflating, the suit could jostle the arms of the pilot and cause disastrous inadvertent movement. I have no experience in formation flight but does anyone out there know if aviators fly formations as close as our air demo teams do in combat? I know that close formations are flown at times to reduce radar returns but how close do you have to get? If our aviators wear g-suits and fly that close in combat, why wouldn't our air demo teams?
Whatever the cause of the crash is, LCDR Davis' death is a tragedy. Our most sincere condolences and deepest sympathies go out to The Blue Angels and LCDR Davis' family.
posted by El Capitan at 7:42 PM
2 Comments:
Southern (in)Sanity said...
I have had the pleasure of seeing the Blue Angels on a couple of occasions. It is indescribable.
My thoughts and prayers go out to them and Davis' family as well.
said...
Zopher, thanks for clearing that up. I wonder if this will prompt a review of whether or not our military air demo teams should wear g-suits. I have read that some flight surgeons have recommended it in the past.
I spoke with some aviators and apparently, many of the Blue Angels maneuvers involve 4-5 sustained g's. It's not 9 g's but they told me 4-5 sustained would be enough to cause GLOC in some cases.
Tumbleweed