Tag: Sad

A fatal flight for a firefighting crew

  China makes the Z-8, a licensed copy of the French SA 321 Super Frelon helicopter dating back to the 1960’s.  I’m familiar with the type, having flown in South African Air Force Super Frelons during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  It can hold up to 30 troops, and has three engines, giving good performance compared… Continue reading A fatal flight for a firefighting crew

An aviation tragedy in Russia

  An unplanned, accidental ejection of some or all crew members of a Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic jet bomber killed three and injured one person earlier this week.  The Aviationist provides this report, translated from Russian. In preparation for the training flight, after launching the APU and working with the cockpit equipment, Captain, who is the… Continue reading An aviation tragedy in Russia

Remembering Tim Severin, one of the greatest modern adventurers

  We’ve met Tim Severin in these pages several times before, most recently last November when I excerpted his book “Crusader“, describing how he rode a descendant of medieval war horses across Europe to Jerusalem. He came to widespread attention in the 1970’s with his book “The Brendan Voyage“, describing how he and his crew sewed… Continue reading Remembering Tim Severin, one of the greatest modern adventurers

*Sigh* 24 years without hitting an animal, and then…

  I’ve done my best to be a good driver in the USA, despite coming from a country where we drove on the correct other side of the road.  It took a bit of adapting, particularly considering that my first driving experience in this country was in Los Angeles, where six-lane freeways and high-velocity, high-profanity… Continue reading *Sigh* 24 years without hitting an animal, and then…

Let’s call the Biden campaign what it is: ELDER ABUSE

I’m growing more and more angry at the way Joe Biden is being treated by his family and political party during the 2020 Presidential campaign.  If any of us treated our elder scions in this way, we’d be accused of elder abuse – and rightly so! Mr. Biden is clearly not in full control of… Continue reading Let’s call the Biden campaign what it is: ELDER ABUSE

Lies, damned lies and propaganda

I’ve noticed that, in some of the photographs of rioters and activists demonstrating in our streets, they’re shown wearing T-shirts with stylized likenesses of Che Guevara.  I don’t think they have any idea what a psycopathic, merciless, murdering SOB he was. The problem is, those of us who saw Che Guevara for what he was aren’t… Continue reading Lies, damned lies and propaganda

The end of 74 years of maritime history

I was saddened to read that Maersk, the giant Danish shipping company, is to “retire” the Safmarine company name, and merge the latter’s operations with its own.  It’s owned Safmarine since 1999.  I grew up knowing Safmarine quite well.  The company was headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, and its ships were well-known visitors to… Continue reading The end of 74 years of maritime history

He risked his life to keep us safe – and lost it

I was saddened to read this report. A helicopter pilot fighting the California wildfires died Wednesday morning when his aircraft went down in Fresno County, officials said. The pilot was on a water dropping mission when the chopper crashed about 160 miles south of San Francisco, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said… Continue reading He risked his life to keep us safe – and lost it