Lotus

Wow! That's really good! Makes you realise there's a lot of engineering working really hard, to keep you aloft in a very hostile environment.

Still no end in sight for the 737Max fix: https://www.fin24.com/Opinion/wait-for-it-why-boeing-737-max-software-fix-is-taking-so-long-20190418 Boeing is facing a big lawsuit from the families of the Lion Air victims, but I wonder if there's an even bigger one coming from the operators for loss of earnings?

What caused that?!

Still harder than a footballer.

+1. Watched it today. Another great Mexico-centric movie, in the same mould as Nacho Libere and The Milagro Beanfield War.

Some stats here on the busiest routes for SA and SAA. It's really interesting to see how much traffic goes to Dubai from here. https://www.traveller24.com/News/Flights/saa-still-number-one-in-seat-capacity-the-hard-numbers-behind-south-africas-air-connectivity-20190412 Odd there's no mention of Virgin?

I still recall looking at pedestrians(!) while driving, and hearing a cold voice in the car asking "Is she nice?..."

Two things come to mind: 1. It lifted the SUV quite a bit with that hit and used very little run-up to get there. 2. Lions are pretty tough, being able to take one of those down.

Great news! Mike Patey is back for a new build with his brother (yep, 2 planes this time). Intro to new build: And be sure to watch this week's 2nd episode - there's a great story in there about a baseball cap in a flying competition, and some awesome footage of Draco taking off (damn near vertically!).

I've had many cars )and top brands), and my 2015 Kia Sorrento diesel has been my #1 favorite of them all.

From experience, you may get a few more of these (and it may get pretty direct - "I think I made a mistake"). I found it quite difficult in the beginning to not respond, but I realised it was best not to go back there. And today, nearly forty years later, I still get that comment from time to time. Makes you feel good though.

I want to be a 737 Max when I grow up.

Wow, he must have been surprised and confused for a while there. They mention he hurt his back on the runway, but I've heard back injuries are common from the thrust of the ejector seat?

It's a thing in our family - travel updates, where are you now, are you there yet.... Plus, he's my youngest and I miss him already.

So my youngest is moving to Cape Town, and flew out of Lanseria early this morning. And would you believe it - Flightradar24 suffers a big outage last night and I miss tracking his entire flight.

F1 Drive to survive is a very different treatment of the topic. Very open, unfiltered, and insightful. The McLaren story was corporate-focused, PC, deferential (fawning?) and all-round irritating. I heartily detested this once great team by the end of it. By comparison I had a better view of the other F1 teams after viewing Drive to Survive, with a new found admiration for Ricciardo and a grudging respect for Verstappen (I still think he's a jerk, but a very talented one).

Another hammer blow for Boeing: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/22/business/boeing-737-max-garuda-cancel/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29

Some airports on this list I haven't heard of: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/scenic-airport-landings-2019/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29

This ^ I've sanded carbon a few times to prepare for respray. You can use an aggressive grit to start,using the existing paint as a guide (change grit when the paint starts disappearing!). The useful thing about wet sanding is that it gives you a smooth finish, you can see when you're getting into the carbon layer (black particles start showing in the water when you "dip"), and as someone else said there's no dust to breathe. Word of warning - be very careful when you sand near any edges where carbon has been exposed by the removal of components, such as around cable posts on the down-tube. Getting a sliver of carbon in your skin is as nasty as a sea anemone spine. You can't get it out with tweezers (breaks off every time you grab it) and it will drive you crazy for days.

The rumour and speculation machine is in top gear, so much is being said and written that can be safely discounted. But items like this are chilling reading: "The disaster in Ethiopia followed the crash of Lion Air’s 737 Max off the coast of Indonesia on October 29. A preliminary report into that flight indicated that pilots struggled to maintain control following an equipment malfunction. The US Federal Aviation Administration is working with Boeing on a possible software change to reduce the chances that such a failure could cause an accident in the future. Boeing responded to the earlier crash by advising pilots that the Max’s so-called angle-of-attack sensor can provide false readings, causing the plane’s computers to erroneously detect a mid-flight stall in airflow. That in turn can cause the aircraft to abruptly dive to regain the speed the computer has calculated it needs to keep flying. Pilots could counteract the sudden downward tilt by following a checklist in their training manual, the planemaker said. “The B737 Max design is dangerously flawed,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a former commercial pilot and an aviation safety consultant based in the southern India city of Chennai. "There is a definite similarity between Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines Max crashes.” Any likely correlation between the data regarding the rate of climb anomaly of Ethiopian flight, and the angle of attack problem referenced here?

Watched E01 of this new series. Looks promising.

Watched Episode 1 last night. Enjoyed. This is not the same (cringe-worthy) Ricky Gervais.

Looks peaceful,sounds dangerous. Any incidents while you were there?

The size of those engine nacelles, especially compared to the latest 737. Like stovepipe pants vs bell bottoms.

This just in: https://twitter.com/TrafficSA/status/1103198543173562368/photo/1 It's a good landing when you can walk away from it, right?