Random photos, comics, etc.

[Ed Gordon]

Ever have "one of those days...."?
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[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Over there Officer! The guy standing next to the digital projector...

[Frank Cox]

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In today's Le Mauricien.

[Leo Enticknap]

Thanks. As someone who knows a little about aviation, but not professionally (but have aviation professionals in my family, hence knowing a little), this is a bit worrisome. I was not at all worried on Tuesday, figuring that as with the Comet, the Electra, and the DC-10, that once the regulators give their word that the bugs have been fixed, they really have. Agreed that the design embodies a fundamental bug fix/patch: they didn't redesign the fuselage that much, the engines are a lot heavier, and not doing that big redesign put those engines way forward of the fuselage's natural center of gravity (just as in the MD-11, the center of gravity ended up being a long way aft). MCAS was meant to work silently in the background, adjusting the elevator trim such that as far as the pilot is concerned, the plane handles like the 737 NG (hence no separate type rating course needed to fly the Max). The single point of failure was the angle of attack pitot sensor, double redundancy for which was an option that most customers chose not to buy. If that didn't work correctly during critical phases of the flight, MCAS would make unwanted control inputs, at which point the pilot's ability to override it and correct the plane's attitude, and within a very tight time window, was the final line of defense. In the two accidents that led to the Max's grounding, he was unable to do that. Especially worrying was that the pilot flying in the second accident had attended a training day intended to alert him to the lessons learned from the first, but in the event it didn't save him or anyone else.

My understanding is that double redundant angle of attack sensors are now mandatory (i.e. a second one has been installed on planes that were originally delivered with only one), pilots have now been fully trained on what MCAS does and how to shut it off if they need to, and the MCAS software has also been tweaked. If so, then like the MD-11, I guess the Max will keep flying with a fundamental flaw that can be managed and mitigated to the point at which it isn't a major safety concern. I hope so, anyways: I was struck by how much quieter it is, and how much fresher the cabin air in it is, as a passenger.

[Randy Stankey]

Assuming that the MCAS glitches and redundant pitot sensor fix really has worked in terms of bringing it up to acceptable safety performance, it's good to have the Max back.

No, the 737 Max is fundamentally unstable because, when they added the LEAP engine, they caused the center of thrust to move out of line with the plane's center of mass/gravity. When the engine accelerates the plane it has a natural tendency to climb more than it did with the original engine. The MCAS was supposed to compensate for this problem by automatically applying trim to the elevator, causing the plane to nose down. However, many pilots didn't know how MCAS worked and didn't know how to override it if there is a malfunction. Neither did Boeing go out of their way to inform pilots about it, either. Some pilots apparently knew about MCAS but others didn't seem to have adequate knowledge.

We'll probably never know the whole truth unless everybody involved stops lying and blame shifting...which will probably never happen unless some investigator, somewhere, comes up with some smoking-gun evidence.

What we're left with is a problem that was patched but that solution also needed to be patched. Then, we have some pilots who were trained to understand the airplane's systems and some who have marginal knowledge but we don't really know who is who.

The company I work for makes some of the parts that go into that model of plane and others, too. Although I'm not really supposed to know, a former supervisor told me that my company makes parts that are used in MCAS.

Every time I see a news story about a problem on board a commercial flight, I cross myself and pray to God that none of the parts I made have anything to do with it.

[Leo Enticknap]

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"...and for our million mile, platinum elite RapidWreckage® members, we're pleased to announce our complimentary will preparation kit. Feel free to write yours while streaming Airport or United 93 on our BYOD entertainment system!"

Morbid jokes apart, it was an almost full flight this morning, and I couldn't hear anyone express doubts or unease at being on a Max. I guess the traveling public either have short memories, or are genuinely convinced that the Max's vulnerabilities have been fixed. Either that, or they neither know, want to know, nor care, what model of airliner they are flying on. The Max was noticeably quieter in the cruise and the cabin air felt fresher than on the 737-700s and -800s I've done most of my Southwest flying on in the last year or so. Assuming that the MCAS glitches and redundant pitot sensor fix really has worked in terms of bringing it up to acceptable safety performance, it's good to have the Max back.

[Frank Cox]

Even though it was a known brand, the movie was just so much bull.

Cowhide, you say? It didn't.

[Leo Enticknap]

Shooting the colors on this would be a challenge (source):

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I wonder what his (or her) gain factor is...

[Jim Cassedy]

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[Leo Enticknap]

My wife's iPhone, on being asked for directions to an address on Mountain View Avenue, replied by apologizing for not being able to find any Fountain Poo Avenue in the vicinity. Maybe her slight Trinidadian accent confused it?

[Frank Cox]

Our local bottle and can recycling outfit is called Sarcan. One time I sent my wife a text saying, "I'm going to Sarcan." The autocorrect on my phone sent her "I'm going to Satan."

When I got there I told the guy who manages the place, "You'll never guess what Mr. Samsung thinks of Sarcan."

[Leo Enticknap]

Satan thinks we should upgrade to laser projectors:

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[Leo Enticknap]

At the risk of veering into religious territory, there is also a now infamous hymn by Graham Kendrick that includes the line "If I was a fuzzy wuzzy bear." Its infamy derives from the fact that it earned Kendrick a chapter in Fifty People Who Buggered Up Britain (i.e. contributed to what the author considers to be the UK's cultural decline), and by so doing, became a focus for people who don't like Christian rock. The use of "fuzzy wuzzy" as a racist term died out of the mainstream about a generation before Kendrick's, so he likely simply didn't know. I remember my grandparents using it, though, so in 1942 it would have been very much live.

[Frank Cox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FilnW5NWevo

[Leo Enticknap]

From the 1942 Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog:

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"Fuzzy wuzzy" is a racial slur in British slang, though I've never heard it used as such here.