neurotech1

Yes. Spirit of (Something) is how the B-2s are named.

The whole "Has to do everything to get funded" type problem, was very apparent with the Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle[0]. The result was so misguided, if not comically bad, they made a movie about it, Pentagon Wars[1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon_Wars

Louis Rossmann, well known for his views on Apple repair policies, also speaks about farmers right to repair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHfE_k1a0xQ

Archive version: http://archive.is/X4hzt

Site appeared overloaded

One of the stupidest criticisms of the F-35 was from J. Michael Gilmore[0] former DoD Director of Operational Test & Evaluation. OT&E has a role, and is intended to be critical in their evaluation, but his reports were typically out of date, and didn't seem to reflect the consensus of the pilots and others actually operating the jet.

What made his criticisms ironically stupid was he'd never even SEEN the jet up close, or spoken to an actual pilot, only reviewed documents and read memos, until the very end of his tenure as Director of OT&E. He was not retained when Gen. Mattis took over as SecDef.

I've heard nothing but praise for LtCol. Chip Berke. He is a great fighter pilot, although now retired from the USMC.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Michael_Gilmore

It's ironic the X-35 (Essentially F-35 prototype) came from the LM Skunkworks. The very same organization than once preached lean development. Kelly Johnson's [0] Rules of Management should be required reading for any project manager or contracting official.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Johnson_(engineer)#Kelly...

Sec. Ash Carter [0] did some really good work at reforming the pentagon, especially acquisitions, both as Deputy SecDef and later returning as SecDef. He also served as Under Secretary for Acquisitions (AT&L)

Sec. David Norquist [1] was another Deputy SecDef who helped reign in DoD costs. He also served as Comptroller before DepSecDef. There was whispers that he did actually fire people for wasting DoD funds.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Carter

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Norquist

Not as much as you'd think. During early evaluations, AGCAS proved itself a lifesaver. I'm pretty sure there is a way to override, if it malfunctioned. There are cases where the system falsely detects an unsafe condition, the pilot hears the warning tone, before AGCAS takes over.

One thing the 737 Max doesn't have, which the F-16 has, is ejection seats. The pilot can eject if AGCAS puts them in an unsafe situation. I don't believe there has been a single case of a pilot ejecting due to a false AGCAS activation.

Agreed this is unusual. The airlines could likely send inspection teams with appropriate equipment to the airport they are presently at. It is also probable the FAA would issue "ferry permits" to fly the jets to a maintenance base.

United Airlines and probably some other 777 operators fly cargo-only some flights in those aircraft, since the pandemic restrictions started. This would give operators some flexibility to minimize the number of cancelled flights.

For airlines like United Airlines, they fly both 777-200 and 777-300 aircraft. The United Airlines 777-300 aircraft fly with GE90 engines, which are not grounded.

This is a video explaining the (contained) engine failure, by blancolirio (Juan Brown) a 777-300 pilot. He commented to expect an Emergency Airworthiness Directive, and there was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh4727krwH4

Let's not forget, these are the same consultants that did work for Enron, work leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.[0] McKinsey is also advising various government agencies on optimizing their Covid-19 response[1], generating revenue of $100m and counting.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Controver...

[1] https://www.propublica.org/article/how-mckinsey-is-making-10...

Here is an article about the regulation change allowed Albedo to deploy such high resolution commercial satellites.

[0] https://spacenews.com/commerce-department-releases-streamlin...

Non-Paywall archive version: http://archive.is/DFY5q

This seems to be a better link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/technology/facial-recogni...

or https://archive.is/hRfLr

AvHerald is one of my preferred sources of information regarding airline accidents. Additionally, several trusted aviation youtubers use it as a source of news related to accidents. Simon Hradecky, the site owner, very much sticks to the facts.

For those who want different cheap FPGA board options, this page is a good option. Some iCE series boards included.

https://joelw.id.au/FPGA/CheapFPGADevelopmentBoards

It's very telling that pg or other admins haven't flagged or removed this submission.

Here is the archive copy of the original article from October 18th: http://archive.is/t944D

And here is the version with the editors note from October 31st: http://archive.is/e8YX7

Eddie Van Halen's famous rider(contract) has a useful lesson for tech companies.[0][1]

"It's one of those rock 'n' roll legends that turns out to be true: In the 1980s, the party-rock superstars in Van Halen demanded, via a clause embedded in their tour rider, that no brown-colored M&Ms be allowed backstage at their concerts."[0]

The reason was that if they included brown M&Ms, it was a strong indication they hadn't read the contract, which included intricate but important technical details.

[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/02/14/146880432/...

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contrac...

Leaders frankly accepting responsibility, known as the Asoh Defense[0] is named after Capt. Kohei Asoh after accidentally landing a DC-8, JAL Flight 2 in San Francisco bay.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_2#The_%2...

The Andy Weir example. "The Martian" was originally a blog series, and actually his 3rd book.

He created an ebook version of The Martian, freely downloadable at the time. People did give him donations though. He only added it to Kindle for $0.99, because Amazon wouldn't let him distribute it for free. It look off from there.

When people would rather give the author $0.99 to make it easy to access on Kindle, than download it for free, and it becomes a bestseller, then that is a plausible way for an author to make money.

You would still require a lot of approvals from DoD/ATF etc. to get an A-29 Super Tucano, armed or not. See my earlier comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22837486

My understanding is a F/A-18 would probably cost Mr Kirlin $10k/hr to operate. A Super Hornet actually costs about the same in variable costs per flight hour, as they require less maintenance and are younger in age, than a legacy Hornet. Of course, depreciation on a $70m jet is not cheap, which can only be flown for 8k hours, without a major rebuild.

It's not that simple. Owning a fighter jet (or even trainer like an Aero L-39) requires both the nod from the ATF, and a bunch of FAA waivers. For a high end jet like an F/A-18 or F-16, It practically requires the Secretary of Defense himself to approve it. Without that approval, Boeing or Lockheed Martin can't provide parts and support for the aircraft.

Notably, Erik Prince of Blackwater/Academi notoriety played fast and loose with weapons import/export/ownership rules, and came very close to being criminally prosecuted for it. Retired Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon resigned in disgust when he realized how far outside the rules Erik Prince was operating.

When Erik Prince suggested letting his private firm handle security in Afghanistan as an outsourced contractor, then SecDef (General) Jim Mattis was dead against it, and blocked it all the way.

PAN-PAN (urgency) is more common in other countries. In the US, pilots typically "declare an emergency" which can be anything from a engine caution message, to a critical emergency, which would justify a MAYDAY call. Sometimes, pilots will upgrade a PAN-PAN to a MAYDAY if their situation gets worse.

One reason for US pilots to only declare an emergency, and not "urgency" is when a pilot requests priority, FAA procedures sometime require Air Traffic Controllers to treat a priority or urgency as an emergency, even if the pilot does not expressly declare the emergency.

Almost all airliners require 2 pilots. Unless they have a relief Captain, or fully qualified jumpseat pilot, they have to declare PAN-PAN (urgency) or emergency, when flown by a single rated pilot. The chief flight attendant (pursor) may assist in the cockpit, and frequently does sit in the cockpit seat, when either pilot uses the bathroom.

Airbus A320 used to have GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) as an optional extra. A budget airline didn't order it, and quite possibly encouraged pilots to make excessively fast approaches, and led to a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) crash of a perfectly good jet.[0]

Another crash related to the 737 MAX crash, is Scandinavian 751 [1]. On a MD-81 airliner, with "Automatic Thrust Restoration", A system the pilots were not trained on, caused the thrust to be increased, when the pilot tried to throttle back the damaged engines and clear the compressor stall. "Pilot Betrayed" was the Air Crash Investigations episode.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Inter_Flight_148

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_Flight_7...

[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1862850/

Non-Paywall version: https://outline.com/s9tgAF

The term "pilot error" is outdated, and suggests blame. "Human performance factors" is usual way to describe such mishaps.

The JAGMAN investigation is the legal/administrative investigation.

The Safety Investigation Board is separate, and privileged.

FNAEB investigates the crew, and usually follows a Class A mishap ($2m damage or hull loss, or death/permanent disabling injury) but can be triggered by near-miss or pilot flathatting etc.

A friend is a retired Naval aviator, said the #1 reason aviators get permanently grounded from the fleet, is refusal to accept responsibility for mistakes that they were clearly responsible for. Things like forgetting to set the altimeter correctly before takeoff, causing a serious near-miss or pilot deviation. Honestly and fully admitting their mistakes, is more likely to result in a FNAEB returning them to the fleet. Asoh Defense comes to mind.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_2#The_%2...

Iridium NEXT satellites have ADS-B receivers.[0]

Also, Spire Global, with a network of cubesats, have ADS-B receivers in their sats already. [1][2]

I proposed something similar a few years ago, using cubesats to track airliners, but it didn't go anywhere because Spire Global was already working on that.

[0] https://aireon.com/resources/overview-materials/iridium-next...

[1] https://www.spire.com/en/company/news/2019/03/spire-s-first-...

[2] https://www.satellitetoday.com/mobility/2018/10/03/spire-glo...

All aircraft handlers use hand signals, such as the crew who direct the plane on deck after landing, the crew that directs the jets onto the catapult, the catapult deck crew, and the pilots.