Tag: Airplane

Thought for the Day

How much do we notice as we go through a day?????
Lisa Beamer on Good Morning America – If you remember, she’s the wife of Todd Beamer who said ‘Let’s Roll!’ and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington, DC back on 9/11.

She said it’s the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.

Lisa recalled this story: “I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things on the edge of her desk and sat down there.

With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, ‘Class is over, I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end.

It can be taken away at any moment.

Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, ‘So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.

It doesn’t have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the “stuff” of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.

The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.

Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset.

Beautiful beach and waves of Caribbean Sea

Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

GOD Bless you every day of your life.

The nicest place to be is in someone’s thoughts,

The safest place to be is in someone’s prayers,

and the very best place to be is.. .

In the hands of God.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!

#Airtraffic

Air Traffic

I live in an area that at any given time has aircraft overhead. It you sit in the backyard and just look up you can see aircraft going in all directions.

On multiple occasions I have seen aircraft that could not be a half mile apart. Today, two aircraft at the same altitude were intersecting when the westbound aircraft made a maneuver taking him abruptly north of his path. The horizontal separation was staggeringly close.

I realize that they have changed to a GPS system but as someone who lives under this “point on the map,” I would appreciate a little more separation as I really don’t want to become a statistic of those who had a plan crash on them.

Southwest is one of the biggest perpetrators of flying below the radar. Those folks fly so low at times I swear I can see the people looking out the windows!

Only a few times have any of the larger jets, 747’s come over the house. Those things are unmistakable with the sound that they make.

One time this summer there was a southbound 727 which all of the sudden veered to the left while pouring the coals to it to gain altitude, seconds later a 747 came over the house from the south. Those things rarely if ever fly over this area so where he came from and where he was going is a mystery. He was low, under 2000 and at the same approximate altitude that Southwest uses to land at Love Field.

Between two major airports and several general aviation airports, air traffic in the area is robust. You don’t have to go to an air show to see a lot of different types of aircraft.

Several of these flew over one day heading to an air force base in the area. They were following several big helicopters.

There is a large contingent of military aircraft that also fly around with the most notable being the old war birds. Those too have a unique sound but nothing like the Osprey. Those things when they fly by, have a sound all to themselves. Sounds kind of like the big helicopters but different.

One of the most unique aircraft that I see from time to time is a Beech craft.

Compound the tight traffic patterns and the idea that drones will be and are sharing that air space and one has to wonder how much room we have for error?

There are multiple news reports of pilots seeing these things on landings.

This is an idea of what air traffic looks like over the US in a given day!

Safe Travels!

Should I worry?

Looking closely at this picture you will see streaks of oil or some other black liquid emanating from the engine cowling.

The streaks grew as we made our way to Miami but not enough for me to worry too much. Once not too many years ago I was sitting over the wing and watched streaks of clear fluid leaving the wing at a fairly good clip.

I called the flight attendant and had her look at what I was looking at. She thanked me and then went and got the captain to come take a look, which he did.

He leaned over me, looked out the window, patted me on my shoulder and left. No words were exchanged. A few moments later we were making S turns to loose altitude. We spent most of the day in Scottsdale where the plane underwent repairs.

As I left the plane at my final destination the captain was standing there. He reached out to shake my hand; again no words were exchanged. Non-verbal communication at its best I think.

Had we not landed in Scottsdale would we have made our destination otherwise? Who knows.

My guess is that it was hydraulic fluid. I have no idea if there are redundant systems or if we would have lost the ability to control the plane.

The moral of the story, if you see something like this and have any doubts, it does not hurt to calmly call attention to it to the flight crew. I stress calmly, and you will notice that this whole transaction was basically non verbal. Upsetting passengers causing anxiety is unnecessary and could be more dangerous than the issue itself.

I am sure that there is some sort of protocol for such things like “not yelling fire” in a theater. No reason to spook the passengers..

Safe travels!

Telecommuting: Good or Bad?

While I am certain that in some cases allowing an employee to work from home would work, I believe that we may be taking it too far.

Recently I was doing business with my bank and had to be transferred to a specialist. “Due to the overwhelming response all agents are busy, please hang on.”

After about five minutes of being on hold the phone is finally answered. The girl that handled the call was somewhat disorganized and I know this as she ask me for the same information several times as she most likely was stalling while she got to the right screen or possibly off of Facebook.

Between the pauses I could hear a baby crying in the background. I am not sure that allowing people to work at home with many distractions is a good idea however; commercial offices are sold or rented by the square foot. The amount each department is charged is allocated by the square footage that they occupy. Electricity used is divided up the same way. I.e. if sales uses X square footage and accounting uses X and IT uses X that is all split up so the bean counters can accurately assess the cost for each department or cost center.

Many companies are trying to cut cost by having people share a desk, meaning that they work from home so many days, then the other person works from home. Personally I think this idea is really poor as your phone, keyboard and lets face it; every surface is a harbor for germs. The phone especially as it is close to your nose and mouth. In this day of bacteria and viruses that are mutating and becoming resistant to the antibiotics that we have, I don’t think it a good idea to provide yet another way to transfer them.

So what kinds of folks could work from home? I think people who are self starters. There are folks out there who look forward to Monday. I know this as I am one of them. While most can’t wait for Friday to roll around I am one that looks at the clock not to see how much more time that I must endure but, how little time I have left to complete what I wanted to get done that day.

That is a self starter. That person could work out of their car or where ever. My office was the airplane and airport for years.

I mention this as I doubt that the bank had an excessive surge of calls today and I doubt that the cable company does every time that I call etc. While some of this may be to understaffing I suspect some of this is people being distracted at a home office.

Customer service is part of your brand much like the poor customer service at HP is iconic of what not to do and has been immortalized in shows like Big Bang and of course the ever famous YouTube video where the Marine shoots his printer with an automatic weapon, as his HP support was so bad.

Whether your company is public or private you must protect your brand. Think carefully about where your employees do their job and what kinds of employees are able to work from home.

Think really hard about outsourcing your customer service to “Peggy!”

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Horrible crash caught on dash cam

http://jalopnik.com/deadly-afghan-plane-crash-caught-by-dash-cam-in-this-ho-485974117

Follow this link.. Airplane crash caught on dash cam..