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The recent crash of an Asiana Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport is a perplexing case. How does a jetliner as sophisticated as a 777 crash on a routine visual approach, in good weather, with no mechanical problems?
Like most pilots, I am very hesitant to speculate on accidents like this until the facts are in. So many factors can contribute to an accident, but in this case it's hard not to think those dreaded two words: pilot error. How do experienced pilots let a plane get so low and slow on a visual approach? Was something distracting them? The cockpit voice recorder might shed some light on this, and I'm anxiously awaiting the findings of the NTSB, though experience says that wait could be a year or more.
If you've read much about this accident, you know that the pilot in the left seat was new to the 777, although he was a Captain with Asiana who had logged around 10,000 hours in various aircraft. The right seat pilot was an instructor pilot who was technically the pilot in command, overseeing the new Captain in the left seat. Some people outside the industry were aghast that a pilot with so few hours in the plane could be flying it. But every pilot has to get his first hours in a new type, and those hours are accumulated during revenue flights (i.e. carrying passengers). When a pilot transitions to a new type, or when he upgrades from First Officer to Captain, he goes through a training program that includes ground school (systems knowledge), simulator training (normal procedures as well as abnormal and emergency situations) and, finally, IOE (Initial Operating Experience), which consists of revenue flights with an instructor pilot/check airman riding along in the other seat. IOE will generally be about 20 hours of flight experience for domestic pilots and somewhat more for international pilots. So…we don't really have a "beginner" in the left seat, as some news reports have implied.
For this approach, the ILS (Instrument Landing System) for the runway was out of service, and some early news reports implied that this might have been a contributing factor. It's true that having an electronic glideslope is helpful, but any experienced pilot can make an approach with nothing more than visual cues, using the simple 3-to-1 rule as a good crosscheck (for every mile from the runway, we should be about 300 feet above the ground, so we should be at 1,500 feet when on a five-mile final). In fact, there are many runways at major airports that don't even have an electronic glideslope. Runway 19 at Washington National and Runway 31 at New York's La Guardia airport are two that come to mind.
Also, in this case there was a visual aid for flying a proper glideslope. Runway 28L at SFO has a PAPI, Precision Approach Path Indicator, to the left of the runway. The PAPI is a set of four lights, each split between a lower red light and an upper white light. Depending on the plane's descent angle, the light will appear red when low or white when high. Each of the four lights has a slightly different angle for where the transition between red and white occurs. If you are on the proper glidepath, you'll see two white and two red lights (a 2.85° glidepath for this runway). If you see four red lights, you're much too low; four white lights and you're much too high.
The focus now seems to be on the crew's over-reliance on automation, perhaps coupled with some misunderstanding of the various modes of the automation. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Air France crash over the Atlantic in June 2009; in both cases airmanship has come into question. Automation (autopilot, autothrottles and a computer loaded with speed and altitude restrictions) can be a great tool on a plane, but in some cases, particularly when lots of quick changes are required in a short time (as on final approach with Air Traffic Control throwing altitude and speed restrictions at you), it can be preferable to turn off the autopilot and just hand-fly the plane.
For me, the most amazing thing about this accident is how a crew could get that slow on an approach. I wasn't there, so I don't know what distractions there might have been. But I can't remember the last time I've seen a fellow pilot get as much as 10 knots slow on an approach, never mind the 30+ knots under speed for Asiana 214. If the flying pilot gets even five knots slow, the other pilot will call out "airspeed" and expect a reply of "correcting," along with necessary power and/or pitch inputs to regain the speed. Airspeed is life, and every pilot knows it.
]]>Unless you're in the aviation business, you're probably unfamiliar with the acronym FOQA. In fact, many pilots couldn't tell you what it means.
Pronounced foe-kwah, it stands for Flight Operational Quality Assurance. It's an automatic recording and reporting system installed in some commercial aircraft. I don't know all the details of how it works or what it tracks, but it continuously records a wide range of data about aircraft systems and flight performance. The goal is to improve flight efficiency and safety.
But FOQA can also be a snitch. If, for example, we overspeed the flaps (i.e., either put flaps down while going too fast or retract them too slowly while accelerating), FOQA will record the event, and it will get flagged once the data is downloaded. This shouldn't be an issue, because the pilots are supposed to make a logbook entry for the overspeed event. But if they missed it, or elected to ignore it because it was only "a little fast," they can probably expect a phone call from the chief pilot. A much more serious example would be if the pilots took off without selecting takeoff flaps (a very rare event, but it's happened). This is definitely going to trigger some action.
Does this make pilots a little more attentive on a FOQA-equipped plane? You might think so, but the truth is that we don't even pay attention to it. If you asked me halfway through a flight if the plane I was on had FOQA, I would have to check. The reason is simple: we don't push the edge of the envelope, so we don't worry about the snitch. It's kind of like the security cameras in a bank: Honest people don't worry about them.
]]>A common question that laypeople ask airline pilots is "What route do you fly?" The perception seems to be that we go to work and fly to the same place every time. It can be true for certain individuals, usually pilots who have enough seniority to get their pick of schedules. I knew a Washington-based American Airlines pilot who used to bid for day trips (no overnight) from Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth and return. Another pilot (at Delta) flew JFK to Nice, France almost exclusively. He told me he made 48 crossings of the Atlantic in one year, and 44 of them were to Nice.
But for most of us, we bid for our monthly schedule and get whatever can be cobbled together from the leftover trips not selected by the more senior pilots. And if there aren't enough trips to go around, or if the trips available are undesirable, a pilot can bid or be assigned to be on Reserve for the month. I've found myself in that situation for the past few months.
It's all driven by the pilot's seniority within his category, i.e. base/equipment/seat. For example, a pilot might be quite senior flying as a co-pilot in the MD-88 based in New York, but if he chooses to upgrade to Captain or just switch to a larger aircraft, his relative seniority within that new category will probably be lower and his ability to control his schedule (and quality of life) will be reduced.
My current situation was not caused by any change that I opted for. I'm just a casualty of reduced flying for my category and a lower relative seniority as other, more senior pilots bid into this plane and home base. The erosion in my bidding power has been apparent for some time now. A few years ago I was flying only international trips, which were all easily commutable from my home in D.C. to my base in New York. Many of these destinations have been switched over to other equipment (Airbus 330 and Boeing 747), leaving my category with fewer trips overall and a larger concentration of domestic trips.
So what's it like being an "on-call" pilot? A Reserve pilot actually gets a schedule, listing the days that he is on call. The other days are off, just like a regular pilot who holds a line. The responsibility of the Reserve pilot is company-specific, and is spelled out in whatever working agreement the pilot group has with the company. In my case, I have two different situations: "Long Call" and "Short Call."
Long Call is the default status, and means that I have 12 hours to report for duty if the company calls me. That's a pretty long time, and it means I can sit at home in D.C., knowing I can make it to New York within 12 hours (driving if I have to). Occasionally, the company will call and assign me Short Call. In that case, I have about two hours to report for duty if Crew Scheduling calls. I can't do that sitting at home in D.C., so I head to New York to be there in case I'm needed.
How often a Reserve pilot gets called is really a function of the staffing for the airplane type. Keeping the right ratio of pilots to planes is a challenge. Marketing people decide which airplanes serve which cities and how many flights they make, while other planners in the company have to try to get the staffing right for the airplane. Changing the number of pilots on a particular type of plane can't be done overnight, so for some months we have an abundance of pilots, while at other times we operate with barely adequate staffing. (Note: a company like Southwest, with one type of airplane, doesn't have this issue.) If you're sitting Reserve on a category that is thinly staffed, you can expect lots of calls to head to the airport to replace a pilot who has called in sick or is otherwise unavailable.
I've been in the other situation lately (i.e. well staffed) and I've flown very little in the last few months. Don't worry, I still get paid (ok, I knew you weren't worried). We get paid a minimum number of hours whether they use us or not. That number is a little less than if we could bid an actual schedule, but in my case I haven't flown anywhere near that number, so I guess you could say it's a good deal. Except that I'd rather fly.
Being a Reserve pilot means never knowing where you might be from one day to the next. Since being on Reserve over the past several months, I've been to Stockholm, Mexico City, Cancun, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, Kansas City and Miami. So when someone asks me "What route do you fly?", I just say "I never know until the phone rings."
]]>I still clearly remember when the jig was up with my fingernail clippers.
I had been flying with the clippers in my shaving kit for several weeks after 9/11, but I couldn't slip them by one very alert security screener in Jackson, Mississippi. At first I thought he was kidding me, but he was in deadly earnest. He explained that the small pointed file would have to be broken off the clippers before they would be allowed to pass through. I resisted the urge to point out that — as the pilot of the airplane — I already have a very sharp crash axe within easy reach when I sit in the cockpit (I had already heard of some pilots getting in hot water for making such observations).
The screener held out the clippers as if to hand them to me, and I asked what he was doing. He said, "You need to break off the file." My response: "I'm not touching that thing. You've just identified it as a serious potential weapon and I don't want to risk an injury." This was my subtle way of highlighting the absurdity of the situation (best I could do on short notice). The screener broke off the file and I continued my day.
Over the past decade, I've become inured to the theater-of-the-absurd that is our screening process, and I've come to accept the dangers inherent in shoes and liquids (but only for amounts over 3.5 fluid ounces). But now, apparently, knives of a certain size are safe for flight. This strikes me as odd. Couldn't any small knife be wielded with just as much menace as the box cutters from the hijackings of 9/11?
It seems like an odd place to ease up the scrutiny, and it appears to me that the TSA is focusing on those things which could potentially bring down the plane, i.e. explosives. Pilots are trained to never open the cockpit door in a threat situation, so small knives don't pose a threat to the plane, just to the flight attendants and passengers.
But pilots and flight attendants are concerned with this new rule. The safety of the people on our flight is our main concern, and the new policy does not enhance that safety. The stated reason for the change is to speed up the screening process, but I can't imagine the small time savings is worth the added risk.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. ]]>I recently had my first medical diversion ever.
It was the first flight of a three-day trip, JFK to LAX, and the weather was good all the way across the country. About 300 miles east of Denver, we got a call from the lead flight attendant. A passenger had opened an overhead bin to retrieve her bag and another bag fell out onto the top of a 56 year-old gentleman's head. The flight attendant told us that the man said he was fine, but she thought we should know. I thought that would be the end of it.
Twenty minutes later, the flight attendant called again. The man now complained of pains radiating from his head down through his neck and shoulders. The Captain asked her to get all the pertinent information to us (we have a form for that) then to see if there's a doctor on board (there frequently is). We then initiated a call over the radio to our on-call medical resource, called STAT-MD, which lets us talk to a doctor for advice on handling the situation.
While we were doing that, the flight attendants did find a doctor on board, who discovered that the "patient" was taking a medication called coumadin, a blood thinner. This increased the doctor's concern with the symptoms, and when we relayed that bit of information to the doctor at STAT-MD, he advised us to get this passenger on the ground immediately for further diagnosis. At this point, we were about 100 miles east of Denver so we started down from Flight Level 380 (38,000 feet).
The passenger didn't want to divert, but it wasn't his call. I suppose we can all imagine the kind of liability issues that could arise if we elected to skip the diversion and the man's condition became critical during the last 90 minutes of flight to L.A.
We were pretty busy during the descent, getting out the approach charts for Denver, briefing the approach, calling Denver Operations to get a gate assignment, and running checklists for the descent and approach. Normally one of us would make a PA to the passengers, but we were so busy that we had to delegate that to the lead flight attendant. Declaring a medical emergency really gets you some expeditious handling by Air Traffic Control, and we got cleared straight in to the airport and got taxi clearance right to the gate, with other planes holding for us.
The passenger/patient was met by medical personnel, who escorted him off the plane. Then we got some fuel and a new dispatch release to continue our flight. We were on the ground for 40 minutes. As we continued on our way to Los Angeles, I wondered just how much of an inconvenience this would end up being for that passenger. There was a good chance he wouldn't make it to L.A. until the next day, but we'd never know the rest of the story.
]]>Saturday was a perfect day, with the winds forecast to be five knots or less all day. We arrived at the airport, and after checking out the airplane (a Cessna 172), it was time for Tyler and me to start our experiment. First he set up some cameras in the plane. He had two iPhones, which he set up on top of the forward panel, one directed at each of us. A digital camera was mounted on top of the center of the panel facing forward. Another camera was on a tripod placed behind the seats, with one leg in each of the seat back pockets. Lastly, he had a digital audio recorder that he plugged in to one of the audio phone outlets in the back seat.
We got in the plane and strapped in, Tyler in the left seat and me in the right. (Since this was a trainer, we had identical dual yoke and controls.) Before starting the engine, I went over the panel so that he understood where all the controls are. To anyone who might say that this "instruction" is beyond the scope of the experiment, I would point out that the plane and the sim aren't identical in layout. In fact, if we looked at each of the C-172s on the ramp we'd see differences among the various models. For example, in some of them the flap handle has labeled detents for each flap setting (and that's what Tyler was expecting). But in this plane, the flap handle was a three position toggle switch. To put flaps down, hold the toggle down and watch the flap indicator to see how much flaps you have. Flip the toggle up and the flaps retract without the need to hold the switch. I wanted to be sure he understood the operation, as it's easy to accidentally retract flaps by moving the switch inadvertently past the center detent.
Besides the flap handle, the only other things that Tyler would need to touch during the flight were the yoke, the throttle and the trim wheel. I showed him the operation of the trim wheel and explained its use. It's a convenience, used to alleviate elevator control pressure, but not a requirement. You can muscle through those control forces, but it makes things a lot easier if you have the plane trimmed for fingertip control.
Next, I pointed out the Directional Gyro (DG) and explained that we would set it to runway heading just prior to takeoff. Tyler was hoping for runway 12L, which he had flown on his simulator. He was used to the headings needed for the pattern from this runway.
After turning all the cameras on, I started the engine and contacted Ground Control for taxi clearance, requesting a closed pattern (i.e., we would be returning to land), and we proceeded to the runway. On a straightaway portion of the taxiway, I let Tyler put his feet on the rudders just to get the feel of taxiing the plane. We got to the run up area and ran the Before Takeoff checklist, ensuring that everything was ready to go. I then called the tower and advised the controller that we were ready for takeoff.
The tower controller threw us a curve, clearing us for takeoff on Runway 7 with instructions to land on Runway 12L. This is a significant change, since it wouldn't be a standard rectangular pattern, and I felt that it was unfair to not briefly discuss what he had to do. You only get one chance to make a first attempt and I didn't want to see it ruined for Tyler because he was having trouble with situational awareness. So I told the controller that I had a student pilot on board and we needed a minute. I took out the airport diagram and showed Tyler the relation of the runways and how he could takeoff and simply turn to enter the downwind for 12L. He was satisfied, and I advised the Tower that we were ready. My biggest regret about the experiment is that I didn't simply ask the controller for a takeoff on 12L, which I am sure would have been approved.
Here's where I made a serious omission: I neglected to verify and set runway heading on the DG once we lined up on the runway. I got us on the centerline and told Sparks "Your airplane." He advanced the throttle, a little timidly at first, and we started rolling. As I expected, he began drifting left of centerline. The plane wants to go left due to several factors, and right rudder is required to keep it tracking straight ahead.
He had drifted halfway from the centerline to the left edge of the runway, and I was mentally allowing him about five more feet before I would take over. But at this point, he finally applied sufficient rudder to stop the drift. (By the way, if I had taken over, my plan was to initiate the climb and then turn the plane back over to him to see if he could make the landing.) His takeoff was very good and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't over-rotate, another very common error for first-timers. If you rotate too fast or too much, the airspeed can bleed off dangerously, running the risk of a stall very low to the ground.
Climbout was pretty good. We drifted a little more left, but now that we were airborne there was no major concern with that. At about 500′ above the ground (2700′ msl) Tyler started a left turn to bring the plane around to downwind for 12L. He was looking for a heading of 300° and at this time he noticed that the heading on the gyro was way off from what it should have been. I quickly reset the gyro to our magnetic heading (indicated by a magnetic compass attached to the center of the windshield). Ugh, I felt horrible for missing that before takeoff!
Tyler leveled off at pattern altitude of 3000′ msl and began accelerating much more than he should have for staying in the landing pattern. We got up to almost 120 knots before he realized that he needed to reduce power. As we continued on downwind, I finally made a small gesture, pointing left, to indicate that we needed to turn base soon. I wouldn't have done this if we had been at an uncontrolled field, but I didn't want the Tower to have to call us to ask about our extended downwind.
At this point, I watched as Sparks slowed the plane and extended flaps. He settled on 20° of flaps, which was his plan ahead of time and is fine for landing. As we turned final, we were really coming to the critical part of the experiment. As long as we were in the air, there was really little he could do to put us in immediate danger. But close to the ground I had to be ready to take the plane. Of course, that's true for any student pilot making a first landing. The main difference is that I would normally be giving constant verbal feedback during this phase. But the rules were that I couldn't say anything.
His glide path control was pretty good. We got a little low at one point, but he recognized it and shallowed the descent until we were back on path. As we got closer, the VASI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator) became discernible and I pointed it out. Again, there might be some who find fault with that, and perhaps I shouldn't have said anything. Maybe it's the flight instructor in me, but I didn't see any problem with pointing it out. I didn't discuss how to interpret it or make any suggestions about his control of the plane.
Coming up on the runway threshold, I was waiting to see if he would make some of the classic first-time mistakes. It's very easy to misjudge the round-out of the descent and the flare for landing. A common mistake is to pull back too much, causing the plane to balloon upward as the airspeed drops off toward stall. If this happened, I'd have to take over. Another mistake is simply to fly the plane into the ground without breaking the glide at all. This will cause a nose wheel strike, which can damage the plane (though it will usually be a survivable landing). I couldn't risk damage to the plane, and I'd have to take over if I saw this coming too.
But Tyler did a beautiful job, bleeding off the power as he shallowed the descent. We drifted a little right, but not as much as he drifted left during takeoff. I was watching airspeed and descent rate closely, with my attention constantly shifting from outside to the instruments. We touched down at a very acceptable speed and began rolling down the runway with power at idle. At this point, I was satisfied that he had done it, and said "I've got the airplane."
Tower had cleared us for "the option," which meant that we could have done either of four things: (1) make a low pass and go around, (2) make a touch and go (i.e. land, than apply power and take off), (3) make a stop and go (land, come to a full stop, then apply power and takeoff), or (4) make a full stop landing and taxi clear of the runway. I told Tyler I had the plane and I retracted the flaps and applied power for takeoff. It was my turn.
Once on downwind, I asked Tyler if he wanted to go do some more flying and I could actually give him instruction, but he was happy to call it a day, so we just returned for a full-stop landing. As we taxied in, I congratulated him and told him that he had just made a mockery of my entire life. When we tied down the airplane, we had logged .5 hours on the plane.
Afterward, we headed off for lunch and relived the experience. I think we both agreed that the perfect weather, especially dead calm winds, made it possible, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishment. Tyler acknowledged that the real airplane is a whole lot different than flying the simulation software, but it obviously gave him the basics. I think he also said that some of the online discussion beforehand about what to expect actually helped him.
Even though the experiment was a success, I can't say how common Tyler's experience would be. So if you've spent a few hours flying Microsoft Flight Simulator, and now think you're ready to solo, I'd still say: Don't.
After he got home, Tyler posted this YouTube video of the flight. Unfortunately, the backseat camera video, which was supposed to show the instrument panel, was not usable.
Is it possible for a person to get proficient enough on this home software to be able to takeoff and land a real airplane — with no other instruction or experience? Recently, I came across a discussion on the internet by a 46-year-old electrical engineer in California who proposed that he could do just that. He said he had "tons of hours" on his flight simulation software and felt confident that he could fly an airplane around the pattern and land it safely.
I read his posting and the discussion it generated with great interest, and I even chimed in with my opinion. Flying a real airplane with only simulator experience isn't impossible (the "Barefoot Bandit" apparently did it), but I have to think it's extremely rare, and was firmly of the belief that this guy wouldn't be successful. My reasoning was that the simulation software just doesn't give the feel of the controls and the aerodynamic load on the control surfaces, which will change depending on the airspeed. Also, the software provides an artificially stable experience, whereas flight in a real airplane will provide completely different sensations.
The guy proposing this experiment, Tyler Sparks, already had an instructor lined up to fly with him, but as the online discussion continued, it seemed as if the flight would never take place. Finally, he posted that the instructor had backed out. At this point I was so interested in the experiment that I volunteered to be the instructor/safety pilot. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd have to take over the plane, but I wanted to see just how well he could do on his first time in a plane.
The basic rules for the experiment were laid out by Tyler in the first post of his online discussion:
The rules are that he [the instructor/safety pilot] will do all the preflight checks and the plane will be ready to go. He will communicate with the tower for clearance and such, and will taxi us out to the runway and line me up for take off. Weather will have to be clear and calm. After that, he can't say or do anything to assist me, from the moment I push in the throttle. If we encounter any other air traffic, which is unlikely at this location, he will take over and, steer us clear, then I'm back on the controls. Once I (hopefully) land, he would take over and taxi us back to the parking area.
I talked to Tyler the week before heading out, just to cover some basics about the flight. The most important thing to me was his clear understanding that my main concern was safety and preventing any damage to the airplane. It was agreed that if I said "I have the airplane" at any time during the flight, he would relinquish controls without hesitation or discussion.
I flew out to meet him the day after Thanksgiving, and admit that I had some misgivings. There was really not much upside to this trip for me, other than satisfying my curiosity, and lots of downside if anything went wrong. Our rendezvous at the airport went as planned, and I was relieved to find that my initial impression from our phone conversations was confirmed. Tyler wasn't some crazy kid. He was intelligent and very personable, and right away I felt better about my decision to participate.
We discussed the flight, reconfirming the "rules of engagement," and it was agreed he would pick me up at 8:30 the next morning. I'll post the rest of the story next week…
]]>The movie trailer intrigued me. A plane in distress is put down in an open field by a great pilot who uses a very unusual maneuver to save the day: He rolls the plane inverted to arrest an uncontrolled dive, saving 96 of the 102 "souls on board." Denzel Washington plays the Captain, "Whip" Whitaker, in Flight and that's enough reason for me to see the movie (big Denzel fan). So I headed off for a Saturday matinee, fully expecting that this movie, like almost every aviation movie I've ever seen, would take some liberties with the technical aspects of the flying scenes. I wasn't disappointed.
The plane is a JR-88, a type that exists only in the mind of a screenwriter. It looks suspiciously like an MD-88, but I suppose when you're making a movie about an aviation disaster you don't want the liability of naming an actual type of plane. It's a rainy morning in Orlando, and Captain Whitaker is completing his pre-flight walkaround inspection of the plane. That's when the movie loses all credibility for me. Very few captains perform any walkaround, and virtually no captain will do one in the rain.
The cockpit is authentic, and it's definitely an MD-80 variant. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) chatter is pretty realistic, if not perfect, and the crew coordination on takeoff and climb is also not bad. But then they encounter some rough weather, and things start to go Hollywood. Whip decides to penetrate this weather in a very unconventional way. For some reason he decides to stay low and push the speed up until the plane is hitting the max allowable speed, indicated on the airspeed indicator by a "barber pole." The First Officer (FO) brings the excessive speed to his attention, but Whip isn't deterred, and applies even more power.
In the real world, the pilots would have been thinking much farther ahead, trying to avoid the weather displayed on their weather radar. After encountering rough air, one of the first things we do is reduce speed to soften the bumps. (Much like riding on a bumpy road in your car, the effect of the bumps is amplified if you go faster.) At this low altitude, we would use a speed of 290 knots to get a better ride. Flying that close to the "barber pole" in that kind of turbulence not only makes for a very uncomfortable ride, but also exposes the plane to potential structural damage.
After successfully penetrating the weather and finding smooth air, Whip's plane is cruising at 30,000 feet when the plane begins an uncontrollable dive. You can hear the audio warning "SINK RATE, SINK RATE," which is a warning that would only occur if the plane is down low and descending too fast. Up at altitude we can, and do, descend at rates that would be unacceptable when in the approach phase of flight. We sometimes descend at rates in excess of 4,000 feet per minute if necessary for ATC, or to make a crossing restriction. We don't want to get meaningless warnings about this, so the system is programmed to inhibit these alerts when we're more than 2,500 feet above the ground.
A number of things happen at this point in the movie that a good technical adviser could have caught. For one, Whip directs the FO to dump fuel. I think I heard him say that they needed to reduce the weight of the plane, but this wouldn't really be a consideration in this situation. I guess one conceivable reason you might want to dump fuel is to minimize the amount on board to feed a post-crash fire, but the MD-88 doesn't even have fuel dump capability (though perhaps the JR-88 does).
Whip then tells ATC that they've lost hydraulics to the elevator. Maybe in the make-believe JR-88, but the MD-88 doesn't have hydraulically powered flight controls. It's all cables and pushrods moving control tabs on the elevator, rudder, and ailerons. Next, he directs the FO to put the flaps down. I'm not sure what this would accomplish, other than to cause structural damage to the flaps and maybe even rip them off the plane. The flaps have maximum speeds associated with each setting and we're very careful not to exceed these limitations.
As if things weren't bad enough, they now have a fire in the left engine—a pretty random occurrence that doesn't seem related in any way to the mechanical difficulty they're having with the plane's elevator. They're just having a really bad day. Whip directs the FO to "put out the fire," and he dutifully pulls the fire handle for the left engine. This action shoots halon into the burning engine to put out the fire, but that's not all it does. It also isolates the engine, closing the fuel valve, hydraulic valve, and pneumatic valve associated with that engine. In other words, it shuts down the engine. (All airliners work this way, and this function of the fire handle is part of the certification requirements for transport category airplanes.) But in the movie, the engine keeps running.
Minutes later they have a fire in the right engine! Wow, this is a really, really bad day. The chances of two independent engine fires right on the heels of a catastrophic flight control failure are just astronomical. So rare, in fact, that we don't ever train for these kind of compound failures. Whip directs the FO to put out this fire, and he pulls the fire handle for the right engine. If you did this in the real world, things would get very quiet as you would now become a glider, with no engines running. If this really happened, we'd let that second engine burn because we'd need the power from it to continue flying.
And now we get to the fantastic display of airmanship by Whip. He rolls the plane inverted while directing the FO to retract the flaps and directing one of the flight attendants to pull a mysterious handle on the center console "on the count of three." I'm not sure what that handle did. If he explained it, I missed it. But I'm very familiar with the MD-88 cockpit, and I don't remember any such handle. He also directs her to push the throttles forward during this maneuver. After flying inverted for a a brief time, he rolls back to normal flight attitude just in time to crash land in an open field.
Could this maneuver actually work? It's an imaginative premise. They were in a situation where the elevator was locked in a position forcing a nose-down pitch attitude, which caused a rapid dive. By going inverted, the nose will be pointed skyward, but there would still be no control of the pitch. With enough power, the plane would now climb skyward under negative G's, but the pitch attitude would still be uncontrollable. In such a desperate situation I guess it would be worth a try. As I watched the movie, I found myself willing to suspend disbelief and just go along with Whip's fantastic flying ability. But even superb flying can't overcome unresponsive controls.
In the aftermath of the accident, the NTSB determines the cause of the dive to be a mechanical defect in a jackscrew that moves the elevator trim. This is taken from a real-life accident which occurred in January 2000, when Alaska Air Flight 261, an MD-83, suffered just such a failure of the jackscrew, causing a loss of pitch control. At one point, that crew actually attempted to arrest the dive by going inverted, but the plane continued to descend at a rate in excess of 13,000 feet per minute and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
Watch the movie trailer, below:
]]>The autopilots in modern jet aircraft can fly the plane from shortly after takeoff all the way to landing. But contrary to the image that many people have, it's not just a matter of pressing a button, then forgetting about it (despite the old pilot's joke when engaging the autopilot, "Let George fly it.") In truth, the pilot tells the autopilot what to do throughout the flight by setting inputs for both the lateral and vertical modes.
The minimum altitude at which the autopilot may be engaged varies among airlines. My company's minimum is 200 feet, but I don't think I've ever seen a pilot engage it that low. Occasionally I'll see someone engage it by 1,000 feet, but most pilots hand-fly the plane until much higher, often above 18,000 feet.
Once engaged in LNAV (lateral navigation), the autopilot will follow the entire flight plan that's been loaded into the plane's computer. The third dimension, altitude (vertical navigation, or VNAV), will also be flown according to the flight plan, but no altitude change occurs until the pilot sets the desired altitude on the mode control panel (the "dashboard").
The autopilot does an excellent job of delivering a very smooth flight, and its use frees up the pilots to manage and monitor the flight. For the majority of the flight, the pilots' involvement in flying the plane is initiating altitude changes, occasionally deviating from the planned flight path (e.g. due to weather) by flying in heading mode (as opposed to LNAV mode), and making changes to the stored flight plan in response to clearances from ATC (e.g. "You are cleared direct to Albany" or "After Brickyard, proceed direct Wilkes-Barre VOR").
Most pilots will turn off the autopilot and hand fly the approach and landing. I've occasionally clicked it off as high as 20,000 feet, but usually I'm somewhere below 5,000 feet. Many modern planes have autoland capability, the ability to fly an ILS right down to landing. Using this feature is not just a matter of watching it happen. The pilots must configure the plane with flaps and landing gear, as well as ensuring that it slows to the proper speeds.
You might think we'd use this capability a lot, but most pilots like landing the plane themselves, and I've only used autoland one time in a real-world situation of very low visibility (fog at LAX; we could barely see the taxiway lights after landing as we made our crawl to the gate). Sometimes our flight plan will contain a remark from the dispatcher asking us to perform an autoland in order to keep the plane certified for this capability, and in this case we will grudgingly comply if the winds and runway in use allow it. We always remain ready to take over in case it doesn't perform satisfactorily.
Lately, there's been some concern that reliance on automation is eroding the basic skills of pilots. There is some truth there. My first airline job was flying the Jetstream 32, a 19-seat turboprop. I remember being amazed that it had no autopilot whatsoever, not even something as simple as a bug tracker like the one I had in my Cherokee 180. I hand flew that plane for five years, and I can honestly say that my flying skills and instrument scan probably peaked during that time. Hand flying five to eight legs a day, down low in the weather in the northeast corridor, will hone one's flying skills.
Contrast this with my situation a couple of years ago, when I was on a steady diet of international flights. I would fly four trips a month, for a total of eight ocean crossings. With a three-man crew, I would be lucky to be the flying pilot on three of those flights, and often I would only get two takeoffs and landings in a month. In my turboprop days, I would sometimes get twice that number in a single day.
But the thing is, if you reach a certain experience level you're not going to forget the basics, just like riding a bike. The problem today is that pilots new to the industry are starting right out in very sophisticated jets with glass cockpits, and, of course, a fully capable autopilot. The training focuses on using the automation, and less emphasis is placed on hand flying and the use of raw data. For a generation raised on computers and video games, mastery of this equipment comes quickly. But I sometimes wonder if the stick and rudder skills are there.
]]>Pilots love to have lots of fuel, but it's expensive to carry excessive amounts (called "tankering" in the biz), and the company doesn't like to spend money unnecessarily. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) dictate the minimum fuel loads required for a flight. For domestic operations, we must carry enough fuel to reach the destination airport, then fly to the most distant alternate airport (a suitable field selected based on weather forecasts), and then fly at normal cruise speed for another 45 minutes. (If you want to read the actual regulation for airlines, see FAR 121.639; for general aviation flights, see FAR 91.151 and FAR 91.167) In many cases, the company will pad this amount with "Contingency fuel" which is just what it sounds like, i.e., just a little extra for more options.
Fuel became an issue on one of my recent flights. We were flying from LAX to JFK, and it looked like we'd be about 20 minutes early. We were within an hour of landing and the weather looked good in New York, so it came as a surprise when New York Center gave us holding instructions. This was particularly unexpected since we were still at our cruise altitude of 39,000 feet. Most airborne holding occurs down lower, when we're closer to the destination airport. The reason for the holding was weather on the arrival route.
The holding instructions were: "Hold northwest of the HOXIE intersection on J70, right hand turns, 20 mile legs. EFC 1850Z. Reduce speed at your discretion." [HOXIE is one of thousands of aviation fixes in the country, simply defined as a Lat/Lon; they all have five character names. J70 is a defined route for high altitude traffic, a "highway in the sky."] We brought the power back a little to save fuel, slowing to about 240 knots indicated airspeed — still a safe speed for our clean (no flaps) configuration. Our true airspeed (TAS) was still around 445 knots. We programmed the FMC (Flight Management Computer) for the hold, then got to work developing a plan in case we couldn't get in to JFK. These can be some of the busiest situations in airline flying, as we have to continuously monitor the weather situation and our fuel state.
The EFC is the "Expect Further Clearance" time. This is an important part of the clearance. If we were to lose communications, we would hold until that time and then proceed according to our flight plan, knowing that ATC would clear the path for us. It also gives us an idea of how long ATC expects us to hold, but that can vary significantly either way. I've been released from holding before completing one turn, and other times I've reached the EFC time only to be given a revised, much later, EFC.
As we made the first turn at HOXIE, I made the required call to ATC to let them know we were entering the hold. Then I got on the PA to let the passengers know what was going on. I'm sure there were a lot of groans in the cabin at that point, as everyone with connections started wondering just how bad the rest of their day was going to be. We looked at several possible divert airports, and Buffalo looked like the best option based on weather reports and proximity. It was within 100 miles of the hold, which is very close when you're at 39,000′, so things would get busy if we decided to go there. We decided on a "bingo" fuel figure, i.e. the least amount of fuel we felt comfortable with before diverting. Then we got out the charts for Buffalo.
After about three turns in the holding pattern, the controller called to revise our EFC, making it 1920Z. We could now plainly see that we would reach our minimum fuel before the EFC. This might seem to dictate making the diversion now rather than waiting — why burn fuel for no good reason? — but again, it's not unusual to be released from the hold prior to the EFC. Just to keep ATC in the loop, we let the controller know that we would have to divert before reaching the EFC and that Buffalo was our planned diversion airport. At this point, I was pretty sure we'd be shuffling off to Buffalo to refuel and wait out the weather.
Then, as often happens, New York Approach started accepting arrivals and we were given clearance to continue on our flight plan route. We advised our dispatcher via ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, a sort of on-board email system) that we were continuing towards JFK. This gets to be the tricky part, because we aren't really assured of making it into JFK but now we're getting farther from the alternate and burning more fuel. Our dispatcher calculated that we should have at least 11,000 lbs of fuel on board to divert from JFK to Buffalo with comfortable margins, and we concurred. If that did become necessary, we'd refuel at Buffalo and wait out the weather.
It was apparent as we continued to JFK that we would be going below that 11,000 pound number before landing. If it had been night with no other obvious options, we very likely would have just headed to Buffalo rather than get ourselves into a situation where our options disappeared. But in this case, it was mid-afternoon with good visibility for us and we could plainly see all of the scattered build-ups of cumulonimbus clouds. There were other suitable airports much closer to JFK (e.g. Bradley and Providence), and we could see that the weather was better to the north.
Approach control vectored us for the ILS to Runway 22L, and when it was all over, we shut down with just over 9,000 pounds of fuel — well above what would even be considered a "minimum fuel" state. (In the 757, we would declare "minimum fuel" when getting down to 4,500 lbs; we would declare "emergency fuel" at 3,500 lbs.] We were about an hour late, and it's likely that some passengers missed their connections, but there was very little grumbling as they deplaned. Most reasonable people understand that there are factors out of our control.
As I walked off the plane, heading to the crew room, I heard one woman asking the gate agent how to get to terminal three. I volunteered to be her guide since I was heading that way. She had a connection for Moscow, scheduled for 4:10 pm. It was already after 4:00 but maybe the Moscow flight was late due to the weather. It was a long walk, but I got her to the gate and the flight was late. So I know of at least one passenger who got to where she wanted to be that night.


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Want to see more sketches and funny letters? Check out my new blog, Cyrumblr. You can follow me there or get updates via twitter.
· Behind the Scenes Contributors
· David Berlow Subscribe |
NEWS, SKETCHES · October 12, 2012cyrumblrWant to see more sketches and funny letters? Check out my new blog, Cyrumblr. You can follow me there or get updates via twitter. NEWS · September 4, 2012kaiju 2A new screen print is available from tinyshowcase – another variation from my kaiju series. BEHIND THE SCENES · June 29, 2012department of font researchWhere do fonts come from? No one knows for sure but Font Bureau's Cyrus Highsmith has been looking into it. His findings are illustrated above. NEWS · June 21, 2012Pre-order Inside ParagraphsInside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals ships next week! You can order your copy right now, over here, just scroll down and click the big red button. In case you missed it, Paul Shaw reviewed an advance copy over at Imprint. NEWS · June 4, 2012inside paragraphsMy book, Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals finally went on press. Here are some photos of the make-readys. Paul Shaw reviewed an advance copy over at Imprint. Stay tuned for more information! NEWS, SKETCHES · May 29, 2012kaijuAn upcoming trip to Japan has revived a not-very-dormant interest in tokusatsu. In a recent sketchbook, I drew the characters for 'kaiju', which translates as monster. In the process, some of the counter forms disappeared—perhaps destroying legibility. We must flee! NEWS · May 14, 2012typecacheThere is an interview with me by Taro Yumiba at the new website, typecache. SEEN AND NOTED, SKETCHES, WEB FONTS · April 13, 2012star warsThe Star Wars website is using Antenna, thanks to Webtype. I think that makes me a Jedi knight! I feel a great disturbance in the letter spacing in the Star Wars logo… SKETCHES · April 13, 2012updikeA portrait of printer/scholar/typographer Daniel Berkeley Updike, drawn during a presentation about him by one of my students. NEWS · April 2, 2012touch of letteringProvidence's Cable Car Cinema commissioned me to create a poster for their screening of Orson Welles' revenge flick, Touch of Evil. It's a big three-color screen print and it's available from Tiny Showcase. |

subset: commoncrawl


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Web Marketing: Five Tips to Steal The Show
Set yourself apart from your competitors
3. Never Forget What Got You Here: Your Customers
Maintaining that relationship is key to the success to your business—and thanking them often is even more important. Social media is only one part of the equation when it comes to this and setting yourself apart from that competitor. You need to show your customers what you're made of—literally.
It never ceases to surprise me how many printers out there don't market using printed materials. What message is that sending to their customers?
Be sure to show off your wares by sending at least a few printed marketing pieces each quarter—newsletters, direct mail, even a simple, well printed insert in an invoice could go a long way.
One more non-digital idea to set you miles apart from your competitor—the simple, all too often forgotten, handwritten thank you note. Taking the time and the effort to show a customer you truly value their business will win every time. In a cluttered, crazy, online driven world, this note will speak volumes. Your customer might even thank you for the note on your Facebook fan page. That would be ideal!
4. Keep It Consistent
No matter what marketing we're talking about, consistency is key. Because we have so many places our name and company messages will appear—online, in print, in person, you name it—be sure you keep confusion at bay by keeping your look and your message consistent.
This doesn't mean you have to say exactly the same thing on Facebook, LinkedIn, and your direct mail piece, but the overall tone of the message should be the same. People should be able to read your Facebook post or your latest newsletter article, or even talk to one of your customer service reps and know they're hearing from your printshop.
The design of your marketing pieces, your Facebook profile picture, your LinkedIn profile, etc., should follow this rule, as well. Ideally, your customer would see, read, or hear something about your company and would know it's you before they ever see your name or your logo. That's marketing at its finest, and something you'll find with most successfully marketed companies.
5. Keep It Up And Keep It Repetitive
Keep the momentum going as much as you possibly can. You will hopefully start off on this journey with great enthusiasm and excitement. If you're like me, you won't be able to help it when you realize how great these tools are—don't let that excitement die!
Do whatever you have to do to keep the conversation going. That may mean involving more of your staff in social media updating. It may mean marking your calendar with must-have marketing reviews each month that you treat with as much importance as a meeting with your biggest client. Maybe it's a monthly incentive for your employee who receives the most comments on his company Facebook post. Whatever it takes, be sure to not let the conversation die. If it does, your following will die with it.
Final Anaylsis
Need one more reason to stay engaged? This, in my opinion, is the biggest one—people love to be paid attention to, especially by their service providers. An unexpected handwritten note that comes in the mail, a Facebook message of appreciation, a monthly newsletter full of useful and educational information that proves to your customer you're so much more than their printer—you're truly their partner.
That's what this is all about. That's what will keep that competitor from taking your clients. That's what so few businesses remember to do and why, if you take the time to pay attention, you'll stand out from the crowd without really having to take much time at all.
Take time to take five. Follow these five simple tricks to steal the show and loyal customers are sure to follow. If you do, your competitor can price cut, he can claim better quality, he can even directly approach your customers with what he considers a "better offer." It will matter less if your customers feel loved and well taken care of. They'll be yours forever.
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Salute to Vienna: Dec. 30
Published On: Nov 06 2012 02:07:14 PM EST
More than 75 musicians, singers, and dancers are bringing Vienna to Miami.
"Salute to Vienna" is playing at the Adrienne Arsht Center on December 30.
It features famous Strauss waltzes, polkas and operetta excerpts from "Die Fledermaus," the Merry Widow and more.
Click here for ticket information.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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anyone have a source for packages of homebrew already done for 4.21??
anyone have a source for packages of homebrew already done for 4.21??
I have been adding them as I see them to this article (scroll down for a lengthy list of resigned homebrew):
link seems to be dead.
You are going to have to be more specific... the link I posted works fine here, unless you mean a link on that page perhaps?
sorry about that , the link in your last post shows up as error page not found.
Hmm that is odd, it's working ok here... what browser are you using? Anyone else get an error there also?
using the latest firefox , i'll check it on IE in a bit.
works fine here in firefox...
to get latest aldostools actual version 2.3.4: http://www.sendspace.com/file/qe2th3
hope it's helpful.


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Roll up roll up. Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…to the wonderful, extraordinary Tortoise Tightrope Circus. Watch and marvel as our daring reptile acrobats leap through the air and onto the wire of doom! See never before acts of incredible courage as high above the ring our heroes swing through the canopy on the trapeze, flying through the air and being caught by our strongman Barry the butch as he balances high above the crowd as they gasp with amazement as the strands of fate hold our mighty performers from falling to certain peril. This is the fastest tightrope act in tortoise carnival history folks…don't miss out…book your tickets today!
Ideal for cartoons, children's programming, games and other fun uses
Files included: Main theme 2:00 Loop Version 0:50


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Get Bitdefender Total Security 2012 with a 3-user license for 2 years for FREE after a $55 mail-in rebate. Shipping is free. Bitdefender Total Security 2012 includes antivirus, antispyware, antiphishing, firewall, comprehensive parental controls, social networking safeguards, and remote management features. Total Security also comes with 2 GB of free, secure online storage that automatically backs up your important files every time it detects a change; File Shredder, which ensures that no traces of your deleted files remain on your PC; File Encryption, to keep your files from being viewed by anyone else but you; and Tune-up, to keep your PC running at full speed.
- Get it from NewEgg: BITDEFENDER TOTAL SECURITY 2012 3-USER 2-YEAR LICENSE DEAL
- $55 mail-in rebate expires 06/14/2012. REBATE FORM


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Home > Home Improvement Guide, Tips and Ideas
Creating Good Feng Shui with Windows and Doors for Beginners
Whether you think feng shui is important or not, it carries some valuable and practical advice about how to optimise your home. Here are some simple feng shui points about windows and doors. Before I start, I want to clarify that I'm not a feng shui specialist. The whole thing is [more]
Remodeling Contractor and Homeowners - How to Draw a Contract
Thеrе arе manу hоmе rеmоdеlіng рrоjесtѕ that сan nоt bе aсhіеνеd wіthоut thе hеlр оf a rеmоdеlіng соntraсtоr. Thіѕ соmеѕ aѕ a nесеѕѕіtу еѕресіallу wіth thоѕе tуреѕ оf рrоjесtѕ that rеquіrе thе uѕе оf νarіоuѕ tооlѕ, оf qualіfіеd рrоfеѕѕіоnalѕ tо handlе thеm and соntraсtоrѕ whо сan gathеr all thеѕе іntо [more]
Wooden windows for your Market Harborough home
Market Harborough is a great area that brags a great surrounding of old style buildings, from listed and heritage buildings, through to some of the new builds in the surrounding areas. With listed buildings comes building regulations and environmental issues which can often be quite difficult to cope with if [more]
Home improvement opportunities in the Bristol area
When you buy a new home in the Bristol area or even if you have an existing home that you are looking to sell you might find some great opportunities from local tradesmen in the area. With Bristol being one of the biggest cities in the UK and arguably the [more]
Ways to Preserve Your Air Conditioner's Best Condition
Your home's air conditioning system is an essential key to making your space more comfortable, especially during summer seasons. The ability to control temperature according to the need and preference of a user is among the modern conveniences every homeowner enjoys today. Just as big as the role it plays [more]


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Matt Mulcahy anchors CNY Central News at 5:00 pm, 6:00 pm, and 11:00 pm, as well as the CW6 News at 10:00 pm.
Syracuse Police have revealed the apparent abduction captured on security video at the Price Chopper on Midler Avenue in Syracuse was a hoax.
Sgt. Tom Connellan told CNY Central Tuesday night in a statement that the two people involved came forward to admit what they had done.
A 17-year-old male and two female juveniles who came forward. After extensive interviews detectives determined the three were the people involved in the hoax. The investigation is ongoing and charges will be coming against the teens.
Parking lot security video showed a man putting a woman in the trunk of a car and speeding off. Several people in the parking lot of Price Chopper saw it happen around 10:45 on Monday night.
Related Links


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I made the mistake of leaving my house at halftime of lions pakers to meet some friends at the bar when the game started again i heard Dan Miller doing the game and nothing against the guy but hes not that good i loved how champion was critical of the lions when they messed up i miss Holy mackrel and the way he did the game I HATE CAHANGE BRING BACK THE THROWBACKS AND BRING BACK THE ONLY TRUE VOICE OF LIONS FOOTBALL
I agree that Mark Champion was good and they didn't need a change. That said, I usually like Dan Miller as well, though I didn't listen to the game on the radio this week.
Yep, Champion was great - had passion. He was the voice of the Lions. Just like Ernie was the voice o' the Tigs.Originally Posted by bsmooth9
Thats exactly what made him so good, he had real passion for the Lions and whether they were losing or winning you could really hear what he felt, he sounded like a real Lions fan calling the game. Dan Miller has no enthusiasm whatsoever... hearing him say "aaaand touchdown Lions"... there is just nothing in the way he says it.Originally Posted by Biff Tannen
Champion got screwed and so did the fans!
I didnt hear what had happened though, who made the call to switch to Miller? Was it the station or what? hmm.
I think Dan Miller is real good. For quite a few years now, I've listened to the radio while I watch tv - though the tv delay has made that a real pain in the arshe. I liked Champion too. I think Champion got a little melancholy at the end though - like he was so tired of the "same ol Lions" he could barely stand to watch anymore. Sounds like the rest of us, no? All the same, I like both guys just fine.
My understanding was that the change was made by the Lions, but I can't prove it.
Champion is one of the very best in the business. What they did to him is typical (Frank Beckmann got the same treatment).
No offense to Dan Miller, but Champion is far superior doing football. :eek:
Live free or die
I agree with all of you guys. When you heard Mark Champion's voice, you automatically thought Lions football. He had passion for the team, and was simply put, a great voice on the radio. Like Ernie (Looooooong gone!), Ken Kal (He scoooooores!), Champion's calls of Barry running the football (Barry gets the handoff at the 30, cuts it to the 35, 40, 45, 50...) were priceless. I miss hearing him on the radio, but Dan Miller's not that bad either, he's just not a Mark Champion, but nobody can be.
P.S.- The Lions games sound so good on 97.1. That was a great move to switch from AM to FM.
Proud member of the Sports Inferno journalism tree...
Read my stuff in the Free Press and Las Vegas Sun
I dont mean to be totally of topic here but here it goes anyways
Saturday I tuned into the MSU game on 1270 in the car after watching the first half at home.
Who is the announcer with George Blaha?
Is he some sort of spartan god or what?
All the criticism I have heard about announcers on this site and not once have I heard anything about him. That guy is the worst I have ever heard. I could barely understand what he was saying.
Who is the announcer with George Blaha?
i think it is spartan great Bill Burke


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PHILADELPHIACopyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, running LeSean McCoy and tight end Brent Celek are all out against the Cincinnati Bengals as they recover from concussions. Vick missed his fifth straight game and McCoy his fourth on Thursday night. Both players just returned to practice this week. Rookies Nick Foles and Bryce Brown will again start at quarterback and running back, respectively. Safety Kurt Coleman (chest) also is out. Kicker Mike Nugent (right calf) and running back Cedric Peerman (ankle) are on the Bengals' inactives list.


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Map Payment: Cash, Debit, VISA, MasterCard Price: Average dinner entrée CAD$10.00 to $18.00Wheelchair Accessible. Nando's Flame-Grilled Chicken Promotional Videos Please click on the logo to view the videos.
Payment: Cash, Debit, VISA, MasterCard
Price: Average dinner entrée CAD$10.00 to $18.00
Wheelchair Accessible.
Nando's Flame-Grilled Chicken Promotional Videos
Please click on the logo to view the videos.
Dine in / Take out / Catering
Signature Dish: Peri-Peri Flame-Grilled Chicken
Peri-Peri Flame-Grilled Chicken, butterfly-cut and marinated in Nando's Peri-Peri marinade for at least 24 hours. Sauce choices: Lemon & Herb for beginners, Medium Peri-Peri for the slightly more adventurous and Hot or Extra Hot Peri-Peri for real daredevils. It's no wonder Vancouverites have voted Nando's, Vancouver's "Best Chicken" two years in a row!
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Food Vancouver Select Guide: Vancouver Hotel Restaurants
Over the past few years, Vancouver hotel restaurants have gone through exciting changes. Whether it is hiring a top name chef or creating a brand new restaurant Vancouverites, as well as guests to the city, have been blessed. With this in mind the Food Vancouver Select Guide presents an appetizer list of Vancouver Hotel Restaurants:
Dine Out Vancouver 2014
Dine Out Vancouver 2014 is a continuation of an annual event that allows thousands of local food enthusiasts and tourists to dine at some of Vancouver's top restaurants at equally attractive prices. The 2014 version will be Dine Out Vancouver's 12th year. The event will be held on January 17th to February 4th, 2014.
Register now for FoodSafe Level 1 Course


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I woke up this morning at 1:30 with my mind racing with all the things I have to do before Teri and I set out on our European vacation on Sunday. One thing we needed to do was to book our B&B's in Blarney and Galway for next Tuesday and Wednesday. So I got up and got on the phone. It was after all, 9:30 AM in Ireland.So when we arrive in Dublin on the third, we're staying at the Airport Hilton, a nice place to just rest our weary bones after a full day of travel . . . 13+ hours of it in fact. The nice thing is that they have a shuttle to and from the airport, so we'll be able to get up the next morning and get our rental car at the airport without too much hassle. Plus according to reviews online, they also have a grocery store across the street so Teri and I can stock up for our road trip around Southern Ireland.
On the morning of the 4th, we'll pick up the rental car and make for Blarney and Cork by way of Waterford. We'll be staying at the Ashcroft B&B in Blarney that supposedly overlooks the Blarney castle. Our friend Mark, an Irishman, says the best Guiness in Ireland is to be found at Blarney castle, so we'll find out if that's true. We'll also visit the Wollen Mills and perhaps the Jameson Irish Whiskey factory.
On the 5th, we'll head to Galway, where we'll be staying at St. Jude's B&B. No clue what we'll be doing in Galway, but I'm sure we can find something of interest!
On the 6th, we'll head back to Dublin and visit the Guiness factory and see the sights around Dublin. Not sure where we'll be staying. If the Hilton works out for the 3rd, we may just book another night for the 6th.
Then on the 7th, we're off to Scotland! On the 10th we'll be off to Germany and on the 14th, we'll be coming home. A whirlwind tour no doubt, but should be fun!
Oh and funny thing about calling Ireland . . . they all have Irish accents. Who knew?


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Show your pregame ritual, win Stumptown & Timbers gear
Show your pregame ritual, win Stumptown & Timbers gear
Stumptown Coffee prepping for Sunday
How do you get ready for a Timbers match? Debate which jersey to wear? Which scarf to bring? Warm up with a cup of coffee? Hit the pub? Create a two-stick sign? All of the above?
We want to see it.
The Timbers, along with our pals at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, have a special contest that will run throughout the 2013 season that includes a great Timbers and Stumptown prize pack. To enter, all you have to do is on the morning of the first home game of every month, you Instagram a shot of your morning pre-game ritual with the hashtag #SCRTimbers.
A random fan from each match will be selected to win what is a pretty sweet prize pack:
- One (1) Signed Timbers Jersey
- One (1) 12oz bag of Kenya Gaturiri Coffee
- Two (2) Stumptown Coffee Roaster Mugs
- One (1) Stumptown Branded Red Rooster Hand Mill Grinder
So mark your calendars and show us how you get ready.
- 3/3 vs. New York
- 4/6 vs. Houston
- 5/2 vs. New England
- 6/15 vs. FC Dallas
- 7/13 vs. LA Galaxy
- 8/3 vs. Vancouver
- 9/7 vs. Toronto FC
- 10/13 vs. Seattle
For full contest rules, click here.


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Chief Justice John Roberts signs on to Health Care Act
Posted on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 09:52 AM
Recent Posts
- Gay wedding cakes latest target of anti-gay bigots
- Sarah Palin is saving Christmas
- Bill O'Reilly slams Nelson Mandela as an unrepentant "communist"
- Forging a bond with my father during an idyllic trip to Donegal
- JFK and the Sacred Heart were the twin pillars of life in Donegal
John Roberts |
Well, here's some humble pie I don't mind eating. In fact, I'm in a positively celebratory mood.
I wish that I could say today's ruling signals a move to the political center for the John Roberts Court, but clearly it means no such thing.
Following the public outrage over the Citizens United decision, had the Roberts Court ruled against the Affordable Health Care Act it could have bolstered a legitimacy crisis for the Supreme Court. For whatever reasons Roberts chose not to aggravate that perception at this time.
But critics like Rush Limbaugh are now contending, with laughable hyperbole, that Obamacare constitutes the 'biggest tax increase in the history of the world.'
Well, sometimes the social compact makes us pay for things that we don't like in order to promote the greater good of the nation, allowing us receive a mutual benefit.
What Tea Party supporters call an 'immoral tax' can also be called 'taking individual responsibility' to insure yourself so that your personal costs aren't passed on to everyone else, or failing that to contribute to the Government's revenue so that it can cover those costs.
When uninsured people seek medical care we all pay for it. Either through taxes or through increases to medical costs. The new mandate takes that burden off us and places it back with the person with no insurance.
You want medical treatment but don't want to get insurance? OK, you can have it but now we'll levy a fine against you.
This is not socialism. This is common sense. You can't get a drivers license without car insurance in some states. The government has just applied the same logic to health care. Applying the same logic to health care makes good sense.
There are people in America who believe they can go without health care insurance. There are people who are certain they will never get sick, never have an accident, never need stitches or break a bone. So when they go to hospital now without insurance for those things they'll be fined.
Once upon a time they thought, wrongly, that what they did had no impact on anyone else in society. Now they'll discover the error of that view and they'll contribute to the greater health of the nation.
That's what taking responsibility for your own actions means. The Court has upheld a sensible law. We all benefit from it.
41 Comments
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seanomelb | Jul 02, 2012, 11:46 PM EDT
maybe you should broaden our horizons I cannot find any references to sea levels dropping due to polar melting. RE dinosaurs and a warm earth well you know the truth.
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BrianO | Jul 01, 2012, 09:26 PM EDT
need to review your physics, seano.But since you bring it up, How could dinosaurs have roamed the earth? That would require the earth to be much warmer than it is now, and we all know that only human interference can warm the earth.
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seanomelb | Jul 01, 2012, 07:32 PM EDT
Melting ice lowers sea levels I'm disappointed Briano!Maybe you were been humorous.I sure hope so.Maybe you also believe that dinosaurs roamed the earth with humans ya gotta laugh!!
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BrianO | Jul 01, 2012, 06:05 PM EDT
Ephraim the guy in flooded basement I'm sure exists, the problem with the seascarers is that they take an aberration in data and extrapolate it to "prove" their end. Anyone who performed high school science experiments will know this is fudging results to fit what you want the conclusion to be. Your version of America relies on bigger and more powerful government to be nice to everyone, alawys seems nice at the beginning put tends to end horribly.
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EphraimKibbey | Jul 01, 2012, 05:25 PM EDT
@Briano - the guy in the interview didn't seem to think that his house was sinking but I guess that would be an alternative explanation for the fact that the ocean was in his basement or don't you believe in facts. @eiriamach - I agree that my post showed some philosophical wishful thinking but I have found that the KISS principle is important. When you start to see their eyes glazing over, it is time to "Keep It Simple Stupid!" Your facts are resplendent but there are many here who won't read them or acknowledge them let alone believe them. The nation's only hope is a constitutional amendment stating that only people are people with rights and that limiting contributions to elections to reasonable amounts with full disclosure is constitutional followed by a return to a more progressive tax schedule. The one under Clinton worked well then but I fear that too much of the nation's wealth has been stolen by the plutocracy and will need to be repatriated before our economy can function ideally.
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eiriamach | Jul 01, 2012, 03:57 PM EDT
EphraimK, I like your principle, "we all contribute to our commonwealth based on our ability to do so," but I do not see it working out in practice. The wealthy consume much more in government services, at hidden costs, than the poor--unless the poor grow so large in numbers and the wealthy so few that the balance shifts. We're not yet at that point. Now, someone with $1 million in yearly income requires far more of the services of the FDIC, SEC, TSA, other security and info agencies, regulatory agencies that watch banks and manufacturers for compliance, and enforcement agencies for NAFTA and other commerce treaties. The wealthy are well protected by expensive government services, and they contribute less to their cost than middle- and working-class Americans, who might use food stamps (welfare for corporate farmers) or aid to dependent children when parents are unemployed (unemployment insurance is a benefit they paid into, not "welfare"). That's without mentioning oil depletion allowances, agriculture subsidies, and other tax loopholes. The wealthy have a better "ability" to pay but get gov't benefits galore at the expense of the middle-class. As Reinhold Niebuhr pointed out, sources of power in the economy are covert, so we try to solve economic problems through politics, where power is overt. (But I thought you guys gave up on philosophy?)
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BrianO | Jul 01, 2012, 08:37 AM EDT
Ephraim there is no rising of sea levels. Read the Constitution it is short and remarkable easy to read. Show me where it says government shall tax people by their ability to pay. As I get ready to celebrate The forth of July, Happy DEPENDENCE day as that is what your party and me thinks your employer strive for.
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EphraimKibbey | Jul 01, 2012, 01:09 AM EDT
The way our government works is that we all contribute to our commonwealth based on our ability to do so and the government does the big things that no one person is able to do by themselves. For most of us it is stuff like building a bridge in downtown Boston or equiping an army but for the less fortunate among us it is seeing that they get healthcare and a decent education. Since life is one of our inalienable rights, poverty should not be a reason for its loss. It should definitely not be taken away because of the inaction of our government. While I personally think Medicare for All or single payer would be much cheaper (as it cuts out the middle men) I realize that it would result in massive job loses from the health insurance companies as they tried to stay in business on medicare suppliment policies alone. The ACA will actually require them to hire more to handle the new policies being written and it will also increase the need for service providers. Lets phase in Medicare for all by lowering the starting age by five years each year.
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EphraimKibbey | Jul 01, 2012, 12:50 AM EDT
@Briano - "The larger increase here is caused by a slowing of the gulf stream due to glacial melt fresh water messing up the salinity pump in the North Atlantic." Sorry Briano, I know you are a stickler for detail and I thought my use of "glacial" in that statement would cover the fact that the fresh water was indeed coming from melting glaciers on land. The ocean temperature has also risen and as you are a scientifically astute person, I am sure you are aware that liquids expand when heated. Since the folks on the coast between New York and the Carolinas say the sea level is rising, I will take them at their word as they are there and I am not although the video of the guy standing in the flooded basement of his seaside home was pretty convincing.
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BrianO | Jun 30, 2012, 05:28 PM EDT
Eamonn I thought I conceeded that point only that it may raise levels, as with all things in nature the systems tend to be self regulating. the forces that melt ice in one region reform in another, Most of the seascarers will find a study that works for them in some part of the world and extrapolate to achieve their goal. Anyone who performs real science is a threat because ultimately they are not about solving or warning of a problem but are about economic control. Just another attack on freedom using simple logic and fear not fact.
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EamonnDublin | Jun 30, 2012, 04:11 PM EDT
BrianO - Exactly! Now you've got it! Water in the form of ice does indeed take up more space than it does in its liquidised form. But I didn't say "icebergs", I said "iceblocks", meaning ice on land. When that melts into the sea, there is obviously only one thing the sea level can do - rise. Another principle which can be applied in this matter is the one which states that when 5,000 giant gorillas jump into a small lake, the water in the lake rises. Of course, according to Lucas (1843-1916), this phenomenon is not solely confined to gorillas, it can in fact apply also to giraffes, buffalo, horses, crocodiles and sheep (unshorn). Archimides also had something to say about it, but I think he might have got it slightly wrong. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
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BrianO | Jun 30, 2012, 02:47 PM EDT
Eamonn, discussing geometry and physics is so much more enjoyable than the philosophy lessons of late, The right angled iceberg is I assume made of ice. This form of H2O takes up more volume than the liquid state of H2O. Fill a glass with ice fill the glass with water, when the ice melts see if it overflows remains the same or is less. Briano. In the winters in massachusetts we have to be careful frozen water pipes, when that happens the same volume of water expands and bursts the pipes.
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EamonnDublin | Jun 30, 2012, 02:04 PM EDT
My apologies to "PittsburghKid" - I omitted to log in and thus my response to "BrianO" is headed "PittsburghKid" because he was the next to post. It's a quirk of the software. The post is signed off at the end by me. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
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Pittsburghkid | Jun 30, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT
Roberts needs his seizure medication adjusted.
No need to worry the Tea Party is gearing up for 2012, like it did in 2010.
American are going to be called all kinds of names like racist, homophobe, zenophobe, etc, but we will ignore this name calling, and vote like it waa 2010.
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EamonnDublin | Jun 30, 2012, 11:44 AM EDT
BrianO - But, using the "square on the hypotenuse theorem" (Pythagoras), the melting ice on the square of the longest side of the iceblock equals the sum of the melting ice on the squares of the other two sides. Therefore, the melting ice from a solid landblock of ice MUST raise the sea level - always, of course, allowing for the fact that the iceblock has to be formed in the shape of a triangle and also must include a right-angled triangle - as most iceblocks indeed are. QED! Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
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Attention SURGE: The evil brains are closing in on LEGO Hero Factory HQ and must be stopped! We?ve equipped you with powerful rotating lightning blades, dual plasma shooters, jetpack wings, an opening armored visor and hero core locking clamps. Now spin those lightning blades and give the aliens a shock they'll never forget!
"R"Web#: 835940
Manufacturer #: 6025128
Product Weight:0.3 pounds
Product Dimensions (in inches):8.0 x 5.3 x 3.1
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I am pleased with this Surge and will list what I liked and didn't like about it. Likes: - New mask - Visor - New electrical weapon pieces - Generally tall - Well covered ...Read complete review
I am pleased with this Surge and will list what I liked and didn't like about it. Likes: - New mask - Visor - New electrical weapon pieces - Generally tall - Well covered - Jet pack - drone/armor piece - New transparent dark blue armor pieces Dislikes: - Visor doesn't fit as well on the mask - Visor doesn't look good on the sides on Surge's mask because part of the eyes aren't covered by the visor. This is the set I was most excited about getting and it met my expectations. I liked how they were going for his more original color scheme with blue, silver, and some yellow. I found out you can attach the wings in a slightly different easy way so that the wings won't go up or down and stay put. So it is nice to have that option if you don't want the wings moving. The weapon is decent but I dislike how green is mixed into the blue and yellow color of the electricity pieces because it doesn't look "electrical" to me. Overall, I am very happy with this figure.
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Surge could use more spark.
As an avid "Adult Fan Of Lego(Afol)" I've been collecting and building legos since I was 2, bionicle since it came out in 2001, and Hero Factory when it took bionic...Read complete review
As an avid "Adult Fan Of Lego(Afol)" I've been collecting and building legos since I was 2, bionicle since it came out in 2001, and Hero Factory when it took bionicle's place. I'm no stranger to these kinds of set. Surge is well...nothing overly special in my opinion. To Adults and older teens its probably going to be somewhat lack luster, but to kids it'll most likely be fun. For the price, there's better sets in the series to get. Surge definitely wasn't at the top of my list. I got him because I'm aiming to complete the series this year. Otherwise I probably would have skipped him. Now what specifically makes Surge not all that special? Well the only parts unique to this set are his printed visor piece, mask and the recolors of the flame/lightning bolt pieces. Those alone don't really make the set that interesting. I say get if if you want to complete the series, but if you skip it you're not missing out on much.
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Good Value
By samsonb20
from NYC, NY
About Me Parent Of Two Or More Children, Working Parent
Comments about LEGO Hero Factory SURGE (44008):
Easy to put together, good value for money. Other models more expensive for same amount of pleasure from child.
Comment on this review
surge was great at that price.
By Curtis
from Cincinnati
About Me First Time Parent, Working Parent
Will be a present.
Hope Lego hero is in santas bag
By Surge
from Suwanee,ga
About Me Parent Of Two Or More Children, Stay At Home Parent
My son picked surge as his first Lego hero factory figurine. It was soon followed by the one you could combine it with. He hasn't opened it yet since Santa is bringing it, but he asks everyday about it,. He played with hero factory at a friends home and it was very easy for him to build at five years old.
kids like it
By Big D
from tx
Another great lego set
By IrishGirl
from Columbus, Ohio
Great deal on a small lego set. My son enjoys it and can't wait to get the partner set, to make a "bigger guy".
By Yuh-Ah
from Embarrass, WI
About Me Working Parent
My 7 year old son LOVES this toy. He's constantly changing parts and creating new heroes.
Perfect toy for a young boy
By ica1080
from Coventry RI
About Me Aunt
See all my reviews
I bought this for my godson, he LOVES this!
Great for boys!
By TT
from Albany,NY
My 9-year-old son loves it!
Great thinker toy!
By never a dull moment
from salem, oregon
About Me Education Oriented, Parent Of Two Or More Children, Working Parent
our son is 10 years old and has Aspergers a form of autism, and he just loves these toys. we love them as well because they make him use his mind and creativity to put them together, change it up and play games with it. he loves them so much of course he wants every single one. he is so proud when he gets done assembling them that he has them displayed on the shelf in the bedroom. you
Son plays w it constantly
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Great b-day gift for son.He actually put this one together w/o help.
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Middle Eastern Grilled Chicken
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
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Buy chicken breasts on special to save a bundle on this Middle Eastern Grilled Chicken. To keep them at their peak, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. Place them in a plastic freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 6 months.
4 bone-in chicken breast halves
1 cup plain yogurt
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Arrange chicken in a small baking dish.
Combine yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, salt, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and cloves in a small bowl. Mix well.
Pour the yogurt mixture over the chicken; spread evenly. Refrigerate until ready to cook, at least 20 minutes.
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With a Sabbath-on-downer-encrusted sound that blends billowing rock, clenched-teeth blues and an underground punk attitude, psychedelic sludgecore masters Bongzilla fire up thunderous mega-rock with a pronounced emphasis on the big riff. Gateway showcases a Bongzilla sound fertilized tenfold - simultaneously aggressive and mellow - with thunderous percussion, smoke-seared vocals and infectious, fuzzed-out riffs baked to perfection.


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