Model Airplanes

Jan. 11–Delayed more than once in its overland journey from downstate Rantoul, a retired Air Force F-111 Aardvark finally made its way to Waukegan National Airport late last month and now sits in pieces, waiting for the painstaking process of assembly.

If all goes as planned, the pieces — from a 31,000-pound fuselage to a nose cone that looks like a small farm silo when standing on its end — will be refitted in time for a dedication ceremony at the 2016 Wings Over Waukegan Air Show, which is being planned for Sept. 10.

For now, components both large and small are stored in two private hangars after the second of two flatbed-truck deliveries arrived on Dec. 19. Delivery came about a month after a mix of volunteers and professionals first went to Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum to take possession of the 50-year-old jet as the facility cleared out its inventory.

The museum, established in 1994 on the site of an Air Force base that shut down the previous year, was slated for closure due to financial shortfalls as 2015 wound down. The F-111, one of a reported 28 aircraft displayed in Rantoul under a lease arrangement with the Air Force, was offered to the Waukegan Port District under a similar agreement, said Jim Hull, a local pilot and president of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Lake County Chapter 414.

The logistics from there involved taking apart the aircraft and transporting it to Waukegan under restrictions that included traveling only during the day. Workers

Article source: http://www.aviationpros.com/news/12157600/retired-fighter-jet-arrives-in-waukegan-for-restoration-public-display

What a sad accident I’ve got for your consideration this month. Typically, we explore accident chains with links comprising bad weather, complex system failures, inexperienced crews and difficult ATC transactions. In this month’s accident — the loss of a Premier I (N50PM) — we find great weather, a well-maintained, beautifully equipped aircraft, competent systems and a helpful controller. Indeed, there seems to be only one link in this accident chain — the use of medications and recreational drugs that can depress judgment and situational awareness.

The aircraft was completed in September 2003 and registered to the accident pilot’s company. The small executive jet, powered by two Williams-Rolls FJ44-2A engines, had accumulated 712 hr. and was up to date on inspections and maintenance.

The 67-year-old pilot held a private certificate with single-engine and multiengine land, instrument ratings and had a http://aviationweek.com/bca/drug-use-may-have-contributed-2013-premier-i-accident

Delayed more than once in its overland journey from downstate Rantoul, a retired Air Force F-111 Aardvark finally made its way to Waukegan National Airport late last month and now sits in pieces, waiting for the painstaking process of assembly.

If all goes as planned, the pieces — from a 31,000-pound fuselage to a nose cone that looks like a small farm silo when standing on its end — will be refitted in time for a dedication ceremony at the 2016 Wings Over Waukegan Air Show, which is being planned for Sept. 10.

For now, components both large and small are stored in two private hangars after the second of two flatbed-truck deliveries arrived on Dec. 19. Delivery came about a month after a mix of volunteers and professionals first went to Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum to take possession of the 50-year-old jet as the facility cleared out its inventory.

The museum, established in 1994 on the site of an Air Force base that shut down the previous year, was slated for closure due to financial shortfalls as 2015 wound down. The F-111, one of a reported 28 aircraft displayed in Rantoul under a lease arrangement with the Air Force, was offered to the Waukegan Port District under a similar agreement, said Jim Hull, a local pilot and president of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Lake County Chapter 414.

The logistics from there involved taking apart the aircraft and transporting it to Waukegan under restrictions that

Article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-waukegan-jet-plans-0112-20160111-story.html

By Sandra I. Erwin

As if producing cutting-edge warplanes weren’t hard enough, what comes next — maintenance and logistics support — can be an even more daunting challenge.

The F-35 joint strike fighter certainly will present this test to the Pentagon as manufacturing of the U.S. military’s newest combat jet ramps up from a few dozen to more than a hundred per year. The fleet is projected to grow from 154 today to more than 1,000 fighters in the next four years. And even if the Defense Department and manufacturer Lockheed Martin manage to fix all the development glitches that still dog the airplane, there are worries about the government and the industry’s capacity to keep the fleet in working order after F-35 squadrons around the world start operating the planes.

The F-35 program executive officer, Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, has sounded alarms in recent months about the coming logistics crunch. The plan is to triple the production and fielding rate in just three years, from about three to four dozen airplanes a year to more than 120. Bogan said the accelerated delivery gives him “some pause” and fears there could be a shortage of suppliers that can fill the spike in demand for spare parts and of skilled technicians to repair the technologically advanced airplanes. “What I most worry about, and what we most have to concentrate on, is the supply base,” Bogdan said last fall.

Before he left his post as the Air Force’s top acquisitions executive, William LaPlante

Article source: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=2056

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Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/science/as-us-modernizes-nuclear-weapons-smaller-leaves-some-uneasy.html

Boyd McDonald

(Semiotext(e))
US: Sep 2015

Amazon

“Homosexuals get more out of watching a movie (or walking down a street).”
—Boyd McDonald, Cruising the Movies

Recently, in an attempt to expand recent concerns over the lack of diversity in Hollywood, the Atlantic ran an article titled, “Why Are So Few Film Critics Female?” While not its immediate provocation, the article did become a central component in a larger conversation on Twitter among film reviewers and culture critics about the state of film writing and its possibilities for positive growth in the future.

The conversation is a complex one because films are never just films. Since cinema’s earliest days, the pleasures offered by “the pictures” have been diverse, diffused throughout the general culture via product tie-ins and media driven cults of personality in an attempt to capitalize on the seemingly endless audience appetite for star images and fantasy projections. In addition to the actual film industry, gossip columnists, trade papers, and films critics were all core components of this illusion of an otherworldly Hollywood that, while perhaps less relevant today, still provides the background for our understanding of and appreciation for the movies.

Film writing in particular has a long and rich history full of almost as much scandal and sensationalism as Hollywood itself, and many aspiring critics are still driven by

Article source: http://www.popmatters.com/review/cruising-the-movies-a-sexual-guide-to-the-oldies-on-tv-by-boyd-mcdonald/

What a sad accident I’ve got for your consideration this month. Typically, we explore accident chains with links comprising bad weather, complex system failures, inexperienced crews and difficult ATC transactions. In this month’s accident — the loss of a Premier I (N50PM) — we find great weather, a well-maintained, beautifully equipped aircraft, competent systems and a helpful controller. Indeed, there seems to be only one link in this accident chain — the use of medications and recreational drugs that can depress judgment and situational awareness.

The aircraft was completed in September 2003 and registered to the accident pilot’s company. The small executive jet, powered by two Williams-Rolls FJ44-2A engines, had accumulated 712 hr. and was up to date on inspections and maintenance.

The 67-year-old pilot held a private certificate with single-engine and multiengine land, instrument ratings and had a http://aviationweek.com/bca/illicit-drug-use-contributed-2013-premier-i-accident