Tanker Wars -

Cool Picture Credit: From EADS North America Website.

The dirt is really flying in the Air Force next generation Tanker competition or KC-X. The plan is to procure 179 modern airframes from which to pass fuel to military aircraft, easier said than done.

Not the physical art of In-Flight refueling, I am talking about that rare science that is the US Military procurement process.

With EADS/Airbus firmly now in the competition the pressure on Boeing to meet all the stated requirements (which are now Pass/Fail as opposed to weighted evaluation) and at a cost that beats the larger EADS proposed aircraft the A330 (KC-45).

Rumor on the street is that EADS/Airbus will bid this program like Lockheed Martin does, Low Ball.

An analysis by the Gehrson Lehman Group explores this rumor and theory. EADS/Airbus has everything to gain by low balling this procurement. By buying in low they deprive a revenue source to their only rival in the military large airframe business. And this would be a long term revenue source if the age of the existing Refueling fleet is any indication.

And remember EADS/Airbus operates basically as a Non-For-Profit corporation and relies heavily on the partner governments for subsidies to launch new airframes, build infrastructure (such as assembly lines, hangers and expand runways at airports for Airbus operations) to balance its books.

Head to head Boeing would easily win and many analysis's agree with this, but don't bet on an even playing ground for this bid.

Consider also the most basic cost driver here, the cost of the basic airframe. In this estimate (by the Lexington Institute) there is a $50 million dollar difference between the Boeing B767 and the Airbus A330. This is more than $9 Billion dollars over the total of 179 planned aircraft buy. How could they possibly consider a loss of this kind? Well, being bailed out by the governments of the consortium that constitutes the Airbus Company is nothing new. It is getting old however.

Simply look at the Airbus military cargo aircraft that has just now started flight testing, the A400M. Building the prototype used up the initial contributions and down payment money from the European countries that have agreed to buy this aircraft (it is bigger than the C-130 but smaller than a C-17). The result, Airbus has requested and received additional monies to continue the program.

But it gets worse: The Pentagon Revolving Door rotates to the EADS/Airbus exit and who got spit out? Retired General Arthur Lichte, former commander of the Air Forces Air Mobility Command. Taking yet another page out of the Lockheed Martin business plan EADS/Airbus has hired someone that can go in and massage those who would be making the decision on which airframe to buy in this competition. But that famous Revolving Door works both ways and Boeing has many a former General in its employ as well. In fact they employ a former AMC Commander also however, this one left the service back in 2001, not LAST YEAR as General Lichte has.

It's all good folks, let's just hope the Country as a whole does not get screwed in this most ugly process.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

40 Days – Earth Day

Now what do we have to show for our 40 years of Earth Days? I can't say but have a look at this:

That's right, the air we breathe is cleaner by any stretch of the imagination. I stole that little ole chart from the good Professor Dr. Mark J. Perry over at Carpe Diem. He posted these stats back in March. I thought it would make a good Earth Day post.

He also linked to a 2008 screed by the Washington Policy Center regarding the original Earth Day and all the doom and gloom that was predicted. It make for a funny read. Here are some highlights:

• "….civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind," from Biologist George Wald, Harvard University, April 19 1970.

Hey, isn't that the school Barack Obama went to?

• Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor "… the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born," Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970

Is that not what James Hansen said too? And he jumped from that ship to the "Global Warming" ship pretty dammed quickly yet without one shred of real scientific data to back up his claims. Oh he has reams of stuff to look over, but can you trust any of it. And he still works for NASA.

• The world will be "…eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an Ice Age, " Kenneth Watt, speaking at Swarthmore University, April 19, 1970.
  

Wow, another high powered University Professor speaking out his Ass. This is why they had to start cooking the books and telling lies about the real temperature, it was and still is cooling. There is no "warming" just hot air from so-called scientists.

• "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and the world as a suitable place of human habitation," Biologist Barry Commoner, University of Washington, writing in the journal Environment, April 1970.

How dire, yet since then just the US population has grown by over 100 million and the world increase has almost doubled (6.8 Billion compared with 3.7 billion in 1970).

• "It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes, in The Living Wilderness, Spring 1970.

Good gods why even try if it is already too late!! And from the organizer of the original Earth Day to boot. You know, statements like that make you want to go out and burn tires just for the hell of it.

Today the great Earth Clown Al Gore uses more energy than 19 of his neighbors. And he gets the Peace Prize and an Academy Award for pushing lies and living a lifestyle You and I can only dream of. I won't believe one word of this Global Climate Change until I see its proponents actually living the truth of what they speak. Sorry Al, no carbon credits for you.

Earth Day has lost a lot of its luster for me. I don't get horney for it anymore like I did in the past.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Earth First – Yeah Right

It's been 40 years that we in the U.S. have been "celebrating" Earth Day. Back in 1970 I was in high school and it was a time of well awkwardness for not only for Me as a young Man but for the Country, trying to shed itself of Vietnam, Civil Rights unrest and Politicians gone amok as well. My, my how things have changed – NOT. Well there is the one thing different; I am on Old Man now.

But Earth Day was upon us in the way back and for the first time ever.

I was involved at the time in a small group of students that was working to save a part of the Rio Grande river marsh water epoch. Also called a Bosque in the region. There are little packets of life that form in the bend of the Big Water, you see as the Rio passes through the central New Mexico area it passes what is normally a desert. Now with the settlement of Man in great numbers this area had been turned into farm land and these little packets of life were disappearing, mainly because the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) was in the business of straightening out the rivers. That is to say, there is lots of land lost when a river bends; if you straighten it out all those side lobes becomes usable land. In the case of the Big Water each side lobe had become a little island of lush marsh land, replete with beavers, weasels, eagles in the tall trees and lots of fish and amphibian creatures great and small. All surrounded by desert and separated by then next turn by sometimes miles. Only in the Albuquerque area did these little epochs get real close, there were 6 in the span of about 3 miles. They were slated for "re-use" by the COE who never tired at the task of moving water around. Our windmill such as it is, was stopping the Army.

The group I was involved in was merely a bunch of students drafted or otherwise volunteered into helping prepare an 'adverse' environmental impact statement (EIS). Back then impact statements were only produced if you wanted to point out to the government the error of their ways as opposed to today where if you want to break wind you have to file EIS. Back then as even today such things are an expensive proposition as you need to document to a low level what is lost by the proposed activity of the government and you have to hope it out weights the supposed public gain. It was going to be an uphill battle.

The group as I said before were two teachers and 20 to 25 students all of us either 9 or 10 graders who had nothing much to do during the mornings. You see, the high school I went to was extremely over crowded, the day it opened which was only three years before I went there it was over capacity. By the time I got there I would spend my entire 9^th grade in temporary steel classrooms, the only thing I did in the real school was go to Gym and Lunch, all of my classrooms in these modular classrooms. All made of steel and most painted blue, in the scorching New Mexico desert (it was West Mesa High School). You can only imagine how nasty it was in the afternoon out there in the 'Maze" as it was called. The little city of steel buildings. My highest numbered classroom and many of them were doubles was F35 and there were many more buildings in the Maze past 35. It was a mess.

To help with this overcrowding the school district approved a plan where they split the day into two shifts, the 11^th and 12 graders went to school from 7:00 am until 12:15 pm, the 9^th and 10^th grades went from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm. They allowed students in the off shift to participate in classes if you could get in or to participate in extracurricular activates. That was how our little environmental group had the time to conduct all the field research, the sample collections and the species counting.

Now to be fair, I was not like some environmental thumping Winnie or anything like that, there were those aplenty (I remember fondly a Jane that actually remover her bra in my typing class and took it outside like it was radioactive and burned it, some memories never fade), there was the one or two that needed the credits to stay up with the class or who wanted to graduate early (you could gain a whole year taking extra courses). I was there for more puritanical reasons, Love.

I had the hot's for this lovely girl that lived up in the Corrales area. That was about as far from where I lived and being in a single class with her was not enough, when I heard she was going to volunteer to work on this environmental group, I was there. It was three extra days a week with her for longer time too. And the occasional Saturday as well, bonus time. She was a lovely blonde with Carmel colored eyes which I stared into whenever I got the chance. Later she would tell me that was one of the things I did that endeared her to me; I seemed to be looking into her for something more. And I was. I loved her voice the touch of her hand and how she laughed at my silliest jokes. And I was a cut up. I wrote about this Lady before, she is the one that broke my heart and moved to Oklahoma.

Dam you Oklahoma, you already had the Moon did you have to take my Girl too!!

Anyhow, we spent a lot of time on this little project. Cataloging plants, micro sized zoo life, fish, mammals and all the birds that lived therein. Mapped it all too, very crude by today's standards, but we were high school kids what did you expect. I forget how big the package was, it was close to that Health Care Bill people are only now reading.

So, Earth Day has a special meaning to me, not as altruistic by some Green-Winnie standard, but just the same. I did my part. Oh, and that little piece of heaven on the Rio. Well today all the area from Alameda to Rio Bravo in Albuquerque is today Rio Grande Nature Center and part of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. Sometimes tilting at windmills actually works.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Map is from circa 1719 and picture of Rio Grande is more recent both stolen from Wikipeda

News You can Use

Because I have nothing better to do!

Tanker Wars

Yeah back ON. Boeing will NOT be getting a pass on this as EADS North America will be pitching the KC-45. And they are going to do it without a front American company. Now you gotta be saying "where is that Buy American clause", well that only applies to fasteners (screws, nuts, bolts and rivets) and electrical connectors not whole airplanes.

They were pitching a scam anyway when Northrop Grumman was on their ticket before. Despite the promise to build a facility here in CONUS (Alabama in fact), they were going to build the whole aircraft in Europe and then fly them to the U.S. for the installation of the military gear specific to USAF needs. Not a lot of work in the overall count of things but it was something. It's all about jobs and it will be interesting to see where EADS says they will have an economic impact. They already build the UH-72 Lakota utility helicopter for the US Army here in Columbus Mississippi.

So, maybe they will paint the Tanker in USAF colors there and claim a thousand or two jobs. Seeing as how the Obama administration cooks the books on jobs created or saved all the time and they are a European company, which everyone knows we want them to like us, this is a double bonus for the PresBO and his administration. Here is a link to the EADS press release thanks to the good folks at Alert 5.

And a picture of the nice new KC-45:

Picture stolen from Air-Attach.com. Great site by the way if you like airplanes.

Helo Escapades

The original replacement for the Presidential Helo or Marine One has morphed into a new program. Everyone admits that the proposed VHX was way over budget and was actually going to cost the same as the 747 the president fly's around in so it made sense to can that program. It's a new day and a supposed new program and it looks to some people that we have a helicopter Dream Team aligning to go after the work that picks up where the old VHX program stopped. Namely Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin have joined up to partner on the new VXX program. Oh yeah, that sound you hear is not the pitter-patter of rotors slapping the air, its tax money hitting the meat grinder that is Lockheed Martin.

Glamor Pic of the proposed S-92 aircraft:

Now, I don't know about anyone else but I would like to know who I am getting into bed with and if that person came to me with the stink of say, F-22 and F-35 and the now defunct VHX do you think I would happily climb into the sack and share my good name and fortunes with them? Well I guess I am more discriminating the Sikorsky.

With all that bad press there is no way I look to join up with that crew but, alas I simply hate Lockheed and I can't get past that. Oh well, and too bad for Sikorsky. I know they have partnered with them before on the mission package for the SH-60B and MH-60R/S for the Navy at their plant site in Owego, New York but that was not a pure Lockheed venture; they bought that outfit from the old IBM Defense Systems division which ran a mean and tight ship from there. My guess is that most of what went into all those H-60's were legacy product from the old IBM. I say this because Lockheed was the "Mission" integrator on the defunct VHX program, you know the one that grew and grew and grew so much that even the PresBO himself complained. I mean that is saying something when this president complains about spending tax money you really got to be throwing it down the money pit.

Speaking of:

I just love finding a way to link back to my old home state – the Land of Enchantment and apparently the U.S. Government Money Hole!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Forced Exile Continues

Ok, in case you noticed I am not winging my way home in a shinny B777 or A330. I am still in Prague.

For some odd reason that has not been passed to me USAir did not fly aircraft into Frankfurt yesterday for me to ride home on today. So, cancelled flight once again and my new expected return day is Monday the 26^th. That's right, you are not seeing funny objects on the screen there, that is my new date out of exile.

What can I say.

At least the surroundings here are nice, the Hotel is quite accommodating and they have retroactively put me on their own little rewards program (4 more nights and I get one free).

I have run low on supplies, Coffee, H&S shampoo, lotion, baby powder and socks. I did get some of my laundry taken care of so I have plenty of underwear, although I may send more out before the weekend.

I have been making my own coffee since you can't find typical American brew here. Mostly cappuccino or espresso, there are several Starbucks but I hate that place and won't even patronize it way over here. So I packed a pound of coarse ground coffee and a French press which has served me well over these many days. The pound of grounds I brought lasting until this morning. I have since made the walk to the local TESCO and procured some more grounds, they are a much finer grind but the press seems to be doing a good job anyway and the taste is well, good, very good indeed.

I also needed socks, the white cotton variety which I had only two pair with me: the pair I wore over this way and the pair I was going to wear going back. I do have many black pairs (5 in fact) but those are for business/work.

I have been good doing work but that is fast losing its charm. How much time can one man spend in a single Design document before he goes nuts? Two additional 'strandee's' from my company are heading here today from Vienna. They were on their way to the UAE but were held up also. One has a ride back tomorrow and the other on Saturday. A 4^th company employee who was in the UAE and got as far as Frankfurt before the mass groundings occurred made his way to Madrid and is now scheduled out on Saturday.

I have checked ALL points of exit by the US major airlines, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam but no one has room. The earliest coach seat I saw were on Lufthansa flights out of Rome but they had to stopover in Frankfurt and switch to USAir aircraft which, well are just not in country.

I did look at Cargo/Freighter ship passage but they are as expensive as buying 1^st class airline tickets and I don't think they would get there any faster. Well, maybe they will if that dam volcano does not stop spewing.

Well back to the Design document. Until my eyes go cross.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Winds Aloft

So what's all the fuss of Airplanes and Volcano's anyway. One can understand the idea of a big ole jet motor ingesting something big and the affects that has. It is hard to imagine that something so small as dust can do the same amount of damage. Well, it does and frankly I am kind of glad the government officials who deemed it necessary to stop all air traffic did so. Most of the aircraft that ply the trans-oceanic airways are twin engine aircraft. It's one thing to be in a B747 or an Airbus A340 and loose one or two of your motors, you have others, but if you are in a B777 or A330 you lose one motor and you have officially half screwed. And on top of that, you have to worry about the health of that other motor. Not a good think in a twin jet.

The way it works is that this material which has been described as glass-like is actually near pure carbon. And at high tempratures it bonds to surfaces which would normally be resistant to such thinks. You pass through a small cloud of the stuff and your motor especially the Rotors and Stators get a little bit of fouling. Pass through a lot of it and it builds up like a new layer or lamination on the hot parts of your average turbo fan. And trust me, there are a lot of hot parts in your average turbo fan. The best you can expect is that it reduces the performace of your engine, robbing you $$$ in fuel costs and average engine life. The worst is that the motor stops functioning altogether and your aircraft becomes a glider. That is a lot to worry about.

Then there begs the question about how did all this stuff get up and distributed so quickly and over such a large area. Simply put, it was the Jet Stream.

You see, the jet stream maneuvered into an unusual position almost two weeks ago, and that is what has brought all this Icelandic hell upon northern Europe. When I flew over here the Pilot announced shortly after takeoff that he was predicting an early arrival into Frankfurt. By more than an hour which when you are strapped into those small things they call 'seats' in Economy class that hour less is certainly welcome. The Pilot claimed it was because we would be crossing the Jet Stream an unusual 4 times as we fly east. Usually they hit is once and get a 15 or 20 minute gain (a boost of airspeed of around 100 knots). Crossing it 4 times meant a gain of more than an hour and true to his words we were almost 90 minutes early into Frankfurt.

But that same unusual pattern is what allowed that plume of ash to get distributed to completely and quickly. It turns out Volcano eruptions happen many times a year in Iceland but their plumes rarely make it to altitude and if there is no jet stream it simply disperses harmlessly.

But not this time. Note below in this capture of the NOAA jet stream forecast showing the shape of the stream as it works it way east, it goes right over Iceland. I doctored it a bit to show all the salient points.

There are several forecasting sites that show what the projected jet steam will be on various dates. I shows how the jet stream shape will change for the better during the week and by Wednesday it might open up enough to allow airliner traffic through. There will still be a cloud by it will have maneuvered away to the south and east. Here is the forecast chart for Wednesday.
I doctored it a bit to show the normal great circle route flight path that the Airliners take on their way across the north Atlantic. Remember, these are for the most part two engine aircraft and they have to say close enough to make it to an airport and that the Circle flight path is the shortest distance between two points on a sphere, you know the earth.

Ah well, its time for a Beer and some goulash. There is a place round the corner that has a "southwestern" goulash, a spicy brew with chili peppers. Closest thing to chili one is apt to see here and it's high time I went over and tried some out.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Pictures from Praha, CZ

Pictures from my current forced-vacation. Thank you Iceland!! Enjoy.

This is the Lesser Bridge Tower. At one time the Georges river ran by here and you crossed through this tower onto a bridge and accross the river. Apperently many centries ago, the good folks of Praha decided to move the river a tad bit to the west and it left this tower with nothing to tower over. It gave them more land to buid their Old Town.
These are the famous spries in Old Town Prague. I am not sure what the name or the denomination of the church that these belong too but they go back more than 700 years. And they are lovely too. Legend has it that Walt Disney was inspired by these spires and you see that in the Magical Kingdom castles that he built.

This is the Tower that the Astronomical Clock is built into. I paid the small fortune (100 kc) to ride up in this building and then I walked up 8 more sets of stairs to get all the way up to the open area you see near the top. It was quite the view.

Here are those spires from directly accross from them at nearly the same height (my educated guess is that we are about 100 feet up)

Here is the view towards the Geroges River Bridge. That huge castle in the back is the seat of the government for all of the CZ. It is also the worlds largest castle.

Looking down into Old Town Square. There were several groups of musians plying their trade in different parts of the square. There are numerous sidewalk cafe's and restruants below and to our righ.

Here is a picture of the famous Astronomical Clock.

This think not only tells time, it does he day and month, phase of the moon, the position of several important stars, horescopes and even juliean fries and onions. Well maybe not that last part, but it is wicked cool.

I love those spires, this was taken a short walk from my hotel room approaching from behind.

Here is a detail of the stone works on the Georges Bridge. The figures are supposed to protect you from, long ears, pot bellies and I think money tails.

And a picture of the river with a tour boat. There is a channel on the right hand side, near that white building that the boats travel up. It serves the boat traffic like a lock, getting the boats up river past the falls.

Hey, What's for lunch!!

You bet I had one, couldn't pass it up!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.