London Trip 16 - The British Museum

We were in line to enter the British Museum.  I, of course, had been there but Mr. B. and Murphy's Law had not been there before.

The Rosetta Stone from the reign of Ptolemy V welcomes visitors:

Lots of people crowded around it so it took awhile to get close enough to see it and try to get a decent picture with all the glare from the display case and lights,

The stone is an amazing piece of history and was the gateway to the translation of Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

We went further into the Egyptian rooms.

The room of Egyptian statues and Stelae never fails to inspire awe.

Statues of Pharaohs:

An impressive sacophagi:

 

A huge sculpture of a Scarab Beetle:

Of course, being Egypt,  there are statues of cats:

A statue of Rameses II:

The Stele of the Hellenistic King Ptolemy IX and Queen Cleopatra III (Note that the famous Cleopatra of Julius Caesar fame is Cleopatra VII). 

The pyramids were already ancient history when this stele was inscribed in 115 BC.

In fact, fewer years separate us from when this stele was written, than the years from the inscription of the stele to the building of the great pyramids. Yes, this stele, ancient as it is, is closer to the age of artificial intelligence than to the age of the pyramids.

It's an amazing room in the British Museum.  And, it was only the first one we visited.

London Trip 15 - The Morning After Stonehenge

The next day in London, Mr B. and I got up, met a the hotel cafe to get caffeinated with some fine Earl Grey Tea and coffee, and then grabbed a good breakfast across from the Royal Courts of Justice:

We then started heading towards our destination.

First we wandered through the grounds of Somerset House:

 

It's a rather fancy place.

Continuing on our way we passed by King's College

The inscription above the columns states:  "To The Friendship of English Speaking Peoples."

The college has banners up honoring some of their significant graduates, including one of Abby's heroes:

Quite neat.

We then got in line to enter the next place of interest, and Murphy's Law arrived soon thereafter.

Flying: Saturday Brunch In Jackson

Today was yet another beautiful day for flying. Well, it was once the fog burned off anyways. Solid Low IFR until 10:30 am today both here and at Jackson, my planned destination.

But, by the time we were ready to go, the fog was burned away and it was VFR so I just requested flight following and we were off.  

Pontiac was busy as everyone was flying today, so they went to split towers, with a different frequency for each runway.  Always interesting when they do that.  Busy airspace but they handled it with aplomb as they always do.  Mighty fine controllers there.

It was a glorious day to get in the air.

With winds out of 330, Jackson was using Runway 32.

My first time landing on Runway 32 in Jackson. I did the RNAV approach, which was fun, especially as I got routed around parachute jumpers so it was an interesting and somewhat tight approach vectored right to the final approach fix.

Darn good landing there. My passenger was pleased.

Had lunch with a delicious burger and I then took to the air again.

Flew back to Pontiac and did a visual, entering the downwind, with Tower calling my base for traffic.  Tower then requested an immediate base turn and switching from 27L to 27R, which I did and came in for a great landing that was again a passenger-pleaser.

That's 1.6 and 2 great landings.

Flying: A Day Trip To TO

Friday I flew to Toronto for the day with fellow flying club member Scott.

He had never done an international flight and wanted someone along to show him the ropes and the red tape.

I showed Scott how to properly file a departure notice in EAPIS, and did the CANPASS call with him.

We then filed IFR along the T781 route to Toronto Island Airport. Scott was flying and I was doing the radios to cut down on workload.

We got our IFR clearance and headed onto Runway 27R for takeoff.

Scott did very much get my attention on takeoff.

As were in the takeoff climb 500 feet above the ground, he started leaning the mixture to the point the engine started sputtering.

I expressed very directly in some very choice language my unhappiness with this turn of events. You should not be leaning during takeoff. Once you hit 3,000-4,000 feet leaning makes sense, but not while you're at 500 feet, angled up climbing 1,000 feet per minute with the engine going flat-out and a lack of decent options if you go engine-out at that altitude.

Once that impending doom was prevented, we continued on our way.

Beautiful day to fly at 5,000 feet.

We crossed the border around Port Huron / Sarnia with a hand-off from Selfridge ANGB Control to Toronto Center with no issues.

Soon we were over London, Ontario:

Again a fair bit of haze but we soon had Toronto in sight:

We did the RNAV 8 approach but instead of the closest initial fix, they sent us to the fix that was farther out south over the lake and then had us come in presumably for spacing from other aircraft.

We then did a good approach and Scott did a good landing.

 Damn nice view on final.

We then parked the plane, walked across the tunnel to the mainland from the island and me up with my Dad and Carol.

Since both Carol and Scott had never been up the CN tower that's where we went first. The CN Tower is still the tallest free standing building in the Western hemisphere.

A fast elevator ride up and we were on the observation deck, 1,122 ft up.

We got a nice shot of the airport from the observation deck of the CN Tower:

You also get some great views of the city.

We then headed onto the glass floor and walked on that looking straight down to the ground 1,000 feet below.

 If you have a fear of heights, that's probably not for you unless you want some exposure therapy.

We then headed on down and went to Jack Astor's on Front Street for lunch which was very good.  I pulle dout my computer and field the EAPIS arrival notice, then called CBPO at Pontiac airport to inform them of our arrival.  I then filed the flight plan, requesting the Perl04 departure to Derlo, then T781 to Pontiac, which was happily approved without the massive changes I had incurred during my first visit to the island. 

The problem then was Toronto Island Tower had one person running both Tower and Ground frequencies at the same time and it was a super busy mess and it took forever for us to get a taxi clearance, the a  clearance to get out of the run-up area and then get to the runway where we held for awhile. 

Finally we got airborne and were on our way. It was then that I found out that Scott, sitting in the right hand seat, had not properly latched the top of the aircraft door.  Lower latch was properly done, but we got some extra air and noise for the flight. I was beginning to think Scott was a jinx.

We again got pushed over the water for a bit for traffic and then routed on our way. Scott was handling he radios but not quite keeping up with the controllers so I had to step in a bit.  He wasn't quite used to the faster environment and it seemed like he wasn't fully hearing them and I asked him and he said he was hearing it ok.  In reality, not so much.

We flew out into more haze but missed the rain clouds.

Soon we made it to the Border and saw a large lineup at the bridge there as we overflew it.

Then Selfridge gave us a direct to GUVZY, the initial approach for Pontiac's RNAV 27L, basically cutting the corner of our route and saving us some time which was appreciated. Scott muffed that radio call and i had to jump in as he thought they said cleared to Adrie, as he was expecting that as that was the end waypoint of our route before Pontiac.  When flying you can't let what you expect substitute for what you actually get.

So we then came in and i did a very fine landing on 27L riding the RNAV down quite nicely.

We then went to customs where Scott, being next to the door was asked by the Customs fellow if we had been in Toronto for business or pleasure and Scott said "yes".    I was again not happy and quickly said we were then for pleasure and to visit my dad there.  Satisfied, the CBP agent checked our passports and saw they matched exactly what I had filed as the airplane manifest, and sent us on our way.

It turns out that Scott was, unbeknownst to me, wearing a hearing aid that was malfunctioning without him knowing, which explained why he wasn't fully getting the radio calls, nor the CBP agent's questions.  I expect he will be more in tune when he can actually hear again. 

He's also promised to never lean out an engine on climb-out again. That's one bad habit he's now hopefully done with that can lead to some very bad outcomes. 

He was rushing a lot and after I told him to slow down and stop over-anticipating he did settle and the flight became a fair bit smoother.

Well, that's 2.2 for me flying from CYTZ to KPTK, a great landing, and another international flight under my belt, as well as a great day in Toronto.

Why You Don't Intervene In Other People's Fights

You may be dealing with more than you can handle.

By all reported accounts, Rashawn Bryant was a very decent fellow who unfortunately intervened in the wrong fight at the wrong time at a tailgate event at the Eastern Market in Detroit.  

He apparently saw two men arguing at the tailgate and seemingly about to exchange blows, and then apparently tried to step in to stop or deescalate the fight.  Unfortunately, what he thought was going to be a fist fight turned into a gun fight.

The story was first reported as a shooting where the shooter had pulled a firearm and shot without justification: 

The Detroit Free Press: Shooting at Detroit's Eastern Market leaves 1 dead, 1 critically injured.

It now turns out the shooter was determined to have been justified in doing so, as the other person in the fight had escalated the situation and pulled and pointed a firearm at the shooter before the shooter drew his own firearm and shot the attacker: 

The Detroit News: Wayne County prosecutor: No charges in Eastern Market shooting

Sadly, that single round traveled through the attacker and also hit Rashawn Bryant as well, killing them both.  

It's a tragedy on multiple levels.  

We still don't know what sparked the original fight between the two parties, but avoiding fights in the first place is always a very good idea, especially when carrying a firearm. It's also a sad reminder not to try and intervene in other people's fights as you likely don't know what is going on, nor where it can lead.

Paging Mr Terrorist

 So, in a rather ingenious operation, most likely by the Israelis, took place yesterday and today, with pagers owned by Hizballah terrorists simultaneously exploding in their hands or at their belts when they got a page.  As a result, the Israelis have now removed at least some of the balls from Hizballah given the location of many of the pagers when they went off.  The terrorist group may need to rename themselves Hizah for accuracy as their balls are gone.

Since Hizah has been firing rockets daily at Israel, it's only appropriate that Israel hit back in a smart way that may in addition to emasculating them possibly have removed some of their trigger fingers.  The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon also happend to be in possession of a Hizballah pager - funny, that.

NBC News: Exploding pagers belonging to Hezbollah kill at least 9 and injure more than 2,750 in Lebanon

Reuters: Hezbollah vows to punish Israel after pager explosions across Lebanon

The Detroit News:  A new wave of blasts hits Lebanon a day after pager attack. Israel declares 'new phase' of war

In addition to pagers, it now seems some of the terrorist group's walkie-talkies and even solar panels were also impacted and have been exploding.

Since the pagers were passed out by the head of Hizballah to his trusted aides and members out of fear that their cell phone network had been compromised, the pagers themselves have now been explosively compromised.

And as summed up by the Mossad Satirical page:

That's a few more high-level terrorists and terrorist associates removed from the board.  

We'll note that Hizballah does not only attack Israel. It was Hizballah that was behind the Marine Barracks bombing and the US Embassy and the kidnapping, torture and murder of CIA station chief William Francis Buckley, and more recent attacks as well.  

So, those pages were certainly on point.

9/11 - 23 Years On

23 years ago, the largest terrorist attack against the United States took place.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time it took place. I still remember those who lost their lives that day, and the many acts of heroism that took place then - many heroes and innocents died that day whose story we will not know.

Hard to believe it has been 23 years since that day and a whole generation has grown up who never saw the towers standing except on a movie screen. 

Islamic terrorism and Islamic regimes hostile to the United States remain unchecked, undefeated, and indeed emboldened since many Americans, politicians among them, grew tired of the misnamed and unfocused  "War on Terrorism", or indeed often of even commemorating 9/11 itself.

There's been at least 14 deadly Islamic terrorist attacks in the US since that date, with hundreds more that have been thwarted and interdicted before they could be put in motion. 

The threat of Islamist terrorism still hasn't gone away, and America is still regarded as the Great Satan among Islamists, even as many wish to appease and imagine the threat is not one to worry about any longer.

So take a moment today to remember what happened on that day 23 years ago.  Perhaps instead of sadness be glad that there were American heroes like Rick Rescorla and Todd Beamer and the many others on Flight 93, the 343 Firefighters and 23 police officers and many others Americans that day who died trying to save others, and be grateful for all of them and mourn the loss of all those innocents who died that day.

Light Chop

In Atlanta today, a Delta Airbus 350's wing collided with the tail of a Delta CRJ while both were taxiing on parallel taxiways.

This collision severed the tail of the regional jet.

CBS: 2 Delta planes collide on tarmac at Atlanta airport, FAA says

Happily there are no reported injuries. 

It's going to take more than 100-mile-per-hour tape to repair that one.

London Trip 14 - To Salisbury Plain

Mr, B. and I got up early and took the tube to Victoria Station and then walked to Victoria Coach Station where tour and travel buses awaited their passengers.

Lots of people taking buses to all around for tours and travel around England, and France.

In the station not just people but also pigeons roamed around not particularly concerned with the people all around them.

We got to our bus:

And we headed out for a long trip to Salisbury Plain.

The tour included the cost of the ride and admission for when we arrived.

A couple hour drive and we reached our destination, got our wristbands, stood in line for the shuttle and then walked along a path until we saw:

Stonehenge!

The pictures don't do it justice and it's far more impressive in present and is bigger than you thought it would be before you see it in person:

The stone blocks are impressively imposing and it's rather amazing how neolithic peoples built this monument. 

This is the Heel Stone, one of the unworked outer stones.  it weighs 40 tons:

The stones at Stonehenge are both Sarsen Stones that are local, and bluestones that were brought in from hundreds of miles away in Wales.

The path takes you all around the outside of the standing inner circle so you can see the monument from every angle.

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An artist was inspired to do a painting of Stonehenge:

He was doing a rather impressive job.

A raven decided to land on one of the sarsen stones, and stayed on it the entire time we were there, surveying all that was beneath it.

Around Stonehenge are multiple burial mounds that dot the landscape.

Easy to pick out once you know what you are looking for in the topography. The site seems to have been a popular one for neolithic burials as the mounds are all around outside of Stonehenge.

In addition to Stonehenge itself, there's a visitors center that goes over the history of the area/

As part of the center there is a reconstruction of a neolithic village which is interesting to walk through and see the construction techniques.

 

There's also a display showing how the stones would have been moved into position:

 

Inside the visitor center there's a nice display that goes over the history of the  monument itself.

And what it looked like in its heyday of 2200 BC:

And compared to today:

We then said goodbye to Stonehenge and began the 2 hour drive back to London.

While it didn't make the cut to be declared one of the  New 7 Wonders of the World, it likely should have done. Stonehenge is well, well, worth the trip out to see it and it is highly recommended to see for yourself.