The Highest-Scoring Ace of The Jet Age Has Gone West

Israeli Air Force Brigadier General (ret) Giora Epstein died this weekend at the age of 87.

General Epstein is the highest scoring ace of the jet age (so far), with 17 kills. The victories occurred in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War.

Four of those kills occurred during a single sortie during the Yom Kippur War when he was alone in a fight against 20 Egyptian aircraft - only breaking off the battle when he was low on fuel.

He was one of the world's great warriors and jet pilots. 

The Jerusalem Post:  Giora Epstein, IAF's top ace and most decorated pilot, passes away at 87

May his memory be a blessing, and an inspiration to airmen.

You Know, This Could Work

Hot Air: French Judge: All Palestinians in Gaza Eligible for Refugee Status

The French Judge may be on to something here.

If all the Gazans move to France, they could then become a majority in an area of the country, then breakaway and form something that has never existed in all of history: A Palestinian State. 

I'd propose for that state the old borders of Vichy France:

 

After all, the French were rather comfortable when Vichy was setup by the Nazis as a rump state.  

Hamas et al have a very similar political and philosophical ideology to the Nazis, and indeed deep historical ties and alliances with Nazism. After all, the French let Nazi ally Haj Amin Al-Husseini slip away after the war, so the French should be very comfortable with this practical solution.

Yep, this French judge may be on to something.  

With France already 13% Muslim (up from 10% in 2023 and it's accelerating, and Islam is already the second largest religion in France) and growing, what's a few more Gazans added to the mix to bring it up a few more percent, n'est-ce pas?

Authentic DEI Gibberish

Shades of the Sokal Text, but even better and more poetic.

The Daily Mail: Straight white author's career finally takes off after he tells woke publishers he's gender queer Nigerian

The hero of the story, Canadian poet Aaron Barry of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada decided to do an experiment.

He decided to write absolute nonsensical poetry while using not just a pen name, but a poetic identity as a Nigerian gender-fluid auteur. 

The change to a favored minority identity that checked multiple DEI-boxes worked. 

It didn't just work well, it worked over and over again with over  50 gibberish poems published with 30 different publishers -- not for the poems merits -- but for the identity and "diversity" of the alleged author.

Yet another example of DEI seeking "diversity and identity" over merit - all in the name of equity, of course. 

A Skydiving Giant Has Gone West

Felix Baumgartner, famous for, among many other feats, being the first skydiver to break the sound barrier from 24 miles up, was killed today in a paraglider accident.

AP:  Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound, dies in crash in Italy

Ouch. Time Flies.

Yes, time flies.  As do airplanes.

 

More "Mostly Peaceful" Acts By The Left, Now In Michigan

Mostly peaceful as in mostly peacefully trying to burn down a building with a Republican Party office in northern Michigan with a Molotov cocktail.

MILive: 19-year-old accused of throwing Molotov cocktail at Upper Peninsula GOP office

Thankfully, he didn't actually know how to make a Molotov cocktail properly, and it failed to ignite after he lit and threw it at the building. 

He was also caught on camera doing so, with other Molotovs in his possession, and arrested shortly thereafter.  He is charged with felonies of manufacturing and possessing an explosive and attempted arson.

The inept thrower is identified as 19-year-old Zayn Arcand:

 

Surprise! Criminals And Their Families Lie.

I mean, who knew that criminals and their families might be less than forthcoming with the truth about an incident?

In this particular scenario, the criminal in question, Rakim Wright, did it wrong.

Fleeing from police after a domestic violence call and  shooting at them while doing so, then shooting himself before he could be arrested, resulting in Rakim assuming room temperature and leaving one less violent domestic abuser in the world.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to whip up a "hands up don't shoot" false narrative, and a shot at winning the ghetto lottery, witnesses and family claimed that "Wright was unarmed and shot by the officers".

 The police video of the incident shows otherwise: 

Fox 2 Detroit:  Video shows Warren domestic violence suspect fatally shooting self after firing at police during chase

 Yes criminals lie, their family lies, and witnesses lie. 

We will note this was not Wright's first time of doing things wrong, but it was his last:

Wright also had previous arrests for assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property, and felony weapons charges.  

"Stop! Don't Touch!" Is Good Advice For Children - And Some Adults Too

You can't make this kind of stupidity up.

So, a fellow with apparently no safe experience handling firearms picked one up that he found, then almost undoubtedly pulled the trigger, all while pointing it in an unsafe direction.

What could possibly go wrong?  Oh, yeah, that:

The Detroit News: Employee accidentally shoots self, two customers at Eastern Market: Police

An employee at a restaurant in the Eastern Market area mishandled a firearm Wednesday afternoon, injuring himself and two customers with a single shot, Detroit police said.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald called the incident one of the "craziest, silliest things I've seen in quite some time" and added that the employee had "absolutely no business handling a gun."

Just before 1 p.m. a 52-year-old employee inside a restaurant in the 2900 block of Russell was handling a gun which, he told police, he had found in an upstairs area at the business.

He managed to shoot himself in the hand, and  managed to hit two customers, one in the forearm, and one in the wrist with the same shot. The idiot has a better hit percentage than the NYPD.  

The Eddie Eagle Program would have been a good start for this fellow. Then again any adult should have had the basic sense to not even mess around with something he had no idea how to handle.  

Not A Good Look

Fun window sticker seen on a car today.

Click to embiggen. 

 It says: "If you hit me with my baby in the car...  I'll whoop your ass til the cops come"

That's a great job announcing that the driver is going to commit a violent assault on another individual if an accident occurs.

So, if an accident occurs, and a fight breaks out between drivers, and the driver has this on the car, which driver in the incident do you think is likely going to get charged for the fight?

Yeah, the driver of that car is going to have some explaining to do. 

Announcing you are going to engage in violence where violence is not warranted is not a good look.  That sticker can and will be used against you if things go sideways.

It also tips off others to expect the driver of that car is going to be violent if something happens. They may be a bit extra cautious and then interpret that driver's actions as leading to a physical altercation,  causing them to react more outwardly defensively than the  driver would likely prefer.  It also gives them a head start on a self-defense defense in a fight, after all the idiot driver announced to the world that they would "whoop your ass" of anyone with whom they got into a car accident.

Given the driver of said vehicle was in fact driving like crap, and likely had a phone glued to their ear (which is now illegal in Michigan but still ignored by many), that sticker is just asking for trouble if a fender bender occurs. Given how that driver drove, that is likely at some point.

Don't put stupid stickers on your car announcing your proclivity to engage in unwarranted violence, it's going to make things a lot worse for you.

The Left Continues To Be Mostly Peaceful

That is, if you read "Mostly Peaceful" as in "Engaging in Violence". 

The Detroit News:  10 held in Texas immigration detention center shooting that was 'planned ambush,' US attorney says

KRGV.com: Gunman dead after opening fire at McAllen Border Patrol facility

Note that the was a very organized attack on law enforcement officers with a planned attempted ambush by art least ten black-clad attackers. 

The second attack was likely a solo leftist who traveled all the way from Michigan to Texas, but may potentially have been supported in doing so.

The far-left is continuing to engage in organized violence, and they have the infrastructure in place to do so. 

With Leftist prosecuting attorneys to help ensure charges are dropped or reduced after arrest,  NLG lawyers on call, Mayors supporting their efforts, and lots of funding from leftist billionaires, as well as practice from their riot actions, the Left has both an experienced cadre and adherents that are both well organized and well funded with an array of professionals on hand.

While those on the right tend to state they have all the guns, those on the right tend to not engage in organized violence.  They are often are instead busy with work and family life, and unlike the Left there is no extant right wing infrastructure to support acts of organized violence like Antifa and the NLG. 

The Left is really good at turning the rheostat to increase and decrease violence at a whim and they get away with it quite a lot - and these latest terrorist actions on their part is the result of the tolerance and support they've received for lower-level violence they;ve engaged in and got a pass for.

Other Fun On The Weekend

I got a chance to drive a friend's Corvette Stingray C8 Z51 this weekend.

 

To say it is a fun ride is a major understatement.

You feel like you are wearing the car rather than just sitting in it. The seat is very supportive and the car feels like an extension of you and all controls are easy to reach and use.

Handling, responsiveness, and acceleration are all exceptional and it is a ton of fun to drive. Wind in your hair with the top down and all that.

And, it has more horsepower in its mid-line located engine than the total horsepower of both of the planes in my flying club combined. 

To say it gets up and goes when the light turns green is another major understatement. 

That was fun. 

Now With 500.4 Hours And Night Current

Last night was beautiful out with winds beginning to calm, and many a firework being lofted into the air.

A perfect opportunity for finally regaining night flying currency.

So I headed to the airport and did a pre-flight during twilight and then once it was full on dark an hour after sunset I took off into the night sky.

 

 A few planes were in the area watching the fireworks.

I started on 27R and did three decent landings. Then a seaplane came in to land and another plane wanted to be in the airspace to the north to watch the fireworks so the Tower had me do left traffic on 27R which is pretty rare, as that puts you right into 27L's corridor. But, with no one else flying it was available. so I got to do a left pattern on 27R which felt really backwards, and a great landing.

Then I took off from 27R again with a left pattern and tower asked if I'd like to land on 27L and I said sure that would be fun.

So I did, and my first approach to 27L just didn't feel or look right at all, so I did a go around. I then did it again and did a good landing.

For the final landing I took off from 27L and did a left pattern for 27L and then landed 27R.  I then headed back to the hangar and shut down.

That's 1.0 and 7 night time, full-stop, landings.  

Night currency for carrying passengers is now again achieved, after a very long absence. 

Also, this flight marks my getting over 500 flying hours of experience. That hour flying last night got me to 500.4 hours total, which is a nice milestone.

Flying Friday: Independence Day Flight To KAZO

For Independence Day I flew to a suitably patriotic site:  The Kalamazoo Air Zoo.

Flew VFR with flight following. Pontiac airport was rather quiet at even at 9:00 am they still were using the ASOS rather than the ATIS. Called up ground and got flight following. I decided to fly to KAZO via the HAAKK waypoint so it kept me away from Battle Creek where there was a TFR for an airshow there and would otherwise be directly in the route.

 

So I flew there and it was quire a nice day. Very smooth conditions.

 

Some haze and a layer at around 5,500  that stopped me from climbing to 6,500 as I had planned.

Flew by Battle Creek, safely outside the TFR.

Got clearance to land on Runway 17, and was told to enter a left base and did so and then did a nice landing. Stopped lined up right for the taxiway to go right to the Air Zoo, which was fortuitous and rather perfect for arrival. Did the very short taxi and parked the plane and got let in through the back of the museum and signed in. We were in the second building, the Flight Discovery Center, where they do the restorations and had the place to ourselves in the morning.

Grumman F-11 Tiger in Blue Angels Livery

F-104 Starfighter

 

F-117 Nighthawk - the only one on display outside of a government museum.

There is also an F-86 Sabre and a MiG-15 on display:

 Lots of cool things to see in the building, including their work restoring a SBD-1 Dauntless recovered from Lake Michigan. The plane went down in 1942, killing the trainee pilot and was recovered in 1994, 52 years later.

The restoration is coming along, per the status board:

 Very cool and it is not far from being restored to display condition, even as it doesn't look it.  Unfortunately, it will not be restored to flying condition, only display. When complete, will be shipped off to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Museum.

We then went to the main building, the Flight Innovation Center, which had more people there.

And lots more aircraft to see.

 

SR-71

V-1 Missile

XP-55 The Only One Left In The World.

P-47

Buchon, the Spanish copy of the ME BF-109

A Pink P-40

F-14 Tomcat of Top Gun fame

 We also got in line and tried the full motion  simulators.

Yes, you can do a full 360 degree roll in them.

 

 Much fun.

Then we walked back to the  Flight Discovery Center and saw more aircraft on display outside.

F-4 Phantom II

MiG-21

S-3 Viking

 

A decent cloud layer was in place.  Time to fly back VFR and play dodge cloud.

Did a weather brief, and pre-flight, and called Kalamazoo Ground for flight following back to Pontiac via HAAKK, and to taxi.

Got all that done and did a nice takeoff.

On connection to Great Lakes Approach, they asked me if I had put the HAAKK waypoint in myself.  I said I had. The controller then said nice job putting it in to avoid the Battle Creek TFR.

Quite a few clouds about.  I was at 3,500 and couldn't get above for awhile. 

 

 

Then I got a break in the clouds and climbed to 7,500.

But I soon had to descend as the clouds further ahead were going up higher than I could climb. So I descended to 5,500 to make a clear way through and maintain VFR.

I got handed overt to Detroit Approach and they noted a large area of heavy (and unforecast precipitation) between me and Pontiac. I could actually see the area of heavy rain. Heavy enough that it blocked out all visibility, and the rain shadow was visible for a good distance.

So, I diverted south to avoid it, and then once past it and with sufficient distance away, I resumed heading back to Pontiac.  I got the weather at Pontiac, and got handed off to Tower, and entered the downwind for Runway 27L, but was then switched to 27R and made a nice landing.

That's 1.4 there and 1.2 back and two very nice landings, and a great time in Kalamazoo.

Happy Independence Day!

249 Years Ago, a group of brave American men declared our independence from Great Britain. This declaration would become, after years of toil and effort, the first successful Brexit, and the first step to the formation of the independent and free Republic of the United States of America.

 Happy Independence Day!

Scratch A Russian Trainer, Find An Anti-Semite

So, Sonny Puzikas, the Russian emigre Spetsnaz/Systema trainer in the US, who has quite a following as a hard-core instructor, if you like that sort of thing, let the curtain slip a bit as he went gonzo over the US bombing Iran.

Not sure if he's mainly upset that the Israelis went through the best Russian-designed and manufactured air defense system outside of Russia like a hot knife through butter.  Or, that the US followed up on that dismantling with some very effective bombing of the Iranian nuclear program without even being detected by the remains of that air defense system.

I get it.

If I was a Russian supporter, I'd likely be upset, if not scared as heck that the entire and vaunted Russian air defenses over its ally Iran can be defeated in detail by a modern western air effort.  

It doesn't say much for the quality of Russki equipment in the face of western tech and pilots. Nor does it give much hope to the Russians if they decide to get frisky against the US.

Heck, it might tarnish his training business as he's teaching Russian fighting techniques to westerners - techniques that dare I say haven't exactly shown their worth in Ukraine and elsewhere. 

However,  he then crossed the line quite a bit in his unhappiness. and  posted quite a lot on Facebook and did some live hot takes on it and went straight to classic Russian Antisemitism.  

Basically, he's accusing the Jews of controlling the US government and President Trump. 

  

The standard antisemitic tropes of Jews controlling the US Government.  Right out of the Czarist Russian forgery of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  Nice, at least he's true to historic Russian form.

Yet another antisemitic bit of BS: Puzikas' referring to Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu as Polish and "Melikowsky".  Benjamin Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was born with the name Netanyahu. He's more Israeli than Puzikas is American, by far, that's for sure.

So no, I'd certainly not take any classes from Sonny Puzikas.  

There's a ton of solid instructors out there who teach effective skills without the promotion of baseless conspiracy theories and antisemitism.

Happy Canada Day!

 

Our neighbor to the north celebrates its 158th birthday of its Confederation today.

So, Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends, family, and readers. 

Stupid Criminals: You Might Say He Got Popped

Ne'er do well Quinton Marquise Allen from Detroit decided to rob a bank in Saginaw, and take a hostage while doing so.

The Michigan State Police then sent a drone over with a bottle of Faygo Red Pop.

When Quinton decided to Pop Up to get at the refreshing beverage, the MSP sniper Popped Off, and the hostage situation was fully and finally resolved, as was Quinton.

FOX10 News: Police used Faygo soda to lure suspect from bank before shooting him during hostage standoff

Faygo gets a couple new advertising slogans from this one:

"Faygo: The pop of choice of the MSP!"

and

"Faygo: Pop so good, you'd die for it."