Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Sweet shots.
All worth a comment... but I'm only picking on the last one:
Was that windsock showing an example of the notorious Santa Ana Winds?!

Went through them quite a number of times while I was stationed at MCAS (H) Tustin. Was there when the winds picked-up and flipped over an empty CH-53E (brand new then) which was on static display. The winds got the rotor spinning (no one inside the bird - and the rotor gust-lock was not engaged) sufficiently enough to get it airborne! It turned turtle though and landed upside down. Huge mistake not locking the rotor!

 

I don't recall ever seeing clouds during Santa Anas growing up. It was always crystal clear out in the mornings before they got going. It'd get really hazy the day after they stopped as everything that was blown out to sea got blown back in.

 

RAH! MCAS Tustin was a great place and that's a cool story about the 53. I only went aboard the station for a couple haircuts and to check out the blimp hangars (still there) up close. My unit was nearby at MCAS El Toro.
I don't have the exact date of the photo because it was take by a fellow operations officer. The windsock is abeam runway 25R (now 26R) and the wind is right down the runway. This would be very typical for favoring wind direction for the airport. Had the wind been the opposite direction I'd be more inclined to say that it might have been a Santa Ana wind event.

 

I have to agree that the wind is from the wrong direction to be a true Santa Ana. The staff would've prolly been bowed too.
I truly enjoyed my time at Tustin! Of course, all my major shopping & health care & much training took place at El Toro. I practically had ruts in the road between the two. And the 53 being flipped over - that took place at MCAS El Toro. The helo was there as a static display for the base annual air show. Got to be something on the web somewhere about it.

Here is one more neat story about those SA winds and Tustin.
First - for others - the "Blimp Hangars" at Tustin, that @ETAV8R mentioned, were built in '42 for true U.S. Navy lighter-than-air blimps. They were then, and still are, the largest free-standing wooden structures in the world. Seventeen stories (150+ feet) high, 300 feet wide, and over 1,000 feet long (5 acres of floor space).
The wood was treated with metalic salts as a fire retardant - and that came back to bite them once.

During construction of the hangars, the SA winds showed up and blew over the initial existing construction, damaging some structure beyond use. Since they couldn't burn the scrap pieces, they buried them.
For many, many years (even though Tustin was an active USMC base), the ground surrounding the runways & ramp areas was leased out to farmers for crops. (Nastiest smelling fertilizer I ever experienced!! fish heads & chicken shit) While I was there one of the farmers plowed up the buried scrap lumber. That's how I heard of this story. The movie (link below) shows that aftermath but - downplays the wind strength. (They city probably doesn't want to shy away prospective new residents by pointing out the hurricane/tornado strength straight line winds which happen regularly (once a season). ???)

https://youtu.be/QVA1fQ4rNzM

I was thrilled to see that, at the 23.25 minute mark, the movie shows my Squadron logo. HMH-361 Flying Tigers.

 

There is an ongoing 100+ year debate on the naming of these seasonal winds. I won't bore anyone with the etymology so below is a great closing statement that is a good summation:

This sojourn through the archives of The Los Angeles Times will hardly settle the "Santa Ana" versus "santana" controversy. Perhaps it should not. Among our residents, these seasonal and occasionally dangerous winds bear two names, both unique to this area. To manhandle Shakespeare, by any other name the winds would blow as hard.

For me, I lean on calling it santana winds. A wind blowing from the NE or E has nothing to do with Santa Ana. Just doesn't make sense.

 

A few days ago this guy landed in front of me and they pulled his plane into the hanger while I was unloading mine. Reminded me where I went wrong in life. I wanted to be a bush pilot OR a biologist. Couldn't afford the Beaver and a biologist paid less than a school teacher. Much later in life I learned you could be both a pilot and a biologist and work for the Feds doing both at the same time. If I had it to do over, I think I would.

 

What does santana mean, that would cause calling it that make sense?


For me, I had only heard the term, never saw it in writing. Since I was in the Santa Ana area at the time, there was no question as to why it was named as such.

 

From yesterday, I thought the 747 went out of production years ago
https://twitter.com/aviationish/status/1600186013250334720?s=46&t=g4es3FLKSvbS9H1AFRXNLg

 

Wonder if the production staff will add any personal easter eggs inside that build.

 

.
...^^^... Yikes ... the Feds bought a nice aircraft ... probably a "tight spec. plane" and not low bid ....

I wonder how much for that jewel ... ??

 

This guy's got cool vids...
https://youtu.be/E2Rnlbi4hLg

 

It's an '09 bird. 13 years old and looks spotless!

 

Figured you guys would like my office chair. The seat is from an MD90, and the seatbelt and TV Screen is from a 747.

I even got the screen to work off a Firestik.

 

That's neat!

Couldn't swing first class though, huh?

 

I really should’ve considering sitting in a coach seat designed for a narrow body airplane is wildly uncomfortable

 

Hehe...did the MD90 have first class?

I would have thought that was the front facing window seat

 

I like it!
Vest & pubs & all. Does it recline?
1st class would be best, but at least in C+ you get free hooch! And much better snacks. (Today they hand out great French cookies, pistachios, chocolate, and top of the line chips.)
I'm heading for a Delta flight in about 3 hours. Might even get a seat in C+, but it'll be in a A-321 (most likely). ATL-SLC

 

They stopped producing the passenger variant -8i vs -8f.
They had a fair amount of freighter orders to complete as I recall. Such a sad day though, 4 holers are a dying breed.

 

It did recline, but I had to disable it because you’d fall over from the new center of gravity haha.

The seats are impressive. Under the skin is all carbon fiber tubing and aluminum. The whole thing weighs like 10 pounds.

 

The rate has been really slow for a while now too, we have only been rolling out 1 every 2 months or so for the last few years. I went over and checked it out one last time before it left the building on Tuesday.

Even weirder has been watching them tear down and remove all of the tooling and assembly structures from the wing line and other areas. When I was a kid about 25-30 years ago my dad took me in on "take your kid to work day"; seeing the big spar drilling tools for 747 and all the aluminum chips on the floor still stands out in my head. I walk right past that area on my way in to my lab everyday now and watched them go from drilling away, to getting pushed over in the corner, to now gone for good.