I was living in a small double wide trailer back in the 70s when one night a flight of at least 6 C-130 Hercules (Fat Alberts) flew overhead at less than 1000'. They were moving an Army Ranger company from Hunter Army Airfield in Savanah 60 miles north of us down to Florida for a military exercise and were "ground skimming" at what looked to be ~500' and I thought the trailer was going to come off its blocks it shook so badly. It definitely raised our pulse rates. Quite a sight! We get lots of low flying military helicopters following the coast and offshore often some low flying military jets and the occasional A-10 as they transit the area following the coast from the Cherry Point Marine Air Station going to a Florida base or to the Naval Target station (no live ordinance) in the west end of our county. Not too unusual to see F-15s, F-16s screaming along the Altamaha River just above treetops going and coming from the bombing range when its active.

I get to see occasional military aircraft operating either out of Peterson AFB (mostly C-130, but various transient aircraft) or Fort Carson (mostly Blackhawks). I miss living inside the traffic pattern of a fighter base! I was amazed at how quickly I adapted so that they never woke me up at night, too.

BTW: The "Fat Albert" refers to a specific C-130, namely the one that is attached to the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team as their support aircraft, which also participates in many of the airshows, too.

 

I get to see occasional military aircraft operating either out of Peterson AFB (mostly C-130, but various transient aircraft) or Fort Carson (mostly Blackhawks). I miss living inside the traffic pattern of a fighter base! I was amazed at how quickly I adapted so that they never woke me up at night, too.

BTW: The "Fat Albert" refers to a specific C-130, namely the one that is attached to the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team as their support aircraft, which also participates in many of the airshows, too.

Some 20+ years ago I was able to take my kids to Dover AFB to watch the Blue Angels. Fat Albert did a JATO that impressed the heck out of my kids.

 

During the Iran Hostage crisis in 1979, they planned a top-secret mission Operation Credible Sport to rescue them and trained with a specially equipped C-130 to land on a soccer pitch very close to the US Embassy. It not only had JATO but also Jet rocket assisted braking to allow it to land within the 300' space. All was going well and in training it was doing what it was designed for. However, they decided to do one more training exercise before the mission. During which, the pilot initiated the jet rocket assist too early on landing and the plane caught fire destroying it causing the mission to be scrubbed. There should be pictures of it on the net somewhere as it was shown in a history expose clip sometime back. This was after the failed Operation Eagle Claw that executed and failed due to a sandstorm.

 

 

Spoiler

 

'Meow, meow': Pilots scolded after animal noises heard on air traffic control frequency

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The pilots were quickly scolded, with someone else on the frequency saying, "You guys need to be professional pilots." The scolding was met with more meows and barks.

 

@nsaspook: your neck of the woods.

https://apnews.com/article/missing-...r-oregon-dna-2a7e2a6adbeb00eb1ebca4f8085c742f

 

@nsaspook: your neck of the woods.

https://apnews.com/article/missing-...r-oregon-dna-2a7e2a6adbeb00eb1ebca4f8085c742f

Glad that's finalized. RIP

 

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And here I thought that the astronauts of Artemis II had it uncomfortable:

Chinese carmaker patents voice-controlled 'in-vehicle toilet'


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Chinese carmaker Seres has been granted a patent for what it calls an "in-vehicle toilet" that slides under a passenger's seat for visits to the loo while on the road.

 

Boat heads stink! Can't even begin to imagine the stench inside a car....

 

Boat heads stink! Can't even begin to imagine the stench inside a car....

Hey, when you gotta go....

 

So ... you go, you wipe, you flush ... where did it go?

 

And here I thought that the astronauts of Artemis II had it uncomfortable:

Chinese carmaker patents voice-controlled 'in-vehicle toilet'

View attachment 366078
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They might have a problem with "prior art" (though maybe it's the "voice-controlled" part that's getting the patent).

I remember a Gallagher skit (1980 time frame???) in which he said cars should have toilets and said that the Japanese could call it the "Toiletta". But, of course, the Germans would counter with the "Outhausen 1000" and, of course, Chrysler would chime in the the "P" car (this was not long after the infamous "K" car). Then someone from the audience shouted out, "What about a dump truck!", which cracked Gallagher up. I think he incorporated that into his later shows, saying something like, "Of course, for heavy duty situations, we've always had... the dump truck."

 

So ... you go, you wipe, you flush ... where did it go?

Just be careful not to drive in an open-top car behind that Chinese one.

 

So ... you go, you wipe, you flush ... where did it go?

The same place it goes when you use the bathroom on a bus, a plane, or an RV -- into a holding tank.

I don't see this catching on. People tend to like privacy for this kind of thing (maybe not in China, don't know for sure). So unless it's something that a solo driver can use while driving, I doubt most passengers would be willing to avail themselves of it. Then there IS the question of dealing with the aftermath. People with RVs or who operate buses and planes accept it as part of doing business (and many private RV owners simply don't use the toilet specifically so that they don't have to deal with it). Few car owners are going to want to deal with it. Plus, as many RV owners can attest, keeping the odors contained and out of the passenger areas can be easier said than done.

 

 

You can't park there!

 

You can't park there!

That just looks entirely predictable.

Like it was designed that way.

 

That just looks entirely predictable.

Like it was designed that way.

It's a common potential in hilly/mountainous areas. Roads are going to be above and close to the tops of houses that are cut into the lower slope of the hill. It's seldom cost effective to put in a railing to prevent this from happening, particular if the road is extremely lightly traveled. We we lived on a mountain we had a similar situation at our house. The road paralleled the house, so it was unlikely that a car would be coming down at the necessary angle to end up on our roof, at least until someone bought the lot opposed ours and cut a steep driveway cut up to their intended building site. Now we were really concerned about them coming down their driveway in icy conditions and ending up in my daughter's bedroom. So we were going to pay to have a strong guardrail put in if we couldn't get the association to do it (or insist that the new owner do it as part of approving the construction plans). Fortunately, they realized before things went very much further that the reason that lot was available was because it was, in any practical sense, unbuildable.