January 2022
The Omicron variant is rampant so there won’t be any meetings for a while. There’s not a whole lot of chapter news this month but I found a couple of things you might be interested in.
Stratolaunch’s Roc
World’s Largest Airplane Completes First Test Flight in Eight Months
The company founded by Paul Allen to send people to space has shifted focus to becoming a hypersonic testing service.link.
Flight Review Notes
A flight review is supposed spend one hour covering the regulations in Part 91 and one hour flying. Lots of people have questions on Part 61 as well, especially as regards to Basic Med so I put together some notes that can save you time on your next flight review. I could never remember the distance from clouds and visibility for Class G but Rod Machado makes it easy.
Google Reviews - Morro Bay VOR
Who knew that reviewing VORs was a thing?
More SOFIA news
NASA’s flying Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) observatory took images of V838 Monocerotis, or V838 Mon, a binary star system about 19 thousand light-years away from Earth, capturing a snapshot in time of its makeup.
Strange Aviation News
A pilot lost his engine while taking off from Whiteman Airport and came to a stop on the nearby railroad tracks. Police pulled him from the wreckage just in time.
Public Service Announcement
There’s a national blood shortage due to the pandemic. All healthy donors are urged to donate now; if you’ve had COVID-19 and have been symptom-free for 14 days, you are eligible to donate. Tell them I sent you and they’ll give you extra cookies! Sign Up.
From the interwebs: Today I operated on a little girl. She needed O- blood. We didn’t have any but her twin brother ahd O- blood. I explained to him that it was a matter of life and death. He sat quietly for a moment, and then said goodbye to his parents. I didn’t think anything of it until after we took his blood and he asked, “So when will I die.” He thought he was giving his life for hers. They’ll both be fine.
Public Service Announcement—Old people fall a lot
Even though we haven’t had much of a rainy season yet, I thought that this would be a good time to remind all of us old folks to be extra careful. Especially now that it is rainy and dark. In the last 10 years I spent too much time with neighbors and relatives in the emergency room, waiting for an ambulance to arrive, and in nursing homes after a fall. Turn on the lights when going up and down stairs. Turn on the light when going to the bathroom at night. Don’t try to step over running water. Watch out for obstacles in the parking lot. If you are alone, get one of those emergency buttons and keep your cell phone in your pocket. I’m sure that people close to you would rather come pick you up in the middle of the night than find you passed out on the floor when they can’t get ahold of you.