There have been a few times in history when the decision of a single person has held back the waves of destruction of a nuclear war. Most notable of those is Stanislov Petrov, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces and on duty in September of 1983. It was only a few weeks after the Soviets shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007. With international tensions running high, Petrov was informed of a missile launch from the United States. Shortly after that the system showed that another five missiles had been launched. They were, theoretically, in the air, on their way to Soviet Russia. But Petrov did not report the launch to superiors as he was supposed to, knowing that a counterstrike would be ordered based on his report. Several minutes ticked by as he waited for confirmation of the launches that never came and he did not report it until later.
I didn't get recognized, but I didn't get courts-martialed either. They admitted I saved the pilot's life and the jet, but you have to read the novel Rogue to understand why I didn't get anything more than a nod of approval and no hassle.
Scary thought! And yet nobody is challenging the situation. The doomsday clock should be set at 1/2 second to midnight with Biden at the helm; if indeed he is!
Great aviation story! Thanks. I never had to ground an airplane in my aviation mechanic career. The bush pilots I worked with knew the planes very well and usually spotted any mechanical defects after or during a flight. Parts do fail in flight with no warning from the pre-flight inspection.
I remember putting an overhauled oil cooler on a Dehavilland Beaver one day. The oil cooler had a yellow tag (rebuilt and checked out okay at the overhaul facility which I think was in Oklahoma.) On the test flight the oil cooler blew at 1,000 feet so the pilot cut the throttle back to idle on the Pratt & Whitney 985 radial engine and glided down for a landing on Lake Washington (it was a float plane.)
No harm done.
I never had a pilot argue with me about a plane's safety. They usually wanted me to ride along on the test flights and that was fine by me. I stood by my work.
Had he not thought he was smarter than me, the leak was within regs and it would have been a normal flight out of our base, instead of dogfighting a foreign AF, he probably wouldn't have argued with me over it. Most of those jet jocks thought we were idiots. It took a real pilot to appreciate what we did. I did have numerous commendations from generals, colonels and a couple of lieutenants and captains, but they just sort of eased the complaints. As I used to say when I got one and people asked me about it, I'd say, "well, you need the atta boys to cancel the oh shits.
One of the reasons I came here four years ago was to try and inspire these people with the idea of reviving these towns, but many of them are the way they are because the oil money that lies thick out here, doesn't want it to change, so they're dying. Our town has about 1500 people as with the next few around us, a little more distant and there's 25,000-30,000 people towns, but the scenes are very similar.
T.L., The towns have a lot of character, and probably a few characters living in them. Some of the architecture is stunning. And I do like the brick streets.
I wonder why the oil money people don't want it to change? Maybe they are afraid of liberals moving in and closing down the oil business. You sure as hell don't want your town to end up like our town of Healdsburg.
When my wife and I moved here around 2000, Healdsburg was a quiet farming town. Then the City Council sold a big lot on the town plaza to M. Sehr who built the Hotel Healdsburg and the tourists started coming. Now the Sehr Group owns four big hotels on Healsburg Avenue and tourists have taken over the downtown plaza area. Housing prices quadrupled to over a million bucks.
You don't want your town to die, but you don't want it to grow like cancer either. It's a tough balance to get right.
I chose to live where I did, because I was trying to show them how they could use their architecture and small-town vibe to attract the film industry for locations, because that would infuse the economy with money while preserving the look and feel of their town, because production companies come into film, spread a lot of cash around, then leave. I'm not interested in attracting a large industrial or commercial venture that would destroy the small-town life I enjoy. But, like everything else, people didn't see my efforts as a win-win, but as some sort of scam, so I let them have their victory and I stopped caring about whether the town died and their children went off to more exciting and lucrative lives somewhere else. I know I tried and that's all I can do. So, now we'll let Dallas, Austin and Eastern Texas have all the benefits and we'll board up more storefronts.
T.L., the film industry is a good source of revenue. Hollywood's last West Texas movie I know of was "Hell or High Water" and it was filmed in New Mexico.
The original movie "Scream" was filmed in Healdsburg, also some Indian (India) movie was filmed on the town plaza as well. The local Asians were going nuts over the fact that their #1 film stars were in town.
People are always suspicious of new things (unless it's Covid I reckon.)
I received your trilogy of books today. Thank you for the signature and your kind message. Much appreciated! I look forward to reading the books.
PS: Jeff Daniels, the actor, came from a small town in Michigan that was dying. Daniels invested his money and time to create a theater and drama company in the small town. Now the small town is full of restaurants, hotels, etc. due to the Jeff Daniels theater. The small town is near Detroit and Ann Arbor which no doubt helps.
That all brought back some memories. I was the station officer in a firehouse that ran multiple pieces of apparatus, including a 100' tractor-drawn aerial ladder. The 'truck' experienced electrical problems causing the emergency lights, brake lights, and signal lights not to work. It went to the shop. Returning several hours later and not repaired. The truck captain was told to have it back after the weekend. I went to fire administration and told the chief officer in-charge of the shop that the truck could not be used for emergency response due to the lights not being operational. He called the shop and had the truck taken back. The crew returned later with an old reserve piece. All the tires were dry rotted and unfit to be on the road. Back to fire administration. The chief was pissed at me, but sent the old truck out for new tires. Not only did I piss off the chief, but shop personnel as well. The rift never healed and I suffered for it for as long as that particular chief officer was employed. I could have just kept my mouth shut and probably nothing bad would have happened. But, what if someone was hurt... or worse due to defective equipment! Doing what is right can be costly. But doing what is wrong and know it is a dark stain on your soul that lasts the rest of your life.
Hi T.L. and all, I wrote this story the other day about my adventures in Belem, Brazil in 1990. Hope it gives you a laugh. I never did tell David Jones about the prank.
you did the right thing, whether you got recognized or not.
I didn't get recognized, but I didn't get courts-martialed either. They admitted I saved the pilot's life and the jet, but you have to read the novel Rogue to understand why I didn't get anything more than a nod of approval and no hassle.
Sometimes, no reply is good. You did your job, and you did it well. I would expect the nod was very appreciative by the person who nodded.
Scary thought! And yet nobody is challenging the situation. The doomsday clock should be set at 1/2 second to midnight with Biden at the helm; if indeed he is!
You're right and it scares the shit outa me. Who would guess Russia would be the voice of sanity?
Great aviation story! Thanks. I never had to ground an airplane in my aviation mechanic career. The bush pilots I worked with knew the planes very well and usually spotted any mechanical defects after or during a flight. Parts do fail in flight with no warning from the pre-flight inspection.
I remember putting an overhauled oil cooler on a Dehavilland Beaver one day. The oil cooler had a yellow tag (rebuilt and checked out okay at the overhaul facility which I think was in Oklahoma.) On the test flight the oil cooler blew at 1,000 feet so the pilot cut the throttle back to idle on the Pratt & Whitney 985 radial engine and glided down for a landing on Lake Washington (it was a float plane.)
No harm done.
I never had a pilot argue with me about a plane's safety. They usually wanted me to ride along on the test flights and that was fine by me. I stood by my work.
Had he not thought he was smarter than me, the leak was within regs and it would have been a normal flight out of our base, instead of dogfighting a foreign AF, he probably wouldn't have argued with me over it. Most of those jet jocks thought we were idiots. It took a real pilot to appreciate what we did. I did have numerous commendations from generals, colonels and a couple of lieutenants and captains, but they just sort of eased the complaints. As I used to say when I got one and people asked me about it, I'd say, "well, you need the atta boys to cancel the oh shits.
T.L., Is the panhandle of Texas really this bad?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6wnG782zw0&t=16s
I was impressed by all the brick streets, though. What happened to all the wealth?
One of the reasons I came here four years ago was to try and inspire these people with the idea of reviving these towns, but many of them are the way they are because the oil money that lies thick out here, doesn't want it to change, so they're dying. Our town has about 1500 people as with the next few around us, a little more distant and there's 25,000-30,000 people towns, but the scenes are very similar.
T.L., The towns have a lot of character, and probably a few characters living in them. Some of the architecture is stunning. And I do like the brick streets.
I wonder why the oil money people don't want it to change? Maybe they are afraid of liberals moving in and closing down the oil business. You sure as hell don't want your town to end up like our town of Healdsburg.
When my wife and I moved here around 2000, Healdsburg was a quiet farming town. Then the City Council sold a big lot on the town plaza to M. Sehr who built the Hotel Healdsburg and the tourists started coming. Now the Sehr Group owns four big hotels on Healsburg Avenue and tourists have taken over the downtown plaza area. Housing prices quadrupled to over a million bucks.
You don't want your town to die, but you don't want it to grow like cancer either. It's a tough balance to get right.
I chose to live where I did, because I was trying to show them how they could use their architecture and small-town vibe to attract the film industry for locations, because that would infuse the economy with money while preserving the look and feel of their town, because production companies come into film, spread a lot of cash around, then leave. I'm not interested in attracting a large industrial or commercial venture that would destroy the small-town life I enjoy. But, like everything else, people didn't see my efforts as a win-win, but as some sort of scam, so I let them have their victory and I stopped caring about whether the town died and their children went off to more exciting and lucrative lives somewhere else. I know I tried and that's all I can do. So, now we'll let Dallas, Austin and Eastern Texas have all the benefits and we'll board up more storefronts.
T.L., the film industry is a good source of revenue. Hollywood's last West Texas movie I know of was "Hell or High Water" and it was filmed in New Mexico.
The original movie "Scream" was filmed in Healdsburg, also some Indian (India) movie was filmed on the town plaza as well. The local Asians were going nuts over the fact that their #1 film stars were in town.
People are always suspicious of new things (unless it's Covid I reckon.)
I received your trilogy of books today. Thank you for the signature and your kind message. Much appreciated! I look forward to reading the books.
You're welcome, thanks for taking a chance on them.
PS: Jeff Daniels, the actor, came from a small town in Michigan that was dying. Daniels invested his money and time to create a theater and drama company in the small town. Now the small town is full of restaurants, hotels, etc. due to the Jeff Daniels theater. The small town is near Detroit and Ann Arbor which no doubt helps.
That all brought back some memories. I was the station officer in a firehouse that ran multiple pieces of apparatus, including a 100' tractor-drawn aerial ladder. The 'truck' experienced electrical problems causing the emergency lights, brake lights, and signal lights not to work. It went to the shop. Returning several hours later and not repaired. The truck captain was told to have it back after the weekend. I went to fire administration and told the chief officer in-charge of the shop that the truck could not be used for emergency response due to the lights not being operational. He called the shop and had the truck taken back. The crew returned later with an old reserve piece. All the tires were dry rotted and unfit to be on the road. Back to fire administration. The chief was pissed at me, but sent the old truck out for new tires. Not only did I piss off the chief, but shop personnel as well. The rift never healed and I suffered for it for as long as that particular chief officer was employed. I could have just kept my mouth shut and probably nothing bad would have happened. But, what if someone was hurt... or worse due to defective equipment! Doing what is right can be costly. But doing what is wrong and know it is a dark stain on your soul that lasts the rest of your life.
http://timmytaes.com/2024/06/06/at-the-belem-hilton-pool-bar/
Hi T.L. and all, I wrote this story the other day about my adventures in Belem, Brazil in 1990. Hope it gives you a laugh. I never did tell David Jones about the prank.
T.L. you've been hitting it out of the park lately. Keep up the good work, and thank you.
Thank you.