I’ve added and subtracted pretty much what I had in mind to do.  If you think I’ve overlooked something good, or removed your link by mistake, please let me know.  Some of the new links should be familiar to my regular readers since I cite them often.  SLOG in particular. 

I’ve re-linked Andrew Sullivan because he seems to have wised up regarding Bush and Iraq.  He’s somewhat conservative and that’s fine.  But if you read my archives you know I was blistering in my criticism of him during the Excellent Iraq Adventure.  But unlike the other nutcases in the Bush peanut gallery he kept his eyes open and finally, Finally, could not deny what they were telling him.  I respect him for that.  He’s become as fierce a critic as anyone on the left regarding Bush and Cheney, and in particular about their regime of torture, which my poor country will be generations living down.  And he’s always been on the right side of the same-sex marriage issue.  I find myself reading him more these days and not feeling bad about it afterwards.  So he’s back on my blog roll.

Flight Level 390 is a blog by an airline pilot that is really fascinating.  If you’ve ever flown, and wondered about the people whose job it is to fly those beautiful, magnificent winged machines day in and day out, take a read.  Here’s a sample…

The Guadalajara approach controller clears us for the instrument approach to runway 28; the visibility is about four miles with haze. We can see the runway, barely, but it is getting darker and there is high terrain in all quadrants. Fi-Fi is heavy, barely below maximum landing weight, as we pass over the center of the airport in our descent. I can hear the lead flight attendant hurrying in the forward galley, latching carts and closing aluminum galley doors. The center and aft flight attendants are doing the same plus talking on the PA; the never ending before landing drill.

I took some vacation between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but at this very moment in the time continuum, I feel as if I never left the flight deck. Funny how that happens…

I ask the co-pilot for some flaps and slats as we begin our turn back toward the airport and the radio beam that will lead us to the runway. Looking over my left shoulder, I can see the main hydraulics forcing the leading edge slats into the slip stream. That is so cool! As we turn final approach, the control tower clears us to land. The controller sounds like a young, female newbie and we have to ask her to repeat the clearance. Her ATC english is still a little thick for the Americano pilots. On the second attempt, though, we understand. Cleared to land runway 28, wind 240 at 9.

And this…

She is an old bird with small engines. I have flown her hundreds of hours over the years and have a sweet spot in my heart for her. The company did not update her software to the latest and greatest ones and zeros. Her time flying the Line is coming to an end. She will be replaced with a factory new A321 with big engines and fast computers. I can remember at least three paint schemes on this bird. I wonder what will happen to her…

And this…

Position: West of KSAN; San Diego, feet wet

Altitude: 5,000 feet

True Airspeed: 230 mph (200 kts)

Passengers on board: 138

We were so close, so very close to the hotel van after eight flight hours, three airports, two oceans and thousands of miles. But it was not to be; an aircraft under tow was on the runway and failed to understand their instructions to vacate the runway. The end result was that we had to go around on short final. I could not believe it! It was like a simulator exercise. We are dog tired and this is the last thing we need.

The good news is:

1. We are tankering fuel, i.e., we have plenty of fuel to prevent the morning crew from buying high dollar California kerosene.

2. The co-pilot is one of the best at the airline, a young Canadian female whom I have flown with several times.

3. The weather is pretty good… A little bit of patchy ground fog.

Immediately past the infamous parking garage, the tower gave the "go around" command. The co-pilot raised the nose to 20 degrees and shoved the throttles to the forward stops. The engines, already spooled to 35%, responded immediately and with extreme vigor in the cool, sea level air. Struggling against the thrust, I reached over and raised the flaps to half. I glanced at the vertical speed indicator before I raised the gear… More than 4,000 feet per minute. I would say that is a positive rate.

The tower asked us if we could do a "tight right downwind for another try." I do not think that is a good idea. It is getting dark, we are tired, and this is a big airplane with a big noise footprint. I decline the offer. A few seconds later, at thrust reduction altitude, the co-pilot pushes the nose over and brings the thrust levers back to climb power. I raise the flaps/slats and contact departure control. We head out over the water on a vector to gain altitude and line up our quacking, flapping ducks for another try.

The co-pilot is an aggressive, intelligent pilot at the top of her game. Fi-Fi must obey her at all times. Even so, I ask if I can do anything for her. She asks for help with the nav computers. I go heads down and start pushing buttons on my Multi-purpose Control Display Unit, a high dollar word for a small keyboard and computer screen. In a few moments I have given Fi-Fi’s electronic brain an idea or two about how to get back to the final approach fix. After a couple of checklists read and completed, I tell ATC that we are ready to return. They give us a heading that will merge with the downwind leg north of the runway. I take a few moments to do some administrative chores, as in emailing Mother and explaining why we are burning extra jet fuel. Also, on the PA, I give the folks a little pep talk. Abeam the airport, approach control clears us for the visual approach and to "Please keep it in tight for following traffic."

Fog is rolling in, but we will beat it. The co-pilot calls for landing gear, flaps and slats while still on the downwind. We are still at 4,000 feet. I tell her, "The controllers are taking bets whether or not you will make it down." Fi-Fi has very good vertical capabilities, especially descending, if the pilot knows how to use them. This young lady understands completely.

She makes two tight right banking turns merging with the final approach inside the final approach fix, stows the spoilers and calls for full flaps. Over the parking garage one more time, the runway lights are getting smudgy. The visibility is going down with the arrival of the fog. The Electric Jet settles onto the main gear tires at the thousand foot marker; reverse thrust cascade vanes open and we get with the stopping program. This has been a low stress go around because we were fat on fuel. Actually, it was kind of fun.

Clearing the runway in the fog and before we switched to ground control, the tower controller apologized for the go around. I replied with, "No problem." Behind and over us we hear the roar of jet engines climbing away. The airliner behind us missed the approach because of the fog. The co-pilot and I look at each other with huge grins. We made it in the proverbial nick.

Life on the Line continues…

This kind of thing is what blogs were made for!  I love this technology…absolutely love it…because it brings me this.

I’ve added a few new links to the cartoons section and the news sections.  One link in particular I want to note in the new ‘Fun’ section is HMK Mystery Streams.  It’s a music web cast that is…unique.  I often sit at my drafting table with it going in the background.  Each program runs about an hour or so.  I hate this word because it’s so mis-used, but HMK really is an eclectic mix of this and that from now and my childhood yesterday.  It’s fun…it’s strange…it’s…well…let them describe themselves…

Captured from the continual mystery stream discovered in the fall of 1961, our mission is to post 60 minute fragments, as frequently or infrequently as possible, from this not too distant satellite of unknown origion located on the dark side of the moon. Here’s what you can expect: Hazy overcast explorations, episodes of vaguely familiar audio clues to the past, and overheard comments via an experimental format known as iF: Irregular Frequency. Relax. For the next hour, consider this your official in-flight entertainment. Moving in stereo, in our continuing attempt to gain a more clear and better understanding of the infinite concept of space, time and the atmospheric vibrations and soundscapes known as The HMK Mystery Stream, we can only listen, dream, imagine and repeat whenever possible. The captain has turned on the Fresh Coffee sign. Prepare for lift off… Roger that… Go with bottle up… Your comments are always welcome and appreciated.

This is my kinda radio station!  You should tune in.

Over the next few days I’ll see if I can make some banner links for some of these.  That usually involves capturing the banner off the site and scaling it down to an icon of sorts for the blog roll.  Which is time consuming so I don’t often do it.  If I’ve linked to any of your blogs and you have a blog icon you’d like me to use in the blog roll send it to me.