WWJD?
This week's soundtrack is provided by Phoenix's very own KAZG Oldies 92.7 Arizona. This is the radio station of choice for cruising around Goodyear!
Maps and I have started to follow separate timetables this week and so we were no longer able to share a car. The Chevy is in Maps' name, so I arranged to collect a car from our local Avis office on Tuesday. Kathy (the Avis rep) gave me a choice: "full-sized family sedan" or "something a little more rugged." I am not sure if it's because the Avis office is conveniently located next to the Bible Museum or not, but found myself thinking, 'what would Jesus do?'
Well, Jesus was a carpenter and I think he would have preferred the 4x4 in order to transport all of his power tools, his Workmate, his nail gun, router, electric plane and his Henry hoover to clean up the sawdust when he had finished. Based on Jesus' recommendation, I also chose the 4x4:
On the plus side, it comes with an ECOmeter which seems a little redundant on a 5 litre V8 petrol engine which only averaged 6.8 MPG on its last journey...
But the other good news is that I brought my off-roading gear with me, including The Hat.
And now I feel like these guys:
I took a drive out to find some off road trails, but I'm not sure that the Americans have got as much freedom as they think; everywhere is fenced off with warnings not to trespass. Here, it's perfectly acceptable to shoot someone for trespassing, so probably not worth the risk. I did manage to find one place to venture off the track, but saw this sign:
So I stuck to the road, which wasn't all that busy in the end:
And now to answer some FAQs from home:
Luke Air Force Base is home to 2 types of aircraft, the F-16 'Fighting Falcon' and the F-35 'Lightning II' / 'Joint Strike Fighter.' This is what they look like:
Both are single engine, single seat fighters (one man, one fan in Tornado parlance) and the F-35 will eventually replace the F-16. In the UK, it will replace the Tornado GR4 (booo) and the Harrier (whatever). F-35 is still in its developmental phase, despite airframes being rolled off the production line in Fort Worth and this has caused some controversy amongst 'aviation enthusiasts' as several technical issues, some quite severe, have been highlighted. The rationale behind this concept is that project development occurs more rapidly when you have more aircraft flying. And on an aircraft which is essentially a flying computer network, most of the fixes are software driven, rather than hardware driven.
The F-35 is a beast! It's empty weight is more or less the same as a Tornado, which is around 14 tonnes. The F-35 can carry more fuel internally than the Tornado can carry with two external tanks fitted, and it carries all of its bombs and long-range missiles inside its weapons bay. Because everything is hidden, it is a very low observable (VLO) aircraft. There are very few external openings, ducts, lumps, bumps, aerials etc.
This helmet cost £400,000 and comes complete with a built-in night vision camera and helmet-mounted display. This means that pilots no longer have to wear traditional night vision goggles and the aircraft does not have a head-up display as everything is projected into the visor of the helmet. There are infrared cameras all around the aircraft so the pilot can look 'through' the aircraft and see in any direction, even straight down for landing on a ship.
Some F-35 pub facts:
- The aircraft has more lines of computer code than it took to launch the space shuttle.
- The core processor can perform more than 400 billion operations per second.
- It has a built-in infrared targeting pod which can be used to identify aircraft, ground targets, guide laser-guided bombs or help the pilot land at night with no lighting.
- A camera system with all-round coverage that can detect and track incoming missiles and reverse their trajectory to determine the launch point.
- Datalinks and communications systems to link to other aircraft, ships and army units.
- An active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with no moving parts which can detect airborne targets, map the ground and identify moving targets on the ground.
This is the latest, most up-to-date aircraft in the world and development started in 1992, 6 years before I joined the RAF! I wonder what the projects starting today will eventually look like...!
Mum, this is what digital terrain elevation data looks like:
Even the old Tornado carried a Level 1 terrain elevation database, with sample posts every 90 metres. This enables a predictive ground proximity warning system (GPWS) to give the pilot an alert that a preset minimum height is about to be breached. The Tornado could also sample the terrain below the aircraft and compare it to the database for use as a navigation sensor if GPS failed or was being denied through jamming or spoofing. But it won't stop a pilot from controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
Matched betting has been slow this week. Profit to date: £352.72, but I've managed to line up £98 for the first part of next week. I'm investigating a speculative investment in Ethereum...
Maps and I have started to follow separate timetables this week and so we were no longer able to share a car. The Chevy is in Maps' name, so I arranged to collect a car from our local Avis office on Tuesday. Kathy (the Avis rep) gave me a choice: "full-sized family sedan" or "something a little more rugged." I am not sure if it's because the Avis office is conveniently located next to the Bible Museum or not, but found myself thinking, 'what would Jesus do?'
Well, Jesus was a carpenter and I think he would have preferred the 4x4 in order to transport all of his power tools, his Workmate, his nail gun, router, electric plane and his Henry hoover to clean up the sawdust when he had finished. Based on Jesus' recommendation, I also chose the 4x4:
 |
| Toyota 4Runner |
I have seen the advert on UK TV for Enterprise Car Rental, where they proudly claim that they have US customer service... Well, here's a fine example of US customer service: this car arrived unwashed, so the windows were more or less opaque and full of dirt and candy bar wrappers on the inside. It also requires maintenance:
 | |
| Maintenance required! |
On the plus side, it comes with an ECOmeter which seems a little redundant on a 5 litre V8 petrol engine which only averaged 6.8 MPG on its last journey...
 |
| The Economobile |
 |
| The Hat |
And now I feel like these guys:
 |
| Lindsay and Simon |
I took a drive out to find some off road trails, but I'm not sure that the Americans have got as much freedom as they think; everywhere is fenced off with warnings not to trespass. Here, it's perfectly acceptable to shoot someone for trespassing, so probably not worth the risk. I did manage to find one place to venture off the track, but saw this sign:
 |
| Death awaits you |
So I stuck to the road, which wasn't all that busy in the end:
 |
| The long and not-so-winding road |
And now to answer some FAQs from home:
Luke Air Force Base is home to 2 types of aircraft, the F-16 'Fighting Falcon' and the F-35 'Lightning II' / 'Joint Strike Fighter.' This is what they look like:
 |
| F-16 (closest) F-35 (furthest) |
Both are single engine, single seat fighters (one man, one fan in Tornado parlance) and the F-35 will eventually replace the F-16. In the UK, it will replace the Tornado GR4 (booo) and the Harrier (whatever). F-35 is still in its developmental phase, despite airframes being rolled off the production line in Fort Worth and this has caused some controversy amongst 'aviation enthusiasts' as several technical issues, some quite severe, have been highlighted. The rationale behind this concept is that project development occurs more rapidly when you have more aircraft flying. And on an aircraft which is essentially a flying computer network, most of the fixes are software driven, rather than hardware driven.
 |
| F-35 Lightning II |
The F-35 is a beast! It's empty weight is more or less the same as a Tornado, which is around 14 tonnes. The F-35 can carry more fuel internally than the Tornado can carry with two external tanks fitted, and it carries all of its bombs and long-range missiles inside its weapons bay. Because everything is hidden, it is a very low observable (VLO) aircraft. There are very few external openings, ducts, lumps, bumps, aerials etc.
 |
| The other hat! |
This helmet cost £400,000 and comes complete with a built-in night vision camera and helmet-mounted display. This means that pilots no longer have to wear traditional night vision goggles and the aircraft does not have a head-up display as everything is projected into the visor of the helmet. There are infrared cameras all around the aircraft so the pilot can look 'through' the aircraft and see in any direction, even straight down for landing on a ship.
Some F-35 pub facts:
- The aircraft has more lines of computer code than it took to launch the space shuttle.
- The core processor can perform more than 400 billion operations per second.
- It has a built-in infrared targeting pod which can be used to identify aircraft, ground targets, guide laser-guided bombs or help the pilot land at night with no lighting.
- A camera system with all-round coverage that can detect and track incoming missiles and reverse their trajectory to determine the launch point.
- Datalinks and communications systems to link to other aircraft, ships and army units.
- An active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with no moving parts which can detect airborne targets, map the ground and identify moving targets on the ground.
This is the latest, most up-to-date aircraft in the world and development started in 1992, 6 years before I joined the RAF! I wonder what the projects starting today will eventually look like...!
Mum, this is what digital terrain elevation data looks like:
 |
| DTED |
Matched betting has been slow this week. Profit to date: £352.72, but I've managed to line up £98 for the first part of next week. I'm investigating a speculative investment in Ethereum...
Where's the horse of the week?! Tx
ReplyDeleteIt ran off whilst I tried to get its noseband on.
Delete