Today is the fourth in a five-part series exploring the loss of Air France Flight 447 and the lessons firefighters can learn about effective teamwork, communication and decision making in a high risk environment. Air Speed and Pitot Tubes The A-330’s computerized flight systems are critically reliant on reliable air speed data.  This information is […]

Once airborne, AF-447, very close to its maximum take-off weight, flew north for some distance, inland of Recife before proceeding out over the Atlantic.  They climbed to their assigned flight level of 350 (35,000 ft.) The flight crew conversed with air traffic controllers at various points.  There were three flight crew on board because of […]

Today is the second of a five-part series exploring the loss of Air France Flight 447 and the lessons firefighters can learn about effective teamwork, communication and decision making in a high risk environment. In the days immediately after the disappearance of AF-447, bodies and lighter pieces of the aircraft were located on the ocean […]

Today is the beginning of a five-part series exploring the loss of Air France Flight 447 and the lessons firefighters can learn about effective teamwork, communication and decision making in a high risk environment. On May 31st, 2009, at about 22:30, Air France flight 447 departed Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on a scheduled flight to […]

Roman’s 2:11: For there is no respect of persons with God. (King James Version) Because God does not show partiality. (International Standard Version) Tiny  Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, Kentucky, is much in the news this week after congregants voted to effectively ban inter-racial couples from membership and participation in services, except in […]

A five-part series exploring the loss of Air France Flight 447 and the lessons firefighters can learn about effective teamwork, communication and decision making in a high risk environment. Starts Monday.

AS-501 Abeam Thomas Point Light 270 degrees, 15:00 hours, wind @ 15 knots 

Our local rag, The Washington Post, a.k.a. TWP, reports that in trendy Georgetown, (or as trendy as Georgetown can get,) a local eatery recently sold an ice cream sundae for $1,000. The eater of said sundae? A 12-year-old celebrating his birthday with mom, dad and nine friends.  (Let’s hope they are very good friends.) What’s […]

Cream rises to the top.  Many are aware of the saying, often delivered in a smug tone, to explain the inevitable emergence of a person into a position of leadership and power.   The words are delivered with an inflection that implies the certainty of the occurrence as well as our daftness for not seeing it […]

It seems that David Cameron and his Coalition partner, Nick Clegg, wish to give UK firefighters a drubbing in the latest pension dust-up. Some Significant UK/NA Pension Differences UK and North American firefighter pensions are roughly comparable up to a point but then significant differences emerge.  UK firefighters operate under a tiered benefit system: the […]