Bill Griffith 🇺🇸 🛫 🔧

I know it's corny, but the thought keeps running through my head that after 60 years of flying I might have had my last waltz in a Cessna 172 on floats... and no the song is not about the flight instructor it's a metaphor about ♥️ #aviation Volume up #avegeek #airplane #oldduffer

@MikeyDiMercurio @EQuest38190 Good Grief 😵‍💫

WHY YOU CAN'T USE PLUTONIUM FOR CIVILIAN REACTORS Anyone who wants to downblend plutonium for reactor fuel should study the MOX project. You might ask, Mikey, what is "MOX"? Well, I'll tell you what MOX is. MOX is mixed oxide nuclear fuel. It takes bomb-grade plutonium, from purchasing it from the Rooskies, puts it into a chemical plant to "downblend" it, then mixes it with uranium, and et viola! MOX. Chuck it into your reactor, makes power, and Bob's your uncle! It burned $800m a year for over decades, then was abandoned. Trouble arose - They had to build a castle to hold the process. Said castle had to have thick concrete walls, up to 9' thick. It takes concrete that thickness years to cure. You might ask, Mikey, why did they use so much concrete with such thick walls? Well, I'll tell you why they used so much concrete with such thick walls. Because you put plutonium in at one end and use acids to make it a liquid. If you make a mistake and the concentration of plutonium is too high, you get what we in the know call an "unintended criticality." A journalist would call it an explosion. An explosion that scatters radioactive stuff everywhere. So you need a castle that can act as an inverse bunker, that is, can contain a large explosion and confine it. Trouble is? The NRC rejected almost every pour. "Take it down, rip it out and start over." Now, if you know construction, you know that there is no such thing as a fixed-price job. At the ground, on the deckplates, on the tools, everything is "work more, get paid more." Also known as T&M for "time and materials." Also known as "it's going to keep going until labor's made enough money that they are satiated." How many construction workers do you know who say, "Ima quit because I've made too much money?" Certainly not the married ones, right? Am I right? So the walls went slowly up, got rejected, then came slowly down, got rebuilt, got rejected. I looked at the schedule and then laughed my ass off. Then, get this. They had to have all these anti-terrorist measures. Afraid of commandos coming in by helicopter to get the plutonium to make a nuke? Why, put 30' tall spikes on the roof of the castle. Worried about those commandos fast-roping in from above 30'? Why, put in big electrodes that will SHOCK 'EM! And hopefully KILL 'EM! Worried about insiders making off with plutonium to sell to Osama bin Laden? Install oodles of detectors. And, finally, we get to IROFS. An IROFS is an item relied on for safety. Very impotent in nuclear construction. To give you an idea. My nuclear fuel plant that only dealt with uranium enrichment had 95 IROFS. The CEO instituted a sub-project to reduce the number of IROFS to 85. What's the big deal, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you what the big deal is. Imagine a 4" thick 3-ring binder that has system schematics, all the calculations, photographs of installation, inspection reports, from birth until ready-to-start. A commission from NRC will go painstakingly over this IROFS. It will take 10-12 months to get through ONE IROFS. 95 of them? You gotta be kidding me. You might ask, how many IROFS did the MOX Project have? (drum roll) Over 13,000 Not kidding. On that basis alone, it was un-buildable. It still took a decade to shut it down. The state's politicians liked having a make-work project. In its multi-decade life, that project processed zero molecules of plutonium. Did I mention that it had no customers even if it had worked? You might ask, Mikey, why would the MOX project have no customers? Well, I'll tell you why the MOX project had no customers. You see, if you want to burn MOX fuel, all your nuclear power plant's calculations have to be redone. And you have to seek a new license. Now, knowing that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission got packed by Obama with anti-nuke people, do you really want to risk having your present license revoked and try to get a new license from NRC to burn MOX? Why, no you don't. And now you know...the REST of the story. Good day! armscontrolcenter.org/mox-debacle-wi…

And then there are people like me who have a leather-bound autobiography published in 1781 that was written by my direct paternal ancestor's brother which is filled with family details. On my maternal side I have a recording from BBC Shetland in which an old timer tells the saga of my great great grandfather's death in 1860. He got up early and went to the steep cliffs on the island of Noss to collect birds' eggs. His shoes were found at the top of the cliff, but he was never seen again. When the family woke up and went outside there was a Sea Eagle in the front yard staring at them. The old timer who told the story said that the family was superstitious, and they believed that the Sea Eagle was sending a message.

@TheProjectUnity NPCs. Deep thoughts regarding When the miniseries "Roots" came out, everyone was encouraged to interview their grandparents and find out their backstories. I interviewed Wife 1.0's grandmother. To every question, she looked at me blankly and said, "I don't know."

I know we all throw the term NPC around a lot these days. But do you think some people are actually NPCs? Meaning Non-Playable Character. Meaning they aren't really people but more like 'filler' for realities storylines. Do you think some people are literally just NPCs?

@InfantryPilot Because many people now days don’t have children, so instead of this they have an anthropomorphic relationship with a canine. You wouldn’t leave your baby in the car would you 😆

Why is this even allowed in a grocery store?

@ScottElder10 @EndWokeness We own a home in the neighborhood, and it is up for lease I wonder who our agent is going to find? My parents bought the house new in 1940 for 4K so we have gotten our money out of it.

They live right off Aurora Ave... they all look to be in their 40's & 50's. Aurora has been that way basically their entire lives. I guessing it's where they could afford to live. So, they paid a little less to move to a seedy part of town, then wonder why it's bad. I'm all for cleaning things up, but them acting shocked that Seattle doesn't do anything now is silly. Leadership competence hasn't gotten better.

HAHAHAHAHAH. Seattle residents are now building WALLS on their blocks to keep out criminals.

@HungCao_VA That is so cool. Congratulations to both you your wife and your son. Years of hard work brought this moment to fruition. You made my day thanks.

Thirty years after I graduated, and exactly one month after I assumed the duties and responsibilities as the acting Secretary of the Navy, I got to sign my own son’s commission and speak at his graduation. Only God could have orchestrated this.

@DrunkRepub If we have another mass terror attack like 9/11 those now in their 20's will know Islamic Jihad. They will have seen it themselves. Until then Tucker will be collecting his clicks.

“Whatever that is.” For the last 20+ years he’s known exactly what it is. Railed against it even. So either he had a stroke or he’s being paid to do a 180. There are literally no other explanations.

Suckling Airways out of Ipswich airport in England in 1986 This airline went out of business in 2013. Call sign Suckling.

@Nautical_Rudder I retired in 2005 and I never flew a 737 without eyebrow windows but I will take your word on the downgrade 👍

Biggest Downgrade ever

@Nivarna_space My ancestor John Griffith had already served a year in the continental army by 1776 Do you have a hat that says 251 years 1775 2026

When you want to show 'style' without saying a word. Class is here, no explanation needed. 🦅

@keithkman @Turbinetraveler So what does the Hindu religion teach about suicide? What is the lowest form of life that a pilot can be reincarnated into if he takes out the entire plane.

@Turbinetraveler For those wondering why Indian authorities can’t accept the captain did it deliberately, su!cide in Indian culture is a BIG taboo no no.

Indian investigators are set to visit Seattle for Boeing lab testing tied to the Air India Flight 132 incident involving Boeing 787-8 VT-ANX. The aircraft, operating London Heathrow–Bengaluru on Feb. 2, 2026, was grounded after pilots reported the left Fuel Control Switch slipped from “RUN” to “CUTOFF.” Officials want Boeing to prove under controlled testing that the fuel switches cannot move on their own — even under vibration, turbulence, electrical faults, or other extreme conditions. Boeing is expected to demonstrate that the switch will not move unless physically operated by a human. The outcome of the tests could play a major role in determining whether the incident was caused by mechanical failure, external factors, or human interaction.

@xAviation unfortunately, this is another job that will be replaced by AI directed drones

Gotta love the Air Tractor 802. Real pilots! 📹: cropdusterpete(IG)

The first @Boeing 737 without eyebrow windows rolled out of the factory in January of 2005. Eyebrow windows are small windows above the main windows.

I’m back at the @museumofflight. When was the first 737 produced without eyebrow windows ?

This is a photo that I took in 1967. It shows a hospital in the Congo where a doctor recently contracted #Ebola

@MCCCANM They only teach takeoffs

You’d think after the first half dozen or so UFOs crashed, the aliens would send a rescue party, or at least say “maybe this isn’t a good idea” & have a safety stand-down but no, they just keep launching ships to cross interstellar distances then screw up the landing.

In the summer of 1984, I was flying corporate for Sundstrand Data Control (inventor of the GPWS) We were flying over LA where the first cell phone tower system had been installed in preparation for the summer Olympics. As we were landing in LA a passenger who had a cell phone informed me that he was going to make a call. After the flight he asked me if I saw any interference. So, I might have been the first pilot to deal with a passenger using a cell phone in flight.

Putting your phone on airplane mode isn’t pointless, but it’s not much of a safety risk either. In extreme circumstances, it’s possible, but not probable, that signals the phone emits when searching for a tower can bleed into our headsets. I’ve had it happen on the KC-10, but only because it was my own phone in close proximity I hadn’t turned off. There was a slight issue of 5G interfering with the radio altimeter recently. The two work on parts of the frequency spectrum that are very close. That has been mostly resolved by better shielding, but was a threat that needed to be taken seriously. The FCC wants your phone off because 200 phones in the air, searching for signal, can all connect to multiple towers at once & strain the grid. Now throw a couple more jets in the area full of 200 phones, too, and it could be a problem. The FAA looked at eliminating this rule & decided to keep it. At least in part, to keep people from having annoying conversations at a time many people are already aggravated from delays & whatever else. The best reason I’ve found to tell people, though, is that it will rapidly drain your battery, as the phone keeps trying to search for towers to connect to.

@CaptBob_Nomadic @KarlenePetitt Charters in the past have been loosey goosey operations that often violated the FAR's and were routinely carried out under the radar. Reporting this violation backfired in the worst possible way. I hope that the crew gets their jobs back.

This lawsuit and hearing should be getting more attention. If you are an airline pilot, it’s worth a read through. The eventual ruling could result in pilots being at risk for being fired for reporting safety concerns or incidents. Thanks @KarlenePetitt

Once on the last flight out some airport deadheading home, I was in the cockpit because the plane was completely full. The FO was gleefully looking at his watch telling the captain that in 10 minutes the crew would turn into a pumpkin because of duty time, and the flight would be cancelled. The hold up was the signing of the logbook. The captain told the gate agent to close the door. He then released the parking brake which showed the ACARS that we were underway and then a few minutes later he had maintenance hand the logbook in through the open cockpit window. I breathed a sigh of relief because I was heading home.

Now give them a non flight crew deferrable item failure exactly at minimum required departure fuel just prior to taking the active runway for takeoff on go-home day with 27 minutes left on the latest allowable takeoff time prior to dutying out…

@x_archiveHQ I hope I never have to buy a car with CVT If you don’t know why do some research

Difference between manual and CVT transmission

@MCCCANM My preferred technique is to get the grains of sand rolling beneath the wheels before I let the entire weight of the aircraft down.

Smooth landing last night. Buttered it on. The FO couldn’t see it due to the tears in his eyes from having witnessed it. We touched down 2,500’ down the runway. Another 500’ & we would have had to go around, can’t guarantee stopping distance. Which is why smooth ≠ good.