a faint echo

This Panavia Tornado designated IDS registration 43+74 serial number 4074 wears the markings of the German Navy, 1. Marinefliegergeschwader or German 1st Naval Wing. This Panavia Tornado designated IDS registration 43+74 serial number 4074 wears the markings of the German Navy, 1. Marinefliegergeschwader or German 1st Naval Wing. In 1956, the British in response to the Cold War largely helped re-create German Naval Aviation. Birtish Naval Defense meant closing off the treacherous Baltic Sea against the Soviet Navy. A re-armed Germany again served as a buffer state for the West.

At one time, Marineflieger operated 112 Tornados for its anti-shipping and marine reconnaissance roles. The Tornados replaced Starfighter. The heavier Tornado had half the range of the Starfighter but none of the baggage. The German Navy distributed the Tornado between its two air wings.

For the reconnaissance mission, the Tornado fitted pods with panoramic optical cameras and an infrared line scan. The Tornado used AS.34 Kormoran anti-ship missile as well as unguided bombs and BL755 cluster munitions, and later by AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.

The Berlin Wall fell. Germany, eager for reunification signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of 1990. Terms of the treaty included the reduction of its armed forces. In 1994 and later in 2005, the first and second German Naval Aviation wings disbanded.

Currently the Marinefliegerkommando or German Naval Aviation Branch has 2,100 personnel stationed in Nordholz Naval Airbase on the North Sea in Lower Saxony. The Marinefliegerkommando operates 55 aircraft. The Marinefliegerkommando has helicopters, unmanned aircraft, prop planes and no jets.

This aircraft represents a faint echo of German Naval Aviation.

infinitum bellum sexus

The ongoing nonsense of the gender wars where there are no winners only losers has now taken to the skies. In the latest update to the #Metoo montebank misogyny, yet another unnamed damsel in distress accuses Special operations pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Michael B. Black, a C-145A instructor pilot and combat aviation adviser of raping her April 28, 2017 and a second time between May 1-3, 2017, on a deployment in Uganda. Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids sexual assault (without consent).

Lt. Col. James Wilson, spokesman for the 919th Special Operations Wing remains professionally noncommittal “Any allegations of sexual assault are taken seriously [LOL] by leaders at all level[s] in our unit . . . As with any case that is pending trial, the member is considered innocent until proven guilty [yeah right].” The accused sex criminal serves the 919th Special Operations Wing since May 2000, the wing said and “is performing duties in support of the 919 SOW’s global mission and will continue to do so until his trial begins,” the 919th said. The general court-martial will be held at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida beginning May 6.

Pima Air Museum doesn’t have a PZL M28 Skytruck. It looks a lot like our Nomad, designation N22S. From 1975 to 1985, Government Aircraft Factories produced 170 aircraft. The twin-engine turboprop aircraft serves as a light cargo and passenger carrier with the Australian military and several others. Government Aircraft Factories mounted the radar under the nose. Indonesia used this version, called Searchmaster for maritime reconnaissance. The U.S. Customs service purchased several for border patrol duties. This Nomad registration N6328 serial number F163 wears the markings the United States Customs Service circa 1998.

"Look Mom, No Pilot!" The Next Bull Economy

Graveyards transmit a sadness and a loneliness.  The morbid thought that you are no longer useful, that the world will go on without you and forget you forever lords over us like a vulture.  This is true for man and it is true for machines.

Tucson, Arizona is home to the United States Air Force Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center known to many of the locals here as the Boneyard. The Boneyard off of Kolb is the central depot for all US military planes deemed obsolete, 'pulled out of service' and 'put into storage.'

I remember passing the lifeless aircraft hooded like sleeping falcons.  Their reflections passed across my face with the sad thought that no honors were paid to these able sentinels nestled inside democracy's arsenal.  It just seemed like a waste.  Sometimes these birds go back into circulation not in the doomsday scenario's painted in my mind of a World War III but rather as servant to some "Allied" aid package to one of our son of bitch instead of theirs.

And sometimes 'the remains are sold to nearby scrappers.'

Now the question arises is Unmanned Commercial Flight possible?  Unmanned commercial flight is not only possible, the question is why hasn't Unmanned commercial flight attended to cash paying customers?

Invariably the same culprit in savior's clothing drops his calling card, "We are from the government, and we are here to help."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not helping but instead serving the interests of the status quo who does not want competition cutting into their bottom lines.  We see evidence of this not only in their lethargy of UAV regulation, but also in Air Traffic Control (ATC) modernization and privatization.  Do we trust the Federal Government to come up with wise and innovative regulations to inaugurate a new day in the Space Age?  One might need a Vegas vacation to answer that question tactfully.

Much of daily life is automated and the prospect of flight entering into that automation intrigues many consumers. The military has proven this technology to be a very useful tool. Unmanned passenger flight is untested but why not automate air freight?

Critics label Visual Flight Rules (VFR) as a main obstacle to Unmanned Commercial flight.  But VFR does not stop the predator from killing Al Queda's # 3 whoever that is this week.  It should stop us from shipping flowers to our sweetheart or getting that autographed football from eBay?  Further VFR is illegal at above 18,000 feet - should that be the a prime air lane for Unmanned Commercial Flight?

Unaddressed are the technical limitations to UAV flight such as the 4 second delay between UAV operator and the drone aircraft.  But Caterpillar overcame a similar problem in developing its Minestar System with Global Positioning System (GPS) inaccuracy by adding fixed bay stations to calculate GPS coordinates to the centimeter.  Also the UAV ground operator can communicate with his drone Line Of Sight as well.  What frequencies will we designate for Unmanned Flight? Why not let the market decide?  America still graduates some of the finest technical minds whose creativity and ingenuity have a proven track record.  Any variety of solutions point the way of what can be done.  

Didier Lenormand, Airbus

Didier Lenormand, Director of Air Freight for Airbus wrote boldly that Air Freight is a growth business, with volume tripling in the next twenty years.  60% of that growth will come east to west rather than north to south meaning that longer intercontinental aircraft will be tasked for these markets.  What better and more logical innovation is there than an UAV avionics modification?  Mr. Lenormand's estimates hold true in a global depression and when Jet Fuel is $135/barrel.  Think of what will happen when the American economy roars back as it did in 1983 with 4.3% and 7.3% in 1984?  What will happen to Unmanned Commercial Air Freight when crude sells at $11.91 a barrell like it did in 1998?  Further Didier Lenormand's calculations do not account for the UAV Commercial Freight.

Think of how many tons of goods could be shipped worldwide and with inflight refueling you could have a floating gas station. It would free up qualified pilots for passenger traffic and open up new jobs for UAV Commercial operators.

If we don't innovate out of common sense, or greed, perhaps we should do it out of fear.  What's going to happen in 2020, when we don't adapt this technology in 2020 when China's industrial output exceeds Europe?  If we don't someone else will.

How does this relate to Tucson and the Boneyard?  Tucson's Boneyard stretched 2,600 acres containing 4,200 aircraft with an inventory valued at $ 42 billion.

If Lockheed Martin were to sell Uncle Sugar a C-141 Starlifter brand new, it would cost the taxpayer $ 42 million dollars.  But an American company could not buy a C-141 off of govliquidation.com.  Only foreign governments can buy what is sitting in our scrapyard collecting dust.

Tucson is uniquely positioned to exploit the coming Unmanned Commercial Air Freight Boom. Tucson is home to ten airports.  Arizona is home to 4 aircraft boneyards and Tucson is home to 2 of them. We have UAV operators and pilots from Davis Monthan.  We have avionics technicians for Manned and Unmanned aircraft.  Sierra Vista, Arizona at Fort Huachuca is home to the UAV pilot school and home to the Homeland Security Border Drone Base.  The University of Arizona has graduates some of the best computer programmers, information system professionals and electrical engineers in the world.  These highly skilled workers, engineers, managers and entrepreneurs would never have to leave Arizona.

We have thousands of square acres of unused inventory to make up this coming air freight boom.   If the government would allow its citizens to acquire aircraft destroyed and sold for scrap such as the C-141, C-130 and the B-52 provided it be converted for civilian use.  If the government would allow Unmanned Commercial Flight, we could see the largest peacetime economic boom to this economy since the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.