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To amplify Another Ahab's point a little, this is the worst area I've ever lived in for power outages. There's no circumstantial reason for it: we are in the same mountain range with most of the same tree species and the same weather expectations that we had 200 miles north in Pennsylvania...

Yes, I have a family relation to the SR71 powerplant, particularly to the bits glowing in the photo.

One of my cherished memories is the time my dad took me to the exhibition day after bomb comp in the mid '80s. Among the numerous fun things was a flying exhibition by one of the visiting Vulcans. I was really chuffed when found out that there is still one flying Vulcan in the world.

If your batteries are prone to ooze at all, I'd go with the stick-on or pad over the blanket. Blankets do keep the battery warmer, but don't suffer exposure to sulfuric acid vapor well. Putting on my solutions chemist hat for a moment, I'll point out that essentially all of the cold weather...

The theory behind the F-35 goes all the way back to Kennedy's Whiz Kids of the early 1960s. See also Sec Def McNamara and the F-111. The idea is that you take all of the different roles for an airframe that are somewhat alike and then build a compromise airplane that can do all of these...

The F-15E Strike Eagle was specifically designed for all weather ground attack. As flying in bad weather is a full-time job, they included a second seat so somebody besides the pilot could keep track of commo, bad guys, targets, ordinance, navigation - you know, all that stuff that you don't...

Ground effect is really simple: In level flight at altitude, the airplane maintains altitude because the wing displaces a mass of air downward at the same rate that the airplane is trying to fall. The air is pushed down and away from the airplane's path until friction damps the motion. As a...

I'm trying to remember being actually cold while plowing. I've had cold, wet hands many times, had to wipe melted snow off my glasses when I got back in the truck, but the truck is always 80 degrees because you're usually running the defrost full blast to keep the snow melting as it hits the...

This sounds like a good plan. I saw other K series blazers set up with plows when I lived in Northern Maine. They did the job pretty well, although the preferred plow truck was a 3/4 ton LWB pickup with something heavy (usually a snowmobile or some sandbags) in the bed. The only win the...

I wonder how long it will be before we do something that requires un-mothballing the Strike Eagles. There's not really anything else in the inventory that does what they do, and there never were a lot of them. Pretty much the fast-moving all-weather sibling to the warthog, just as useful, and...

That dead stick video of Precious Metal is fantastic. I hope it's because the PIC had practiced/rehearsed all this stuff before and not just because he's such an awesome pilot that he could do it off the cuff. Awesome flying either way, don't get me wrong... Being a high-drag bug-smasher kind...

A legitimate question that deserves a legitimate answer: Runways. The USMC is our expeditionary force. Light on its feet and quick to the party. Because of this, USMC does most of its CAS with VTOL/STOL aircraft. Yes, they have plenty of F/A-18's and yes they get used for CAS. But they...

At the risk of putting politics in the thread, I'll just point out that there hasn't been a day in the A-10's existence when some go-fast fighter pilot didn't want it shipped off to the boneyard because it was costing money that could go to more fast movers. Every stick jock in TAC hated them...

That is, without doubt, the handsomest M4A2 (76) HVSS I've ever seen.

Usually this is caused by a burr on either the surface of the housing where the washer goes or the surface of the bolt where the washer goes.

It's a mongrel: A Fiat G.222 equipped with engines and avionics from the C130J. Sold to USAF by L3 Communications in small numbers before they were cancelled when USAF realized it had more C130s than it could use and that a C130J was cheaper over its lifespan. Good for USCG picking them up...

I'd go for both. Have something with good grip and good brakes behind it attached with something strong enough to hold the weight of the deuce, AND fix the brakes on the deuce. Hopefully the line stays slack the whole way down. If it doesn't, well that's what the follower is for.

I saw a GM promo film on this years ago. The 'decouple and drive the cab around on its little rear landing gear' trick was pretty clever. It did seem like it would be awfully underpowered hauling 1.25 tons around on uneven ground with an 80 HP Corvair engine, although I suppose that's not...

The F-106 was a real upgrade from its predecessor, the F-102. Not only was it usefully supersonic, it also had a pretty decent fire control radar and state-of-the art (for 1959) missiles. Later on, a cannon and optical gunsight were added. They were still front-line interceptors at SAC bases...

If the output breaker tripped, it's because you were above the current-time line for the breaker. They don't have a single tripping point, but will trip at progressively lower amperages as time increases. That's to allow the circuit to run in a temporary overload state to start a big motor...