Are politics really that confusing?

Wow. So, there’s a real chance that if elected, McCain might die in the next 4 years, and this is the woman he’s picked??? It’s not like Couric was asking really tough questions here, or even surprising questions.

I’ll just go ahead and toss in (in case you missed it) Letterman’s bewilderment at McCain calling him on the phone to say that he was rushing back to Washington, so he couldn’t be on the show. Which turned out to be an out and out lie, since he was actually next door doing his interview with Couric.

All I can say is that I’m amazed that there are so many people willing to vote for this man. While I’m at it, I would also like to disagree with Letterman’s statement that, “He’s a man who gave everything except his life for his country.” What a crock of hooey. It’s well documented that McCain was an absolutely lousy pilot. He never would have gotten through flight training in Pensacola had Daddy and Grandaddy not been 4-star admirals. The man destroyed 5 aircraft, 3 of them accidents that were blatantly his fault. Had he been flying under FAA regulations, his certificate would have been revoked after the second one, in all likelihood.

Being a pilot isn’t that hard. Had he actually given his all, studied harder, known his aircraft better, and displayed some real dedication toward his chosen career, perhaps he never would have been shot down. As someone who’s trained hundreds of military aviators, I’m saddened that this man was allowed to ever be in the cockpit of a fighter.

Worse, he was rewarded for his poor service! The man only flew 20 hours of combat, and in that time managed to collect 28 medals. Do you really believe those 20 hours were that meritorious?

Now, after voting for the deregulation that helped put this country in the financial crises in which it now finds itself, he’s asking you to reward his continued poor service with the highest promotion we’ve got? Now that takes some serious balls.

New York Nomenclature

The aptly-named B train runs from Bedford Blvd, Bronx to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

In inaptly-named Madison Square Garden is nowhere near Madison, is not in any way a square (it’s more of a cylinder), and is certainly not a garden by any stretch of the imagination.

The BQE is easily confused with the BQ in casual conversation. One is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, while the other is a pair of concurrent train lines.

CRJ Training Class

I’ve been assigned a CRJ ground school class starting on November 3 in Phoenix. It looks like they’re putting us up in ASU student housing, which is not so good. It’s in the middle of nowhere, which means that without a car, you can’t get anywhere.

Depending on my last day of flying in JFK, which could be as late as November 1, it could also be very annoying. I might have to go from JFK to PHX without going home first. I hope that’s not the case.

And, they haven’t run the CRJ displacement awards yet, where I’ve bid for a Dash-8. Which would mean another month of ground school in Phoenix, but who knows when they’ll assign that even if I get it.

Future Uncertainty

I’ve been sitting ready reserve at the airport for the past several days. The excitement in the crew room started yesterday with an email indicating that 100 CRJ captains and 80 CRJ FO’s are likely to be displaced. Exactly what this means is a bit up in the air, and it sure sounds like some of us might be out of a job. There’s still nearly 200 pilots below me, so I should be okay for the immediate future. The excitement is that if they do what they say they’re going to do, I have the option to fly a Dash 8 turboprop out of Denver. It would mean a substantially lower paycheck, but the ability to live at home is awfully appealing. I went ahead and listed my first 3 preferences as Dash 8 in Denver, Grand Junction and then Phoenix. If I get it, this also means going back to ground school.