Aviation, Germanwings, Pilot Trustworthiness
Please see here for Part I and here for Part II of this series. Today’s post is the last. When I viewed Slide 8 of Lufthansa’s presentation to the NTSB, my curiosity was piqued by the length of the various stages in their ab initio pilot training program leading to a Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL.) … Continue Reading
I see that in my earlier post on Gnosticism, both problems I suggested were manifestations of Gnosticism in the church today – elevation of the immaterial over against the material, especially the human body, and an extreme fixation on the visible/invisible church distinction – will be solved at the last day (when Christians receive their … Continue Reading
I think that creeping Gnosticism (unintentionally) infects some Christian thinking today. This is a danger. I keep wanting to use this word in my posts, as opposition to Gnosticism is important to me. However, properly defining the term has to come first. Here are four approaches. 1. Google.com definition: 2. Dictionary.com definition: 3. Dr. Benjamin … Continue Reading
Aviation, Germanwings, Pilot Trustworthiness
In this blog post I discussed the amazingly low attrition rate of Lufthansa’s ab initio (from the beginning) pilot training program. Today, something a little different: the change that has ensued in the actual flying portion of pilot training. In 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) created a new qualification, the Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL). … Continue Reading
Aviation, Germanwings, Pilot Trustworthiness
Here’s a presentation by Lufthansa to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on their ab initio (from the beginning) pilot training syllabus. Some thoughts on this: Slide 6 depicts the Lufthansa pilot selection process. What is striking about this graphic is the 95-98% success rate in step 3, “pilot school,” (aka flight school.) This is … Continue Reading
The first landing shows a good example of the wing-down, top rudder technique, even though the downwind gear touches first. The last landing looks like a fully crabbed landing without any of the crosswind heading taken out at touchdown, which is hard on the landing gear. Some of these pilots go around, probably because they … Continue Reading
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men's Bible Study, Theology
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men’s Bible Study Psalm 126 (see notes) This is a Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). There are many explanations for this subtitle but there does not seem to be any consensus. One explanation is that these psalms were sung by the Levites as they ascended the fifteen steps from the Holy … Continue Reading
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men's Bible Study, Theology
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men’s Bible Study Psalms 42 & 43 (see notes) Psalm 42 1As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3My tears have been my food day and … Continue Reading
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men's Bible Study, Theology
Sycamore Presbyterian Church Friday Men’s Bible Study Psalm 3 (see notes) Question 1. Give a name to each of the following sermon sections: verses 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. What progression do you see through each section? How does the last section give us “tests” by which we can tell we have “triumphed” over suffering,
It’s hard to get more “establishment” than the highest ranking Republican officeholder in the U.S., Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He and Sen. Richard Burr (also, of course, a Republican) are attempting to reauthorize the section of the Patriot Act that the government uses as a legal fiction to unconstitutionally spy on the phone calls … Continue Reading