Yes, and that’s logical. One airplane under positive control requires the same amount of control, airspace, and runway slots, regardless of the passenger count, size, speed, or weight

One word: Sublease.

These are all at less than 2 miles away from the detonation. A thermonuke would simply ionize all these test rigs, meaning you wouldn’t even have intact atoms, just a very hot plasma. I can’t imagine an order or two of magnitude more power.

Yup. A lot of E31/M70 dissing is based on “a friend of a friend said...”. In reality, 50% of problems were caused by low voltage due to failing batteries. The other half was easily repairable and the DIY community sprang up with a vengeance in the late 90s with a boatload of shortcuts and permanent fixes.

There’s no correlation between wealth and good taste.

Yup. “Overstyled” is definitely the accurate description here. Too many lines, scallops, and bends if the goal was to harken back to the original E31. I’ll keep my W216/M156, thanks.

I bought a ‘92 E31 slightly used and ran it for 17 years. Doing my own work, it was fairly cheap to own and ran well. Replaced by a slightly used 2008 CL 63 AMG. I guess I’m a sucker for big, expensive, heavy German coupes that make you feel better after having driven them. I miss my E31, but would never go back from…

Whomever is behind this, they got greedy. Way too much attention and too widespread. National investigatory agencies are now on the hunt. Plus, you don’t go after hospitals.

I had an office at Santa Monica Airport that overlooked the runway. Bush I used to fly in and out in an “unmarked” G-IV and had a 3 car motorcade with two LAPD motorcycles in front and back. Plane was parked under the tower while he visited various events in L.A. Low impact, considerate, and *cheap*. GHWB was the last…

It’s the first car I’d label “juvenile” in its styling, as in, appealing to 7-year olds. Bruce McLaren would never cop to this overwrought mess.

The transmission consists of an horizontal input shaft with a bevel gear meshing with two output bevel gears at the bottom of the rotor shafts, slightly canted. Only way they’ll get out of sync is if you strip or jump gear teeth.

Charles Kaman was an unrecognized genius in my book. More than the intermeshing rotor design, his servo-flap controlled rotor blade had several advantages over traditional control systems. Each blade twisted based on the flap position. No blade/hub pitch bearing needed. Also, no need for hydraulic assist - the pilot…

I just wish there was something in frame to indicate scale. Are those bumps out in the distance, or hills? All in all, a fascinating demonstration of tiny bit of mass turning into a giant ball of energy.

Thermonukes are trickier than just a fission weapon, thank God.

City of Los Angeles still has theirs:

WTF are you babbling about? ATC in the U.S. has always been part of the FAA’s domain. You know, the Federal Aviation Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Newsflash, you can’t nationalize a government agency. Reagan fired ATC controllers when they went on strike, violating the Federal Labor…

Heck, Google Nike Hercules. Nuclear warheads literally in your back yard. New Jersy is the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents when a Bomarc surface-to-air missle blew up in it’s silo. Warhead didn’t detonate, but it sure made a plutonium mess.

Hey, if you’re anywhere near Vandenberg AFB you get to see Minuteman launches, sans warheads. Kinda creepy to look up and see an ICBM on its way, even though it’s a test shot on its way to Kwajalein.

Hell, the U.S. had an ice-breaking tanker back in the 60s that made it through the Northwest Passage, the SS Manhattan:

Or mid-5 figures for an 850Csi. Only 200 in the U.S. Trust me guys, buy one now and sit back.