Dude, try to keep the overt politics out of what’s a nice reflection back on a truly global, unpolitical event. Google “Dyna-Soar”. The Air Force was looking for a space plane since the late 50s. And they continued after the Shuttle with with the X-37B.  STS was a joint system which made perfect sense at the time.

Shades of The Andromeda Strain. Such a great movie, one of Crichton’s best.

Airlines’ “Priority” only gets you to the front of the normal security queue. Once there, you’re still pulling out your laptop and taking off your shoes, belt and coat.

I’m calling B.S. on that. I own a V-Rod Muscle, purchased from a dealer and serviced, on occassion, at a variety of dealers. In each case, sales staff came outside to view the bike and chat. “Nice bike” was generally the first comment out of everybody’s mouth. Also, parts availability for the VRSC series is still good…

A lot of our success was due to the U.S.’s technology firms just coming off WWII and the Cold War. North American, Rocketdyne, Grumman, IBM, Douglas, and more. It wasn’t just German scientists.

I laughed when he laid on the ship’s horn for “collision”. Like that’s going to do anything.

Jeez, what a drama queen. Stick to your Cessna.

Wow, so you’re the world’s best qualified KC-46 pilot then? It’s an airshow, for crissakes, and flathatting is routinely done before, during, and afterwards.

You’ve obviously never heard of “make short approach”.

Trivia: First all-metric RR/Bentley.

The conditions looked like serious IMC. FAA’s statement the ship was not in contact with ATC indicates he was operating VFR. The A109 itself is set up for IMC - autopilot, SAS, twin engines, redundant systems.

Southwest and Alaska should merge and then take over world government.  The only two airlines that GAS when it comes to flying.

Have to disagree. I own a W216/M156 (CL 63) and the engineering and materials quality are exceptional. Its a 10-year old car with no squeaks or rattles and everything still works fine. And boy, is it still a looker.

They really should call it “push to initiate”. The initial push/pressure on the opposite grip tips the bike in the direction of the turn, then in one continuous motion, the handlebars should follow in the direction of the turn once the bike is tipped. 

I blows my mind of how many folks have come out to see, in person, the 4014.  Musta been tens of thousands of folks lining the tracks/roads by now.  Restores my faith in humanity a bit that jaded folks can be even interested in something so mechanical, and so old!

I don’t think you need to go that far back. W216 didn’t have that melted blob look.

I took my MSF training (and graduated) at Scottsdale HD’s course, capably led by an Team Arizona MSF female trainer, and never once did they try to sell me on any HD products, including bikes. The dealership did provide lunch and two sales ladies from the metric side of Bob Parsons’ dealership strip did offer discount…

You’re math is off one decimal point. Figure an ocean view or beach proximity home in OC is assessed at $3.5M. That’s $25K annual property taxes. The Federal SALT deduction elimination is really starting to bite folks along the coastline here in California.

What’s also gratifying is this monster is pure “form follows function”. Not only its size, but its sheer mechanical complexity is simply jaw-dropping. No styling or fairings anywhere - just pure, unadulterated traction.

The Emperor has one already, thank you: