Many aircraft from the era had the same issue. Ironically, quite a few German pilots met their end because of the Spitfire’s carb. They got in the habit of pushing over into a dive to escape a Spitfire - or Hurricane - on their six, as their opponent would have to roll inverted to follow them so as not to put positive…

Yeah, this whole diatribe is a bit off base. Makes it sound as if you have to go out and catch a city bus, transfer in Bensonhurst, hop on the 7 train to Queens, walk over to Willets Point where you’ll find a guy leaning against a tree. Ask him if his name is Manny. If he says no, ask him to drive you to terminal C at…

And that’s the airport’s fault how?

It’s taken me 40 minutes to get from Hertz to the United terminal! On more than one occasion I’ve encountered lines out the door of the terminal and down the sidewalk to check in, and then another line almost as long the get through security. Add to that United’s normal efficiency and you have the perfect storm of a…

Mayor deBlasio is that you?

I’d never had an issue - other than the crowds - with Atlanta prior to last week. I was less than pleased upon arriving at a high D gate after midnight due to flight delays, and having to hike the length of the terminal to get to the monorail, to find that the monorail was running a limited schedule, meaning that even…

"Oh that in-flight refuelin'

I do the same thing with my balloons so that on hot summer afternoons my balloon animals don't get all distorted. I've not yet managed to create anything more than a snake - or a worm -and the hypoxia is making my skin turn blue, but I enjoy it...

"Breaking through a brick wall takes machinery, and money, and cooperation with the local government."

I'll just leave these here:

Generally, when an aircraft crashes from altitude it's a non-survivable event. During the take-off/landing phase, when the aircraft is relatively low and slow, and the trajectory of impact is flatter the chances of survival are greater. The Andes crash that is mentioned was a "controlled flight into terrain" event and…

Flight level 38,000ft.

Who asks a question like that? Really? Why would you buy this over a loaded up Harley Davidson? Is it that much less tippy overy?

They should recall the owners.

Exactly. The aviation industry went the all digital route many years ago, but it was quickly realized that in order to gather the information that the pilot needed, it was necessary to FOCUS on the gauge in question and read process the display, rather than just scan the gauges and make sure the needles were where…

And yet it works in the UK, amongst other countries, everyday.

She's not going to be competing in F1. The cynical way that it works is, "bring us a check for a stupid amount of money, and we'll put out a press release calling you our 'development' driver - and hey! A female development driver at that! Isn't that interesting and news (publicity) worthy? - and maybe let you run a…

When your father's check clears.

Sexism has ZERO to do with this! It's bad enough seeing talented drivers being passed over for mediocre drivers with money from daddy, but this particular driver - with daddy's money - can only aspire to being mediocre. I am not averse to "pay drivers" as such, and once the helmet goes on gender is irrelevant, but a…

Does the fact that I think of the C-17 as the new airlifter mean I'm old??