They were very aware of their contrails back WW2, as it was a lot easier to spot than the mere speck of an airplane at 25,000+ feet up. To what extent they’d change altitude or course to avoid this, I don’t know, but it would make sense if they could. Those Nazis were ou to kill them.

It’s probably not feasible, but it would be really nice if what remains after re-entry could be made to hit shallow waters, making it the coolest artificial reef ever.

Niche indeed, but methinks it’s kind of nice. Were it produced today, it’d very likely have some sort of automatic transmission.

Obligatory:

3 minutes at dropoff zone isn’t excessive; most quickies are faster than that.

I’ve seen people try to skip the line at int’l arrivals. Of course somebody will rat them out, after which they are sent to the back of the line. Poetic justice...

On the other hand, back then you probably paid a lot more for the relative luxury of flying.

Nobody likes cheaters:

I had 15-year old hippie friends who did such clown acts, and never for a second considered it more than an act. That said, doing in to get your class mates giggling is one thing, doing it a a public event is something else entirely

Found in the Danish Nimbus motorcycle club magazine:

20K for a headlight? That’s still slightly cheaper than a kidney transplant, which currently is 23k from a dead donor (25,5K from a live one.)

Next to our survival instinct, the strongest one may well be the territorial instinct. Goes for other species too.

Motorcycles with sidecars are actually pretty safe, asymmetrical handling notwithstanding; unlike solo motorcycles, that are often ignored my car drivers, the sidecar bikes are so unusual, that the DO get noticed. Also you don’t ride one of them if you’re into going fast.

Luckily for us most criminals aren’t so clever.

In 1972 I’m on a lake in a boat with a girl, as two F-4s approach at low level. One has an underwing fuel tank on fire, and drops it and two other tanks in the only adjacent lake that has no weekenders paddling about. (The fourth station had a pod with clothes etc.) Later I read the pilot had a 2 second window in…

That one was beautiful.

Quote from ‘The West Wing’ tv series, when in a crisis the chief of staff can order POTUS be whisked away for safety reasons:

I miss the old days, when comments like that would go off the rails. What happened?