The accident investigation agencies disagree about what factors led to the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. //

The NTSB and the EAIB have differing opinions as to what caused the failure of MCAS and the subsequent Ethiopian crash.

“According to the EAIB’s final report, electrical problems that existed since the time of the accident airplane’s production caused the left angle-of-attack sensor heater to fail, which resulted in the AOA sensor providing erroneous values that caused the MCAS to pitch the nose of the airplane downward,” resulting in the crash, the NTSB report reads.

The NTSB report states that it found no evidence to support the suggestion of an electrical problem resulting in a nose-high attitude and failure of the MCAS, but suggests the faulty reading was “caused by the separation of the AOA sensor vane due to impact with a foreign object, which was most likely a bird.” //

There was no mention of MCAS issues in the pilot manuals when the Max entered service in 2017.

After the first crash, MCAS manuals were made available to 737 Max crews. Boeing stressed that MCAS was designed for better aircraft handling, not as a stall prevention tool.

After the second crash, the world’s 737 Max fleet was grounded for the better part of two years while changes were made to the MCAS software and training protocols were developed. The aircraft returned to service in November 2020.

The NTSB noted the EAIB issued its final report without giving the NTSB the opportunity to review new information incorporated since the NTSB’s last review and provide comments ahead of the report’s issuance, as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Annex 13.

The NTSB stated it had provided the EAIB with evidence supporting the bird contamination theory, but that evidence was not included in the EAIB final report.

The NTSB also noted the EAIB’s finding about the lack of MCAS documentation for flight crews was misleading since Boeing had provided the information to all 737 MAX operators four months before the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Finding North Using an Analog Watch
The watch must be operational and the time accurate for this to work. 

1) Lay the watch flat horizontally in your palm, with the watch face up. 

2) Position the watch so the hour hand is pointing directly at the sun. 

3) Note the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock mark. The center of the angle marks the north-south line, with south on the side closest to the sun. 

Please remember that this information is in standard time. Daylight Savings Time is a government construct that the universe does not follow; ergo, when the watch is set to DST, substitute 1 o’clock for 12 o’clock. 

100LL is challenging to produce and distribute; it is a boutique fuel in terms of volume, hence why there is a limited number of producers. Avfuel, Epic, Titan, and others commonly swap stock to meet the ebb and flow of their stock levels. 

Aviation fuel innovation is not widespread, and it is no wonder only a limited number of entities even attempt it. No new producers are on the horizon. Fear of negative press and the EPA keep them at bay. Some reports of an endangerment finding and pushing the 100LL ban out to 2030 have been making the rounds. Even now, as GAMI has approval, a total replacement of 100LL by 2030 would “be a challenge.”

Additionally, Europe is on the brink of banning tetraethyl lead (TEL), the chemical which adds lead to 100LL fuel. Distributors can still import blended 100LL fuel but at a very high price. At press time, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is evaluating the G100UL STC.

G100UL has no toxic chemicals nor organometallic additives (like TEL in 100LL). Scavenging agents, such as the ethylene dibromide required to try to scavenge the deposits formed by the TEL in 100LL, are also not found in GAMI’s product. Another thing missing is MMT (methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl), another organometallic additive with both engine deposits, as well as health and environmental concerns.

When the transition occurs, converting to G100UL will be seamless. Operators will not worry about separate tanks nor exhausting their supply of 100LL; the new unleaded fuel can store in the same tanks as legacy avgas.

G100UL offers additional benefits. The result of going unleaded is a cleaner fuel burn, no deposits forming in the combustion chamber, and no fouled plugs. All of the above spells reduced maintenance. Trust me; you will appreciate the reduction when you see my maintenance labor total on your next shop bill.

Greg Price @greg_price11
·
LMAO Adam Schiff posted his first TikTok after being removed from the Intelligence committee by Kevin McCarthy.

7:33 PM · Jan 25, 2023 //

Schiff was booted off of the Intel Committee because McCarthy believes he was a security risk and someone not to be trusted with sensitive information. And what does Schiff do? He films a video on a program that has been proven to be Chinese-controlled spyware. It’s as if the California congressman wanted to prove the Speaker’s point.

Also, didn’t the government recently ban the use of TikTok by congressional members (and other government employees)? I guess the out here would be if Schiff was using a personal device, but what kind of judgment does it show to use a Chinese spy app to film a video complaining about being removed from a committee that deals in top-secret information? The answer is that it shows very, very bad judgment.

Wallops Flight Center, VA -- Off in the southwest, the last colors of sunset lit up the rim of the sky, as a crescent Moon and two planets lined up above. It was a gorgeous scene, but one that everyone was ignoring. Instead, all eyes were focused on a bright patch of artificial light on a barrier island a couple of miles away. The lights there were focused on a small, slender needle—small enough to be hauled to the launch pad by a pickup truck.

For years, the Electron rocket and the company behind it had been stuck in limbo at the Virginia launch site, waiting on various approvals—for regulatory agencies to share enough paperwork with each other to convince everyone that the launch was safe. Then weather and the end-of-year holidays kept pushing the launch back. But on Tuesday, everything went as smoothly as it is possible to imagine, and the Electron shot to orbit almost as soon as the launch window opened. //

bruindrummer Ars Scholae Palatinae
10y

Its low weight also meant Electron left the pad in a hurry. Heavy launch vehicles often seem to hesitate shortly after leaving the pad, leaving my mind struggling to accept that their acceleration is enough to send them off to space. If Electron had an equivalent moment, it was over just as soon as it began.

The speed of a rocket off the pad is a reflection of the thrust to weight ratio (TWR) rather than simply the weight of the vehicle. The Saturn V had a TWR of about 1.2, and it had a nice, leisurely departure from the pad. The Space Shuttle, on the other hand, had a TWR of about 1.5, and it practically jumped from the pad. The Electron has a TWR of about 1.3, so it, too, is rather sporty on liftoff.

The chief of Arianespace could not be more clear: He does not want any competition for Vega C and Ariane 6, nor does he believe any commercial European company should have a chance to compete for the development of a next-generation reusable rocket.

However, what Israël did not say is also important. With a lift capacity of about 2 metric tons to low-Earth orbit but a price of nearly $40 million, the Vega rocket is not price-competitive with commercial rockets nor India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Moreover, this Italian-made rocket has failed in three out of its last eight flights. Also, while Israël touts Ariane 6, this rocket does not yet exist. Europe has spent nearly $5 billion developing this booster, which may not fly until 2024 and will be four years late. //

MMarsh Ars Praefectus
7y
3,013
Subscriptor
Arianespace has always existed at the awkward intersection of the private and public sectors. As a commercial launch provider — indeed, the first such provider — it must continually prove its viability in the marketplace. As a symbol of European Union pride, backed by multiple governments, it is obliged to spread its operations out in inefficient ways and to make design and management decisions that stem more from politics than from engineering.

It's a structure and business model that, although inefficient, worked reasonably well for many years.

Until now.

If Europe wants to piss away a few billion euros on a vanity piece to say "hey look, we can still launch our own five birds a year from French Guiana" then they are welcome to do so. But I can think of much better ways to spend that money and those engineer-hours.

Kaiser Sosei Ars Praefectus
19y
3,474
Subscriptor++
With the outbreak at the one-year mark, it is the longest bird flu outbreak on US record. And with 57 million birds dead across 47 states, it's also the deadliest, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 of 50.5 million birds in 21 states.

Sounds like a lot. Until you look up that there are 373 million egg laying hens in the US in 2022 or 15% had to be put down, yet egg prices are up roughly 50%. Why has a pound of butter gone from $2.99 about two years ago to $4.50? Like everything else, we are getting screwed because there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

apnews.com
Soaring egg prices prompt demands for price-gouging probe
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — With egg prices more than doubling in the past year, calls are coming for an investigation into possible price gouging. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed sent a letter Tuesday asking for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether egg prices have been improperly manipulated by...
apnews.com

But even though roughly 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to help control bird flu have been egg-laying chickens, the size of the total flock has only been down 5% to 6% at any one time from its normal size of about 320 million hens.
I'm fine using their numbers than my googling.

Thousands of tanks on each side have been destroyed in the 11-month-old war, though it’s unclear how many remain in play. Ukraine claims to have destroyed 3,161 Russian tanks while Russia says it’s eliminated 7,617 Ukrainian “tanks and other armored fighting vehicles,” the countries’ respective defense ministries said Wednesday. //

The M1’s superior maneuverability will play a valuable role in traversing the vast, flat open ranges in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where the majority of fighting has been occurring since the war’s early months. The US tanks also boast greater lethality and survivability and are equipped with superior cannons, guns and armor than the T-72. //

The Army declined The Post’s request for an interview about the M1’s capabilities while “we await additional guidance from the Department of Defense,” but noted that the tanks outcompeted T-72s in prior conflicts, most notably the Gulf War and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. //

While the T-72’s top speed of 47 mph is slightly higher than the M1’s 42 mph, the system is far less agile than its American alternative. For example, it is incapable of driving in reverse at speed – a key capability the M1s and other Western systems such as the German Leopard 2 can provide. //

Joe Fliel
1h ago

Poorly written and researched. Honeywell's AGT1500 gas turbine engine is a multi-fuel powerplant. The multi-fuel capability was specifically designed by allowing the Abrams to use a variety of fuels in order to simplify logistical requirements. It can run on anything combustible from JP-8 to diesel, mogas, alcohol (which includes liquor like Russian vodka) and even perfume. HUMMWV's also had multi-fuel engines for the same reasons.

TheAmerican1
4 hours ago
Smokey the Bear? Pants, no shirt.
Winnie the Pooh? Shirt, no pants.

Yogi Bear: Hat and vest, no pants.

Boo-Boo: bowtie only.

pat TheAmerican1
an hour ago
All second amendment supporters, they maintain the right to bear arms, they choose to conceal and cover.

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons pat
9 minutes ago
We need the right to arm bears, too!

U.S. Department of Energy released the below-linked article that discusses the utility of "droop" or frequency/voltage-based regulation to manage active & reactive power flows (respectively) without the need for communications between power sources. If put it briefly, the author suggests that with droop control they can avoid the need for an EMS for a hybrid microgrid site. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/03/microgrids-for-anyone/ //

Let me start by agreeing that the droop control technique is an essential tool in any modern Microgrid control strategy. Not because it's the “be all and end all” of control methods, but rather it’s a very effective fallback strategy. No Microgrid control system supplier worth their weight in salt, wants to deliver a system that cannot manage communications failure events and whilst redundant communications are a solution, droop control is superior in terms of cost-benefit outcomes. //

Whilst the utility of this technique is apparent, the point that I return to is this is by no means a complete solution offering. A holistic Hybrid Energy Management system will provide:

1. Overall power management of both dispatchable energy sources and loads
2. Coupling and decoupling from grid tie-in point including support of:
   • Re-synchronisation
   • Seamless transition during network disturbances
   • Import/Export and Network firming functions.
3. Quality of Service management - ensuring the microgrid provides grid quality power (or better), to energy off-takers at all times.
4. Energy Shifting – utilising renewable energy collected during the day to offset peak consumption during the night; and
5. Microgrid Optimisation both in terms of:
   • Minimising levelized cost of energy (LCoE) in isolated systems; and/or
   • Maximising return on investment potential for grid connected systems.

The net takeaway is this – not only are we far more progressed in terms of control methodology for hybrid microgrids, but the cost of ownership is significantly less than what most, including the article writer believe possible.

For the week of December 12th to 19th, 2022, the state of South Australia (home to 1.8 million people and ComAp Australia’s head office) had its entire state’s energy supply generated from renewable energy. This is not just a significant milestone for South Australia (SA), but also clear indicator of the pace in which renewables have become integral to Australia’s national power system. As recently as 2020, it was then considered exceptional for renewables to power SA’s demand for an HOUR, so to have this leap to a week within two years is quite incredible. Better yet, it is predicted renewable energy (backed by firming storage) will be able to exclusively supply the state for up to a month by early 2023! 

Josh Hawley @HawleyMO
·
Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market - today l’m introducing legislation to BAN stock trading & ownership by members of Congress. I call it the PELOSI Act
12:23 PM · Jan 24, 2023

“PELOSI” stands for the “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act.”

The calculator below can be used to determine the temperature delta or rise for a given cooling water application (heat load or power dissipated and cooling water flow rate) using the first formula above.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Time is a concept so central to our daily lives. Yet, the closer scientists look at it, the more it seems to fall apart.

Adding a Quick Connect Panel to a building’s power distribution system enables a facility to reap a range of backup and emergency power benefits. This article lists options for adding quick-connect capabilities and differentiates among the available product configurations by answering common questions.

What is an ASCO Quick Connect Panel?

An ASCO Quick Connect Panel is a permanent outdoor device that enables users to connect cables from temporary or portable power equipment to a building’s backup power system when needed. All models are equipped with 16-Series Cam-Lok™ connectors and (2) all quick connect products are listed to UL 1008 or UL 891.

The characteristics that make diesels so effective at high loads also pose a potential reliability and performance issue when run lightly loaded. Running at low load can produce engine operating temperatures below designed levels. When that occurs, fuel combustion is incomplete. The products of incomplete combustion include carbon substances that deposit onto internal engine parts such as pistons, piston rings, and exhaust valves. In addition, wet, unburned fuel residues can collect downstream in the exhaust system, a condition termed “wet stacking”.

The problem with wet-stacking is that the sooty sludge from incomplete combustion accumulates on surfaces throughout the exhaust system. This causes several issues. Where deposits are heavy, they can restrict exhaust flow, causing excess back pressure that can reduce performance or even cause shutdown. They can also contaminate pollution control devices, which increases pollutant emissions. Under some conditions, the residues can also present a fire hazard.

Solutions for Wet Stacking

The most basic solution for addressing wet stacking is to run engines “harder”, that is, with greater amounts of load, thus generating more heat. On this point, some manufacturers state that, following several hours of low-load operation, a best practice is to run engines for a prescribed period of time at high load to increase engine exhaust temperatures and burn off accumulated sludge. However, this solution does not address the reason a genset was running at low-load to start with. If there was insufficient load during a generator run, where will additional load be found to correct the resulting condition? The reason for running low load must be evaluated first.

PhpGedView is a revolutionary genealogy program which allows you to view and edit your genealogy on your website. It has full privacy functions, can import from GEDCOM files, and supports multimedia. It also simplifies family collaboration.

DiEM25
@DiEM_25
·
The world’s elite has arrived in Davos on over 1000 private jets to lecture you about climate change.
3:15 AM · Jan 16, 2023 //

One other policy that is restricting air travel covers what is deemed “short-haul” flights – meaning trips of a shorter distance that can be made using rail services instead.

Over half of the jets parked on the tarmac at Davos arrived on what would have qualified as a short-haul jaunt. Those would be the very people in Europe, who have been proposing these policies to be enforced upon the gentry, using a G6 to hop over to the Alps.

The conference itself promoted a series of panels, breakout sessions, think tanks, closed-door meetings, and other lectures and speeches designed to tell us – the globe – what we are doing wrong. It is a socialist’s nocturnal emissions fantasy of the new world they want to see crafted and delivered under the umbrella heading unironically dubbed The Great Reset. That they use that dystopian descriptor unironically is a perfect sign of how little they care about the opinions of the rabble they intend to lord over.

Caught the Falcon Heavy second stage separation and ignition on my flight. We were over the Turks and Caicos Islands at 34,000’. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

You really shouldn't miss the images of the booster return.

by Eric Berger - Jan 16, 2023 1:14pm EST

The Falcon Heavy rocket made its fifth launch in five years on Sunday evening from Florida. However, this was the first launch of the triple-core booster in twilight, and this rare evening light provided some spectacular new insights into the liftoff and return of the rocket. //

Now the second-most powerful rocket in the world after NASA's Space Launch System, the Falcon Heavy always puts on a great show, with its 27 Merlin engines firing at once. It holds the record for the rocket with the most first-stage engines to reach orbit—at least, it will until SpaceX's Starship rocket flies later this year.