Zzzzzooonk

BRK » 11 March 2008 » In Blog, Guild »

u-2.jpegSpace Shuttle launched at 2:30am. We got home at 4:30am, so technically, even though we’re watching SportsCenter right now, we’re still sleeping.

But we have some news!

First off, AC downed Solarian last night, our awesome guild is 4/6 in SSC and 2/4 in TK. Grats! But don’t kill anything else without us anymore. So sayeth BRK, so let it be done.

Second, we may be having some new visitors on Friday, thanks to some really cool publicity. We don’t want to jinx it, so we won’t go into more details now. But we’re going to try to get a new movie banged out for Friday, and you all will need to wipe your feet and not leave your empties in the garbage can; the recycle bin is there for a reason, mkay? We want to make a good first impression.

And finally, we have Tuesday off to get some sleep. Probably not going to post again today, but in our semi-comatose state, we can do a very quick…

/daniel mode on

My first non-technical school assignment in the Air Force was at RAF Alconbury, 6952nd Electronic Security Squadron, UK. I was training to maintain the electronic sensor systems on the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and living large driving to Huntingdon and taking the train to London, (where the 2nd of my Dancing Stories is born).

Now one fine afternoon, I was asked to drive the Commander and her entourage in a 9-pack van out to the flightline to watch touch-n-goes. I had a flightline drivers license, was clean and presentable, and had never been in trouble, so I had been “volunteered” to be a driver for the VIPs. Not a big deal, it was better than being “volunteered” to do any of a thousand other things.

A touch-n-go maneuver is a pilot practicing taking off and landing. The U-2 is the hardest to land aircraft in the inventory, so pilots did these all the time to hone their skills. They take off, do a big oval in the sky, then land and, without stopping, take off again.

When a U-2 takes off, it looks like once the jet lifts off the ground, the pilot just keeps pulling back on the yoke until the jet is almost vertical. It’s called a high angle-of-attack takeoff and is done for several reasons, including aerodynamics, handling, and safety. I was an Aerospace Engineer, I had studied the wing design of the U-2 in college and had as good a grasp on the flight characteristics of the plane as any 1st term airman. If you asked me for a technical report on the reasons for that specific takeoff, I could write something up that wouldn’t be pure conjecture or get laughed at.

But when my commander’s friend, a major from some group other than operations or maintenance, asked out loud, “Wow, why do they take off going up like that?” the completely improper answer burst from my lips, before I could stop it.

“Because if it went down, it’d crash.”

Comments

25 Responses to “Zzzzzooonk”

  1. James on March 11th, 2008 9:46 am

    Gratz AC (minus BRK!)!!!

    Told ya Solarian was cake :P
    Once you get her to the voidwalker state, you win.

    You’ll have fun with Al’ar, and I hope you get the Steam Pistol, it’s a pretty cool weapon.

    My guild is still banging our collective heads on Kael… /boggle.

    Thymeril of Militis Justica (Stormrage-US)
    6/6 SSC
    3/4 TK

  2. Val on March 11th, 2008 9:55 am

    “Because if it went down, it’d crash.”

    I lol’d.

    Improper? perhaps.
    Funny? absolutely.

    Did you get any chuckles from the Commander or Major?

    Inquiring minds, you know. ^_^

  3. Brian on March 11th, 2008 9:57 am

    “volunteered”

    The Navy people I know call this “voluntold”

  4. Anna on March 11th, 2008 10:08 am

    Hope you get some rest - yay for uneventful launches! - my husband (spaceship hubby!) works ascent flight support for Boeing, so he stayed up to watch the launch from here at JSC in Houston - but his work won’t really pick up until later this week.

    And I agree with Val - inquiring minds want to know if you got a laugh for the silly comment!

  5. Daxenos on March 11th, 2008 10:20 am

    Off topic. Todays poll doesn’t reflect the sheer hatred and disdain I have for PvP, so could you have a stronger, more hate filled, negative response just for me? That or let me vote a zillion times…kthxbai.

  6. Roadcone on March 11th, 2008 10:44 am

    Lucky you! Post-launch FOD walkdown didn’t get done until 0730. Sleepy, sleepy…

  7. Sam on March 11th, 2008 10:57 am

    Small world… I grew up in Huntingdon ^^

    Perhaps you remember the giant McDonalds shaped like a spaceship right next to Alconbury?

  8. Niles on March 11th, 2008 11:19 am

    Yeah man, i didn’t get home til closer to 6am because of stupid traffic, but I had a great time entertaining the Japanese foreign press last night!

    Sorry for the spam e-mail I sent too, I was tired.

  9. 2ndworst on March 11th, 2008 12:10 pm

    “Because if it went down, it’d crash.”

    rofl ………..

    frickin awesome …..

  10. pelides on March 11th, 2008 12:11 pm

    “Because if it went down, it’d crash.”

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Statement of the obvious is an art form and this is a bone fide Rembrandt!

  11. Lady Jess on March 11th, 2008 12:16 pm

    Simple, straight, and to the point. Maybe she appreciated that simple answer:P

  12. Akubal on March 11th, 2008 12:22 pm

    Hey BRK, you never added the Raid Symphony movie to the side bar. I had to dig through to the third page of posts to find that movie again!

  13. Lotos/Smoke on March 11th, 2008 12:25 pm

    We got voluntold in the AF, too…maybe that was a regional thing…of course, we were a little odd in Alaska…

  14. tego on March 11th, 2008 12:34 pm

    Oh my, short sweet funny, excelent, though i am curious too, what happened after

  15. Papelbon on March 11th, 2008 1:47 pm

    Grats on the kill, but not being there. Solarian is simple, and the mod makes the fight trivial. When you have the bomb, you’re screen turns blue, so you know to run away from everyone.

    We’re still trying to knock out Al’ar, so we can just focus on Kael and Vashj (5/6 and 2/4). We’ve been getting really good attempts, so he should go down soon.

    Well, good luck with AC, and grats on another safe shuttle launch. =]

    Papelbon + Pookie

    Ursin

  16. Messyah on March 11th, 2008 2:47 pm

    Solarian doesn’t kill players… PLAYERS KILL PLAYERS. :-)

    We had so many issues with getting people who got the electro-shadow-debuff thingy to GTFO that we wiped so many times because people were stupid.

    After having enough, our Raid Leader threatened to call the raid for the night. We usually go from 8-11, but this was at 9:30, so people were not pleased. After that “threat” and then us *cough* giving it one more shot *cough*, we downed her. It was that simple.

  17. Xarlee on March 11th, 2008 3:54 pm

    Congratulations on another shuttle launch. I laughed so hard at the “bone fide Rembrandt” that my milk almost made it to my nose(quite literary).

    Congratulations on Ac’s downing of Solarian, truly a guild of awesome. (the only guild I know off with a orc disguised priest dwarf…correct me if wrong ^_^)

    /wipes feet, and throws milk carton on the litlte yellow container…

    Xarlee and Moon

  18. For the Pie on March 11th, 2008 4:22 pm

    /walks in wearing his robe and goes over to the fridge and drinks OJ out of the carton.

    /looks around

    wait…what?

  19. Mrs BRK on March 11th, 2008 7:18 pm

    And I used to wonder why General Wright used to buy me Scotch at the Warrior Room. He probably felt sorry for me.

  20. warhound on March 11th, 2008 11:29 pm

    hey BRK ya got problems with your latest post “Do We Just Stink” it shows up in my rss but not on the site.

  21. MelRedcap on March 12th, 2008 2:34 am
  22. Roger on March 12th, 2008 10:00 am

    Space ships near Alconbury? It landed after I left, closest micky-d was London.

    I’d like to know the commander’s response.

  23. 2ndworst on March 12th, 2008 12:24 pm

    “And I used to wonder why General Wright used to buy me Scotch at the Warrior Room. He probably felt sorry for me.”

    ummmm …. i’ve seen your picture …. that’s not it …. *wink

  24. Gebeorgan on March 12th, 2008 2:05 pm

    Ha, yeah I remember the Alconbury McD spaceship, but we had the real thing over at RAF Woodbridge / Rendlesham Forest.

    Spill the beans, did they see the funny side?

  25. Lance on March 13th, 2008 12:05 am

    As of yesterday we are still Voluntold in the AF. That is hilarious though BRK you are the master of Quick Witted responses.

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