Western Kansas tells and smells

I have a few memories of western Kansas worth recollecting here.  Some are funny (and gross, beware), imprinted on me as some of the most surreal and sufferable moments of my flying career.  In spite of what you might think of western Kansas, generally known as a dry, flat farming place in the heartland, I found that the terrain is inspiring, the sky is big, the thunderstorms are incredible, and the people are honest, warmhearted, friendly, and God fearing.  A good combination, and its all accented with a western flair you won't find as much of in other parts of Kansas.  I've got three stories to share.  Dodge City is famous for good reasons, but on one overnight it became infamous for me; I'll get to that in a little bit, but first, a little Garden City infamy.

In the spring of 1998 I flew a 1964 Cessna 172 from Tulsa to Denver and back, stopping in Garden City, Kansas on the way there.  It was a VFR only plane with a rather weak 145 Hp Continental engine with an undersized propeller.  My wife was my 'co-pilot', and felt as anemic as the plane did on the second leg to Denver.  It was a beautiful day, but mountain wave prevailed over western Kansas all the way to the front range.  I got the plane up to 8,500 feet I think it was, slowly.  Our airspeed varied by plus or minus twenty-five knots in the wave if I maintained altitude, so I rode the smooth waves 300 feet up and down and minimized the speed changes.  Shannon was nauseous, but she made it there 'with the paper bag on her knee'. 

A couple days later when we were ready to fly back home, Shannon accepted a dose of Dramamine from my mother, and it helped her airsickness. I accepted a large cup of coffee from my mother, before we took off from Centennial airport near Denver.  I thought it was too large, but drank it like a dutiful son.

Our scheduled stop on the way back to Tulsa was Dodge City, east of Garden City, but after over an hour and a half (I think) of flying eastbound, my bladder was not cooperating.  I gave Shannon the sectional, asking "is this town on the map this one ahead of us?", motioning out the window.  "No, we're way back here", she responded, surprised that I couldn't quite read it.  Maybe you've been there, with your gums floating, and no way to pull over to 'the side of the road', flying a small plane with both hands, praying you can hold it till you land.  This was bad because now I couldn't concentrate enough even to read the map.  There was now way I could hold it till Dodge City, so I made a good decision to land again at Garden City, a little before Dodge City.  This was when my bladder started breathing.  Not really breathing, but cycling back and forth, telling me that it could only take so much more abuse; its a strange phenomenon.  Ahh, now, a little later we were on final approach, we were going to make it!  After a nice landing, I was concentrating on an actual FBO ramp worker guiding us in on the ramp; I was relieved that a mess wasn't going to happen after all.  However, with me distracted while parking, my bladder gave up.  It issued no further warning that it had had enough: the rubber band broke and the gates cracked open, just enough to require a change of jeans.  Doh!  My wife was embarrassed along with myself, as I attempted to stroll nonchalantly into the FBO, covering my dark spot with another pair of jeans and underwear.  Tip learned but not used on this occasion: a coffee cup or plastic bottle can be used for more than something to drink (but you need someone else to fly the plane)!

Just over two years later, in June of 2000, I found myself in western Kansas again, with a farmer from Iowa for a Captain.  I was new at my first airline, Great Lakes Airlines (named after Iowa's great lakes, not the real great lakes).  I had 'drank from the firehose' from February though March while getting through their ill reputed training, and was starting to feel comfortable on the line flying the 'mighty' Beechcraft 1900D "Beechliner" (even though it didn't have a bathroom).  After climbing out of Denver, we were headed to Liberal first, then to the Dodge City overnight in smooth air.


Western Kansas has lots of irrigated farmland, and most of it seems to be crop circles.  Not the unsolved mysteries kind, mind you, but the 'center pivot' irrigation kind.  This irrigation system is a big arm that water is pumped through.  It slowly sprays the field as the arm rotates about its center.  Its funny, two different passengers have asked me on flights when I was a fellow passenger to Denver and other points "what are those circles on the ground"?  They could hardly believe that these giant circles of brown, green, and yellow were really circularly irrigated farm fields. 

On the descent into Liberal from the north I saw many of these fields up close from my perch on the right side of the cockpit.  Except the sun low on the horizon, the type of wheat (I think) they were growing in the fields, and strange lights emanating up towards us all combined to make it one of the most surreal and beautiful sights I've ever witnessed as a pilot.

These circular wheat fields were a color purple.  There is such a thing as purple wheat, really, even purple bread, see?  I don't know if it was that, whether the golden light from the setting sun reflected that color from the soil, or a combination of the two.  To cap this scene of wonderment off, the center pivot of each field had a blinking strobe light on it.  In silence, my farmer turned pilot and I  watched this alien world flow by while finding our way into the 'airport' at dusk.  Was this an unknown, alien world we were about to touch down onto?  Were these strange fields landing bases for the UFO's my previously mentioned ignorant fellow passengers seemed to suspect?  No, but it was an engrossing thing to imagine, if even for a few moments.  But why were there strobe lights on the center pivots of the irrigation systems?  

Maybe for these reasons.  The wheat harvest has an intensity unrivalled in the grain world, because wheat has a fairly limited time between ripening and spoiling.  Large commercial harvesting crews attack fields with a team of large combines 24-7, they tell me.  My guess is strobe lights are on these center pivots because the crop dusters (agricultural aviators) work long days to keep the wheat healthy, from early dawn to late dusk, and need to see the obstructions that the irrigation systems are.  Here's a cool crop dusting video, they really skim over the crops.  


Fourteen months later, I was headed toward Dodge City again, this time as a Captain.  This informative link about Dodge City says that they slaughter 20,000 head of cattle a day there.  Actually, there's a slaughterhouse right next to the final approach into the airport.  And the corresponding odor of 'boiled blood' ("the smell of money") greeted us in August 2001 as we landed there on a 'high-speed' overnight (as we called them at Great Lakes).  A high-speed is a continuous duty overnight, meaning that you never go off duty, even though you go to the hotel (most nights, most airlines).  Instead of getting eight hours or more rest at the hotel, you get less than that, six if you're lucky, five or less if you're not.  I don't particularly enjoy high-speed overnights, especially into Dodge City.  I had done this particular short trip before, though, and had braced myself. 

Braced myself for the particularly bad hotel, no, motel we stayed in.  Braced myself for the smell and the short, six hour period between our scheduled arrival and departure time.  But it turned out I didn't brace myself enough.  By the way, Dodge City itself is a great place to spend some time exploring the real wild west history that occurred there.  I just never had time to do it myself.

I and my Italian-American First Officer were about to experience my worst overnight, ever.  I had warned him about the motel car, a first generation Dodge minivan with the second coat of spray can paint on it, which we could start without a key and drive back and forth to the motel.  But no one had told us about the gallon of milk someone had left in it for a few days, during the summer.  The smell was awful, as bad as the boiled blood from the cows were, and the container of carpet fresh they sympathetically left for us to spread around only masked it for a few seconds, it seemed.  The short ride into town was our saving grace.  Gagging on the sour, spoiled milk odor, I would stick my head out the window till I couldn't stand the smell from the daily slaughter.  Holding my nose didn't help because the taste was just as bad!  Back and forth our heads zig-zagged till we made it to the lovely Best Western a couple of miles from the airport, a favorite of bikers and a blue collar drinkers.  And it was a weekend night, as I remember.

In my room later, with the door shut, I got ready to hit the sack quickly, the alarm would buzz in about four hours.  After washing up I returned to my open bedding to find the biggest cockroach I've ever seem in my life smiling up at me, on the center of my pillow.  Incredulous, I managed to send it to an early death, then looked over and under the bed, and tucked in.  For about five minutes, that is, before switching to the other bed, logically.

In the shower a few short hours later I was cursing my luck, not only for what we were being put through, but because the maids conveniently forgot to leave towels or washcloths for me.  Actually, I was able to dry off with the lone foot towel, which they had left.  Some night drunk had smashed the glass door to the motel lobby, and after checking out we carefully went back through it and said good riddance to Dodge City, holding our breath back to the airport on a prairie hill.

Its crazy what pilots go through and are willing to put up with, in order to have a career in the skies.  They must love it, or they wouldn't be willing to put up with it, and this was true in my case.  I was glad to get out of Great Lakes and fly an MD-80 for Vanguard Airlines for three short months in Kansas City, before they went bankrupt and shut down.  But I'll always remember the sacrifices and hardships I and my family endured at Lakes, and the camaraderie, friendships, and adventure I had there in two short years.  I learned a lot, gained great experience (some of which were flying mistakes I made in western Kansas) that will benefit me for the rest of my career, and essentially earned my chops.  My hat is off to the 'Lakers' who continue being real 'airmen' still today.

God bless you, and thanks for reading my blog.

Guns, lately

This is just a political commentary I wanted to get off my chest, skip it if you want to!  I was going to include it in my next post but took it out here separately.  My 'gun story':  Hunters and other gun lovers types told me before the 2008 election that Obama was going to take away our gun rights.  That would require a repeal and/or re-interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.  I responded to all of them that I would march with them on the National Mall in Washington DC if and when that happens.  And I will.  But I seriously doubt an attempt to do that will be made by this President; that is just the politics of fear in action.

Yes, Saturday Night Special and Run Through the Jungle are ‘anti-gun songs’ on my current playlist. I could’ve put U2’s desire on there too I guess, but with the MLK Holiday recently, but “Pride” was a better choice. I’m not anti-gun, well, not completely. I support the 2nd Amendment, just not in a rabid, Ted Nugent, NRA type way. I’m a hunter, mostly upland birds, and I fully believe any American of sound mind has the right to own and responsibly use a firearm in certain conditions: to protect and defend yourself, your family, or livelihood while under attack or robbery, definitely; to hunt game for sport and food, definitely; to safeguard against an oppressive, totalitarian, unconstitutional federal or state government, yes also, if it comes to that. My caveats: (1) Guns should be used safely and NOT combined with alcohol and/or drug use, and out of the reach of curious children (locked up preferably or with trigger locks). Gun owners should learn how to shoot safely and effectively. (2) There’s too much knee jerk swaggering and posturing against the government by citizens with miniature arsenals, in my opinion. If ultra-right wing ‘patriots’ commit pre-emptive attacks against the government (and I won’t name names or events in the past) it’s fair to surmise that the government has the right to respond in order to maintain peace and order in our society. (3) Its also too easy for a mentally ill person to obtain a firearm, which is exactly what happened recently with Jared Lee Loughner in Tucson, Arizona. Without a legal requirement to check a gun purchaser for a history of mental illness in some way, shootings like the one in Tucson and at Virginia Tech (which left 32 humans cold and dead) will continue, my friends and fellow Americans.

New Plan, New Year

Pilots are known for having 'new plans', "just in case", in the interest of safety.  The FAA and the airlines require it, and the philosophy of safe flying dictates it.  For example, an alternate airport for landing is required in certain forecast weather conditions (if the actual weather at the destination goes below approach minimums you might proceed to your alternate), and a specified fuel reserve at the destination is always required (if airborne delays occur or if fuel burn is higher than planned).  In case of engine failure enroute, a diversion airport is a subject frequently on the mind of pilots, especially single engine airplane pilots.  When we fly an instrument approach there is always a missed approach procedure associated with it which we plan on flying, if we don't have the runway in sight at the end of that approach.  Backup plans, and backup plans to the backup plans, are important to aviation safety.  And 'new plans' aren't just part of what's required, it's one ever present part of a professional (or professionally minded) pilot's thought processes.  Airline pilots even have 'new plans' for engine failure on takeoff roll and right at takeoff. 

In the midst of the Christmas season, full of promise and surprise, we got a surprise of our own, which required a new plan.  On a visual approach into Washington National airport, we were given some indications this was about to happen, and we were prepared, somewhat.  But in what transpired after that, we (at least I did) experienced for a moment a feeling of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  The phrase "airline flying is hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror" comes to mind.  Actually I don't think they were referring to short haul, east coast USA flying, but the quote still fits somewhat.  

It was a week before Christmas, and we were finishing our four day trip.  After landing in DC we were scheduled to fly to Norfolk, Virginia, and back, then go home.  On the way in from Detroit, the first flight of our day, I was flying a "Mount Vernon visual approach" up the Potomac river to runway 01. Washington National airport had a clear runway (no snow or ice on it) but braking action reports (good-fair for most of the runway but poor at the end).  This was odd, but there had been snow and ice recently on the airport.  Lately the asphalt runway there seemed to have a sheen on it, I guess leftover from deice applications to the runway.  More so, Washington Regan National is built on landfill right next tot the Potomac river, so it can be surmised that moisture from the ground near the river easily is drawn out to the runway surface.

A picture of Washington Reagan National airport from southwest of the airport looking to the northeast.  The green areas north of the Potomac river and bridges are the National mall, where the national monuments and prohibited airspace area P-56 are.

We turned final up the river to the north, and I commanded flaps and gear down, and
slowed our plane down to approach speed, about 140 knots.  Approach control had had us at 160 knots until five miles out, where my good First Officer contacted the control tower.  DCA tower said to slow immediately to final approach speed (which we were already at), and had an Embraer E-170 jet "line up and wait" (the new phraseology for "taxi into position and hold").  

We were waiting for clearance to land now on runway 01, the long runway at DC aligned towards the north, beyond which is the Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington Memorials, the National Mall, the White House, and the airspace designated as P-56 which encompassed them all.  It is simply the most important prohibited airspace in the nation, and we are to avoid penetrating it at all costs.  For a map of it, click on the "Mount Vernon visual approach" link above.  Our jet was about two and a half miles and one minute away from the runway, and my good FO and I had the same thoughts: we might be going around soon. 

Shortly after the jet in front of the E-170 took off and made the left turn up the Potomac river to the northwest to avoid the previously mentioned P-56 airspace, the control tower cleared the E-170 for takeoff.  We waited, the control tower waited, and then we waited some more.  The jet was stalling on the runway, not moving, I said out loud they probably had gotten deiced and were doing an engine clearing procedure before they released their brakes and started accelerating down the runway for takeoff.  We have a procedure for this as well, for our jet it takes twenty seconds at 'N1 60% engine RPM' before we can release brakes.  It is to clear out any residual deice fluid that might have made its way into the engines during the deicing process. 

Finally the black (really a dark navy blue colored fuselage) jet started moving.  It was going to be close.  We couldn't go any slower and the tower had not asked us to do s-turns to increase the spacing between this departing jet and ours, landing behind them on the same runway.  The autopilot was off, had been off, and I was concentrating on maintaining alignment with the runway, the proper glidepath on the glideslope, and our target airspeed.  What concentration I had left I was using to scan up the runway at the now fast accelerating jet in front of us.  From the beginning of this episode, I thought they would have enough clearance from us, many times when its close the jet in front of you breaks ground when you're 100-300 feet above the ground and you continue to a landing, but this time we heard the "100" callout from the radio altimeter, and I focused completely on landing the plane.

But this time I wouldn't have a chance.  Just at that moment the control tower commanded "Express 3784, go around".  The new plan was given.  My FO replied to the tower, "go-around, Express 3784.  As I pushed the GA (go-around) button on the side of the engine throttle lever handles, pulled back on the control column to raise the nose to match the pitch attitude commanded by the flight director on the attitude display (the PFD), and pushed the thrust levers forward to the appropriate position for takeoff thrust, all simultaneously and by rote training and reflex built in, I wondered one thing: which way are we going to go? 

I let this thought distract me too much, I admit.  But I'd never been in this situation before, at Washington Reagan National Airport, with the infamous P-56 right in front of us two miles ahead, and another jet taking off right below us.  It was so close that just before I started the turn (which I'll get to in a moment) I could see its nose pitching skyward from the ground below us as our glareshield (dashboard) blocked our view of him.

(Another view of the the White House and the Washington and Jefferson Memorials, with Washington National airport on the other side of the river beyond.  This view is looking south.)

If we'd had a few more hundred feet of clearance, we would've landed, but it was a good decision by the control tower.  With the braking action as it was, if that jet in front of us had aborted takeoff while we were landing, it would've made a bad situation.

As I was pitching the plane up and looking for the one below us, "Go-around, flaps 8" was said, and my good FO retracted the flaps.  Actually, she is the one that said it, while I was engrossed with the traffic conflict blossoming right in front of us and wondering what would happen next.  You see, the published missed approach procedure at DCA from runway 1 is to basically turn left to the northwest while climbing out and avoiding P-56.  Logically, we couldn't turn to the northwest because that's where the other jet was going, and we couldn't go straight ahead because we'd penetrate P-56 and cause a bunch of bad paperwork, in the least.

I repeated the callout I was supposed to have made in the first place, "go-around, flaps 8", and heard the tower say, for the second time but for the first time for my brain, "start your right turn now to heading zero-nine-zero (090 degrees), climb and maintain two thousand".  A new plan for the new plan had been given.  I smoothly but quickly rolled in a turn towards the right, while answering my FO's callout "positive rate" with "gear up, speed mode".  She had already selected the heading bug to 090 heading and selected heading mode on the flight guidance panel.  I hoped that our turn radius would keep us out of P-56.  We had had a slight tailwind on final approach, but by the time I rolled us wings level headed towards the east (090 degrees), I could see the US Capitol building off my left shoulder, at least one mile away, indicating that we were clear of P-56.

But there wasn't time to revel in our safety or wag fingers (at myself) at missed callouts, we were now above 'acceleration altitude' and needed to 'clean up and speed up', perform checklists, talk to approach control on the radio, and brief the passengers on what just happened.  It all happens pretty fast when both engines are turning and we do it only a handful of times a year, but its what we are trained to do and expected to do well; usually its an intense but routine experience.  And actually, my job was just to fly the plane, the autopilot was on again soon, and my good FO was getting everything done in short order.  She was irritated because approach control kept asking the reason for the go around (as if it was our fault perhaps?), and they could tell she was irritated with her response.  We had a normal landing the second try, with the tower leaving plenty of room for the jet in front of us to break ground.

After the engines were shut down at our parking spot, I apologized to my FO for missing that callout, and thanked her for covering me.  I had let complacency sneak up on me; as I said had never been in this situation before, but its not the best excuse.  I had talked about what would happen in the situation with other FO's on previous occasions, I believe this situation is commonly talked about by flight crews who frequent DCA and ponder the 'what ifs'.  But for some reason I didn't think we would really, really go around, and consequently I wasn't as mentally prepared for it as I should've been.  If I had been completely prepared for it, I would have briefed that we should expect to have a right turn on the go-around due to P-56 being in our way straight ahead and the other aircraft being in our way on the standard missed approach procedure up the river to the left. 

"Complacency kills" is a much used phrase in military aviation, but its application in civilian use is very much warranted.  Many jet accidents have incurred loss of life with complacency being declared as contributing factors by accident investigators.  I know that I'll be making this possible go-around briefing when traffic is trying to takeoff in front of us when I land in DC on runway 1 from now on.  If you'd like to comment on this event, please feel free to do so.

Now, this being a New Year, many folks have New Year's resolutions, its a tradition the world over.  A new year affords a new plan, and time for making promises and goals that we will do this and won't do that, that we will love and serve others better than we have in the past, and will take better care of ourselves and our loved ones. 

But we fail.  We make resolutions, promises, and goals, then try to make new habits routine, and sometimes they do stick, but often they fail, eventually.  Where does that leave us when we fail?  In regards to our standing with God, where does that leave us when we fail?

I'd like to take this moment to encourage you (as well as myself when I read this later) that if you call Jesus Christ your Savior, you have an amazing fringe benefit.  When you fail, when you slip up, when you take your eyes off of the prize, when you let others or yourself down, basically, when you sin, take heart!  Because God promises this, from Second Corinthians 5:17-19 and 5:21: 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

"In Christ" (being spiritually connected to the body of believers in Jesus Christ), you are a new creation!  Like the old year has gone and the new year has come, the old person has gone and the new person has come.  Its a time to start over, a time to go-around and try again.  Believers aren't meant to continue in their old ways, they are meant to glorify God with their thoughts, actions, and their lives.  And the Holy Spirit, in concert with a believer's will submitted to its leading, gives the desire and power to live as a new creation of God.

Paraphrasing verse 21, Jesus, who never sinned, was made sin for us (by dying on the cross), so that through faith in Him we can be called righteous by God, (not by our own good deeds or works).  (See, turning to the right was and is a good thing!).  We are justified and saved by grace, through faith (Romans 3-4) as Abraham was.  Its a marvelous mystery, but true; read Romans 3-4 if you'd like to know more. 

If you believe in Jesus and can call him your personal Savior, but aren't happy with the way you've been living, God wants to meet you where you're at!  And that is one of the best things about Jesus, He IS a God who meets people where they're at - at their greatest point of need. 

With God's grace in our lives and a justification/salvation by faith, not by works, believers can do as many go-arounds and do-overs as needed to get through this life, with the assurance that we will spend eternity with God in heaven.  Knowledge of our true nature of salvation and the value of the work Jesus accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection results in believers becoming committed to the Lord, in just a fraction of the measure in return, that Jesus is committed to us.  My prayer for you is that you experience more of the Love and fellowship of our Lord, and that you have a better and blessed 2011.  Happy New Year!  God Bless you, and thanks again for reading my blog.

Rethinking Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!  "Peace on earth, and good will to men".  I just finished a four day trip this Christmas Eve in DC and am going home tomorrow.  We were about to leave Charlotte this evening, with the door closed and pushback clearance received, when the tug driver motioned me to look at the CSA (customer service agent-gate agent) who was waving at us and making the motion 'can you take one more passenger'?  A late passenger was frantic and wiping eyes, desperately wanting to get on this last flight of the night to Washington National airport before Christmas.  Actually we had five minutes before our scheduled departure time, but the flight had been closed.

I'm a softie for late passengers on the last flight of the night, especially on Christmas eve, so I waved my hand all friendly like and she was on the plane soon, after our Flight Attendent opened the door.  It felt good to help a late passenger get to her Christmas desitination, it was a no brainer really.  We pushed back into the night and had a nice flight to DC, where my 1,500 hour, just off of IOE, new reserve pilot First Officer 'Ben' flew a smooth, on glideslope approach into DC's runway 1. 

Everything was looking great until at 100 feet AGL the scene outside showed my eyes that the jet's descent rate virtually stopped, or got reduced to half what it was the moment before, anyway.  The 100' indicated on the radio altitude tape seemed to hover there as the airspeed started dropping a little too fast.  Two seconds had gone by and it was enough for me to say (attempted gently but firmly) "lower the nose a little".  He may have noticed the problem at the same time I said it, but by the time I did, action needed to be taken, to recover or to go around.  He did relax back pressure on the yoke, the nose lowered, the airspeed recovered some and we continued our descent until he reduced thrust to idle at 50 feet AGL and flared the plane a moment later.  We touched down a little firmly, but in my judgement only because Ben didn't flare quite enough for our energy condition, which was a little less than normal at that point.  I told him taxiing in that I thought we had plenty of energy left for him to flare a little more.  He was disappointed, but I told him not to worry about it, he has just over 100 hours in the plane, and at that experience level it's harder to see and sense when the descent has been arrested too high above the runway.

I've seen this situation before, and have no qualms at all about coaching new pilots to a safe landing.  When a pilot takes on landings in a new airplane, everything changes: the view, the speed, the pitch response, and in a jet it can be surprisingly sensitive, especially when the thrust setting is not reduced for landing (in our jet down to about 50 feet AGL).  It takes a few landings rethink how to land a new plane.

Pre-Christmas this season, I've been reading Words of Hope daily devotionals, a great ministry.  One of the writers, Dr. Verlyn Verbrugge, has got me rethinking the Christmas story.  I'd like to share three days of his devotionals about the Christmas story, I hope he doesn't mind.  Verlyn is a retired Pastor who has written a book about the same subject, titled "A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters".  I haven't yet, but I plan on reading his very interesting, very human take on the traditional Christmas story.   

For background on the most extensive Christmas story (the birth of Jesus Christ), see the gospel of Luke chapters 1-2 at ESV Bible online. 

Verlyn's December 19, 2010 Words of Hope devotional: Mary's shame

More than a million babies are born in the U.S. each year to mothers who are not married. That’s nearly 40 percent of all births. Today there is little social stigma attached to these women.

But that’s not the way it was in Bible times. Ancient culture was an “honor-shame” culture, where certain situations – one of which was getting pregnant out of wedlock – caused a family deep shame. The father of the family was expected to take some drastic action to restore the family honor.

Mary knew that what the angel was announcing to her would cause her deep pain. An unmarried virgin – conceiving a child! How could she explain? Who would believe her story, that her pregnancy involved no sexual immorality?

The nativity passages from Scripture suggest that only two people believed Mary’s pregnancy was divine: Elizabeth and (eventually) Joseph. Since we read nothing in the Bible about Mary’s parents being supportive, is it possible that they insisted that Mary leave their home until she “came clean”? I think that is possible; it would undoubtedly have protected the family’s honor.

In any case, Mary’s submissive statement to Gabriel, “May it be to me as you have said,” must have terrified her. But she vowed to be God’s humble servant, regardless of the cost.

Verlyn's December 21, 2010 Words of Hope devotional: Joseph's shame

Joseph was engaged to Mary and undoubtedly looked forward to his upcoming wedding. But then a message came to him: “Your fiancee is pregnant.” And Joseph knew he was not the father of Mary’s baby.


Joseph had to take action to retain his own honor; he had to end his relationship with Mary – and quickly. He could either increase Mary’s disgrace by divorcing her publicly or do so quietly; he was planning on the latter.


But then an angel came to him in a dream. He assured Joseph that Mary’s story about her baby being God’s baby was true, and the angel instructed him to take Mary as his wife. Now Joseph would share in Mary’s shame. Regardless of what he might say to anyone, his actions would testify to them: “That baby is mine.”


Oh, the stares that Joseph must have gotten, the whispering behind his back, the snickering of friends. In one short night, Joseph’s entire life was altered. That one dream changed all his other dreams. But he was obedient to God’s will for his life. In spite of the pain that lay ahead, Joseph did what the angel had commanded; he believed Mary, knowing that God had called him to protect her.


Verlyn's December 22, 2010 Words of Hope devotional: Pledged to be married

Joseph is headed to Bethlehem with Mary, but they are not married. And Mary is pregnant! What a story! What a scandal!


In the ancient world, an unmarried man and woman were never to be alone together, not even for a moment. Joseph and Mary spend at least seven days together, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem – engaged but not married.

And guess what? Mary did not have to go to Bethlehem for the census. Ancient censuses were either for military purposes or for taxation – never for just counting people.  Neither reason applied to Mary. And Mary is nine months pregnant! Imagine her walking (or riding on a donkey) for nearly a hundred miles, up and down dusty roads, about ready to give birth.


Why wasn’t Mary at home, perhaps with her parents? One real possibility is that Mary’s parents had rejected her and her story. Only Joseph believed Mary, and God had charged him with protecting her. God uses this situation of pain and rejection to bring Joseph and Mary together to Bethlehem, in order to fulfill God’s prophecy through Micah (Micah 5:2).  Yes, God can and does use the pain in our lives to fulfill his purposes. Christmas assures us of that.


I hope you have a greater, deeper understanding of Christmas after considering Dr. Verlyn Verbrugge's writings.  The first Christmas was not as joyful and happy as our popular culture makes it seem, even as our 'church culture' makes it seem sometimes. 

I wish you the best for this holiday season, reader.  Merry Christmas and may God Bless you!  In the words of Mac Powell, "Hallelujah, the King is here, given for all men, for today the Holy Son of God is born in Bethlehem!"

The "mystery missile"

The “mystery missile” from November 8th last week is still taking off.  In spite of delayed but reasonable explanations from the Department of Defense, the FAA, NORAD, NASA, and other knowledgeable experts and bloggers, rumors are persisting that a missile was launched off the California coast by an unknown party.  Guessers say ‘it’ was launched by an Asian country’s Navy, or accidentally by the US Navy.  And ‘they’ say it’s not an ordinary missile, that it’s a big one, an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile).  The conspiracy theorists explain that it’s reasonable to suspect that the Chinese or North Korean Navy are behind it, taking advantage of the timing of President Obama being out of the country on an Indian and Asian commerce tour. 

When scientific, factual, and circumstantial evidence don’t all together cast doubt on an ‘official government story’, then one should plausibly acknowledge the possible reality of the matter, no matter how temping or beneficial (even politically) the theory may be.  (I’m speaking to you, Barack Hussein Obama ‘born in Kenya and a secret Muslim’ people.) 

The mystery missile is really a UPS McDonnell Douglass MD-11, flying as UPS902 from Honolulu to Ontario, California (a Los Angeles area airport), and I’ll explain why I am completely convinced of it here, with a lot of help from two very good websites, Liem Bahneman's blog 'Time to Think' and Mick West's contrailscience.com. 

The first few times I saw the pictures and video the TV helicopter shot of the ‘mystery missile’ I thought that there was a chance it was a missile.  My wife would say there was a forty-five minute period when I was convinced of it, too.  ("He can't resist a good conspiracy!")  The supposed exhaust trail was fatter at the bottom, it made a vertically arching path, and the ‘glow’ from the rocket plume was visible at the bottom of the perceived missile, high in the sky.   However, all these appearances are explainable, and they will be taken on one by one. 

We all know that the earth is not only curved, it’s a sphere.  Let’s think about what that means for a moment.  A spherical earth (globe) means that when viewing objects from the ground or the sky, optical illusions are possible.  Things that might appear to be straight from different viewpoints (a road, a coastline, a ridge, a contrail) aren’t actually straight at all, they’re curved around the earth.  The UPS MD-11 appears to be moving away from the viewer, when in fact it’s moving toward the helicopter.  In both of these blogs you can view many pictures, some of even the flight in question itself, which show this phenomenon and tracks of the actual flights, based on GPS and radar data.

The contrail appears to be vertical, but it's an optical illusion.  It's a horizontal contrail curved around the earth, produced by a jet flying eastbound at 37,000 feet above sea level.  Contrailscience overflow website has excellent explanations of this.

By experience, I knew that a sun which has already set on the ground could illuminate an object in the sky, because at altitude the earth’s 'dipping' horizon can be seen a farther distance from an object in the sky than it is on the ground.  Investigating this recently, I found out that the horizon actually drops eight inches for every mile travelled on the surface of the earth.   After crunching the numbers googling websites that means that for a jet at 37,000 feet, the horizon (or where the sun will set and not shine) is 235 miles away, compared to only 55 miles away for a helicopter at 2,000 feet above the ground.   Why is the 'glow' an orange reflection instead of white, you might ask.  Even at altitude the sun, low above the horizon, is still orange, so the reflection it makes off an aircraft will be orange to an observer far below as well.

How did the contrail look fatter at the ‘bottom’ where if it was a jet it should be thinner and dissipating?  It spread out and expanded with time, the most recent portions of the contrail were thinner.  I've read elsewhere that the weather conditions that day over the ocean were perfect for contrails to form and linger for a long time, and that the contrails were less likely to form over land.  Contrailscience has great pictures which show that UPS902 stopped forming contrails as it passed closer to land.  A missile would leave an exhaust trail far into the sky vertically.   The picture below is from there.

Many trained observers said the ‘missile’ appeared to be moving slower than normal, so they surmised that it was an ICBM.  It was slower than normal because it was a subsonic jet moving horizontally, as explained before. 

Some have questioned that if it’s a jet, then why aren’t two contrails visible?  The MD-11 has three engines (one in the tail), which produces three contrails spaced closer together than in a jet with two engines, and because of the vast distance from the camera to the jet, three contrails can’t be made out by the camera or the naked eye. 

Finally, our very capable friends have also found satellite images of the contrail made by UPS902 over the Pacific Ocean as it approached the southern California coastline. 

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that this was UPS flight 902, an MD-11 flying from Honolulu to Ontario, California.  However, I can certainly understand how tempting it is to suspect it was a missile, after looking at the pictures and video.  Conspiracy theorists, shift your focus to something more plausible, like whether JFK's murder was a conspiracy and who was responsible.  November 22nd will be the 37th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, and the subject is still worthy of investigating and pondering.

I'd like to send a good round of thanks to Liam Bahneman and Mick West for their very informative and proving blogs on the 'mystery missile'.  Bravo guys!

I love my country.  Thanks for reading my blog, and God Bless you.

The 'civil' in civilization

On a recent four day trip I was flying with a fellow Christian, a Baptist from Tennessee.  He’s a good guy and a solid Pilot, with a great work ethic and a sensible attitude.  We didn’t really connect much until we shared our faith stories with each other; there was some difference between us when we talked politics a little before.  He didn’t say so, but seemed surprised that I identified myself as a democrat, was conservative on personal moral issues, and was an evangelical Christian.  Hearing his views on things it was clear he was a politically conservative republican.  Our encounter was a good demonstration, I think, that God is neither a republican nor a democrat.  If Jesus came back tomorrow he would be not be a member of any political party. 

 At 6:25 AM the last morning of the trip we were ready to push back from the gate in a dark, but dawning Greensboro, North Carolina.  My good First Officer was trying to get a word in to ground control, but the frequency was being taken up by an intense back and forth discussion between the ground controller and a Cessna pilot.  The Cessna Pilot was requesting to ‘go fly IFR approaches under VFR’, but the Controller didn’t like his terminology, not at all.  Their banter quickly turned into a pretty heated argument.

It went something along the lines like this (Cessna pilot in bold italics): “We’d like to do some IFR approaches under VFR.”   “You can’t do that unless you have an instrument flight plan, do you have one on file?”  “No, we can do it, I’d like to fly a few local IFR approaches in VFR, I don’t need a flight plan.”  “Now, you’re confusing me here, and don’t go getting an attitude now.”  “I don’t have an attitude; we just want to fly some approaches locally.”  “You can’t fly IFR approaches without an instrument clearance, and I don’t see a flight plan on file for you.  Flying practice instrument approaches under VFR is different than what you’re asking for, is that what you want?”  “Yes, we want to fly practice IFR approaches locally under VFR.”

Shortly after that another controller took over, it seemed the one involved in the argument was taking a break.  The Cessna taxied out with a clearance and so did we, appreciating the glowing horizon that promised an absolutely beautiful sunrise that was to come.  We didn’t stop along the way and rolled onto the runway and ‘Scott’ advanced the thrust levers smoothly for takeoff.  Our jet was light and accelerated quickly on the smooth, new runway 23R.  I glanced at the aircraft moving on the taxiway parallel to the runway, I assumed it was the single engine Cessna that was involved in this early morning dustup.  There was also something else, an airport vehicle, a white sedan with yellow lights flashing, moving at high speed behind the Cessna, trying to catch up to it.  I think it’s a solid assumption that it was the ground controller, wanting to resolve the conflict he had with the pilot.  I see no other reason for an airport vehicle to be doing 50 MPH down a taxiway at the crack of dawn, especially with what we heard go down on the frequency. 

I hope he treated the pilot with respect and vice-versa.  Technically the Cessna Pilot was using the wrong terminology; you can’t be cleared to fly ‘IFR approaches’ without having an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flight plan and clearance.  But a pilot can fly PRACTICE instrument approaches under VFR (Visual Flight Rules) without an IFR flight plan; the meat of the matter here is explained in the FAA AIM (Aeronautical Information Manual, section 4-3-21): "Pilots not on IFR flight plans desiring practice instrument approaches should always state `practice' when making requests to ATC."

I feel the slight lack of respect the Pilot showed for the controller, combined with his improper use of terms, tripped the controller over the edge.  Maybe he had a bad day on the night shift and was irritable.  On the other hand, I also believe he knew what the pilot was asking for and once he felt he was getting an attitude of entitlement from the pilot, he wouldn’t play along with what he suspected that he wanted.  In fact, the pilot was entitled to service from the controller, his taxes (and ours) provide his income. 

We’re losing our civility in our civilization, it seems.  It’s sad, and it scares me sometimes.   We’re more connected to other humans online with social networks, to our ‘friends’ on Facebook and to our ‘followers’ on twitter and other networks, but in that process we seem to be losing the ability and will to engage civilly with others we disagree with in conversation and debate.  As we get more friends online we seem to have fewer close, personal friends.  This is happening in conjunction with a further polarization in politics nationally and locally, which the media, especially cable news and talk radio, have seemed to fan the flames with as entertainment has been integrated into the partisan news and opinion experience.  

Shifting to a similar item in the news, I was disappointed with the way the South Fulton, Tennessee ‘Fire Dept.’ responded to Gene Cranick’s 911 call asking them to put out the fire on his rural property recently as well.  It seems he hadn’t paid the $75 annual fee to the fire department for fire services (instead of having a tax there it is an optional service, the phrase ‘pay to spray’ is coined from this).  Gene told the operator on the phone that he forgot to pay it, that he would pay anything, just come and put the fire out.  They said no, and the Fire Chief is on record saying that if they put it out for him then no one would pay the fee.  How’s that for optimism and faith in your fellow man (or fellow Tennesseans)?  I’ve learned that this attitude is a part of the politically oriented right wing of Libertarianism, which I obviously disagree with.  One of the more popular supposed Libertarians is Rand Paul, the newly elected Kentucky senator.

The South Fulton, Tennessee Fire Department did show up at Gene Cranick’s mobile home though, to put out the grass fire on his neighbor’s property, who had also called 911.  He had paid the $75 fee.  His neighbor held out his checkbook in his hand and attempted to pay the Fire Department the fee for Gene, but his gesture was rebuffed by the Fire Chief on site.  It was reported that firemen were shedding tears in the truck as Gene’s home burned to the ground, while four family pets died inside.  They were not allowed to do their job.  I simply ask, how is this policy maintaining the civil in civilization?

I have a few questions also.  Was Mr. Cranick sent a notice in the mail that he would not get a response from the fire department if his property caught fire?  If so, how many notices?  It’s customary for multiple notices to be sent to a resident/customer before the electricity and/or gas is turned off, it’s a matter of ethics for the utility provider, I believe.  On the other hand, playing the other side, did Mr. Cranick really ‘forget’ or was he just trying to save a little money?  Apparently he and his wife both forgot, and they had paid it previously.  What percentage of rural households in this ‘pay to spray’ area have paid the fee?  Why didn’t the fire department have a pre-planned and signed for “billing agreement” with future, possible users of their services who haven’t ‘paid to spray’?  He told them he would pay anything, why didn’t they take him at his word and bill him later?  Why did they choose to have an optional plan instead of a regular $75 tax?  Many questions, but it’s justified.  What if humans were inside the house, would the fire department have sprayed then?  (They said they would)   There are better ways to manage our civilization.  If such a policy is to be enacted, let’s have a little more faith in your fellow man, can we?

Pessimism applied to social policy can get ugly, optimism in human nature and faithfulness in serving others for the common good works better, in spite of a few taking advantage of the system; there can be better oversight for these situations.  Living ‘under grace’ is better than living ‘under the law’.  This doesn’t mean one is exempt from the law, however, it means a measure of grace and mercy should still be applied.  To explain my sentiments a little more, it bugs me that some who call themselves Christians, who should hold ‘New Covenant’ ideals (New Testament teaching from Jesus' death on the cross onwards) don’t wish to apply much of that sort of thinking as philosophy towards how modern government should function.

Let’s carry this ‘pay to spray’ application out to other areas and visualize what it looks like.  Many citizens are upset that the government will be requiring them to have health insurance in the future, in spite of the fact that this policy was also supported by at least one republican presidential candidate in 2008 (Tommy Thompson and Mitt Romney).  Out of principle, they don’t want the government telling them what they have to do, overlooking the fact that most all states have laws requiring you to have auto insurance, and citizens don’t complain about that.  Going without health insurance intentionally, just out of opposition to the ‘government’s oppression’ of you, makes the high cost of healthcare even higher when more uninsured show up at the hospitals and clinics. 

In a Libertarian run, cash strapped society, one who chooses not to purchase health insurance might lawfully and legally be refused care at the doctor or hospital after showing up with a car accident injury, an illness, disease, or other condition.  (Currently there is a federal law which requires everyone to be treated in emergency rooms, regardless of their ability to pay, but this could theoretically change.) “No health insurance?  I’m sorry, by law we can’t treat you here, step outside, you’re bleeding on the carpet”.  Free health clinics would still exist, but they can only do so much good for patients with untreated disease and/or terminal illnesses.  A Libertarian philosophy based health care system would produce self-imposed death panels for some of our citizens who choose not to buy health insurance (even though they have the means), and that’s not the America I want to live in.

God bless you, and thanks for reading my blog. 

1st Human powered Ornithopter flight!

I'd like to give a BIG shout out, congratulations, and standing ovation to the University of Toronto Aeronautical Engineering team of students, led by Todd Reichert, for their outstanding achievement recently. 

Leonardo DaVinci dreamed of it, and made famous sketches of it.  Greek myths of it (Icarus and Daedalus) have inspired the imaginations of humans for thousands of years.  Many others, some infamously memorialized in grainy black and white footage, have failed in attempting it.  Even TV commercials have been made depicting it lately.  Countless times, humans have daydreamed of soaring like the birds while gazing at them on a nice summer day.  Not just flying like the birds, really FLYING like the birds: silently flapping wings and defying gravity, like the birds do. 

See this funny video below for some of the more infamous actual attempts long ago.

The study of birds and how they fly is called Ornithology, and wacky but very smart engineers/pilots have been chasing this dream for the last twenty years with a committed zealousness.  A tightly focused and committed group of ornithopter junkies have existed on the Internet, pursuing their cause, while gaining knowledge and community together.  As a result, you can now buy any number of remote controlled ornithopters, or flapping winged remote controlled 'birds'. 

About four-five years ago I had a period when I was all gaga myself about designing and creating a human powered ornithopter.  In my spare moments while commuting and on overnights, I spent time sketching human powered ornithopters, and thinking and reading about ornithology.  I even told a First Officer or two about my dreams (carefully, it's very easy to be labelled a crackpot in this realm!)  I fantasized about getting a team together and working on it during our spare time, meeting during the summer to build and experiment.  Sketches shown to a pilot when I was commuting in the jumpseat was about as far as it went.  I will say, however, that two features of my design ideas have appeared in form on the aircraft successfully flown recently: a high wing, drooping fuselage design, and a rowing, leg pressing motion by the pilot used to flap the wings.

Another University of Toronto team have previously had a successful flight of a powered manned ornithopter, and now, this team led by Aeronautical Engineering PhD candidate Todd Reichert, achieved successful and sustained human powered ornithopter flight multiple times.  Although the 'Snowbird' was towed into the air by a car each time, it can be seen that once the aircraft starts flapping, it sustains flight, slightly dipping between each downstroke. 

I believe he would have flown longer a longer time and distance, but they were doing it on a grass strip and trees and obstacles were in the way beyond the end of the runway, also on numerous occasions control cables broke and prevented the plane from flapping wings further.

From Canada's National Post: Canadian student pilots first ‘ornithopter’

by Linda Nguyen


A Canadian university student has become the first person ever to pilot a human-powered “wing-flapping” airplane.

Todd Reichert, an engineering graduate student and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, accomplished the feat when he flew the aircraft “Snowbird” for 19.3 seconds on Aug. 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ont.

The 42-kg plane made from carbon fibre, balsa wood and foam, travelled 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour during the flight.

“Our original goal was to complete this sort of, original aeronautical dream, to fly like a bird,” said 28-year-old Reichert on Wednesday. “The idea was to fly under your own power by flapping your wings.”

The flight, which was witnessed by a member of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), was set to be officially confirmed as record-breaking next month by the governing body.

The group stayed quiet about the record for nearly two months in order to get the data finalized, he said.

The four-year project, a brainchild of Reichert and student Cameron Robertson, was worked on by 30 students, including some from France and the Netherlands.

The plane, with a wingspan of 32 metres, was powered by Reichert, who petalled with his legs, pulling down the wings to flap. He had to endure a year-long exercise regime to bulk up on muscle and lose nearly 10-kg so he could fly the aircraft.

“Thousands of people have tried to do this for hundreds of years,” said Reichert. “To be honest, I don’t think it’s really set in yet that I’m the one who has been successful. I was pushing with everything I had. When I finally let go and landed, I was hit with a breadth of excitement. It was pretty wild.”

Reichert went through 65 practice flights, and he said the aircraft will probably never be flown again.

The students are attempting to get it into the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

The FAI is a non-governmental and non-profit organization which aims to further aeronautical and astronautical activities worldwide.

Congratulations again to Todd Reichert, Cameron Robertson, and the rest of the team at the University of Toronto for your magnificent achievement!  For more information on their Snowbird, including interesting technical data on the engineering behind flapping winged flight, see their ornithopter website.