Tag Archives: taxes

Technology

Blade folding Army Black Hawks

Video September 15, 2019 Hutchins AAron

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Sharon Matthias, 10SEP2019.

Video, folding UH-60 blades for loading onto C-17 Globemaster, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 09SEP2019:

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Sharon Matthias, 10SEP2019.

Video, UH-60 blade folding for loading onto boats, Kuwait, 27APR2019:

Idaho blade folding: IDAHO BLACK HAWKS HEAD SOUTH, DOWN CENTRAL AMERICA WAY, YOU PAID FOR IT!

VEHICLE I-D: CBP’S BLACK HELICOPTERS DEPLOY TO PUERTO RICO, QUICK MINICRAFT REVIEW

MILITIA UH-60L LOOSES WINDSHIELD AT NTC!

SOUTH CAROLINA MILITIA’S SWITCH-BLADE APACHE

U.S.

Mount Whitney Death Trap, SAR Money Pit

Image September 14, 2019 Hutchins AAron

14 September 2019 (15:05 UTC-07 Tango 06) 23 Shahrivar 1398/14 Muharram 1441/16 Gui-You 4717

California Army National Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul Mantiply, 25AUG2019.

It might look like Afghanistan, but it’s not.

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

On 25AUG2019 near Iceberg Lake, California, the National Guard’s Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, flew-in Inyo County SAR (Search And Rescue) crews, about 13-thousand-8-hundred feet up Mount Whitney, to rescue a wounded female hiker. She was injured when a boulder cut loose and wedged her in a crevice.

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

The Inyo County SAR crew had to hike up to where the hiker was, just 7-hundred feet short of the 14-thousand-505 feet (4421 meter) peak, because the CH-47F helicopter couldn’t fit in-between a crevasse: “We attempted to hoist her out, but we didn’t have the rotor clearance the first time. We were down to about ten feet between the blades and the granite.”: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul Mantiply

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

The hiker was delivered to medical personnel at Bishop Airport, no word on her condition.

SAR ops are becoming so common place, across the U.S., and most SAR ops are paid for by taxpayers: “The United States Coast Guard is the leader in SAR operations, coming to the assistance of an average of 114 people per day at a total cost of $680 million annually…… It does not include man hours or money tied to the training of the personnel.

The National Park Service (NPS) is another agency heavily involved in SAR operations. In 2007, the NPS logged almost 3,600 incidents of search and rescue, 136 of which resulted in fatalities. This resulted in almost $5 million in associated expenses.

Other SAR missions around the Unites States are carried out by local sheriff’s offices, which are typically a mix of county employees working in concert with a staff of unpaid volunteers.”

In August 2018, mountaineering news outlet Outside declared Mount Whitney to be an “Overcrowded Catastrophe”, the author blames “Summit fever, a lack of mountaineering skills, and the allure of social media”, as well as weather conditions.

But Mount Whitney has a long history of injuries and deaths:

Inyo County SAR recent missions

June 2019; Body of missing hiker from Virginia found on Mt. Whitney

May 2019; Gonzaga leadership alums save hikers stranded overnight on California’s Mount Whitney

Mt Whitney Multiple Injuries June 11 2018

May 2018; Hiker, mountain climber fall to their deaths

July 2017; Mt Whitney SAR activity

August 2016; My Mt. Whitney day hike: up was easy; down … I’d rather not remember

This video from 2015 shows how easy it is to slip and fall;

September 2013; Man falls to death at Mt. Whitney

October 2010; Mt. Whitney climbers learn weather can shift wildly

July 1990; Hikers Find Death, Terror at Summit of Mt. Whitney

BlindBatNews: RESCUING DOGS, AND DOGS WHO’LL RESCUE YOU!

ENTANGLED SEA TURTLES RESCUED BY U.S. COAST GUARD

COLORADO MILITIA LAKOTA RESCUE TRAINING

IDAHO MILITIA PREPS FIREFIGHTERS FOR COMING NATURAL DISASTERS!

International

Tremor Event Has Begun: Pacific Ring of Fire, August 2019

Video September 9, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Incomplete list of seismic/natural disaster reports from around the Pacific Ring of Fire, August 2019.

A Mega-Tsunami on Early Mars

Crack in Pacific seafloor caused volcanic chain to go dormant for 10-million years

What tourists/travelers need to do in after a disaster

AUSTRALIA: Oil industry seismic operations delayed

Hidden ‘Jurassic World’ of Volcanoes Uncovered

KitKat introduces rare volcanic chocolate

CANADA: Researchers discover why oil industry fracking causes earthquakes

BC school district braces for mega earthquake

CHILE: 6.8 earthquake reveals stress is building on the megathrust

Increased Volcanic activity threatens fish farms, plans being made to evacuate the fish!

CHINA: Insurance industry adopts new earthquake catastrophe model, to predict insurance payouts and identify buildings most at risk of failure

5.0 hits Taiwan

COLOMBIA: 5.3-magnitude quake hits 28 km NW of Guapi

ECUADOR: There are 47 volcanoes in Ecuador, and 27 of them are potentially active, and five of them have erupted since 2000.

EL SALVADOR: Colossal volcano behind ‘mystery’ global cooling finally found

FIJI: 5.0 earthquake – Fiji Islands Region on 27AUG2019

5.9 earthquake – Fiji Islands Region (Wallis & Futuna) on 22AUG2019

A floating ‘island’ made up of volcanic rock, meandering through the Pacific.

GUATEMALA: Appeals for more help from International Red Cross, for dealing with the 2018 eruption (is this why so many Guatemalans are flooding into the U.S.?)

HONDURAS: Mysterious white smoke emanating from mountain that is not considered a volcano

How many U.S. taxpayers know that over the past four decades a small outpost in Honduras has housed a mix of U.S. military forces, backed by aid organizations to provide medical assistance and disaster response for Latin American countries?

INDONESIA: volcano chaser documenting Indonesia’s volatile craters

Activities banned within 3 kilometers from the summit of Mount Merapi

Huge Oil Spill in Land of Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes

JAPAN: belief in link between deep-sea fish sightings and quakes finally debunked

Asama-yama erupts

Underground links between quakes and eruptions of Japan’s biggest active volcano

5.4-magnitude quake strikes Aomori Prefecture

Video of Aomori Prefecture conducting a disaster drill, a week after 5.4 quake, in conjunction with U.S. Misawa Airbase:

MEXICO: Dramatic eruption by Mexico’s Popocatepetl

5.5 earthquake – Chiapas, 12AUG2019

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Video explainer of U.S. taxpayer supported Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief exercise PACIFIC ENDEAVOR:

PERU: Oil industry to increase offshore seismic operations

Proposes earthquake resistant cities

PHILIPPINES: 6.3 magnitude on the Richter scale shook the Luzon island

5.0 earthquake – Mindanao, 11AUG2019

European Union brings relief to victims of powerful earthquake

RUSSIA: Karymsky volcano spews

5.0 earthquake – East of Kuril Islands, 25AUG2019

Lightning strikes Ebeko volcano during eruption

TONGA: 5.4 earthquake – 24AUG2019

5.0 earthquake – 24AUG2019

new submarine volcanic eruption discovered

UNITED STATES: Watch tsunami waves from a 9.0 earthquake hit the Pacific Northwest in new simulation videos

Alaska; After major quake, budget cut to seismic monitoring system

California; UCBerkeley is in the middle of conducting seismic evaluations of the more than 600 buildings on campus.

Ridgecrest earthquakes caused up to $5 billion in damage to China Lake naval base

At Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, U.S. Navy SeaBees were recognized for their efforts to help with recovery after the July earthquakes.

In San Diego, the U.S. Navy conducted exercise Citadel Rumble, enlisting the help of Amateur Radio Emergency Service to test emergency radio communications between USN hospitals during natural disasters.

Groundbreaking earthquake catalog may have just solved a seismic mystery

Community Seismic Network has installed 1-thousand sensors across the region

Hawaii; Large Earthquakes, Hilina Fault System Relationship

What does water in Halema‘uma‘u mean?

Montana; More small quakes reported

60 years ago 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed 28 people

Nevada; UN Reno gets 1-million additional tax dollars for ShakeAlert quake warning system

Oregon; Critics blast Oregon repeal of tsunami-zone building ban

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake just struck

$1.6-million in additional taxpayer funding for ShakeAlert warning system

Washington; Funding from the U.S. Geological Survey is expected to double the number of sensors in the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

Seismic Tremor Event Has Begun, Seismologists Say

Wyoming; 1959 quake changed landscape, structures and more in Yellowstone, 160 new geysers sprang to life

VANUATU: Mount Yasur is – incredibly or frighteningly, depending on how you look at it – open to members of the public game enough to walk up and peer into the belly of the Earth.

5.5 earthquake – Santa Cruz Islands (Vanuatu), 22AUG2019

6.3 earthquake strikes between Vanuatu, Solomon Islands

PACIFIC RING OF FIRE, JULY 2019: “LOST IN TIME”

U.S.

U.S. military provides taxpayer funded pet care in Appalachia!

Video September 8, 2019 Hutchins AAron

08 September 2019 (05:59 UTC-07 Tango 06) 17 Shahrivar 1398/08 Muharram 1441/10 Gui-You 4717

Taxpayer funded military veterinarians provide medical services for pets, 28AUG2019. Photo by Major Jeffrey Gruidl.

In August, the U.S. military conducted the now annual Appalachian Care, started under President Obama when it became obvious that ObamaCare/ACA (Affordable Care Act) would not cover everybody. But not only are humans provided taxpayer funded healthcare, so are their pets.

Michigan Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Sonia Pawloski, 22AUG2019.

Michigan Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Sonia Pawloski, 20AUG2019.

Michigan Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Sonia Pawloski, 22AUG2019.

Since 2014 the Appalachian Care/Appalachian Mountain Individual Readiness Training (IRT) ops have been taking place at various locations across the Appalachian Mountain region.

Communities interested in hosting an IRT mission can contact one of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense by going to https://irt.defense.gov

OPERATION APPALACHIAN CARE; PROOF OBAMACARE FAILED, AND OBAMA KNEW IT DID!

U.S.

Dorian: How to evacuate thousands of U.S. Marines

Image September 4, 2019 Hutchins AAron

On 03SEP2019, the threat of Hurricane Dorian forced Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to start evacuating basic trainees.

Their new temp-home will be Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia.

The trainees packed their rucks, and were handed a box of rations, and told to “Get on the bus!”

Hundreds of contracted tour buses rolled in to take them to Georgia.

It’s actually easy to evac thousands of military personnel, they’re under orders, and the food and transportation are provided. Realize how hard it is to get millions of silly-vilians to evacuate, without providing taxpayer funded food and transportation, or a place to go-to, before-hand.

I don’t know if this guy is yawning or yelling, but I’m sure there was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait.

VEHICLE I-D: USMC HAWKER HUNTER(?) spotted in South Carolina

VEHICLE I-D: USMC AAV7 VID-FEST

WHAT DO THE MARINES DO WITH ALL THAT AMMO THEY CAN’T USE?

MARINES GUILTY OF ENDEMIC VIOLENCE? GHOSTS OF MY FATHER & GRANDFATHER!

Hurricane HARVEY: MARINES USE AMPHIBIOUS COMBAT TANKS TO SAVE LIVES!

Technology, U.S.

Airborne Hurricane Hunters, when did it all start?

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

The first hurricane (typhoon) hunter was a pilot flying a Second World War T-6 Texan through the eye of a hurricane, on a dare! Realizing that flying through a hurricane was doable, the U.S. Air Force set upon a long journey of modifying aircraft to collect weather data about hurricanes.

The first data collected, in 1944 by B-25 bombers (WB-25 Army Hurricane Reconnaissance Unit), is credited with saving hundreds of lives. Prior to the development of airborne hurricane hunters, thousands of people in the United States died as a result of hurricanes, but after the use of flying weather trackers the average death toll dropped significantly.

Painting by Thomas Wojahn of a WB-50 of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Falcon Alpha Mission-1957.

Perhaps the name The Hurricane Hunters came from the the title of a book first published in 1955 about the U.S. military’s obsession with tracking hurricanes. Download your free copy here.

Silent U.S. Navy film, from 1961, showing the use of the EC-121 Warning Star (WV-2) ‘AWACS’ as a hurricane hunter:

Hunter AFB, WB-47E City of Savannah Hurricane Hunter I, September 1963.

Even the B-47 strategic bomber (WB-47) was used as a Hurricane Hunter.

WC-130 Hercules f the 815th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 920th Weather Reconnaissance Group, being prepared for a mission to monitor Hurricane Allen, August 1980.

Official USAF video history report, including the T-6, B-25, B-29 (WB-50) and C-130:

A USAF WC-130 Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, ‘Hurricane Hunters’, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. USAF photo dated 1995.

But it not just lives that are saved with the creation of airborne hurricane hunters, in this 2018 video report about the purpose of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi) it’s revealed that mass evacuations of the public cost one-million USD per mile of coastline! Taxpayer costs can be reduced by providing accurate weather data to allow for more timely evacuation orders:

HurricaneHunters.com

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

T-6 SNJ TEXAN POKEY AIRPORT, 2012 & 2014

Technology

Dorian more powerful than U.S. military aircraft?

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

02SEP2019, U.S. Coast Guard deploys C-130s in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian.

Evacuation of E-8C J-STARS from Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 02SEP2019:

On 01SEP2019, U.S. Customs & Border Protection transferred one of their UH-60 Black Hawks from Puerto Rico to Homestead, Florida, to be used in hurricane rescue operations:

U.S. CBP also deployed P-3 Orions to Homestead, Florida, 31AUG2019.

Florida National Guard helicopters staged in the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, 01SEP2019.

MH-60R Sea Hawks assigned to USN’s Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 48, in Florida, were sent to Maxwell Air Force Base, in Alabama, to escape the wrath of Dorian, 01SEP2019.

Video of preparations to exodus Naval Air Station Jacksonville:

Video of arrival at Maxwell AFB:

On 30AUG2019, Florida National Guard F-15C/D Eagles evacuated to Ohio. Video of arrival of Florida Eagles at Wright-Patterson AFB:

A USN Patrol Squadron 26 P-8 Poseidon arrives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 30AUG2019.

30AUG2019, USN’s Patrol Squadron 10 evacuates P-8 Poseidon from NAS Jacksonville:

On 30AUG2019, Little Rock Air Force Base, Alabama, began accepting military aircraft from locations within the projected path of Hurricane Dorian:

HC-130 Combat King from Georgia.

A-10C Thunderbolt-2s from Georgia.

At Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, A-29 Super Tacanos were locked down in the hangers:

29AUG2019, KC-135Rs evacuate MacDill Air Force Base, Florida:

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

SLOW DISASTER RELIEF: FLORIDA MILITIA DISCOVERS A MAJOR CAUSE, NEW PREPS FOR HURRICANES!

ALABAMA MILITIA PREPS FOR HURRICANE USING WORLD’S LARGEST MAP OF ALABAMA!

Technology

WC-130J & WP-3D: Hunting Dorian

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force Reserve out of Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, went hunting for a hurricane named Dorian. Video, WC-130J take-off preps, 31AUG2019:

The crew of the WC-130J Super Hercules gathered data for the National Hurricane Center. Video, onboard the WC-130J, 31AUG2019:

Personnel from the U.S. Naval Academy observes data from the Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermographs deployed from the WC-130J Super Hercules. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

Preparing to drop a Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermograph into the hurricane. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

WC-130J returns from Hunting Dorian, 05SEP2019. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Christopher Carranza.

USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

Video from NOAA (National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration) WP-3D Orion (aka N42RF Kermit the Frog-Sky Hopper), flying the Eye of Dorian, 01SEP2019:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WP-3D Orion, Keesler AFB. USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

2017: WC-130J SUPER HERCULES TRACKS HURRICANE HARVEY

HARVEY: WHAT’S A DROPSONDE?

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: F-8 DFBW, or another reason why today’s techie generation owes the military industrial complex!

Image August 25, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Anybody who thinks digital is a technology that only recently emerged needs to take a trip in the Way-back Machine.

10JAN1973

Between 1972 and 1985 a modified F-8C Crusader proved the concept of digital fly-by-wire technology, now taken for granted on today’s military and commercial aircraft.

The ‘Apollo’ computer system was jammed into every available space on the fighter aircraft, including it’s gun bays. The testing took place at the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) and Langley Research Center.

Phase-1 pilot’s control box originally was used on the Apollo Moon mission’s Lunar Modules. Phase-2 used three IBM AP-101 computers for the flight control system.

NASA video of intentionally induced oscillations upon landing:

211 DFBW flights were made.

Build one yourself:

Apparently they have DFBW conversion kits in 1:144 and 1:48, as well.

HISTORY OF MILITARY COMPUTERS SINCE WW2, BIRTH OF THE INTERNET!

VEHICLE I-D: MIG-31 SPACE BOUND DOGFIGHTER?

‘NEW’ F-16 VISTA

QF-16 DRONE

Kit Bashing

Vehicle I-D: C-47 Dakota/Skytrain, Douglas Commercial-3, R4D Goonies!

Video August 22, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Entex got it right when their model box stated it was “The plane that changed the world.” It’s my top pick for Zombie Plane, after seven decades it just won’t die, still flying today in both private and commercial use, and apparently some countries are still using it for military purposes. It even commands the respect of wartime enemies, who adopted it for their own use.

Production began in 1936 and from then until now the C-47/DC-3/R4D has been used by at least 82 countries.

Fort Benning, Georgia, 16AUG2019:

Berlin Airlift 70th Anniversary, Clay Kaserne, Germany, 09-11JUN2019:

Videos:

May 2019, DC (Douglas Commercial)-3 over Catalina Island, California:

“That’s all brother!”, Air Mobility Command Museum on Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, May 2019:

April , 2019 video report, history of 3rd Combat Cargo Squadron which flew the China-Burma-India Theater during WW2:

“That’s all brother!”, Sumpter Smith ANGB Alabama, April 2019:

November 2018, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida:

May 2016, AC-47 Spooky over New Mexico:

February 1964, M2-F1 lifting body tracking behind a Goonie, Edwards AFB, California:

August 1963, NASA R4D-5/C-47H:

1956, NACA R4D, High-Speed Flight Station, Edwards AFB, California:

German Dakotas, 1957 to 1976:

Iran Air ‘DC-3s’ were actually C-47s with passenger interiors:

Iranian CH-47 gives an Iranian C-47 a lift:

Weirdos:

Video report, North Dakota Air National Guard’s first disaster relief mission (Operation Haylift), during the winter of 1949:

Video report; C-47 Operation Market Garden:

Jungle Skippers’ “Cleo C”, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas:

Flak damage to a Jungle Skippers C-47, Corregidor Island, Philippines, World War Two (1943?):

2018 video explainer of the inception of the 349th Troop Carrier Group in 1943:

HARVEY: C-A-F DELIVERS AID WITH WORLD WAR 2 AIRCRAFT (Unfortunately this restored C-47 crashed and burned not even a year after taking part in Hurricane Harvey relief ops)

Popular Mechanics explains “Why the DC-3 Is Such a Badass Plane”

To make an Iran Air ‘DC-3’ use the C-47 fuselage with the DC-3 interior. Iranian airliners were converted C-47s and retained the cargo doors.

Believe it or not, ESCI and Italeri kits are not the same.

The Italeri kit is larger and its fuselage has an oval or egg shape to the cross section. The ESCI kit looks like a down-scaled version of the 1:48 Monogram kit, with recessed panel lines instead of raised surface details. The now out of production ESCI kit is the better kit.

Incomplete model kit supply list: