KC-767 being delivered

Yes, the KC-767 is being built and delivered to customers. Oh, not the US Air Force, we can't replace our 40 to 50 year old KC-135's, after all, they haven't dropped out of the sky on a school yet so our fearless leaders think we can keep flying them.

Who cares if the airframes have so much time on them they are not safe (the FAA would ground the entire KC-135 fleet if it was a passenger airline instead of military) due to the amount of time the planes have flown.

But the Japanese and the Italians are getting their new tankers and who knows maybe we can get some new ones before 2040.

Modern planes and engines, which can fly farther, carry more and use less fuel, yeah, that's not important to our Air Force who is operating more of its planes from the US then from foreign bases.

Gotta love our "leaders" don't you?

Changes to Carpetbloggers

Boy, first the boss (aka owner of this blog) changes the address because he wanted to ditch his original personal blog on another popular free blog site for some reason and now Google is requiring us to switch to our Google accounts before we can add or edit any posts.

Ok, so I haven't posted anything for a few months or more. Boss wants this blog revived so have to write something and will post the story I meant to post next.

F-35 First Flight

So, now it's flown. Pretty, isn't it? Sure beats what the competition was trying to sell--a cross between a guppy and a wide-mouth bass.

The F-35 along with the F-22 promise to usher in a new era of American airpower. This is an exciting time for the F-35 program, having just completed first flight and components of all three varients in various stages production.

Address Change

I have changed the http address of Carpetbloggers to http://carpetbloggers.blogspot.com, as I wish to use kawfeadikt (the original address) for my personal blog. A little late, yes. Anyways, perhaps a moot point for this moribund blog, but maybe a miracle can resurrect it.

V E Day

Today 61 years ago, the nightmare of World War 2 in Europe ended with the surrender of Germany on May 7, 2006.

May 8 was declared VE Day, Victory in Europe Day.

Thank a WW2 Vet for their sacrifice in liberating a continent and bringing democracy to a people who had never had it before (Germans). Before 1871, Germany was divided up into many States, some no larger then the City of Los Angeles. These were ruled by a king, duke or some type of royalty figure, unless they were being overrun by the French or other powers. The German Empire (1871 - 1918) was no democracy. The German Republic (1918/1919 - 1933) was a failed state and a dictatorship from 1933 - 1945.

A group of Americans who before the war knew or cared little about the outside world, plus a group of British who were more aware of the outside world then the Yanks, planted democracy into German soil and nurtured it since then. Now, after 50 odd years, the Brits and Yanks can withdraw from Germany and not be afraid it will collapse into another dictatorship.

Thank a WW2 Vet for not giving up on the Germans, for saving a continent and by staying afterwards to help build a free and prosperous Europe.

The BeaconNews

Oil

Cross posted on my Xanga site, another "active blog".

Today, gasoline at Costco was $2.99.99 for a gallon.
Many people think big oil is to blame and are angry that their profits are rising.
Well, if we want to lower the price of we have two choices:

1. Find more oil

2. Use less oil

Ok, there is a third, do some of both.

If we are serious about number 1, we will allow drilling in Alaska, allow drilling off the coast of California and Florida and in Colorado. All have oil reserves but those reserves have not been allowed to be tapped for environmental reasons.

PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT SAY THE REASONS WERE GOOD OR BAD, BUT THOSE ARE THE REASONS. Sorry for the shouting but the above send many environmentalists into a tizzy and wanted to hopefully prevent someone spamming me.

If we want more supply that is where the oil is. If we (as a society) are not willing to increase supply then we shouldn't complain about the price of oil.

If we are serious about number 2, we will repeal some of the restrictive laws such as seatbelts for each passenger and encourage families to use mopeds for travel. Impossible for 4 people to ride on a moped you say? Its done daily in parts of Asia, Africa and South & Central America. Too risky? Well there is a trade off between safety and oil usage.

For those who say force the car companies to build smaller cars, well they do offer smaller cars, which car did you buy last? Small cars are available but if we don't buy them the auto companies are less likely to build them. Don't like small cars because they are under powered and unsafe in an accident? Well there is a trade off between the size of a car and the amount of steel it has in it and the chance of not getting killed in an accident. When a Mini Cooper and Ford Excursion meet, the Ford wins.

From what I've seen on the road so far, many people are picking the safety of larger cars over smaller cars because they value the lives of their families over the expense of gas. That is the market place at work. If gas rises to $5.00 a gallon (or more in Europe), then people will start to change their habits when purchasing new cars. Already people are buying fewer SUV's then in prior years so the market is working (and GM and Ford are hurting because most of their profits came from the large SUVs).

For people who say we need to be energy independent then we will have cheap oil, I'll I can say is dream on. Norway is an oil exporter. Gasoline there is over US$8.00 a gallon. Part of the cost is the tax but the locals still pay the world price for oil, else the oil producers will sell their oil to someone else. If the government puts a price cap on the price of oil, then we will have a return to the gas lines of the early 1970s. Price controls will lead to shortages, they always have.

So higher prices will be with us for a while, how do we solve it? Find more oil or use less?

Grim Reaper comes calling for F-14 training unit

From PilotOnline.com.

Yes, I stole the headline, but it says it all. The last training squadron of the F-14 is getting rid of the plane next month.

There is another blog you might want to check out. At FlightJournal.com, there is a long article comparing the F-14 to the F-18E/F. The authors DO NOT like the F-18 and think the Navy is making a big mistake in not upgrading the F-14.

Its worth reading the article, but remember, the authors are advocates, not impartial so their arguments would need to be verified.

I'm still sad to see the F-14 go, but how much of that is nostalgia for the plane and how much is concern the F-18 cannot do the job of the F-14 I cannot say.