Celebrating my dad's 93rd birthday in Placerville and a picture when he was 16 with his papa. He passed the next month. Life is short and we are so quickly, "dust in the wind"
I remember my dad often, but particularly on his birthday. He passed over 4 years ago. We are part mixture of our ancestors, part our experiences, and part ourselves - but it is wonderful to honor the parts we cherish from our ancestors.
A 5-hour road trip brought me to a midwestern aviation capital in Wichita, Kansas. The annual U.S. Flight Test Safety Workshop was again an enlightening and sobering remembrance. MIT's STPA was again presented as a tutorial, but his many test programs will incorporate it. Too few I'm afraid. Distinguished retired USAF test pilot Rod Huete took us through the painful lessons of the 1990s X-31 mishap. Painful because the Air Force Test Center had embraced all the CRM practices that should have prevented this accident. And the X-31 program had assembled a stellar test team. But again the ego and human frailty yeared up to bite. Mike Contratto, Dept. of the Air Force augmented this theme with his thought-provoking presentation, "The Tao, Self Deceptive Rationalization and the Vulcan Mind Meld." In his talk, Contratto incorporated wisdom from George Chandler's masterpiece, "The Tao of Safety" quoting the comp...
A whirlwind trip across countries and continents. New adventures, friends, and technologies, juxtaposed with glimpses of the 1930s, offer a cautionary tale about Europe’s future. And through it all, I am pondering the questions: Who am I? What is my deepest desire? Heading to Europe to attend the SFTE symposium in Prague, I visited Italy first. My plan was to stay again in Venegono at La ManSardina with the hope of recreating my November experiences. But as it was a long weekend to celebrate Italy’s Independence, I learned too late that my friends had made other plans. I was disappointed. But recognized this as an opportunity to exercise Anthony Dello’s non-attachment and Eckhart Tolle’s “living in the now” philosophies. So the first night in Italy, I went out with Leonardo flight test colleagues for a fun dinner event. One of them (Simone) invited me to go sailplaning , which turned out to be an incredible exp...
Snow skiing or scuba? - which to choose for a solo adventure before the traditional family holiday visits? I chose the "red pill" for what I hoped would be a warm respite in an alternate universe. It was the right decision! Perfect weather, warm water, a "chill" all-inclusive resort (Allegro Cozumel), and accommodating staff combined with a nexus of adventurous sojourners from around the world made for a wonderful getaway. Natalia I felt rusty with only 12 dives under my belt from my previous two excursions at Cozumel and Okinawa. But my dive leader, Natalia, an adventurous young 20-something spirit from Madrid took me under her wing and put me at ease. Batting cleanup on my second diving was Lucas, a Brazilian. What gives them their adventurous spirit? Why wasn't I that way? Perhaps from my baby-boomer attachment to a stability-a common thread in baby boomers. Would more affluence have changed that? Sometimes I think so. Lucas ...
I remember my dad often, but particularly on his birthday. He passed over 4 years ago. We are part mixture of our ancestors, part our experiences, and part ourselves - but it is wonderful to honor the parts we cherish from our ancestors.
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