Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Eyes on the Stars
Carl McNair tells the story of his brother Ronald, an African American kid in the 1950s who set his sights on the stars.
by Story Corps
Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D., (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.
STS-51-L crew: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.
Remembering these brave scientists, explorers, and teachers who lost their lives 27 years ago today in the pursuit of science - The crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (1927)
Bertrand Russell first delivered this lecture on March 6, 1927 to the National Secular Society, South London Branch, at Battersea Town Hall.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Photo of the Day
Boeing 727. This one has been retired and donated by FedEx to the George T. Baker aviation school across the street from KMIA.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Don’t Replace Religion; End It by Penn Jillette
Pen Jillette writes in the NYT:
Religion cannot and should not be replaced by atheism. Religion needs to go away and not be replaced by anything. Atheism is not a religion. It’s the absence of religion, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Read the rest of this thought provoking article. Post your comments in the thread .
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
A rare visit to the ramp at Miami International Airport
I was invited to this year's exclusive visit inside the fence at Miami International (KMIA). This once-a-year tour has been done for a few years. It is organized by the Airport Director's office, and has been also done by the two previous directors before him whom although now retired, were there acting as Tour Guides. The tour takes photographers filling two buses. I was lucky to get in this year through a friend. They gave us badges to be worn at all times. Each bus had a tour guide (ex-director) and a badged employee. We were to stay with them by the bus at all times due to security issues.
The tour had unprecedented access as I had never been inside the fence and in the ramp before. 
Unfortunately the weather was very overcast but it wasn’t that bad.
At some points we were allowed to get off (had to stay next to the bus). At other points, near Customs or busy areas, the bus drove by slowly and we had to shoot through the windows.
((phone-camera image)
We toured all the passenger ramps, plus several cargo areas, and also the flight line, where we caught several landings and takeoffs. We were in time to catch Lufthansa, flying the only A380 coming in regularly to Miami.
We also got her a couple of hours later taxiing for departure. Notice how she is escorted due to her over-sized width.
The cargo areas were very interesting. The major ones are full of Boeing 767 and 747 like these:
The northern smaller cargo areas have beautiful old planes like this Metroliner and Convair 580
The maintenance hangars had two rare Boeing 707s in. Once was John Travolta's but she was inside and could not be seen. In this area, run by private contractors, security was tight so we could not get off. Just took these pictures on a slow drive-by, through the windows (excuse the window reflections and tint). This B707 belongs to the Government of Congo and will soon be departing.
The day before this tour, there was a collision between two airliners. An arriving Aerolíneas Argentinas A340-312 took the wrong entry line to the ramp, going in the narrow body lane instead of the center-line for wide-bodies. An outgoing Air France B777-300 was coming out of the gate. The Argentina aircraft touched Air France and sheared the horizontal stabilizer tip. You can see the damage in these two pictures I took from the bus (sorry for the window glare)
Here's a close-up of the damage to the horizontal stabilizer:
Here is the article in The Miami Herald about the incident:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/17/3187955/two-commercial-airplanes-touch.html
Did you know that arriving passengers can see the word "MIAMI" built into the design of the ramp-side of the new terminal?
There are a lot more images in my gallery:
http://www.alexfeldsteinphotography.com/Airplanes/2012-Miami-KMIA-Airport-Tour/27623442_p2Vgjs
Hope you enjoyed the tour. I certainly did.