Matthew Kane

American Airlines DC10 from Chicago to Los Angeles when I was a kid. What a beautiful Shiny Aircraft that was My second choice is the Air New Zealand 747-400 back in 1986 from Los Angeles to Honolulu to Auckland then Sydney. Took a long time but I was using my fathers air miles so it was a free flight

Sad day. One wealthy dude that also did a lot of good with it, He also loved Aviation and had the money to do a fantastic collection and museum. RIP Paul Allen https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/microsoft-co-founder-paul-allen-dies-of-cancer-at-age-65.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_%26_Combat_Armor_Museum

Jaw Dropping. Seriously I remember when I first saw Flight Sim 2 by Sublogic and it Was Jaw Dropping, we take things for granted today Back then we had the addition of the most powerful graphics processor ever......IMAGINATION. That was how we filled in the blanks was in our heads

3. Halifax, because Maritime Canadians are amazing 2. Vancouver, because they have an amazing aquarium, great view of the city and mountains, and are very friendly overall. 1. Auckland, because when you get home from a long flight everyone treats you like a human being from the Border Patrol all the way down. Kiwi's know how to treat people better then anyone. Last time I arrived in Auckland with my partner and our baby from LA the border patrol just took one look at us and said "Boy you look happy to be home" and stamped our arrival cards. I can't think of any other country that treats people this way (like humans). New Zealand is the best. 😎

Not today, I am all for peace. I have 2 daughters I am raising and I want the best for their future, and everyone else. But if it came down to it I am on the side of domestic production inevitably winning a war as the backbone of the war effort. I started as a mechanical engineer when I was 18 years old. I am now 48 years old and over those 30 years watched majority of productions lines I ever worked relocate overseas. Not good when you need to kick start war production. Back in 1940 the USA was very industrialized, they could convert factories for the war effort. Today you can't convert call centers or Walmart's into factories to make F-35's, this is the difference , and it is a substantial difference compared to 1940 when people actually new how to make things.

Yes the Russians get a bad reputation sometimes but when it comes to the Soyuz System, I would call it the B737 of rockets. Soyuz first launch 1966 Boeing 737 First Flight 1966 Soyuz now in its fourth generation design, Boeing 737 now in its fourth generation design Not sure how many Soyuz launches to date but it would be in the hundreds by now, but by far more launches then any other rocket, just like the 737 has far more flight cycles then anything else. Like the 737 it will be decades before anything else can catch up, if ever. Also like the 737 it is the most successful and safest launch vehicle to date. If you never had an appreciation for old Soyuz before you should rethink that

My brother and I used to work for the same company back in the late 80s and 90s, our boss over there was Alex who was an old guy from Austria. He was a short and very loud man with a very strong accent and very outspoken. Their was a flight delay due to a thunderstorm so my brother and Alex went to the lounge to wait and my brother was sitting in a plush chair when John Mahoney (the father from the TV show Frasier) came over asked if anyone was sitting their and my brother said nope. Two of them started talking and killing time when Alex came over and said "Who's your friend?" and my brother said this is the guy from Frasier. Alex looks him over and says very loudly "HEEEEeeeyyy I didn't recognize you without your dog". I think John almost fell off his chair seeing Alex, he had that kind of impression on people. The other joke we used to play on Alex was when he got a phone call we used to say, "Hey Alex, Line 1, its long distance" and wait for him to run to his office and yell into the phone "Heeeey this is Alex, Can you hear me?" That used to make us laugh every time.

At the end of WW2 how many aircraft were the allies capable of producing in a day? How many F-35's do you honestly think they could produce in a day if they had to ramp up production for a war effort? Yes I agree with Kevin the Sherman's were far more inferior death traps but at that time they didn't have much choice, they had to turn the balance by producing in volume and not by matching capabilities. This is why I don't like the F-35's as a future fighter, because when it comes down to it, it will perform exceptionally well at the outbreak of war but inevitably fail when an advisory finds a simple vulnerability that easily takes them out, and they won't have a fighter that could be produced in the 100's daily that will be required to keep up with war production from overseas. They could keep the F-35's as a great toy to show off but they also need a cheap and nasty fighter to back it up. At that start of WW2 the Japanese biggest worry was they wouldn't be able to keep up with the US War production, they were right about that. A future war the US won't be able to keep up that sort of production with the type of hardware they want to produce. This is what I find worrisome about the future is overseas production will vastly outnumber the USA's capabilities, this is why the F-35 is a failure in my POV.

But all this high tech puts the USA in the same situation that Germany was in at the start of WW2. They had all the high tech but inevitably lost against mass production. U-Boat was the most advanced equipment at the time, easily lost to the Corvettes that were cheap and nasty and produced at a much higher rate, no where near as advanced but easily beat them. Sherman Tanks had a loss rate of 4:1 against the Tigers but the production rate was significantly higher then that. It didn't matter that they loss 4 to ever tiger because the Germans couldn't make those Tigers fast enough Gulf war wasn't a large scale war but if a large scale war was to happen again. Those other places in the world that are currently producing the bulk of the worlds goods will convert to war production and will vastly outnumber the USA by producing at a much faster rate. Also the USA is only 4.4% of the worlds population, and not very good and mass production anymore. A little bit of High Tech won't be enough to keep up. Hopefully it doesn't come to this in my lifetime but I wouldn't bet on High Tech when it comes to Large Scale War.

All new aircraft have teething, remember the F-22 was grounded as well leaving Alaska being defended by the Canadian CF-18's for a while there. F-35 is going to have even more teething problems. That said I was never a fan of overly high tech. It is the Cheap and Nasty's produced in high volume that will always win the war. F-35 will be useless against mass production of an advisory fighter with a faster production time, and higher numbers of them It was the same with the Sherman Tank vs the Tiger Tank. High tech will always lose against mass production

Trusty ole Soyuz

180 km/h or about 115 mph at my old house in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia (Hurricane Juan). I stood behind the house in the storm and stepped to the side of the house to stand in it to feel how powerful that was. When you stand behind your house it is kind of like driving with your windows down and sticking your hand out the window, only you are sticking your hand out of the side of the house. Get a feel for it and step out into it and lean into the wind. If the wind blows you over roll back behind the house again. Sounds crazy but when you are full of adrenaline you do stupid things. That old house was built in the 60s and was solid brick, survived every hurricane throne at it over the decades so not going anywhere. I loved that house.

1. Tora Tora Tora 2. Airport 1970 3. Airplane Lady: Nervous? Ted Striker: Yes. Lady: First time? Ted Striker: No, I've been nervous lots of times.

Shame about the DC-10, had a bad reputation from the start when really it was an exceptional aircraft for its time. Still flying today and looks great for its age

It is not that people don't appreciate what they do, it is that outside the USA it is not as much acknowledged in public but people still appreciate it all the same. I've lived in Canada, USA and New Zealand, you are more likely to enjoy your anonymity in Canada or New Zealand compared to the USA, and some people just prefer it that way.