Free Republic

I know that some people are going to be upset because I say that I hope these Russian soldiers recover. I would like these soldiers to go home and tell their family and friends about the truth of Russia's situation on the ground. This does not mean that I support Russia's actions in any way - only that the more truth that gets disseminated, the faster the war may end.

But maybe don't drink it.In the mid-1930s, British beermaker Greene King brewed and bottled a special ale to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VIII. The only problem? That king was never crowned. In 1936, Edward surrendered his chance to wear the crown, abdicating the throne only 325 days into his unofficial reign so that he could marry American socialite Wallis Simpson. His coronation — which had been scheduled for May 1937 — was called off, his younger brother George VI became king, and all 2,000 bottles of that Coronation Ale were put into storage. Remarkably, that beer stash wasn’t...

The incident happened on October 5 at around 10:25 a.m. ET, as a SpaceX pad crew was preparing Crew Dragon Endurance for launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket. With the four Crew-5 astronauts already inside the capsule and the hatch closed, an attentive eye spotted a single human hair in the latch seal. The countdown clock had just ticked past T-90 minutes, so time was of the essence. The pad crew calmly reopened Endurance’s hatch and removed the offending strand. They performed another inspection, thoroughly re-cleaned the seal area, and closed the hatch for the second and final time. A...

CAPITOL HILL: More than a week after the Air Force halted Boeing’s deliveries of KC-46 tankers, Congress and the public learned of the latest shutdown forced by the discovery of more Foreign Object Debris in finished planes. This time, outgoing Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told the chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and power projection subcommittee, that: “We actually stopped again the acceptance of KC-46s again after Foreign Object Debris was found in closed compartments.” Rep. Joe Courtney may have been briefed before the hearing began since he asked Wilson for an update on the FOD issue, citing...

An evaluation of military space launch services revealed lapses in quality control that could compromise the schedule and performance of future missions, the Defense Department inspector general reported last week. The IG specifically called out the main contractors that support the evolved expendable launch vehicle program, or EELV, for failing to comply with standards required by AS9100 — a widely adopted quality management system for the aviation and space industries. Prime contractors United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX, and ULA subcontractor Aerojet Rocketdyne "did not perform adequate quality assurance management of the EELV program," said the Dec. 20 report signed by Randolph...

A flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou has reportedly been delayed for several hours because a superstitious woman threw coins into the plane’s engine for good luck.

But when your trip is delayed because a fellow passenger has done something really, really stupid, they’re even worse. That’s what happened on Tuesday in China, where a plane was grounded for several hours – because an elderly woman threw coins into one of its engines. The 80-year-old, whose surname is Qiu, police said, told officers she did it for good luck. Officials said she threw nine coins at an engine of China Southern Airlines flight CZ380 as she was boarding at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Eventually they were all accounted for The flight was grounded for hours (Picture: AsiaWire)...

The deadline draws closer by the hour. In New York, the band of good-government reformers, labor unions, enviros, community organizers, religious leaders, and more have until Thursday night, when the current legislative session ends, to press state lawmakers to pass legislation combating political corruption and kickstarting a public financing program for statewide elections. Standing in their way: The odd coalition of breakaway Democrats and Republicans who control the state Senate and who are blocking the public financing bill, which passed the state Assembly earlier this year and is backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Friends of Democracy, the super-PAC run by...

A New Bedford fishing company, one of the largest open-sea operations in the U.S., has abruptly closed its doors, claiming it can no longer operate profitably in the face of excessive fishery management regulation. The Northern Pelagic Group, which targets herring and mackerel, has shuttered its well-known plant on Fish Island, laid off all but one of its 120 employees and tied up its two boats, the Northern Explorer and the Dona Martita. "One of the boats is going back to the West Coast, and I don't know what's going to happen to the other one," said Eoin Rochford, NORPEL's...

Boeing Co. said Wednesday that some kind of foreign debris probably caused the electrical fire aboard a test flight for one of its new 787s earlier this month. The company said is making "minor design changes" to the plane's power-distribution panels and is working on a plan to resume test flights of the much-delayed plane.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An eagle was sucked into an engine of an Alaska Airlines jet as the aircraft was taking off from a small southeast Alaska town Sunday, causing the flight to be aborted. Seattle-bound Flight 68 was approaching takeoff speed when the eagle was ingested into the left engine shortly after 10 a.m. in Sitka. None of the 134 passengers or five crew members was hurt. (snip) The bird collision automatically shut off the plane's engine, airline spokesman Paul McElroy said. McElroy said the jet braked to a stop about 3,000 feet from the end of the 6,500-foot runway,...

LOS ANGELES — Aviation authorities say a baggage cart was drawn into an engine of a Boeing 747 as it was leaving a terminal gate at Los Angeles International Airport. .. .. a baggage cart was being towed by at the same time and the engine ingested one of the containers. The object was lodged in the outer left-side engine of the four-engine jet.

AP) DENVER Animals on the airfield are causing problems at Denver International Airport, where they can be struck by planes and cause millions of dollars in damage. Rabbits at the airport are attracting raptors and coyotes that have collided with aircraft, causing damage to windshields and wings. In some cases, animals also can get sucked into jet engines. At least five coyotes were struck by planes at the airport last year. Animal strikes caused more than $4 million in damage to commercial aircraft at DIA in 2005. "As fast as those airplanes are going, even if you have a medium-sized...

<p>CNN) -- A mechanic standing near a Boeing 737 at El Paso International Airport in Texas was sucked into one of the engines and killed Monday, officials said.</p> <p>Continental Airlines Flight 1515 was preparing to take off for Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston when "a maintenance-related engine run-up of the right-hand engine" was carried out, said Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's southwest region in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.</p>

By Gina Holt Enquirer contributor A schnauzer who escaped from a travel kennel was shot as it ran across the runway at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Tuesday night. The dog got out of its kennel, ran on the ramp and then out onto the runway about 5:20 p.m., said Ted Bushelman, director of communications for the airport. "We did everything to try to catch him," he said. "He was running toward the runway. We just can't let it out on the runway. That was our heaviest time for take-offs." Planes cannot take off when objects are on the runway...