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Posted on 08/07/2005 4:29:08 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
This article was translated from German to English by Babelfish.
Here is a link to the translated article.
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These systems are just entering service on military aircraft. This technology can't cross over to civil aviation soon enough.
He said it, I didn't.
Yep...here we go again...
"SUVs should be equipped with roof-mounted swivel twin fifties.."
Now that would get me to buy a SUV.
Sheesh.
Good to see Congress doesn't have more important things to vote on. Everything must be hunkey-dorey in the world.
During Viet Nam that's about all the B52s had.
Exactly - any plane with capacity above 400 seats and with the model name starting with letter "B" will have to get it :)
I wonder if that is because the system to that task is a US based system. Thus the EU crown jewel builder would have to buy USA parts.
A GP7200 engined A380 has about 50% US made parts by value.
Why leave those of us who like good-handling sports cars out of the mix? :-)
More stupidity from a congress that doesn't understand economics or logic, just knee jerk BS and regulations.
Courtesy of Mike Boyd's Aviation Hot Flash
http://www.aviationplanning.com/asrc1.htm
Mica Strikes Again
You Airlines Better Buy US-Made, By Golly
Speaking of security, there was an interesting news story involving the very congressman whose committee is responsible for oversight of the TSA. Apparently, he believes that there are other areas that need to be made safe from foreign invaders.
In this case, it's our airliner manufacturing industry. Which, by they way, now consists mostly of Boeing, Boeing, and, of course, Boeing.
John Mica (R-FL) is one of those politicians who has a gift for substituting bluster, blather, and great one-liners for hard results. Mica is like a '57 Chevy with no muffler and a chromed-up six. All show and very little go.
He's been outspoken about the failures of the TSA, but hasn't done anything to hold the agency or its leaders accountable. To the contrary, in front of the C-Span cameras he does a great impersonation of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, standing up for all that's good and right, and tearing into the TSA. But in other venues, he actually praises the clowns running the agency. And he has never demanded anybody at the TSA be fired.
Now, Let's Buy American, Even If It Isn't. But the good congressman also wants to be known as the guy who stands up for the American aircraft industry.
This past week, one of Mica's greatest legislative triumphs finally became law. He put a provision into some legislation requiring US airlines to "reveal" to passengers where the airplane they're sitting on was built. In fact, according to news reports, this vital information must be located on the emergency procedures card in every seat-back pocket. Right next to the barf bag.
What a comfort this will be to the passenger trying to get to the nearest exit in an emergency. You can just see the lively repartee as people scramble to the doors... "Gee, Marge, doesn't it feel so patriotic that we've crashed in an American-made airplane!..."
Mica's intent, probably, was to shame airlines like United and Frontier and jetBlue from buying any more of them furrin-built airplanes. Oh, the embarrassment those carriers must feel, now that they gotta reveal that that A-320 was built in, eek, France! Or the A-319 came from some Third World plant in, yuck, Germany.
John, We'd Like To Invite You To Visit Reality. Mica really needs to get out more. Like into the real world. He's obviously totally unaware that we're now in a global economy.
Let's take a look at Boeing's latest offering - the 787 Dreamliner. Let's go the whole route, and reveal where the plane was really built. Not where it was screwed together, but where the thing was actually constructed from bare metal. (Or in this case, bare metal and lots of composite stuff.)
Surprise to Mica. Guess what, the 787 ain't no All-American, baseball-and-apple-pie made-in-the-USA product.
The fact is that building an airliner is no different than other products in today's global economy. A laptop computer, for example, may have components that, when taken all together, may represent over a hundred border crossings. The cooling fan may have been made in Taiwan, but the assembly it's attached to is made in Mexico, the plastic case it gets installed in comes from China, the final assembly is in the Philippines, and the packaging and shipping of the completed unit is in the US.
So, where is the thing "made?"
If the the intent is to identify which is the country of origin, there isn't one. Neither is there such a thing in regard to an airliner. Somebody ought to tell that to Rep. Mica before he attempts any more legislative high jinks.
Is This What Congress Is Concerned With? It's time for a drug test when a congressman wastes the time and energy to a) contemplate such stupid legislation, b) goes through the motions to insert the provision, c) gets the FAA involved to waste time assuring compliance, and d) is actually proud of such jingoistic nonsense.
The whole thing is the legislative equivalent of writing stuff on the mens room wall.
Perhaps it's no coincidence that on Mica's website, under the page containing "Accomplishments In The 109th Congress," it simply says "Under Construction."
Indeed it is.
Injecting more cold reality into this nonsense, Mica might be distressed to know that even the final assembly of America's newest airliner isn't an exclusive red white and blue affair. For example, that big plant in Wichita - you know, the one that built B-29s in W.W.II, and where major parts of the 787 will be glued together - well, it's now Canadian-owned.
The cost to the airlines to comply with Mica's grand legislation was just over half a million bucks. That's according to the FAA, who we trust will be doing random checks of seat-back pockets to make sure no airline is trying to hoodwink the public.
Yessir, airlines are spending $500 large to put another tidbit of information on airplanes that will have absolutely no utility value whatsoever.
Kinda like Mica and his committee - on both sides of the aisle.
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