So the president is visiting USS Abraham Lincoln (whose home port is less than 10 miles from my house) today, and I’m surprised by the method he is arriving.
Keep in mind that W. used to be a fighter pilot, like his daddy and Rummy were. Anyway, he’s strapping himself into the co-pilot’s seat of an S-3 Viking while the pilot “traps” on the carrier.
Now, yes, carrier landings are typically dangerous, but this will be in broad daylight and on calm seas, and I’m sure the Navy has assigned its most veteran pilot to the mission and gone over the Viking with a fine-toothed comb several times over, but this still seems like about 10 times the risk the Secret Service usually lets the President be in. Normally, they’d chopper him and his staff in, but I can’t help but wonder if they’re all going to be holding a collective breathe out there while the Viking is on approach.
One thing for sure, this is probably going to reinforce the “cowboy” image Europeans have of him. Oh well.
Maybe he put his foot down and said, “Fuck all ya’ll! I arriving in a jet dammit!”
I agree it seems incredibly risky. Does the old addage that flying is safer than driving hold true for jets? IF so, I guess it makes as much sense as a motorcade. The difference being that 747’s do not usually land on aircraft carriers. Maybe in rare cases. :wink:
I doubt if it holds true for jets trying to catch the third wire.
I recall reading somewhere that the old adage is itself a matter of which statistics you use. It’s based on incidents per miles traveled. Since airplanes typicallly travel a lot more miles per trip than any other form of transportation, of couse they’re going to come out better using that stat. On the other hand, if you measured it by accidents per trip, then flying wouldn’t have that much of an advantage.
The advantage an S-3 has over a helicopter, though, is ejection seats. Something goes wrong and the CIC simply punches out.
Now THAT would reinforce the cowboy image… Something goes wrong on approach and Shrubya ejects and then parachutes safely onto the carrier deck…
That would be sweet. As long as Goose does not break his neck as he ejects.
[size=2]You guys and your damn plane knowledge. The lack of a decent father figure strikes again.[/size]
EDIT: Just heard on a newsbreak that he wanted to come in on an F-18, but he settled.
Yeah, cause the image of the President of the United States flying an F-18 would seem so Independence Day. But ya know, that would mean we’re probably in good shape in case Aliens Attack! Where’s Will Smith, ya’ll?
Plus, that thing about “safer in a plane than in a helicopter because the plane has an ejection seat” is a worthless piece of spin. If that were the case, why the fuck do they ferry him around in Marine One all the time? And by all reports, Air Force One doesn’t have an ejection seat or that “escape pod” that Hollywood dreams up.
In the grand tradition of Ham and Enos!
It all seems like a bit of grandstanding, dunnit?
Anybody find a news story geeky enough to report what wire the pilot caught? Anyway, he’s got to be glad he trapped on the first try.
And for hi next cowboy trick, pulling a Slim Pickens from Dr. StrangeLove.
EEEYAAA!
:)
Well, I don’t think many Europeans will fault him for taking such risks.
Noo-clee-ar combat toe to toe with the Ruskies!
The main photo up at Drudgereport right now looks like something The Onion would have ginned up a month back.
It reminds me of the way Tom Clancy often has his photo taken for book jackets with himself dressed in a flight suit, or a unit jacket & cap, or something similar. I don’t think he (Clancy) was ever actually in the armed forces, was he?
This thing seems the same. Bush was in the reserves or whatever, but never really did much of anything; now he’s trying to play Army with all the cool kids. What a loser.
The main photo on CNN, of Bush shaking hands with the flight deck guys, should be captioned “BUSH HIRES MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS TO FIGHT TERRORISM.”
(I sure wish I knew how to include images in my posts)
-Right-click on the photo in question.
-Select “Properties”
-Highlight and copy the web address where the pic originates.
-Paste that address in the body of a post.
-Highlight the web address within the post.
-Click the “Img” button found across the top of the reply section. (That should surround the web address with “![]()
” dealies.)
[size=2]Idiot.[/size] 
EDIT: Thought I should add a wink.
Didn’t do anything? Well, he went AWOL.
That’s something, isn’t it?
Obviously a publicity stunt.
That’s okay.
What’s kind of disturbing to me is the way the media plays along. MSNBC covered it live like it was a serious news event, complete with a play-by-play and an Admiral doing color commentary. I’d say it’s Orwellian but its actually quite a bit beyond anything Orwell ever dreamed up: war as sports.
If Clinton had tried this they probably would have shot his plane down, like they did to Yamamoto in New Guinae.
Caught the landing on The Daily Show’s “Moment of Zen” tonight. Upon slow-mo Tivo review, it looks like the pilot caught the 4-wire.
Tsk!
Could have been worse. A bolter with the CIC on board would have been mighty embarassing!
