Since I have no real-life travel photos these days, I have to explore the world virtually on MSFS. Here I am coming in for a landing and taking off in an XCub over Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Flying into and out of a small grass airstrip in Yendegaia National Park, just across the border in southernmost Chile.
Following an unknown river down to the Lago Cami, in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
Crossing the intimidating expanse of the Straits of Magellan, heading north.
Crossing a deeply weathered landscape north of Punta Arenas, Chile.
A glacier stretching down from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field near Cerro Balmaceda.
Turning past another huge glacier and down the path of the glacial streams.
The vast panorama of the Torres del Paine, in southern Chile.
Climbing up Grey Glacier in Patagonia.
Reaching the top of Grey's Glacier and beginning a steep descent down another glacier on the other side.
Perito Moreno Glacier reaches all the way down into an arm of Lago Argentino. Below it, the landscape becomes arid desert before reaching the airport at El Calafate, back in Argentina.
Taking off from El Calafate and crossing Lago Viedma, to the north, before coming down on a rough dirt airstrip near the mountains again.
Following the twisting mountain valleys in the Lago O'Higgins border region between Argentina and Chile.
Flying past a small glacial lake on my climb to conquer the pass between Cerro San Lorenzo (in Chile) and Cerro Penitentes (in Argentina).
Here comes the pass, looming up ahead. That's San Lorenzo to the left. I'm at 4,500 feet above sea level and climbing.
I'm on full throttle,
At the top (at 6,500 feet), there's a narrow gap and then a steep descent down the other side. From full throttle, I've gone to idle and am just gliding down
All the way down, down to land at a grass airstrip next to Lago Brown, in Chile.
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If I can impose on your patience, today is a two-fer. For my next MSFS trick, I'll be flying the classic British WW2 fighter, the Spitfire. But not just any Spitfire, mind you, the one-of-a-kind "Black Spit" of the Israeli air force.
I'll explain the story behind the 57 Black Spit in a second, but first, let's get this thing started. Starting a Spitfire can be complicated, and it took me a few tries to get it right.
The key is priming. You need to pump what they call the black "wobble ball", or the right, until the red light below it goes off, in order to create pressure for any fuel to flow. Then you need to pull that gold knob in and out about 5 times to get fuel into the engine to start.
A little something different today, in MSFS. Today I'm flying the Yak-18T from Vnokovo Airport over Moscow.
The Yak-18T is not to be confused with the Yak-18, a Soviet military trainer with an almost identical name. The Yak-18T is a different plane, introduced in the 1960s to train Aeroflot pilots.
Although the Yak-18T is not that much larger than a Cessna 172, it is heavier and requires a more powerful radial engine (360-400 horsepower, vs 180 for the Cessna).
The US reported +273 new coronavirus deaths yesterday, bringing the total to 602,133. The 7-day moving average declined to 256 deaths per day, its new lowest level since March 27, 2020.
The US had 14,875 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total close to 33.5 million. The 7-day moving average rose to 12,609 new cases per day.
The B.617.2 Delta variant from India now accounts for 20.6% of new infections in the US. The P.1 Brazil variant is also growing, to 16.4%. The B.1.1.7 UK variant remains dominant at 52.2%.
ISM Manufacturing Index declined -0.6 points in June to a still very strong 60.6.
New orders and production remain >60, indicating strong expansion. Manufacturing employment, however, slipped -1.0 into mild contraction at 49.9. Price pressure rose +4.1 to a sky-high 92.1. That's the highest reading since July 1979.
Companies responding the ISM Manufacturing survey in June report very strong sales, very tight supply chains, and very strong price pressure. "We continue to be oversold, based on what we are currently capable of producing. Lack of labor is killing us.”
History will have time to judge Donald Rumsfeld’s public service - which includes a lot more than his last stint as GWB’s Sec. of Defense. I too have my criticisms. But the rush to dance on his grave is a bit gross.
When Trump dies, there will be a big public debate over how and whether to honor him. That is unavoidable. But I won’t be showing joy or snark at his final passing. Nor is it necessarily the moment to say what can later be said, about his poisonous legacy.
I see death - including the death of a public figure - as an opportunity not to pass a final verdict, but to reflect on our own mortality and limitations, to quietly admire what was good and take humble lessons of our own from mistakes made or harm done.
I will always remember another conversation I had with Rumsfeld a few years later in the mid-1990s. I was in his office, visiting with a Republican congressional candidate who was asking him for a personal $$ contribution.
In the middle of the meeting, the candidate bragged that his campaign manager (me) had gone to Princeton. Rumsfeld looked straight at me, and I thought "uh oh".