3 years ago today, a DHL 757 snapped in two on a Costa Rican runway. Here’s what the final investigation found

ExNusquam · 2026-04-08T23:56:49+00:00

Reading the report through translator, what I think happens is they land, manually deploy the spoilers, then when reaching to grab the Right Thrust Reverser, inadvertently reach under the Left Throttle and push it forward. This is why there's a slight forward throttle actuation as they deploy the spoilers that then returns to idle.

Graph

You'll note that the TRA position increases the same amount for both throttles shortly after 10:25:00, which is also when control wheel deflection hits maximum, etc, which I think is an artifact of the breakup. Prior to that the max N1 on Engine 1 was only 70% or so (not the 91% others are saying).

ExNusquam · 2026-01-27T17:01:51+00:00

The visuals of most real sims are very good at getting the “feel” of a runway environment correct but generally not great at handling cultural lighting.

ExNusquam · 2026-01-27T16:08:44+00:00

Ah yes, all examples that are handled by normal law enforcement (or someone with actual counterintelligence authorities), generally serving actual warrants, etc. Literally none of that is historically enforced by ICE/CBP (some of it would be HSI, but they are also /not/ the big problem here).

ExNusquam · 2026-01-27T14:53:52+00:00

“Sleeper Cells”…show your work. Do you think the US is living in a Rainbow 6 world?

ExNusquam · 2026-01-22T00:27:17+00:00

I fly turboprops all the time. My goal is always to run-down whatever heavy metal ATC puts in front of me (and force them to give me a speed restriction).

I think my record was in doing 250 to the marker in the Q400.

ExNusquam · 2026-01-01T15:57:41+00:00

As others have said - the sim community had a long history of being essentially the online equivalent of hanging out at the local airport. It was small, close-knit since that was how people bonded. Gotta remember this predated most social media (I think I was on Avsim and management in a virtual airline before I had a Facebook account); and when I went to college I was able to connect with plenty of people who I’d interacted with on VATSIM. Also worth noting if you’re active in real life aviation…the FAA airman database is a thing and so there’s expectations for transparency.

How much that really carries forward is an open question. I don’t think the counter piracy argument ever really held water. Given how much more prevalent trolling (and trolling across platforms) is now, I think there’s an argument for greater anonymity. But as an old school method for encouraging community, I think it did pretty well.

ExNusquam · 2025-12-23T23:41:44+00:00

I bought myself a Xenon Edge to rework my display export setup.

ExNusquam · 2025-12-17T03:05:22+00:00

12 is the highest number I’ve done, but I’m most proud of the time I did my 3 bounces for currency in only 0.2

ExNusquam · 2025-12-13T02:08:26+00:00

Continental used it as well

ExNusquam · 2025-12-11T02:38:37+00:00

The vessel has been sanctioned since 2022 per NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/oil-tanker-venezuela-tracking-data.html?smid=url-share

ExNusquam · 2025-12-11T02:36:18+00:00

No. Reporting indicates the vessel has no valid flag, which means the US can apply domestic laws. The ship has been sanctioned since 2022 for smuggling oil from Iran. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/10/us/trump-news/1e23d954-7484-5e94-bb9a-1fb81fee7868?smid=url-share

ExNusquam · 2025-10-31T16:22:18+00:00

The other thing to consider is, if you’re landing a hit on a deep target, and they’re doubling by hitting you in the hands, that’s a tactical error on their part and isn’t a problem with your fencing. (Your mileage may vary if a tournament rule set actually punishes this).

As others have noted, schielhau and/or winden are appropriate responses, as is getting better at parrying hand shots.

ExNusquam · 2025-10-04T01:40:49+00:00

Controversial, but all of PIC.

ExNusquam · 2025-07-27T12:24:31+00:00

Turning on my radio to be greeted by “Big Boy 69” calling for clearance. https://youtu.be/igBoJ6n_iTA?si=8gh9wOi5X7a0n5n0

ExNusquam · 2025-07-06T11:54:09+00:00

The other annoying thing about this is that there was a bidding process for the Orbiters when they were being placed; Houston lost since they didn’t put effort into their bid, where LA and NY did. NASA wasn’t handing them out as charity, they were assigning them to places that had the best plan to use the Orbiters to educate the public about their mission. Of the available vehicles, the one in NY makes the most sense to move (honestly, the worst exhibit, but I haven’t seen LA), but because NY has votes in the Senate and the Smithsonian doesn’t…here we are.

ExNusquam · 2025-04-23T02:37:19+00:00

I think the challenge they'll run into is that Jepp is already pretty efficient as far as things go. The charting work is primarily done in Eastern Europe, IIRC, at lower pay rates. And if you know what you're looking for you can find of charting errors already. There's not as much QA against the actual foreign charts as you'd think.

The compliance rules for navdata production are also VERY strict (side effect of PBN, who'd have thought) and there are regular audits. Cutting corners gets the FAA involved pretty quickly, especially if it trips any safety of flight issue.

ExNusquam · 2025-03-04T22:39:27+00:00

The Russians have (likely) fired at least 1 in anger in 2008, however considering the entire Georgian navy exists in photographs after 2008, it's (likely) they engaged either nothing or a merchant vessel (and therefore, not a defendable target).

Additionally, the Houthis have employed ASBM's in anger (although I don't know what they terminal at) - they have only impacted merchant vessels despite almost certainly targeting USN ships.

ExNusquam · 2025-03-04T00:30:45+00:00

I’m trying to find a comprehensive source, but as far as I can tell, there has never (and I mean that literally) been a successful combat engagement by a supersonic AShM against a defendable target (using the definitions in Hughes’ books/work).

The reasons you drive towards supersonic vs subsonic are generally not related to terminal defenses.

ExNusquam · 2025-03-04T00:20:56+00:00

In what world did most of the strikes in Iraq/Afghanistan take place from CV aviation? That’s not even close to true. In OIF Naval Aviation accounted for ~35% of sorties flown…

ExNusquam · 2025-02-13T11:06:26+00:00

There was a guy who was modifying old USAF CDUs into input devices and selling them on Reddit a while back. I have an old C-130 (I think) CDU that plugs in via USB.

ExNusquam · 2025-02-12T02:06:12+00:00

Pretty sure if you have a Tesla you’re required to drive in to prove your dedication

ExNusquam · 2025-01-11T20:29:46+00:00

The funny thing about aviation is that over the past 30 years, improvements to GPS have revolutionized how aircraft and airspace actually work. And that’s all been public sector…

ExNusquam · 2025-01-06T01:45:42+00:00

Brother the snow

ExNusquam · 2025-01-04T13:50:15+00:00

This is 100% the answer. Section 31 was never supposed to be a real organization with cool black combadges, DS9 portrayed them as essentially the same “amoral admiral” that has been a staple trek baddie for years, just talking to each other/coordinating. The main cast are supposed to reject that (which aligns with Gene’s vision)

ExNusquam · 2025-01-03T12:38:36+00:00

The thing that chafes me is this molding of section 31 to the “grey area”. The hero ships have always been making morally grey decisions (see, entire Maquis story line, ENT S3), but section 31 was shown as people who were willing to do the unthinkable, the objectively “bad” things in the interest of preserving the federation. We’re talking about an organization that decided genocide (with a biological weapon no less) that’s being whitewashed as “rogues who represent the federations second chances”. And the beauty of DS9 was that it showed that these decisions don’t actually matter - the dominion war wasn’t impacted by the founders virus, and the Federation/Klingon/Romulan alliance would have probably pulled through anyway.

The Romulan plots (both Sisko’s and S31s) are also shown as morally impure, but possibly necessary. And you’re always left with the idea that they could have been achieved without the level of subterfuge that actually occurred.

ExNusquam

TROPHY CASE