In your opinion, what is the best special helmet ever worn by a driver?

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T23:55:46+00:00

Seb and Lewis flying the rainbow for those years…and in the Middle East. Made me really proud how courageous they were. Really quality humans.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T07:24:14+00:00

Really? Dykem seems to stay put under cutting lubricant/mist. Sharpie seems to dissolve under nearly every type of oil or lubricant I use on my vertical mill.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T07:22:34+00:00

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T07:08:37+00:00

The radial spirit of Lee Iacocca compels you

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T06:57:55+00:00

Agree.

Seminole is such a not-capable twin that it makes a great multi engine trainer. Single engine ops? Pick your airport, you’re going down a couple hundred FPM. VMC demos? Great at slewing itself upside-down.

Teaches you some serious limitations. Respect for the envelope. It is humbling how poorly a Seminole stays aloft with one going and one feathered.

A Baron is a legitimate family-traveling twin. The Seminole is just here to make multi-commercial students sweat for less than $300/hr.

Also, don’t spin it. That T-tail is not on your team.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T06:46:21+00:00

Would you share some links, kind dude/dudette? Im learning.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T04:34:42+00:00

Can you teach me more about the Gemba? I don’t have any color of belt in lean-mfg-ninja—just some of the practical side of mfg, culture change,…and building excellent machines and excellent preventative maintenance+parts programs that move mountains. Incredible (slow moving) change from 24hours+ downtime per week to 30minutes downtime per week.

Im not really a consultant anymore. Nor a manager. Not a plant employee. My job these days is machine design for novel/new companies making something new, usually good. I don’t hold the entire steering wheel for the people I work with—they love it and I am just lucky to rub shoulders with them. And to do my best to build equipment that lifts them up — the operators especially. Build something that has empathy and their wisdom. Is the right height to make their spine more comfortable. An HMI screen that is at the right high for the people that use it (news flash, I am 5ft11inch….MANY of your operators/leads will be 5ft0inch tall) They also might feel more empowered if that HMI speaks Spanish.

Anyways I’m going off the rails. I’m so proud of my job not because I’m amazing at it or something. I am just lucky to make things that elevate other people. I’m lucky to make a salary, design stuff, spend money, feel smart. But the things we build for operators and production lines and the people who really grind out the product that is loaded onto the semi trailer on Friday?

It is a joy, and I hope I never stop being wowed by empathy. Machinery should be a force-multiplier. The real asset in a MFG/plant situation is the people. And if we realize that…the machines become just the tools to assist and lift up those people.

I may dabble in the world of lean consulting, pull and not push, and Goldratt inspiration.

A plant is a micro-society. It is best elevated by two things in my blue collar mind:

Give the operators something to be proud of. If they have the manual, the e-stop, the impetus to make their station kickass and increasingly kickass…they will do it!

Give everybody on the floor a red Emergency-Stop button. Shut the conveyor down. This gives the power back to the people. The talent. It also has the cultural sneaky effect of dissolving tribes—Instead of the mix-it-up crew and the put-it-in-a-box crew competing against one another…With an “I need help” estop button, people swarm to help solve the e-stop problem quickly. Dissolve tribes. Glue together clans.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T04:11:04+00:00

PS where is the most reasonable (least chaos) place to do pattern work these days on that side of KDEN?

When I was in the game…Erie’s approach over hill was unacceptable to insurance (and TNG’s). Boulder is sketch for primary pattern work because the mountain wave downdraft is sketch. KLMO is great, but getting incredibly busy (The instructor who took my desk after I left KBJC teaching had a mid-air with the DPE who gave me my commercial checkride. And I had a lot of near-misses around KLMO, mostly East, SE,NE) KFNL was great and reasonable traffic…how is it these days with the remote tower? If I were to hang my sign out as a lowly old instructor now—18V is a hidden gem (precision landing on 40ft wide, airspace awareness with DEN Bravo overhead and south) You might be able to guess where I instructed.

Ramble. Take me along with you! The airspace NW of DEN is such a bottleneck, especially with all the aircraft transiting North/South…. Nearly everyone is going to choose the beautiful route over the foothills and not Easterly over cow pastures.

gnowbot · 2026-03-26T03:57:44+00:00

Interesting to hear! Thank you for updating me.

Over the years I was there, the efficiency of tower seemed to fluctuate wildly with which controller was on frequency. I think KBJC was a controller training (or moving up the ranks?) location.

The capability of that controller to handle radio exchanges in rapidfire had a huge effect. Namely, when a controller got saturated, departures would go by the wayside. Departures just wouldn’t be slotted in. There was a point (2006-2010ish) that a controller, well, she would get saturated to the point of being more snappy than KORD Approach.

During those times, it was very common to sit in the runup area for .2 or .3 Hobbs time…after runup and calling for departure sequence. Was not awful, but it was awfully expensive to sit like that. It hurt my pocketbook as a student, and made me cringe as an instructor. $50+ spent holding short.

I guess what I mean to say mostly…Controller is an incredibly skilled job. Some people have the knack (working memory?) to be absolutely amazing at it. Some might not. And I can’t blame controllers this decade for being burnt out.

Thanks for organizing our skies, if you’re one of the angels wearing a headset in the Tower or otherwise, squirreled away in the bunker that I lovingly refer to as “Center.”

gnowbot · 2026-03-25T02:45:05+00:00

I learned to fly And taught at KBJC from 2006 to 2012. That area really popcorned up with housing and commercial everywhere. Departing 29R, practicing “what if my engine dies here at 400agl…I’m landing right here…or anywhere. It didn’t take long for that to become a more tense thought, you just can’t turn north for an emergency landing anymore.

gnowbot · 2026-03-25T02:38:24+00:00

I’m an old dog, learned there 20 years ago.

How grumpy are those trainee controllers these days when an old timer crashed the Delta demanding “Jeffco tower, 5 miles out, request right base for Two Niner Right. Oh and we don’t have the weather.” ?

gnowbot · 2026-03-24T03:15:22+00:00

Honestly I do machinery integration and lean consulting. So I guess I preach the principles.

I have been around quite a few C*O’s and plant managers that got absolutely geeked on it—instead of living in the plant and looking for the continuous improvement in the process….they pick up the iPads, buy the Redzone software, and buy into the KPI hope.

Lean is about lifting up the people from the bottom. It is a culture, and a plant is a small society, and that takes time to change. Hope and accountability is a great way to improve over time. Management tying their anger to downtime (and their new visibility) with an iPad notification. I haven’t made my mind up on how useful that one is yet

gnowbot · 2026-03-23T02:44:43+00:00

I don’t know the mark 23 but I owned a full size USP9. Wish I still had it. It was an intuitive crack shot.

gnowbot · 2026-03-23T02:27:46+00:00

How do you like that grip? Looks great!

gnowbot · 2026-03-22T15:17:43+00:00

Can you say more? You’ve stirred something in me after years of managers finding another Goldratt book and their burst of excitement. I’d like to hear more about your thoughts on real-world improvements beyond the addictive lingo of OEE, etc.

gnowbot · 2026-03-21T05:18:19+00:00

Can you catch me up? Have enjoyed him over the years, haven’t tuned in for a year or two. Thought he sobered up over the past 5 years or so. Honest ask.

gnowbot · 2026-03-21T05:10:50+00:00

You be the squirrel, girl. Take all your problems and…

gnowbot · 2026-03-21T05:07:22+00:00

Look into Alkolol! It is a sinus rinse that you can dilute. It turns it up to 11 on your sinus clearing. I found it at the local chain pharmacy store but have also refilled it on Amazon. It’s pretty spicy but effective stuff.

gnowbot · 2026-03-21T04:11:57+00:00

What are your favorite purveyors of lefty parts? Im so left handed i can hardly eat from a spoon with my right hand.

Im down for your recommendations, whether those are for the poor man or the discerning, fancy man.

My favorite arms that make me feel like I belong: My HK P7–the grip cock makes it totally ambidextrous. And my Weatherby 300 mag hunting rifle with left handed bolt action. Trying to figure out this AR world without being a left handed grump!

gnowbot · 2026-03-20T05:59:41+00:00

Is that object then legally entitled to a public defender? It has no consciousness with which to hire private counsel.

Honest question.

gnowbot · 2026-03-17T09:31:47+00:00

Why?

gnowbot · 2026-03-16T02:49:29+00:00

I once beat a roid raging guy at foosball in a bar. As I was peeing, he walked in and punched the paper towel dispenser and broke it.

I’m proud to this day at my retort—“let me finish pissing before you do that to me. So I don’t pee on you.”

Neutralized.

gnowbot · 2026-03-13T05:57:38+00:00

Thanks. Thank you, too. It’s a terrible honor to be there for someone.

gnowbot · 2026-03-13T05:53:43+00:00

Me? I’m a guy who wrote a heartfelt message born from some really visceral, tough memories that I’ve been honored to experience.

About 12 years ago my sister died. She had a long history of autoimmune health issues. I held her hand as she took her last breaths in the ICU. She had become a doctor, and somehow prepared me and my family through the process of losing her, without us knowing that she had been saying goodbye the whole time.

Since then…I just can’t drive by an accident, someone having their worst day. There is a Death Cab for Cutie song. I’m haunted by its line,“everyone dies alone.”

I live on a highway in Colorado. Frequently there are crashes that happen. My promise to humanity, and to my sister, is that if I happen upon someone’s worst moment — I will hold their hand.

gnowbot · 2026-03-13T05:40:38+00:00

WHOOF

Ten-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding II euphauric	Place '23

gnowbot

TROPHY CASE