
These ?.jpeg?s? will give you a good idea of the damage that Hank Krakowski?s incompetence and poor judgment caused, in 1999 ? and also, why the Illinois mid-air rusty-pilot stunt-buddy crash itself, may have happened. The documents are from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ?Factual Report ? Aviation? assessing the Lima Lima stunt-team disaster that killed pilot Keith J. Evans.
Notice the way that the NTSB?s Factual Report SLAMS Hank Krakowski, specifically on its Page 1 and Page 3. Hank Krakowski is the ?number four pilot? referenced in the NTSB's Factual Report. Hank Krakowski admits to engaging in not one, not two, but three separate distractions at more or less the precise moment of impact that killed Evans:
(1) Hank took a radio call;
(2) Hank then took his eyes off of his flight-path and took his eyes off of the plane he had been up to that time following, as he says, in order to check his in-cockpit power instrument reading; and
(3) Hank then reached over to that same panel while presumably still looking at it, to adjust his power setting from some other number and value, to 25?/2500 RPM. That all didn?t happen instantaneously. And query why wasn't the power setting set correctly to begin with?
The NTSB chastises Hank The Lima Lima ?Safety Officer? below, with the Formation Flying Manual?s own text, in response to Hank?s stupid written NTSB statement. NTSB chides:
?[D]on?t take your eyes off the airplane you are flying formation on, except for the briefest of instants to make necessary cockpit checks?.
Hank took the radio call, looked at his instrument panel, and then adjusted his instrument panel... BEFORE he leveled behind the ?number 3? plane... By Hank?s own admission... And Hank turned out to be the only live witness who saw anything resembling the crash itself. The picture gets clearer.
Hank Krakowski the ?Safety Officer? screwed this one up. Not just by putting under-practiced Keith Evans in the air in an understaffed rush, and then making a late ?I [Heart] Langer? change to the already-foolhardy aerial stunt routine. Lima Lima ?Safety Officer? Hank Krakowski also screwed up the dangerous pop-top routine itself. Then, NTSB called Hank on it. (See below). Then, miraculously, Hank went on to (A) leave the United Airlines cockpit doors unlocked and unreinforced for 9/11, and (B) become COO of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Screw up. Get promoted. Then screw up again. The veritable FAA management way.
Below we learn that the Lima Lima Death ?Squadron?[sic] departed for the 10/01/99 practice at approximately 1530 (3:30 PM), and that the aircrash occurred at 1557 central daylight time ? just about 4:00 PM on an overcast Illinois late fall day. The planes, as per Hank Krakowski?s deposition testimony earlier posted to this blog, were only visible to each other in silhouette.
The ?number 2? plane flown by Keith J. Evans, a Beech-Nogle D-455 (N300SH), ?was destroyed on impact with terrain following an in-flight collision? with the ?number 3? plane (N5367G). That means that Keith Evans may well have suffered on the way down, a significant forensic fact for the purposes of the wrongful death civil litigation into which the below-jpeg'd document was introduced. Hank Krakowski was never called to account for that fact, in the litigation. Hank Krakowski slithered out of the litigation on a technicality, like the greasy self-loathing kielbasa that he is.
?Both aircraft had departed in sequence from a Lima Lima 6-ship delta formation performing a non-aerobatic maneuver called a pop top break?. Visual meteorological conditions, no flight plan. The ?pilot of N300SH was fatally injured?.
Here is what self-proclaimed ?Edgeman? Hank Krakowski, Lima Lima?s idiot ?Safety Officer?, reported in a written statement to the NTSB:
?Upon completing a normal practice, the final maneuver (pop-top, with a right break) began. All appeared normal and well flown by all team members when the final maneuver began. Upon command, I began the required climbing right turn, visual[sic] acquired #3 and dressed upon his flight path as is normal procedure. The leader radioed a reminder that we will be using ?25 squared? on the downwind so just before I leveled behind #3, I checked my power and made [a][sic] minor adjustment to 25?/2500 RPM. When I looked forward again, I could see #3 had perfectly executed the pop-top, and he was flying in line with #1. I immediately observed another airplane just above and slightly right of #3. He looked larger, so it appeared he was behind #3. The airplane was pitching up and beginning to roll left, not unlike the beginning of a barrel roll. As the #3 aircraft rolled through about 60 degrees of bank, I could see what appeared to be a broken left wing, with the section outboard of the flap bent up about 90 degrees on the #2 aircraft. As I looked ahead, the #3 airplane remained in it?s[sic] level position behind the leader. I made a maneuver to the right to clear the two planes as the #2 airplane spiraled down under my left wing??
- - - - -
We learn that Keith J. Evans ?received a second class medical certificate on March 4, 1999 with a restriction, ?must wear corrective lenses??. Given that Hank Krakowski cited a need for glasses in his Year 2002 deposition in this case (earlier posted to this blog), we now know that at least two of the 6 long-in-the-tooth pilots in the Lima Lima stunt-routine fatal accident may have been near-sighted. Given Hank Krakowski?s damning admission about checking his instruments and adjusting them at what turned out to be on or about the precise moment of impact, then query how fuzzy eyesight may have played a part in this mid-air smash-up that killed Evans.
The NTSB Factual Report continues:
?WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
The main wreckage of N300SH was found lying in a corn field with north-south rows located at the practice area. The aircraft?s fuselage, wings, empennage, and engine were found with the main wreckage which was contained in an area which was approximately 30 feet in diameter. The control surfaces of the aircraft were found intact with their respective control surfaces. The outboard section of the left wing was bent half way through the left aileron in the vertical direction and twisted along the aircraft?s approximate lateral axis? The engine was separated from the airframe? All of the propeller blades from the three-bladed fixed pitch propeller were separated from the hub and displayed bending and twisting with curvilinear scratching.
?MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
An autopsy of the pilot was conducted by the Coroner of Kendall County, Illinois, on October 2, 1999.
?TESTS AND RESEARCH
During a post accident interview, the pilot of the number one aircraft [Cherwin], stated that the pop top has been performed since 1985. There are three different ways in performing the maneuver. He does not use a videotape very often in recording practice flights because they do not have the financial resources. [Note: Even with the US$300,000 in Lima Lima income, testified to?] The narrator is used in debriefing the performance of airshows but he is not used during practice. There is no procedure, just judgment, to recover from a botched maneuver. There is also no definition of a botched maneuver. According to the number one pilot, the Lima Lima Flying Squadron did not discuss procedures for when a pilot did not acquire an aircraft that he was following; he added, they never thought of it since it never happened?
The Formation Flight Manual, 4th edition, by the T-34 Association, contains information regarding formation basic training, standard 4-ship formation rules, qualification programs and formation do?s and don?ts. Members of the Lima Lima Flying Squadron were credited in the writing and production of the Formation Flight Manual, which states under Formation Dos and Don?ts, ?don?t take your eyes off the airplane you are flying formation on, except for the briefest of instants to make necessary cockpit checks?.
- - - - -
There you have it. No Lima Lima preparation for a botched maneuvre. A ?Safety Officer? who does the equivalent of texting-while-driving on Route 80 West ? and then becomes FAA COO.
There?s more coming at you, Hank Krakowski. This time, believe me, you will want to keep your eyes focused right here on this blog on a no-less-than-daily basis. Take your eyes off it, and you're on your own, Hank. You'll miss something - again.



Read The Full Article:
http://ejectsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/09/ntsb-cleans-up-hank-krakowskis-disaster
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Add to myYahoo!A Washington Times editorial accused "safe school czar" Kevin Jennings of "encourag[ing]" a relationship that amounted to "statutory rape," by suggesting that his only response to an underage student's revelation that he had sex with what the Times described as an "older man" was to "make sure 'to use a condom.' " In fact, Jennings stated that he hoped the student "knew to use a condom" to protect against STDs; moreover, the FoxNews.com article from which The Washington Times based this claim truncated Jennings' remarks to exclude his statement that he thought to say this because his "best friend had just died of AIDS the week before."
From the September 28 editorial:
A teacher was told by a 15-year-old high school sophomore that he was having homosexual sex with an "older man." At the very least, statutory rape occurred. Fox News reported that the teacher violated a state law requiring that he report the abuse. That former teacher, Kevin Jennings, is President Obama's "safe school czar." It's getting hard to keep track of all of this president's problematic appointments. Clearly, the process for vetting White House employees has broken down.
In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.
According to Mr. Jennings' own description in a new audiotape discovered by Fox News, the 15-year-old boy met the "older man" in a "bus station bathroom" and was taken to the older man's home that night. When some details about the case became public, Mr. Jennings threatened to sue another teacher who called his failure to report the statutory rape "unethical." Mr. Jennings' defenders asserted that there was no evidence that he was aware the student had sex with the older man.
However, the new audiotape contradicts this claim. In 2000, Mr. Jennings gave a talk to the Iowa chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, an advocacy group that promotes homosexuality in schools. On the tape, Mr. Jennings recollected that he told the student to make sure "to use a condom" when he was with the older man. That he actively encouraged the relationship is reinforced by Mr. Jennings' own description in his 1994 book, "One Teacher in 10." In that account, the teacher boasts how he allayed the student's concerns about the relationship to such a degree that the 15-year-old "left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated."
The Fox Nation: "Did 'Safe School Czar' Encourage Statutory Rape?" On September 28, the Fox Nation linked to the Times editorial, with the headline: "Did 'Safe School Czar' Encourage Statutory Rape?"

Jennings said he "hope[d] you knew to use a condom" -- not "make sure 'to use a condom.' " According to audio of Jennings' comments to GLSEN in 2000, he said his "best friend had just died of AIDS the week before," so he said to the student: "You know, I hope you knew to use a condom." From audio of Jennings' statement on WarrenThrockmorton.com:
JENNINGS: And I said, "Brewster, what are you doing in there asleep?" And he said, "Well, I'm tired." And I said, "Well, we all are tired and we all got to school today." And he said, "Well, I was out late last night." And I said, "What were you doing out late on a school night?" And he said, "Well, I was in Boston." Boston was about 45 minutes from Concord. So I said, "What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster?" He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, "Well, I met somebody in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him." High school sophomore, 15 years old. That was the only way he knew how to meet gay people. I was a closeted gay teacher, 24 years old, didn't know what to say. Knew I should say something quickly, so I finally -- my best friend had just died of AIDS the week before -- I looked at Brewster and said, "You know, I hope you knew to use a condom." He said to me something I will never forget. He said "Why should I, my life isn't worth saving anyway."
FoxNews.com article promoting audio truncated Jennings' concern about AIDS. A September 23 FoxNews.com article linking to audio of Jennings' comments on Throckmorton's website purported to quote Jennings as saying: "I said, 'What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster?' He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, 'Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.' High school sophomore, 15 years old' I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.' " However, Jennings had prefaced his advice about condom use by saying "my best friend had just died of AIDS the week before." The article gave no indication that it edited Jennings' comments in any way. From the September 23 FoxNews.com article:
But a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Warren Throckmorton, has produced an audio recording of a speech Jennings gave in 2000 at a GLSEN rally in Iowa, in which Jennings made it clear that he believed the student was sexually active:
"I said, 'What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster?' He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, 'Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.' High school sophomore, 15 years old' I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.'" [Audio is available on the professor's Web site.]
Chris Wallace repeatedly cropped quotes from a VHA document to falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely. In doing so, Wallace accused assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth of lying about the advice given in the document. In fact, contrary to Wallace's false assertions, the document he referred to does not require doctors to direct veterans to what conservatives have labeled the "Death Book for Veterans." [Fox News Sunday, 8/23/2009]
Fox News presents deceptively cropped six-month-old Biden clip as new. Fox News' Martha MacCallum claimed that "after weeks of economic doom and gloom, the Obama administration is now singing a slightly different tune. Take a look at what was said in recent interviews this weekend." Fox News then aired clips of administration officials purportedly giving an optimistic view of the economy, which included video of Vice President Joe Biden stating: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." However, Biden did not make those remarks during an "interview" that weekend; he made them at a September 2008 campaign event in which he criticized statements by Sen. John McCain. [Live Desk, 3/16/2009]
Fox News personalities, led by Glenn Beck, have waged war against what they describe as President Obama's "czars" -- such as former "green jobs czar" Van Jones, Obama science and technology adviser John Holdren, and Cass Sunstein, head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs -- by unearthing and criticizing statements the officials had made in the past rather than critiquing their job performance or their credentials for the jobs they hold. Sean Hannity, for example, has declared that "my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other ['czar']."
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Add to myYahoo!In the post just below this one, I argue that having a public option in the health care bill the[...]
Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/Wl_FDH05LBE/we-have-leverage
-on-harry-reid
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Add to myYahoo!Big Pharma and big insurance hate the public insurance option even more than they hate big Medicare discounts. And although the President has sounded as if he would welcome it, political operatives in the White House have quietly reassured the industries that it won't be included in the final bill. At most, the bill would allow the formation of non-profit "cooperatives" that wouldn't have the scale or authority to squeeze the profits of private industry, or a "trigger" that would allow states to form public insurance options eventually if certain goals for cost savings and coverage weren't met.I'm not posting this to be gratuitously mean to the White House. I'm posting it because Robert Reich is someone I trust. And I think it's important that all of us have a full picture of what's going on behind the scenes.
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Add to myYahoo!The budget situation today looks hugely worse than it did two years ago. The reason for the deterioration is not that the country has suddenly embarked on a massive new round of social spending, undertaken another major military adventure or even emptied the coffers through tax breaks. The reason that the deficit situation looks hugely worse than it did two years ago is that the $8 trillion housing bubble that had been driving the economy finally collapsed and threw the country into the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
The tragedy in this story is that the collapse of the bubble and its devastating consequences were entirely predictable. Had policymakers recognized the housing bubble and its dangers, they could have easily taken measures to avert this disaster, preventing the surge in unemployment, the flood of foreclosures and the huge budget deficits that characterize this downturn.
Unfortunately, the sociology of the economics profession and economic policymaking is structured so that the voices of those who raised concerns about the housing bubble were largely excluded from public debate. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and other leading lights of the economics profession insisted that everything was fine. As a result, nearly all the properly credentialed "experts" marched in lockstep behind their leaders, also insisting that everything was fine.
Remarkably, even after this collapse, nothing has changed in the structure of debates over economic policy. Nearly every day of the week an organization in Washington sponsors a policy session on the budget deficit or other some other important economic topic and every last "expert" is among that distinguished group that somehow could not see an $8 trillion housing bubble.
This would be like hosting a session on the future of US military involvement in Iraq in which every participant had confidently predicted in 2003 that the United States would cakewalk to an easy victory. Even the Republicans wouldn't be foolish enough to host a panel like this. Yet, there seems to be a bipartisan consensus that completely missing the biggest economic calamity in almost 80 years doesn't call into question your competence as an economic analyst.
This should scare people. There is no reason to believe that people who were incapable if independent analysis before the bubble collapsed are now capable of thinking for themselves. In other words, the vast majority of the so-called experts who pontificate on economic policy are still people who are more accustomed to deferring to authority than doing their own analysis. This means that a great deal of silliness is likely to be perpetuated, just as was the case before the housing bubble collapsed.
The basic story on the budget deficit is very simple: We need badly need large budget deficits in the short term. They are the only force that can sustain demand in the economy after the collapse of housing construction and the loss of the consumption that had been supported by $8 trillion in illusory housing bubble wealth.
In the longer term, we will need to reduce our trade deficit to replace this demand, but this can only be brought about by a reduction in the value of the dollar against the currencies of our trading partners. If our budget experts had been capable of independent thinking before the crash, they would have pointed out the over-valued dollar as a main cause of imbalances in the US economy. Unfortunately, most of them are still incapable of recognizing the obvious.
The other big oversight that the budget experts commit is the failure to recognize the positive role that moderate rates of inflation can play in our economic recovery. Sustained inflation in the range of 3 to 4 percent will be the quickest way to rebuild the balance sheets of households who saw most or all of their wealth disappear with the bursting of the bubble.
Modest inflation will also help to erode the debt burden the government was forced to take on due to the housing crash. For those old enough to remember, inflation was also a major factor in reducing the burden of the huge debt that the country incurred as a result of World War II.
Of course in the long term, if we don't fix health care then the deficits will be unbearable, but this calls for discussions of health care, not budget deficits. If we don't fix health care, the economy will be wrecked regardless of what we do with the budget.
But, we won't get a more serious discussion of these issues until we have budget experts who actually form independent assessments of the economy. As it stands, the debate is dominated by a follow-the-leader crew who could not see an $8 trillion housing bubble.
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Add to myYahoo!Over the weekend, fundies and wingnuts gathered in St. Louis to discuss "How to Take Back America." And according to Mike Huckabee, one of ways to do this is to destroy the U.N. building.[...]
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http://firedoglake.com/2009/09/28/mike-huckabee-proposes-kicking-united-nations-o
ut-of-united-states-relocating-it-to-saudi-arabia/
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Add to myYahoo!The election of our first black president has brought with it a proliferation of anger and hatred among some conservatives. Many people support President Obama and his agenda, however a very loud minority is making waves. RR takes a look at what is driving the hatred that is tearing our country apart.
Misinformation / Disinformation / Propaganda
This is probably one of the largest drivers of the current hostility towards Obama and the Democrats. Dishonest politicians, divisive pundits and faux cable news channels are distorting facts to fire up the right. Many conservatives have bought into the 'left-biased mainstream media myth' and only subscribe to far right media. Some won't even take the extra step to verify info via fact check websites or other nonpartisan sources because of the paranoia right-biased media creates. Now the far right is trying to convince people that climatologist don't understand climate, scientists don't understand science and economists don't know anything about the economy. It's classic propaganda working to 'dumb-down' the audience.
Racism
Some people simply don't like the idea of an African American U.S. President. Racism still lingers in older generations and it's alive and well in various neighborhoods throughout rural and urban America - especially the South. The South seems to be where the strength of the GOP lies, so it's no surprise that the party remains relatively quiet in condemning the pundits, entertainers and politicians who promote it.
Greed
Both parties are influenced by lobbyists and corporate interest groups, however the GOP seems to favor big business. They're known for easing the regulations that protect consumers and integrating industry desires into policy. Obama and the Democrats have promised tighter regulations, more accountability and some major policy changes. A energy policy with a greater focus on renewable resources shifts focus away from oil and proposed health insurance reform may cut into the profits of insurance providers. Both industries have long and deep ties within Republican party and much of the propaganda found on right wing media is part of their effort to influence public opinion.
Fear
People naturally fear change. Of course, this was a key component of Obama's presidential campaign and he's been working hard to deliver on his campaign promises. Unfortunately, the current administration inherited an economy on life support from the previous Republican administration thus making the job much more difficult. Some like to forget this simple fact and blame Obama for listening to the majority of economists who advised swift action. Still, the deficit increase is worrisome, but doing nothing as the Republicans had proposed would have been disastrous.
I hate to think where our country will be in another year if the far right continues to stir the pot with racism, distortions and lies. Moderate and sensible conservatives should denounce some of the outrageous behavior before it's too late.
Read The Full Article:
http://www.ruinousright.com/2009/09/fuel-for-anger.html
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Add to myYahoo!The Sunday shows mostly focused on Afghanistan and Iran this weekend, but Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt (also a 2010 Senate hopeful) and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker managed to unfurl some pretty wild claims.
So to recap:
Also, according to both, the public option is a government takeover of the health care system. Put differently, they've either never heard of Medicare, or think it should be disbanded.
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Add to myYahoo!Rangel dings Obama for trying to nudge Paterson out of the governor's race. [...]
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/oxYHzzvtsxY/back_off.php
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At the 9/12 rallies earlier this month, the American Life League distributed signs declaring, “Bury Obamacare with Kennedy.” In Providence on Saturday, the late senator’s son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), commented on the signs, saying that they carried a violent message:
?Unfortunately, these town hall meetings have been hijacked by these Tea Party folks and extremists who really take away from the honest dialogue on the facts of the debate and end up seeing this issue devolve into fear mongering and the peddling of misconceptions,? he said, referring again to the sign that referenced his father?s death.
?They had mass-produced signs, ?Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy,? ? he said after the AARP event. ?It wasn?t just an individual who was over the edge in their ideology and vitriol. This stuff was mass-produced and mass-distributed and mass-funded. When you put that together with folks around the country calling in very destructive ways for other things about Obama, and connotations of my family name, it?s not a real stretch as to what the message is here.?
Judie Brown, the president of the American Life League, claimed that the over 10,000 signs distributed by the group were neither “violent” nor “insensitive.” “I believe it was extremely insensitive for his father to have advocated the death of millions of babies,? said Brown. “I don?t think what we did was insensitive.? After Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) worried aloud that today’s political climate could spark violence, five former Secret Service, FBI and CIA officers told Politico that they too were concerned that “supercharged political vitriol could lead to violence.”
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