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Showing posts from December 3, 2023

Broken Stuff

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It seems like the last couple weeks is about broken stuff. Angie was rear ended on her way to work. The car is broken. The refrigerator also decided to croak. Trying to catch up, gain back lost ground. We have a new car, very similar to the rudely smashed up car. I had it shipped from Texas. Also have a new a new fridge and backup freezer and fridge. Spring is very sprung. The pollen seems worse that usual this year. In Atlanta we complain about the traffic and the pollen, neither one is really as bad as we say.

VLJs --- 20 years after all the hype

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20 years ago the world was abuzz with the VLJ (very light jet) movement. I got to park next to this one the other day in South Carolina. Here is an article from Wired magazine from 14 years ago indicating the demise (or morph) of the hyped VLJ. (Wired article from 2009). The plane in the picture is the Cirrus Vision jet. It probably won the contest in actually (mostly) delivering on the promise of a VLJ. The actual cost of the plane here (about 3 million USD) is way outside what the ridiculously low projected pricing of 20 years ago. But, the plane is cool for sure and is very relateable to the Cirrus piston aircraft. The cruise speed of the vison jet is 345 mph. The Honda jet cruises at 424 mph and the Phenom jet at 466 mph. The speed of the vision jet is incredible compared to my Cessna 172 at 140 mph, but the Vision jet speed is pretty much with the turboprops. (King Air 360 mph and the PC-12 at 311 mph).