Topic: Dailies

San Diego

Elevators? NO elevators? That cannot be! What are they thinking?

As I sat working on an article at the top of the Railroad Museum stairwell in Balboa Park, San Diego, families with children of two to five years of age, I mean children in strollers and walking, would stop at the top of the stairs and simply go into a state of dismay. "What do they expect us to do?" Unbelievable!!" What is the world coming to? They were helpless without elevators. Then there were children of two to four years in age of different families that scampered down the stairs like playing in a jungle gym. Yelling, as they descended, the little ones holding on to the stair supports, "Come on mom. Let's go see!" That warmed my heart. Sheep and shepherds.

Children car seats do not improve the longevity of a child if the child is in the rear seat when a crash occurs. The extra protection in the front seat is marginal. (Can't remember the source of this information.) The reason for most deaths of children in auto accidents used to occur when an adult was in the front seat holding a child. When the collision occurred, the adult would crush the child when the adult went forward into the dash board. Rear seat occupancy is really quite good, and if the child is properly belted, it is very good. Obviously some support is needed for infants. Also of note, at least half the time when the child is in a car seat, either the car seat or the child is improperly secured. The inconvenience of parents traveling by airplanes is horrendous when they have to transport, along with the child and a needed stroller, a car seat. It is the third checked item which can cost $50.00. Car seats are like the whole industry of low salt products. Heavens, we all know every body needs salt to function. Perhaps 0.01% of people need less salt than in normal foods. But look at the grocery shelves, a whole industry selling low salt, right next to the child car seats. Create a market, legislate the product's use or put a medical tag on it, and it will sell.

Talking about traveling. My recent flights have been 10 hour and 21 hour no-off-the plane enduros. As a result, the planes have been cattle cars in size. Today, I flew from LAX to SAN on a Embraer Brasilla EMB 120 turbo prop. Believe me when I tell you that the wheel on my wheel barrel is larger than the front wheel of the turboprop, or so it seemed to me. Earlier in the day I flew on a 45 passenger Bombadair Canadair CRJ200. When the pilot wished to descend, he did not pancake the plane so as to lose altitude without changing the pitch of the plane, a disconcerting feeling to passengers. Nope. What he did was point the nose down. While it is not true that we went into a dive, it is half true that if I stood (standing at time like this is not recommended) and dropped an apple to the floor, the apple would have hit the bulk head before it hit the floor. The whole meaning of "down" is redefined in such cases. It has been over 30 years since I could reach up and redirect the air jets. Today, I could, easily. Then again, people over 5' 10" were told it would be more comfortable for them to wait until the other passengers had disembarked before standing as they might find it uncomfortable to be hunched over for an extended time. And how neat it is to go to the departure gate, go down a flight of stairs, actually walk on the tarmac, pick one of the several planes waiting to be boarded, and then go to the stairs of the plane, seven stairs only, and climb on board with nary a check by anyone if one is on the correct aircraft. What the hey, I could have flown to SFO instead of SAN from LAX at no additional charge.

Then again, these commuter companies really do not care. I could leave PHX, fly to ORD, then to DEN, to SFO, to LAX then to SAN and it is all the same to them. An empty seat is an empty seat. Go for it bucco.

I watched a movie about fighter pilot training at the aero museum in Balboa Park. Called Red Flag, it shows the cost, the stupendous cost of our air force just to train for pilot rescue missions. It is interesting. Likely the army will spend $10,000.00 to rescue one of its own, but the air force will spend millions to rescue one of its own. The costs are beyond all imagination.

Outside the museum, it was warm. To be in the shade, I rested under a Lockheed A12 Blackbird. It was capable, when flight worthy, of Mach 3. Its 93% titanium fuselage and its dual engines and its extended overhanging front cockpit makes the bird a formidable image.

Leaving the old Ford building which is now the Aero museum, I visited the gymnasium in which some 60 years ago, I spent 5 to 8 hours a day playing badminton. Today the badminton courts are gone. There are volley ball and basket ball courts. But I know something that I'll bet not more than a hand full of people today know. I know what is beneath that gymnasium. I used to crawl under that building frequently. There are subterranean rooms down there. For many, many years all of that area has been blocked off. But if I ever wanted to hide from society, I know ways to get under that building and into those rooms. Who would ever find me? I would go out at night to obtain food and perhaps even work. Since there are shower etc. down there, I could make it my home. Interesting. Live long enough and there are things that have faded from memory of others and not known to the newbees.

This is Friday at Balboa Park. There are more children than adults

On a very professional sign in front of the aeronautical museum, the wording uses "than" when they meant "then". Eh, what is one vowel vs another?

On my way back to the merry-go-round, maintenance was being performed on the Speckles organ, the largest outdoor organ west of the Mississippi. I have listened to this organ many, many times and this impromptu occasion it was chimed, 32 footed, and ranged in expression with great finesse. What a joy to sit in the shade and have the sea breeze waft the notes into the trees and colonnade (sp).

Could I find a place with 120 volts and a chair in Balboa Park? Sounds like an electric chair doesn't it? It was not easy believe me. Those two requests do not intersect often. My computer needed the power.

My Saturday night flight from SAN to PHX flies only once a week. Airport Security would not allow me to pass because the flight was not listed on the display. Finally, after looking at my ticket, they relabeled the flight as "the mystery" flight and let me pass. The flight is on US Airways operated by Mesa Airlines DBA America West. Into what terminal does one go? On the Teleprompter, how is it listed? And this was the problem for security. They could not decipher the confusion. When I arrived at the gate, there was no one there. In about ten minutes two ladies arrived and said they were US Airways employees, and they knew about the flight. In addition, sitting on the floor was a 375 pound military man playing a video game. That was the only place there was a 120 volt outlet. He was California's extra security supplied by the military reserve. The flight was on a 50 passenger plane that had 11 paying customers and 14 non-revenues, and 9 standbys. By the way, my original flight from SAN to PHX was through SFO. That flight with its layover and airport security time was a 6 ½ hours flight. It was going to take longer to go from SAN to PHX than SAN to New York.

The security is sometimes very tight and sometimes very loose. The way to take something on board that maybe one should not is to put it in a flat state, like rolling out flour dough and then placing it on top of the laptop key board but under the closed lid closed. The x-ray sees the flour dough but it appears uniform and thus just a part of the lid. If the flour dough were something else, it would pass the same way. Also, the care about liquids is avoided by putting the plastic container in one's coat pocket or pant's pocket. The magnetometer of the personal walk-through does not pick up the liquids on a person.

By the way, we were to depart from gate 20. Being the good passenger I am, I was there 1:45 minutes early. After working on my computer for 45 minutes, I set my alarm and went to sleep. When I awoke, there was no one around me. So I jump like a rabbit and ran back up the corridor. Well Mr. 375 was a few gates away, and I knew that running would excite him so I stopped. Walking calmly I asked him where flight 2956 was departing. Of course he had no idea, nor should he. So I just went where the next group of people were standing. Sure enough, US had reassigned the gate because an incoming flight was scheduled to land using our gate 20 and that plane was gong to be detained so that our flight would have to be rescheduled for an hour later after that gate cleared, so to leave on time our flight was moved to another gate. The teleprompter still did not show the flight. Wow. Since this flight flies only once a week at one given time, even if US Airways would allow me to fly after missing the flight, I would hope they would not force me to take the same flight a week later. I made it to gate 22 and determined it was the new gate. I took out my computer and started working when without an announcement, US began boarding the flight. It was 35 minutes early. I asked is the flight were leaving early. Yes, she said if we can get everyone on board. When we boarded they did two head counts and said we will wait five more minutes for the last standby and then we go. We did. We left about 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Stay flexible and stay alert when traveling.

"Elevators? No elevators. What are we to do?. You stay here, honey, and I will find someone who knows where the elevators are." "Yes sir. Just continue down the corridor past gate 6A and on your left you will find the information counter. Ask there as they know everything. Well everything except about flight 2956 and where elevators are located. Have a good stay or flight wherever your final destination may be."