Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

“Austin’s Adventures”—A TFR Violation

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I have been very hard on some pilots who violate restricted airspace, but there’s another side to the story. While the idiot who almost got shot down over DC in May 2005 should have been punished decisively for negligence and dereliction of duty, there are airspace violations every day—and often when the pilot has done nothing wrong!

Austin Meyer, developer of the X-Plane flight simulator (which I use) and an avid pilot, found himself being escorted away from restricted airspace in the greater DC area by an F-18 fighter on Friday. This is the story of how it happened, and some of Austin’s well-reasoned recommendations to other pilots, policy makers, map makers, and others to minimize these intrusions in the future.

If you have even a passing interest in flying, give it a read!

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing

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This article is about a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll that found that 46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam—an increase of 7 percent from a similar poll taken a few months after the 9/11/2001 attacks. The poll is interesting, and probably accurate, but I disagree in some places with the article. Claudia Deane and Darryl Fears try to make it sound like gullible Americans are having their opinions of Islam affected by negative media coverage. But the media, generally, is just reporting the facts.

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Car; Speech; Data Backups; Mailboxes; Etc.

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Finally, a few moments of peace.

It feels like I’ve been running on all cylinders for a few weeks now. There’s only a couple of big things, really, and a trillion little tiny things. The good news is that I’ve gotten a lot done, and I’ve finally gotten my to-do list down to a manageable five things (it peaked recently at about 38).

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Important Katrina Distinction: ‘Topped’ vs. ‘Breached’ (and more)

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The media (conservative and liberal) have worked themselves into a furor over recently released tapes of a Hurricane Katrina videoconference involving President Bush. In the conference, held shortly before Katrina hit, Bush was warned that the levees might be ‘topped’ by the hurricane, and the president went on to assure state and local officials that the federal government was ready to deal with the impending natural disaster.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.