Mississippi to Brazil

Cessna Caravan (PS-CNG)

Cessna Caravan stopping by the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean on its way from Mississippi to Brazil.

Waypoints on the way south

Cessna Caravans have showed up here a couple of times.

We've flown to Brazil (virtually) a couple of times as well.

Lightning

Cessna Grand Caravan EX

FlightAware reports that the Rawanda military is getting a couple of Cessna Grand Caravans. Not quite sure who is paying for them but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the CIA since they are going to be equipped "with secure High Frequency and Ultra High Frequency radio systems, Night Vision Imaging System, . . .".

Then we have a photo of another Cessna Grand Caravan:

 Cessna C-98A Grand Caravan

The Grand Caravan looks unbalanced - too much fuselage in back of the main wing. The engine must be very heavy in order to balance the weight of the cargo. The fuselage itself doesn't count for much, it's built like a beer can.

Is this the same aircraft? No, this one is from Teresina, Brazil. Teresina? Where the heck is that? I've never heard of it. Northeast Brazil:

Teresina Brazil

I read a book about the area but I don't remember Teresina being mentioned, but it maybe it didn't exist in the book's timeframe. Well, let's see what ye olde Wikipedia has to say:

Teresina is the hottest city in the country and the third city with the major incidence of lightning in the world.

Global map of lightning frequency--strikes/km2/yr.

I seem to remember that there are a couple of lakes in Venezuela that are subject to a great deal of lightning. Wikipedia confirms.

All this talk about lightning reminds me of an old tune:


Lou Christie - Lightnin Strikes Again - Live - The Midnight Special Godslove66

Update October 2020 replaced missing Lou Christie video.

Update November 2021 replaced missing Lou Christie video.

Update June 2023 replaced missing Lou Christie video.

Float Plane

Qatar Airways Cessna Caravan

I don't particularly like the Cessna Caravan, it's kind of ungainly. It isn't sexy or pretty or fast or cool, but people all over the world use it.

Cool Custom Cessna

Ottawa, Canada, October 22, 2014. C-FSUJ Cessna 208B Grand Caravan equipped with surveillance equipment. Note the long exhaust pipe to prevent interference with the sensor payload. The airplane belongs to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was called out in response to a shooting at the Canadian War Memorial. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Because Jack is working at FLIR and John is flying a Cessna these days. And because I never thought I would see Lakes Pipes on a Cessna. Lakes Pipes:

1. Named for their use on the vast, empty dry lake beds northeast of Los Angeles. - Wikipedia
2. Yup. they would run the exhaust through the mufflers for normal street driving, then when they got to the lakes they would take the caps off the 'lakes pipes' and run open exhaust. The custom guys started running them later, most of the time they were not hooked to the rest of the exhaust system as this will discolor them and can burn your legs when getting in or out of the car. - Jalopy Journal

Delivery

FedEx MD-11 and Cessna Caravan in Phoenix

Delivery trucks are a common occurrence on our street. Seems like you can't be outside for more than a few minutes before either a UPS or FedEx or DHL delivery van shows up. This got me to thinking that these guys might be able to save some money if they pooled their talents, but I suppose that would take some of the edge off of the competition that makes their service so popular. It would also add another layer of bureaucracy and that's never a good thing. So the current arrangement will continue as long as the deliveries don't get so frequent that they start getting in each other's way. I can just imagine things getting so congested that delivery men start pushing and shoving and then we get tempers flying and the next thing you know we've got a small scale riot in suburbia.

Posthip Scott sent me this pleasant little story from The New York Times about how everything got delivered back in the good old days. I remember milk, newspapers and oil were all delivered to our house when I was a kid. Many houses still use oil, and it's still delivered by truck.

Why did things change? Because more people got cars? Towns got bigger? Everyone wants cheaper prices? Or maybe people just like their new cars so much they would use any old excuse to go for a drive. Crazy.

You can still get the newspaper delivered if you are willing to shell out the money. The local paper would cost something like $40 a month to get it delivered everyday and I'm too cheap to pay that much. At the last rate increase I changed to Sunday only, or at least I tried. Seems you can't get Sunday only service, the best you can do is Sunday and Wednesday, which costs something like $20 a month.

I still like to have a morning paper to read with my breakfast. That will continue until we remodel our kitchen so that every seat at the kitchen table has it's own HD display screen. I haven't come up with an arrangement that would allow you to have an unobstructed table for food (unobstructed so it is easy to clean), and a bunch of HD displays that you don't have to carry around with you. Yes, I know, everyone has a smart phone these days, well, everyone but me. I refuse to use a tiny screen. I spent my entire life wanting a bigger display and I am not about to start using a tiny screen. That's just bullshit.

Newspapers are fairly low resolution, like 100 pixels per inch, but when the paper is better than two feet square, that adds up to some serious display power. Holding up a full sheet lets you scan the whole thing quickly. Folding it up lets you concentrate on what you want to read without obscuring your breakfast, and when you are done you can throw it away. I'm sorry, smart phones are just fancy gee-gaws, more trouble and expense than they are worth.

Yesterday while I am working on my truck a woman drives up, gets out of her car and carries a package up to the house. She's delivering for Amazon using her own car. The package? Instant coffee. I'll be durned.