Movie review: Air America (1990)

Thanks to Jim Bates, I ended up viewing this movie again on DVD.  I have to admit, I enjoyed the movie when I originally saw it. It actually improves on a second viewing.  On the surface, the movie is a story of an LA traffic chopper pilot, who, due to his behavior, loses his license and is recruited into flying for “Air America”, the CIA airline operating in Laos.  While fictionalized, this is a good movie.  The flying scenes are first rate and Robert Downey, Jr. and Mel Gibson have real chemistry.   The movie also stars Nancy Travis, who is the sitcom mom on numerous sitcoms.

This movie is not only worth watching, it is worth owning on DVD.

Mars is hot

At least as far as scientific investigations are concerned.  NASA just landed its fifth rover on Mars.  China is going to land their first sometime in the coming months. Even the UAE has sent a probe to Mars. (Post in memory of Mike Nofsinger)

Plastic Model Mojo Ep 32

Episode 32 is out. Give it a listen.

Starlink

SpaceX has launched another 60 Starlink satellites.  The plan is to provide worldwide satellite broadband access.  Apparently, you can already sign up to beta test the service.  It is reportedly pretty good.   In a rare miss, the booster failed to land on the recovery ship.  That booster had already flown 6 previous times.  Amazing.

I love Aggressor schemes

The folks at Nellis will be getting F-35s for an aggressor unit.  Here are some proposed schemes for the aircraft. (h/t Stephen Lee)

A win for the good guys?

Looks like the US may have succeeded in spiriting a copy of Russia’s main short range SAM system out of Libya. (h/t to an alert reader of the blog.  Thank you)

Fascinating

Thanks to Twitter, I learned a piece of history today.  I had never heard of this unit or their fight against the Fugo balloons. Amazing.

More UFOs?

Over New Mexico this time.  Hmmm.  Bob Lazar, call your office.

More from Professor Reynolds

Previously, I wrote that when Prof. Glenn Reynolds writes something,  it is worth reading and considering.  Here is another example.  He has an uncanny ability to spot trends.

Space 2021

A really nice article analyzing China’s space ambitions as well as the competition from other regional powers. If you read between the lines there are some real opportunities for the US to engage in cooperation in this arena with other non-Chinese space agencies. (Post in memory of Mike Nofsinger)