Author Archives: Pinch

This is just insane. Hollywood actor Kristen Bell goes all Woke and politically correct on…a fairy tale. Kristen Bell, the voice of Anna in Disney’s hit animated film “Frozen,” revealed in an interview published Wednesday her concerns about the message … Continue reading →

Nice shot of my old carrier, USS JOHN F KENNEDY as she turns into the wind to launch and recover aircraft.  I took this from what we called high-holding, about 2,000 feet above the carrier as we waited for our … Continue reading →

Was down at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach over the past 4 days for their annual air show.  As usual, it was a great time and the Blue Angels were the headliners, shared with the Canadian Snowbirds. One … Continue reading →

Oceana Air Show, 2006. This was the last appearance of the Tomcat at the Oceana show. The aircraft was on her last legs by now, down to only a few squadrons as she was being phased out of service. Size, … Continue reading →

I haven’t gotten really political much – or at all – on the Instapinch 2 during this reboot. That may change, depending on if I can wean myself away from that vacuous and vapid sucker-of-life-force Facebook. This particular tidbit pretty … Continue reading →

Some orange flight suit lovin’! Selfie in an F-14D during an acceptance flight during duty at the Grumman facility in Calverton. As part of equipment issue while assigned to the Defense Plant Rep Office, we were given a couple of … Continue reading →

Camelot 101, our squadron jet with CO Dan “Chopper” Chopp on the RIO cockpit rail and XO Pete “Strick” Strickland” on the pilot rail, gets loaded up on catapult 2 on JFK. At this particular point, the pilot has been … Continue reading →

Carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft (to differentiate from helicopters and other rotary-type aircraft) need a tailhook that grabs a steel wire spanning the deck to land on an aircraft carrier. Unlike a land-based field where there are 8,000 or 12,000 foot long … Continue reading →

A piece I wrote up with my thoughts on recently passed Senator and retired US Navy Captain John McCain. John McCain passed away this afternoon at his home in Arizona, surrounded by family. I never personally knew the Senator. He … Continue reading →

The Air Boss is the Almighty on an aircraft carrier, controlling just about everything aviation-related on the ship and in the immediate vicinity. This is the placard that he reads from into the flight deck/ship announcement system (called the 1MC) … Continue reading →