Exhausted

What a week. I sure missed the Giants Monday! Going into their day off, their offense came alive, and they resembled World Beaters, winning eight games and gaining ground in both races to the playoffs. They trimmed Arizona's lead by two games to 5.5 games back for the NL West, and moved up in the Wild Card standings now 4.5 games back. Even when the Giants play their nail biting, come from behind brand of baseball that earned the moniker "Torture", the pastoral nature of the game comes through to soothe this savage beast. I needed the Giants games this week in the wake of the tragic crash at the Reno Air Races.

Watching the Media Feeding Frenzy over the tragedy is amazing. Four days out the pretty field reporters still can't name aircraft parts by their correct names! The NTSB has been to Stead Field, mapped and collected all the crash debris, and the bigwigs have already returned to DC. Latest word is the NTSB will issue preliminary findings Friday. Interestingly, investigators found several digital memory cards in the debris. The Galloping Ghost had both an out-facing video camera, and a digital data logger on board, both stored their data to the SD Cards. The data logger is an analog to commercial aviation's "Black Boxes", though with many fewer channels of data, and without a voice recorder.

Hopefully, the data on these cards wasn't lost on impact. Much could be learned from the data logger files...airspeed, engine RPM, oil temp and pressure plus GPS info. Alas this data does not include control surface data. The wild speculation of the first week aftermath won't help the Reno Air Races continue into the future, and the last of their kind Races should endure.

Changes in Altitudes
On the winter sports front, the Skiing Press seems to be ramping up. Twitter had more early snow pictures from the Alps and Rockies. Friday's Autumnal Equinox is the first day of fall, and while the TV Forecasters haven't used the phrase "Indian Summer" yet, it can't be far off. Our current Heat Wave will continue into the weekend with a slight cooling Monday and Tuesday. Forecast AFDs say another warming trend after the short chill will bring back above normal temps. Better stay Fire Safe out there!