Sierra Nevada doesn’t build airplanes as such, they modify them. So I wonder which airframe they’ll base this on. An Airbus kinda seems not very likely, they’ll need something large, so what else is left than another Boeing?
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FCC fines wireless carriers
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a fine totaling $200 million to the nation’s four largest mobile carriers, alleging they illegally shared access to customers’ location data.
https://thehill.com/homenews/4630564-fcc-fines-wireless-carriers/
T-Mobile received the biggest fine of $80 million, along with a $12 million fine for its subsidiary, Sprint, that the company acquired in 2020. AT&T was fined more than $57 million and Verizon was fined almost $7 million, according to the agency’s announcement.
The fines follow initial allegations by the FCC in 2020 under the Trump administration of wireless carriers violating laws by not protecting users’ location data.
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Yup. Second-hand Boeing 747-8, just like the new Air Force One1) 2) Boeing did win the contract for.
And come to think of it, there is every reason to presume that Boeing would have subcontracted Sierra Nevada for (most of) the conversion if they had won the SAOC contract. Because this is what Boeing is like now.
First off, we now know for certain what was already largely a given, that the SAOC will be based on the Boeing 747-8, the final production variant of the 747, which is no longer available to be purchased directly from Boeing. The line was shut down in 2022, marking the end of the Jumbo Jet’s long production history. So, these aircraft will have to be acquired second-hand. Just 155 747-8s were built, of which only 55 were in the passenger-carrying 747-8i configuration. This is the same type that is being converted by Boeing for use as the future Air Force One in the VC-25B configuration, which were also acquired second-hand. The four-engine requirement, among others, made the 747 more or less the only aircraft available that could meet the SAOC program’s demands.
1) Yes, yes, I know, “Air Force One” is the call sign of whichever fixed-wing airplane the incumbent US president happens to use at the moment. Even really small ones, see LBJ.
2) Originally built for, but never delivered to, a now defunct Russian airline.
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While possibly not this large, saharan dust storms are actually pretty positive things, the sand/dust helps remineralize soil throughout europe.
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And in the Amazon basin, too!
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quiets the tropics, too, reducing hurricanes in number and strength. also feeds the sargassum blooms that eventually wash up in mass quantity causing stinky problems onshore.
pro and con.
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Good point. When can you get over here and help me wash my roof windows?
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cory doctorow is at it again:
McNerney had a cute name for the company’s senior engineers: “phenomenally talented assholes.” He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.
McNerney’s big idea was to get rid of “phenomenally talented assholes” and outsource the Dreamliner’s design to Boeing’s suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn’t care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a “cleanup crew” from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those “phenomenally talented assholes” could save McNerney’s ass.
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The dusty event, nicknamed Minerva Red, is one of the largest of its kind seen in over five years.
and blown over the atlantic?
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You appear to have called it. 
(from Windy.com - Dust mass)
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What, you want to remove that layer of precious mineralization?
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Call me oldfashioned, but having windows that are clean enough to let some light in to save on candles and whale oil and clean enough to see something of the outside world is actually pretty neat.
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That’s a lot of dust. Everyone should put off trimming their nose hairs for a while
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Really?
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… says the cheery Cockney goth…
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