Cool pics?

[davidmash]

Aurora Borealis from a 777-200

[vwnate1]

Even without the Northern Lights that's a GREAT picture ! .

[pj67coll]

That is an awesome pic. Never seen the lights. And never been in a 777. I was hoping to fly in one to London next month on American but that's not going to happen now unfortunately.

- Peter.

[davidmash]

When I worked for AA and before 9/11, we were allowed to take a jump seat ride. I flew up to ORD from DFW on a 777 and then jump seated back. It was an afternoon dept and a night landing in DFW. The capabilities of tat plane are absolutely incredible. Crew was really cool and they answered all my questions. Its a hell of a view from the front on the bus.

The other time was coming back from Europe. I was in Germany flying out of Berlin. I went to see some relatives and to see the reunification of East and west Berlin. We had non-rev agreements with other airlines and I was taking a PanAm flight from Berlin to London then AA back home. The PA flight went Berlin to Hamburg then to London. The first leg no problem...got a coach seat and settled back. Hamburg was a different story....kept moving back an back in the plane as it filled up. At the end, one of the flight attendants motioned me forward. I would have bet I was going to be bumped and have to wait in Hamburg for another flight which means I would miss my AA flight...big PIA. When I got up front on the 727, she said the captain wanted to talk to me....WTF? What did I do? He said hi, checked my ID and said to have a seat. This was in 1991 so I guess things were quite lax back then. There were 4 seats and 4 pilots...Capt, FO, FE and another jump seat pilot who was dead heading....and me. If you do the math thats 5 people. I'm looking around like an idiot trying to figure out where the 5th seat is...he pointed to the floor and the cargo net where they put their luggage. I wanted to go go, what are the odds of a seat belt actually saving my life...sure...why not. So from Hamburg to London I sat on the floor of a 727 and enjoyed the ride. Cabin crew brought me some food and it was kind of cool. Now I have a neat story to tell.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by davidmash

When I worked for AA and before 9/11, we were allowed to take a jump s I sat on the floor of a 727 and enjoyed the ride. Cabin crew brought me some food and it was kind of cool. Now I have a neat story to tell.

Times sure have changed. While I've had some really good flights I'm no longer much of a fan.. I was hoping to attend the "Clash of Empires" philately exhibition in London next month. Apparently American flies 777's PHX to LHR but it's not feasible financially right now. Pity as it's something I really wanted to see and doubt it'll be a recurring thing.

- Peter.

[davidmash]

Something you might want to look into is their mileage cards. The have 3 credit cards...2 citi banks and one Barclays. The all offer significant mileage bonuses for sign ups. I apply for one, get the bonus then cancel it, apply for the next one...etc. You can only get the bonus every two years so if you rotate through the cards one a year, you can keep getting bonus miles.

The Citi Platinum is offering 50k miles and they wave the fee the first yr. You have to buy $2,500 in the first 3 months.

The citi executive is offer 50k with $5k spent in the first 3 months but it cost $450 for a year.

Citi also has a business card which also gives a 50k bonus.

Barclays is offering 75k miles. 50k for $k in 3 months and then another 25k for $10k spent in the year..

So there are alot of free miles to be had if you work the system.

Between purchases and bonuses, we have a bit under 500k miles and we just booked 2 rt bossiness class tickets to Germany for next year ...Ms Mash is turning 60 and its out 20thanniversary.

https://cards.barclaycardus.com/banking/cards/aadvantage-aviator-world-elite-business-mastercard/

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/credit-card/aadvantage-credit-cards.jsp

[davidmash]

First untethered person in space. Bruce McCandless in 1984.

[davidmash]

Spiral galaxy as seen by the James Webb. The galaxy is about 1/3 the size of the Milky Way.

[davidmash]

Annular eclipse from space.



https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/nasa-october-14-eclipse-from-space

[pj67coll]

The annular eclipse was pretty cool. We didn't get the full obscuration in Phoenix. Only reached about 80 percent but it was still a neat experience. I took a bunch of pics thru my 6 inch telescope which was made in the mid 1970's and incredibly still functions. I just held my cell phone up to the eyepiece and snapped away. Hopefully some of them will come out decently. Might even manage to print out a small collage if I can get around to it this weekend.

- Peter.

[vwnate1]

THANK YOU for the fantastic and beautiful pictures ! .

[davidmash]

We were watching it at work. A few guys had the glasses and were passing them around to people. It was kind of strange that at about 1030 or 11, with a cloudless day, you could look out the front door and see that it was just a bit darker, in an odd sort of way. If we are on the country on Apr 8th, Im going to drive a bit east of Dallas to see the total eclipse.

[davidmash]

Funny and cool. This Baumgartner in free fall breaking the sound barrier. He jumped from a balloon at 127,852 feet and then proceeded to break the sound barrier in free fall. Dude must haul his balls around in a wheel barrow.

[Idle]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Something you might want to look into is their mileage cards. The have 3 credit cards...2 citi banks and one Barclays. The all offer significant mileage bonuses for sign ups. I apply for one, get the bonus then cancel it, apply for the next one...etc. You can only get the bonus every two years so if you rotate through the cards one a year, you can keep getting bonus miles.

The Citi Platinum is offering 50k miles and they wave the fee the first yr. You have to buy $2,500 in the first 3 months.

The citi executive is offer 50k with $5k spent in the first 3 months but it cost $450 for a year.

Citi also has a business card which also gives a 50k bonus.

Barclays is offering 75k miles. 50k for $k in 3 months and then another 25k for $10k spent in the year..

So there are alot of free miles to be had if you work the system.

Between purchases and bonuses, we have a bit under 500k miles and we just booked 2 rt bossiness class tickets to Germany for next year ...Ms Mash is turning 60 and its out 20thanniversary.

https://cards.barclaycardus.com/banking/cards/aadvantage-aviator-world-elite-business-mastercard/

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/credit-card/aadvantage-credit-cards.jsp

There is a famous story about gaming the system that involved Korean Air Lines....

A guy would go in and buy a first class ticked from Korea to Japan each morning. Then he would enjoy lunch in the First class lounge which was supposed to be fantastic. For him it was free because he was a FC passenger.

Then he would cancel his flight and cash in his ticket.

The next morning he would book the same flight, have the same lunch, get the same refund.

And he did this for fifteen years.

[davidmash]

Pics from the James Webb.

This is the closest star nursery (390 light yrs) to earth.

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex


Another nursery, this one is about 6,500 light years away in the Eagle Nebula.

Pillars of Creation from Hubble


Pillars of Creation from James Webb