The San Francisco Citizen

October has arrived, so it’s time for another Fleet Week in San Francisco. What’s Fleet Week?

Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, the crews can enter the city and visit its tourist attractions. At certain hours, the public can take a guided tour of the ships. Often, Fleet Week is accompanied by military demonstrations and airshows such as provided by the Blue Angels.

O.K. then. See some photos of Fleet Weeks past and also this weekend’s schedule below.

Alcatraz. Click to expand:

An F-86 with an F-15:

The Snow Birds will also come back in 2008:

Fisherman’s Wharf:

 SATURDAY, OCTIOBER 11, 2008:

11:30am-12:30pm
Parade of Fleet Week Ships

12:30pm-3pm

Blue Angels

Air Show

3pm-4pm

11am-4pm
“Festival at the Fort”
Fort Mason

1pm-3pm
Rockin’ at Ghirardelli Square

4pm-7pm
PIER 39 Music Festival

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008

11am-4pm
Ship Tours

 12:30pm-3pm
 Air Show

 3pm-4pm
 Blue Angels

 12:30pm-3pm
 Italian Heritage Day Parade aka Indigenous Peoples’ Day, aka Columbus Day

 11am-4pm
 “Festival at the Fort”
 Fort Mason

 1pm-3pm
  Rockin’ at Ghirardelli Square

  4pm-7pm
  PIER 39 Music Festival

See you there! 

This year’s sponsors:

SAAB

The Air Show Network

Consulate General of Canada

Geico

Team Oracle

Lucas Oil

Virgin America

KSFO 560 AM

The San Francisco Examiner

CW Bay Area

Military.com

Pier 39

Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco

Fort Mason Center

Doubletree Hotel
San Francisco Airport

Black Diamond Brewing

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

Signature Flight Support

Argonaut Hotel

Ontario

TransCanada

Port of San Francisco

San Francisco Marina

National Park Service

San Francisco
International Airport

Seven Hills Group

Whenever I’ve visited the Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel in Union Square at 609 Sutter Street, I’ve pretty much only seen gaggles of besweatered Junior Leaguers or suited-up bidnessmen having some event upstairs.

So I forgot about the Marines’ Memorial Association’s main function: letting active duty personnel stay in a nice hotel in Union Square for dirt cheap.  

Click to expand:

One of the many ways Marines’ Memorial Association supports our troops is by providing complimentary membership to all Currently Serving members of the US Armed Forces who apply in person at the club. In addition, our currently serving member leisure rates are $69 Sunday through Thursday and $89 on Friday and Saturday. Based on availability . 

Currently Serving members of all branches of the US Armed Forces , guard and reserve are encouraged to participate in this program by contacting our membership and hotel reservation departments at 1-800-562-7463.

Look what popped up on the website of the U.S. Army last week.  

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addresses the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division during their deployment ceremony Sept. 10, 2008. Gov. Palins’ son is one of the Soldiers deploying.”

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Willard E. Grande. Click to expand

What a long strange trip it’s been!

College can take you anywhere, if you study hard enough.

A stealthy U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin / Boeing F-22A Raptor fighter out of Elmendorf Air Force Base intercepts an extremely unstealthy Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. (This photo was not released at that time.)

Under the serious moonlight, click to expand:

The pricey Raptor program ($138 million each) had a few teething problems last year. One of which was a computer failure affecting multiple aircraft brought about by merely flying over the International Date Line.

Per Maj. Gen. Don Sheppard: 

At the international date line, whoops, all systems dumped and when I say all systems, I mean all systems, their navigation, part of their communications, their fuel systems. They were—they could have been in real trouble.

Them computers.

Say what you will about Chicago-based (and formerly Seattle-based) Boeing Company’s ability to field a competetive replacement for the U.S. Air Force’s (basically) obsolete KC-135 air tanker fleet, but it sure knows how to kill a contract it doesn’t like.  

There’s no question that continuing production of the 767 would be good for Boeing and its workers, but would that be good for America? That’s the question of the day. Of course Boeing could rework the popular 777 or (soon to be popular, despite what Dan Rather says) 787 into a tanker, but those planes are selling well these days. If the best reason to buy the KC-767 is just to employ Boeing workers then that smacks of corporate welfare, does it not?

Yet another aging Boeing 767 put out to the boneyard. Now it might make sense to buy one used and fly it around as a wide-bodied corporate jet, as the founders of Google do, but what’s the logic behind cobbling together a new 767 FrankenTanker or modifying a 767-400? Click to expand:

via the Photostream of Danny McL

Now back in 2004, Senator john McCain:

“…intimated that Boeing’s problems were its own making, referring to last month’s guilty plea by former Boeing executive Darleen Druyun, who admitted talking to Boeing about a job during the time she served as an Air Force negotiator on the tanker proposal.

“I’m sure it was Airbus that motivated Ms. Druyun to negotiate with Boeing for a job. I’m sure they were behind that. I think it’s hilarious.”

Is the only way out of this mess a compromise deal where EADS gets half the contract and Boeing gets the other? Stay tuned.

Well, despite the naysayers and against the odds, the General Accounting Office has just determined there were “significant errors” in the process used to pick the best replacement for the Air Force’s aging KC-135 air tanker fleet.

Or course, the boys and girls in blue still want the Airbus 330-based Northrop Grumman KC-30 / KC-45 instead of the Boeing 767-based KC-767. But Boeing has its supporters, like the Center for Security Policy, various Senators, and others, so things will get delayed some more. 

Feel free to take a long drink of Kool-Aid from Family Security Matters, but don’t expect them mention stuff like this or this. Heavens no.

Let’s all agree any KC-X proposal will be a big improvement over the existing KC-135 Stratotanker, the newest of which is 43 years old.

If Boeing had a newer design that was closer to the size of the A330, then things might be different. One of their employees makes some points about this here. Why not just use the newer 777? It’s too big? Or maybe it’s too popular? It sure would be nice for Boeing if they could pull off rigging up a 767 Frankenplane to sell to the U.S. military and then keep the 777 for the civilian market, wouldn’t it?

Boeing folks seem to think they know more about what the Air Force wants than the actual Air Force itself. Oh well.

The longer this replacement program gets put off the worse things get, if anyone over at Boeing cares.

Based on laughable press releases like this, they might not care.  

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1822838820080318?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 

Boeing Co. voiced great confidence on Tuesday about winning back longtime girlfriend Becky from European archrival Lars. Boeing told friends he was “as confident as I can be” that “everybody” would find fault with Becky’s choice of the handsome German-French exchange student as her new steady.

On March 10, Chicago-based Boeing said in emotional letter to Becky’s mom that the romantic competition had been skewed against him. In an edited summary of his 3000-word email provided to reporters on Tuesday, Boeing said Lars was a much riskier choice than the tried-and-true Boeing.

In picking Lars, Becky misused her own selection criteria, disregarded Boeing’s dancing skills and breached the rules of romance, Boeing told as many Becky’s classmates as he could find during lunch period.

The result was a relationship “that is fundamentally unfair not only to Boeing, but Becky herself,” the protest summary said.

Despite his stated confidence in reversing the outcome, Boeing, in an email chat with classmates, said he faced an “uphill battle” to persuade Becky’s close friends, who have until P.E to make a recommendation to Becky.

“I think the best I can hope for is another shot” at the competition, he said, referring to a possible re-run of all or part of the love triangle to correct alleged flaws in Becky’s selection process.