It is possible that the IATA not expelling Russian airlines leaves open an avenue for the restoration of relations once the Ukraine issue is worked out (hopefully in favor of retaining Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation from my point of view). Don't sanctions work better when they can escalated over time until parties are forced to the negotiating table? Cutting off all relationships might do more harm than good. What undesirable benefits are there to Russia remaining a member of the IATA while sanctions that hurt are levied in other ways?

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

Ownership of anything is an interesting artificial concept. For most people, we own things because we have acquired the right of ownership under a legal structure enforced by an authority having jurisdiction. In some cases, we even get a piece of paper (real estate deed, vehicle title) that proves we own it. At the level of nation states, there is no overarching entity to supply an authority having jurisdiction to enforce any legal structure. So we have some international organizations, along with treaties (agreements between countries), to provide a pseudo-authority. When things get nasty between nation-states, the relevance of the pseudo-authority becomes questionable and ownership becomes malleable. A nation state such as Russia seizing an entire sovereign nation such as Ukraine dwarfs the seizing of assets such as Russia seizing the assets of "foreign businesses" in Russia or a country like Canada seizing assets like an airplane. As long as the seizure of assets is done acc

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

I think that many people who buy quadcopter style drones are really buying a camera platform, not a flying machine. I doubt that many of them are all that interested in trying to DIY a platform when an affordable, functional product is available for purchase.

(Written on 02/04/2022)(Permalink)

For many companies, IT infrastructure is required, not optional. The complexities of running lean/efficient operations requires constant computational support; there is little possibility of a contingency plan working well enough to justify the expense of developing, training, and maintaining such a plan. You might as well criticize management for not having a contingency plan to operate during aircraft downtime. In many industries, however, spending on IT infrastructure has been under pressure for decades, without sufficient back pressure from "close calls" to for management to achieve a measured approach to cost containment. IT infrastructures can be built to be resilient, but that takes an appreciation for resiliency and what it costs. Brittle infrastructures are cheaper with no obvious wasteful redundancies, and their deployment is encouraged by relatively high MTBF numbers for all kinds of electronic equipment. When a piece of a brittle infrastructures fails, however, it i

(Written on 10/29/2021)(Permalink)

Smaller organizations are the ones less likely to have "good" security. Larger organizations have economy of scale going for them, along with more at risk. Standard security practice is to use a distributed directory system (such as Microsoft's Active Directory) for identification/authentication, disallow (through policy and audits) the use of "group logins" (accounts with passwords shared amongst a group of users), and to have an automated process that disables a person's login credentials when they are terminated. If electronic key cards are used to control physical access, then the same automated process can block the key card as well. Smaller organizations tend to have people wearing multiple hats, a higher level of implicit trust amongst employees, and a lack of will when it comes to having and enforcing the information security policies that mitigate the risk of a terminated employee sneaking back in and causing problems (through electronic or physical access). They also ha

(Written on 10/16/2021)(Permalink)

The first time I accessed the article, I was not asked to sign up. The second time I accessed the article (after reading these comments) I was asked to sign up. Perhaps it is based on past contact or random chance?

(Written on 10/08/2021)(Permalink)

On reflection and reexamination of the picture, I am less certain of my suggestion as it looks like the props are too close to the body of the aircraft where the landing gear serves to protect them. Hopefully someone who really knows can comment.

(Written on 03/26/2021)(Permalink)

I'm no expert, but the frames look like they reach somewhat lower than the circle made by the tips of the propellers. I think they have something to do with protecting the propellers from damage if the plane is tipped to one side or the other while it is on the ground. Whether this might occur while the aircraft is parked due to high winds, or might even be a risk while landing, I don't know.

(Written on 03/26/2021)(Permalink)

Safety is almost never an absolute - tradeoffs are almost always present. I worked as a urban/suburban local route bus driver (a long time ago) - safety was number one, and drivers were immediately terminated for an avoidable accident (regardless of amount of damage), not just an at fault accident. However, we were under pressure to maintain our schedule at the same time. A driver overly focused on safety while driving in rush hour traffic could end up slipping the schedule so much that the next bus would be immediately behind the cautious driver's bus. Drivers had to try to maintain the schedule but without dropping safety below the level that could result in an avoidable accident. In these marginal conditions, policies and procedures that mandate safety practices are important; they remove the need to make a "judgement call". The person who follows the policies and procedures is (should be/must believe they are) protected from blame for economic consequences, which can relieve

(Written on 02/15/2021)(Permalink)

If a computer is going to verify who you are, you have to present something to the computer through an interface, and the computer has to have a record of you for comparison purposes, such as facial recognition data. Rather than use a facial recognition system, it is quite possible for you to present your "something" to a system that then pulls up your data including picture on a screen that the human then verifies. All perfectly touchless, but without the magic "facial recognition" technology. Facial recognition technology is a very dicey technology, and it currently enjoys considerable consumer rejection pressure. The system in question can be built quite easily without "facial recognition", and have all of the "touchless" benefits touted. My perspective is that the "touchless" benefits are being used to gain acceptance of the facial recognition technology as if the one is dependent on the other.

(Written on 02/05/2021)(Permalink)