#AIRCRAFT AND ADVENTURE FACTORY

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[c1qfxugcgy0]

adventures in QA

(previous post in this series)

My shop in Advanced Midbody - Carbon Wing (AMCW) at Large Aircraft Manufacturer (LAM) is at the very end of the composite fabrication building. Hundreds of people carefully lay up a hundred foot long slab of carbon fiber, cure it, paint it, and then we totally fuck it up with out of spec holes, scrapes, primer damage, etc. The people who write up our many defects are from the Quality Assurance (QA) department.

Every single screw and rivet on a LAM aircraft can be traced back to the mechanic who installed it. Back when even everything was done in pen and pencil, it was joked that the paper used to produce an aircraft outweighed the plane itself. Now that everything is computer-based, of course, the amount of paperwork is free to grow without limit.

(Haunting the factory is endless media coverage of an emergency exit door plug popping out of an Advanced Smallbody - Upengine (ASU) plane during a routine flight a few months ago. Unlike that airframe's notorious problems with MCAS, this was a straightforward paperwork screwup by a line worker: the bolts were supposed to be tightened, and they weren't.

As a result the higher ups have visited hideous tribulations on non-salaried workers. Endless webinars, structured trainings. Here at the Widebody plant we have received a steady flow of refugees from the Narrowbody factory, hair-raising tales of receiving one hundred percent supervision from the moment they clock in to the second they clock out from FAA inspectors who can recommend actual jail time for any lapse in judgement.)

A single hydraulic bracket Installation Plan (IP) is around four brackets. The team leads generally assign two bracket IPs per mechanic, since each bracket set is something like a foot apart, and while working on the plane is bad enough it's much worse to have another mechanic in your lap.

Let me list the order of operations:

One: Find where you're supposed to install these brackets. This is harder than you might think.

Firstly, it's a hundred foot long plank of carbon fiber composite, with longitudinal stringers bonded to it to add stiffness. The stringers are pilot drilled in the trim and drill center, a truly Brobdingnagian CNC mill that trims off the composite flash at the edges and locates and drills part holes for us. But there's a lot of holes, so you must carefully find your set.

A minor difficulty is that the engineering drawings are laid out with the leading edge pointing up, while the wing panels in our cells hang from the trailing edge. Not so bad, you just rotate the paper 180 when orienteering, then rotate it back up to read the printed labels.

A major difficulty is that the drawings are from the perspective from the outside of the panel. But we work on the inside of the wing (obviously, that's where all the parts are installed) so we also flip the drawings and squint through the back of the paper, to make things line up.

Large Aircraft Manufacturer has a market cap of US$110 billion, and we're walking around the wing jig with sheets of paper rotated 180 and flipped turnways trying to find where to put brackets.

Oh well, we're paid by the hour.

Two: Match drill the aluminum brackets to the carbon fiber composite stringer. I can devote an entire post to the subtleties of drilling carbon fiber, but I can already tell that this post is going to be a miserable slog, so I will merrily skip over this step.

Three: Vacuum up all the carbon dust and aluminum swarf created during this process. This step is not optional, as your team lead will remind you, his screaming mouth clouding your safety glasses with spittle at a distance of four inches. LAM is very serious about FOD. Every jet airliner you've ever ridden in is a wet wing design-- each interstitial space is filled with Jet A. There is no fuel bladder or liner-- the fuel washes right over plane structure and wing hardware. Any dirt we leave behind will merrily float into the fuel and be sucked right into the engines, where it can cause millions in damage. No place for metal shavings!

If you are nervous about flying, avoid considering that all the hydraulic lines and engine control cables dip into a lake of a kerosene on their way from the flight deck to the important machines they command. Especially do not consider that we're paid about as much per hour as a McDonalds fry cook to install flight-critical aviation components.

Four: Neatly lay out your brackets on your cart, fight for a position at a Shared Production Workstation (SPW) (of which we have a total of four (4) for a crew of thirty (30) mechanics) and mark your IP for QA inspection as Ready To Apply Seal.

Four: Twiddle your thumbs. Similarly, we have three QA people for thirty mechanics. This is not enough QA people, as I will make enormously clear in the following steps.

Five: Continue waiting. Remember, you must not do anything until a QA person shows up and checks the box. Skipping a QA step is a “process failure” and a disciplinary offense. From the outside, you can observe the numerous QA whistleblowers and say “golly, why would a mechanic ever cut a corner and ignore QA?” Well...

Six: QA shows up. Theoretically, they could choose to pick up the mahrmax you prepared for them and gauge every single hole you've drilled. But since we're three hours into the shift and they're already twenty jobs behind, they just flick their flashlight across the panel and say “looks good" and then sprint away. Can't imagine why our planes keep falling out of the sky.

Seven: Apply the seal to the bracket. P/S 890 is a thick dark gray goop that adheres well to aluminum, carbon fiber, fabric, hair and skin. Once cured, it is completely immune to any chemical attack short of piranha solution, so if you get any on yourself you had better notice quick, otherwise it'll be with you as long as the layer of epidermis it's bonded to. LAM employees who work with fuel tank sealant very quickly get out of the habit of running their hands through their hair.

Eight: Now you wait again. Ha ha, you dumb asshole, you thought you were done with QA? No no, now you put up the job for QA inspection of how well you put the seal on the bracket. Twiddle your thumbs, but now with some urgency. The minute you took the bottle of seal out of the freezer, you started the clock on its "squeeze-out life." For this type of seal, on this job, it's 120 minutes. If QA doesn't get to you before that time expires, you remove your ticket, wipe off the seal, take another bottle out the freezer, and apply a fresh layer.

Nine: Optimistically, QA shows up in time and signs off on the seal. Well, you're 100 minutes into your 120 minute timer. Quickly, you slap the brackets onto the stringer, air hammer the sleeve bolts into position, thread nuts onto the bolts, then torque them down. Shove through the crowd and mark your IP "ready to inspect squeeze out"

Ten: Let out a long breath and relax. All the time sensitive parts are over. The criteria here is "visible and continuous" squeeze out all along the perimeter of the bracket and the fasteners. It is hard to screw this up, just glop on a wild excess of seal before installing it. If you do fail squeezeout, though, the only remedy is to take everything off, throw away the single-use distorted thread locknuts, clean everything up and try again tomorrow.

Eleven: QA approved squeeze out? Break's over, now we're in a hurry again. By now there's probably only an hour or two left in the shift, and your job now is to clean off all that squeeze out. Here's where you curse your past self for glopping on too much seal. You want to get it off ASAP because if you leave it alone or if it's too late in the shift and your manager does feel like approving overtime it'll cure to a rock hard condition overnight and you'll go through hell chipping it off the next day. You'll go through a hundred or so qtips soaked in MPK cleaning up the bracket and every surface of the panel within three feet.

Twelve: Put it up for final inspection. Put away all your tools. (The large communal toolboxes are lined with kaizen foam precisely cut out to hold each individual tool, which makes it obvious if any tool is missing. When you take a tool out, you stick a tool chit with your name and LAMID printed on it in its place. Lose a tool? Stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye, pal, because the default assumption is that a lost screwdriver is lurking in a hollow "hat" stringer, waiting to float out and damage some critical component years after the airplane is delivered.)

One tool you'll leave on your cart, however, is the pin protrusion gage. There is a minimum amount of thread that must poke outside of the permanent straight shank fastener's (Hi-Lok) nut, to indicate that the nut is fully engaged. That makes sense. But there's also a maximum protrusion. Why?

Well, it's an airplane. Ounces make pounds. An extra quarter inch of stickout across a thousand fasteners across a 30 year service life means tons of additional fuel burnt. So you can't use a fastener that's too long, because it adds weight.

On aluminum parts, it's hard to mess up. But any given composite part is laid up from many layers of carbon fiber tape. The engineers seemed to have assumed that dimensional variation would be normally distributed. But, unfortunately, we buy miles of carbon fiber at a time, and the size only very gradually changes between lots. When entire batches are several microns oversize, and you're laying up parts from fifty plies and an inch thick, you can have considerable variation of thickness on any given structural component. So you had better hope you had test fit all of your fasteners ahead of time, or else you'll be real sorry!

And, if you're really lucky, QA will show up five minutes before end of shift, pronounce everything within tolerance, then fuck off.

And that's how it takes eight hours to install eight brackets.

[justforbooks]

Ron Ayers

Engineer and aerodynamicist involved in land-speed record-breaking cars and guided missile design

Working at the Handley Page company, and then in the guided weapons division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company (now part of BAE Systems), in the 1950s and 60s, the engineer and aerodynamicist Ron Ayers, who has died aged 92, became one of Britain’s most experienced supersonic and high-speed aircraft designers.

Following retirement in 1988, he took on a volunteer role at the Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, and was fascinated to discover, among the aviation archives held there, aerodynamic and wind tunnel work on the prewar generation of land-speed record-breaking cars. This led to Ayers meeting Ken Norris, designer (with his brother Lew) of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird car and jet-powered boat. With these two vehicles, in 1964, Campbell had achieved world records, for land speed of 403.1mph (648.73 km/h), and for water speed of 276.3mph (444.71km/h).

Norris had also been manager of more recent world-record-breaking runs by the self-styled “adventurer and engineer” Richard Noble with Thrust, a car that gained a world record of 633mph (1018.7 km/h) in the Nevada desert in 1983. When Ayers bumped into Noble by chance, while they were both passing through Bournemouth airport in 1992, he found that Noble’s next project was the Thrust SSC, a jet-powered “car” intended to break the sound barrier on land – at a speed of about 767mph. “Don’t be an idiot – you’ll kill yourself,” Ayers said.

The problem is that a land-speed car is an “interface vehicle” running between air and earth. Designing a stable supersonic shape for that regime is quite different to making an aircraft or missile that could achieve supersonic flight safely in free air. On land, where would the supersonic shock waves around the vehicle go and how might they upset it? What would the airflow underneath it be like and how might it lift or destabilise it? There were no precedents. But, intrigued by the challenge, Ayers mulled over the problem and, a little later, got back to Noble saying that he thought he could see a way to do it.

There are no wind tunnels capable of modelling this situation, but between them, they called in favours and all their contacts to win time for day-long simulations that ran on Britain’s most powerful supercomputer (a Cray machine), in parallel with physical experiments with a scale model attached to an 800mph rail-mounted rocket sledge at the Defence Research Agency’s establishment at MOD Pendine in Wales.

The research paid off, and on 15 October 1997 the RAF pilot Wg Cmdr Andy Green finally achieved a supersonic world record of 763.035mph (1,227.986 km/h) in Thrust SSC – a record that still stands.

Ayers was born in London, the son of Frederick Ayers, an engineer, and his wife, Maud (nee Jardine). To escape bombing during the second world war, in 1940 the family, and Frederick’s factory, moved to Barnstaple in Devon. Deemed not suitable for university, due to chronic childhood ear infections (alleviated with the advent of penicillin) and an interrupted education, Ron went straight into the Handley Page company in 1950 as an engineering apprentice, where he worked on the Victor bomber project. This also allowed him “day release” to gain a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of London. He then won a scholarship to study for an MSc at Cranfield College of Aeronautics (now Cranfield University).

Britain had some of the most technically advanced aircraft companies in the world and Handley Page was one of the most esteemed, at the forefront with an exceptionally advanced aerodynamic design team. Its Victor bomber became central to the V force – Britain’s cold war deterrent. These aircraft had been devised to evade interception by flying faster and higher than any aircraft before.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of aerodynamic science to national policy at the time. Cold war aircraft development was a contest of the brightest minds to achieve unprecedented performance in the tricky transonic regime – the speed range approaching the speed of sound. As the new postwar generation of military aircraft approached that speed, the airflow over them could be mixed – flowing in a familiar, well understood way in some areas, but becoming supersonic over parts where the air accelerated.

This supersonic (incompressible) flow was a new, little studied, phenomenon, and it posed fresh problems in stability, control and structural integrity. The whole industry was supported closely by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, Hampshire (and at Bedford). This was probably the biggest research enterprise in Europe in those years.

This was the milieu in which Ayers developed – solving problems that the feasibility of Noble’s supersonic car would recall. The national deterrent policy back then was to devise near-supersonic bombers that could outfly the fighter defences, exploiting speed, height and the limitations imposed by radar warning time. But at the same time, the aim was to create home defences that could catch anything similar developed by an enemy.

As part of this war of innovation, the Bristol company was developing the Bloodhound guided missile, intended to destroy incoming enemy aircraft, so it is intriguing that Ayers in 1956 joined the Bristol’s guided weapons division, becoming chief aerodynamicist. The revised Bloodhound Mk II that he worked on was a highly effective missile intended to destroy bombers attacking Britain, capable of reaching 65,000ft (nearly 20,000 metres) at more than twice the speed of sound. It went into service “to defend the deterrent” – the V-bomber force that Ayers had originally contributed to in his first job.

However, on the death of his father, Ayers left aeronautics and in 1967 took over the family business, which made printing presses, remaining with the company until it was sold in 1988.

In retirement, as well as volunteering at Brooklands, Ayers was actively involved in promoting engineering education, and he viewed the Thrust SSC record-breaking attempts as valuable publicity to showcase engineering and its intrinsic interest. Subsequently, he was chief aerodynamicist for the JCB 2006 Dieselmax car, which still holds the world diesel car record of over 350mph (560 km/h), and also for the projected 1,000mph Bloodhound car.

All this highly original work done in the later decades of Ayers’s life was, he said, “much more fun than mowing the lawn”.

Ayers married Irene Graham, a psychologist, in 1968. She died in 1991 and he is survived by their son, Roger, and granddaughters, Lily-May and Daisy.

🔔 Ronald Frederick Ayers, engineer, born 11 April 1932; died 29 May 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[scotianostra]

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin today’s anniversary posts!

On 5th August 1923 Scottish broadcaster, Eileen Mitchell, was born.

I wonder how many of you recognised the words at the top from your childhood, maybe not so many here on my Tumblr page, but many on my Facebook group. Well Eileen was the presenter of the programme, Listen with Mother, just imagine that being suggested as a title for a show nowadays, Listen with a parent just doesn't have the same ring does it!

While it wasn’t Eileen who spoke those words, they were spoken by the various storytellers, Eileen has always been associated with them, it's more about the actual show rather than the introduction.

Born in Edinburgh as Eileen Browne, she studied at the Royal College of Music for 18 months - the piano was her first instrument. But the war interrupted her career, and she worked in Novobax’s precision engineering factory from 1943 to 1946 as an inspector and tester of aircraft instruments. While at the factory, she wrote to the BBC asking if there were any vacancies in the schools music department. The correspondence dragged on for over a year, at the end of which she was given temporary employment as a junior programme assistant.

During the next seven years Eileen Browne’s assignments included Music And Movement, Music Box and orchestral concerts. As well as a popular performer, she became a gifted scriptwriter, dramatizing a series of lives of great composers for Adventures In Music. She was also asked to compose variations on nursery rhymes, sing and accompany them for four programmes for children’s television.

Yet although she was very much involved in the musical content and presentation of the programme, the memorable words of introduction - 'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin' - were not spoken by Eileen Browne, but by the various storytellers, such as Daphne Oxenford and Julia Lang.

Eileen Browne left the BBC in July 1953 shortly after her first marriage . She felt she could not combine running a home with a full-time job. However, in 1955, she was the voice of Jenny Woodentop in the Watch With Mother television puppet series and she was asked to return regularly as a part-time producer in schools radio, which she continued to do until 1964.

In 1956 she married Robert Mitchell, who died in 1996, and after her final retirement devoted her life very happily to being a farmer’s wife and mother, looking after a son, daughter and three stepchildren, who survive her. But during her broadcasting career, she touched the lives of a much wider family of children.

[trammellesstangent-writing]

Practice for the two main characters of my comic. Consider this the written equivalent of a doodle I did because I was bored on a plane. The passages alternate between pov.

“Anyone might betray you. You can never truly know if someone will help you when you need it the only way to ensure the person you trust is to never trust. It’d serve you well to live by this.”

“Have you ever been owned? I don’t expect you to know, but it does things to you. It just… argh. I’m not willing to discuss this, okay?”

“I have failed before. I have caused the death of someone I cared about. And I will not allow it to happen again.”

“The Punishments. If you failed, if you did something wrong, if you weren’t as fast as you should have been, if they see you have the wrong thoughts- they Punish you. It’s… it’s torturous. So you learn quickly to do what you are told. -”

“I failed her. My friend. It’s my fault she died. And not even for a mistake that could be excusable. I made a selfish decision, and she suffered for it.”

“- The way we’re made, all of our senses can be controlled- pain included. This is useful- we can’t be disabled with pain alone because we don’t have to feel it. But when they punish you, they do the opposite. Every receptor lights up, every pain channel opens. I… *trails off* Theres no way you can understand. And I hope you never do.”

“We… *swallows, trails off* I’m not talking about this. It was my fault, and you shouldn’t trust me, and that’s all you need to know. I will desert you, save my own skin. I’ve proven that I’m not the kind of person I hoped I was. Don’t allow yourself into a position where you depend on me for help. Especially when I would be risking myself to do so.”

“I have their symbols, their logos. Their ownership is embedded into parts I can not remove. It’s like…” *sighs*

“We were kids. We were dumb and adventurous, we liked to explore. We went to all these abandoned places, you know? We were in a factory, but we got attacked. We were both injured, but I could still run. And that’s what I did. I tried to get help once I was outside, but it was too late. I knew it would be.”

“It’s like I’ll never actually be free from it. I can run to the far reaches of the universe, find an uninhabited planet to spend the rest of my existence on, but I’ll still have these marks. I will never truly be my own person.”

“The stars are different. It doesn’t matter but… it makes it all hard to ignore. All my life, there were very few constants. The stars, the constellations, were always there, even if you couldn’t see them. Orion, the seven sisters, the southern cross. You know, back even before my time, people used to find their way using the stars. The ships for thousands of years sailed by them, hikers would follow their secret directions to safety, hell, even early aircraft had a navigations officer who looked through a little window in the roof to check they were going the right way. The stars represented stability, guidance. They promised possibilities while assuring there was always a path back home, wherever home was. And now? The stars outside this window may be beautiful, they might even be some of the same I might see on a clear night back home, but they’ve changed. The imaginary patterns we assigned them are dissolved, the directions are scrambled, my only constant has changed. Even if I went back to earth, to my home on it, it wouldn’t be the same. Continents drift, galaxies move. And the night sky will never be the one I know again.”

“Impressive. Are you done with the melodrama?”

[stvmotorsports01]

Sewn-in Harnesses: Built for Extreme Off-Road Adventures

Off-roading pushes vehicles and drivers to their limits. Navigating treacherous trails, conquering steep inclines, and tackling unpredictable terrain demands specialized equipment that prioritizes both performance and safety. Among these crucial components, sewn-in harnesses stand out as a critical upgrade for any serious off-road enthusiast. This article explores why sewn-in harnesses are essential for extreme off-road adventures and how they provide superior protection and control.

Understanding the Importance of Proper Restraints

Standard factory seatbelts are designed for everyday driving and offer adequate protection in typical road conditions. However, the dynamic forces experienced during extreme off-roading – sudden jolts, extreme angles, and potential rollovers – can easily overwhelm the capabilities of these standard restraints. In such scenarios, a robust harness system becomes paramount. Sewn-in harnesses offer a significant advantage by providing a more secure and customized fit, keeping the driver firmly planted in their seat, regardless of the terrain.

Advantages of Sewn-in Harnesses for Off-Roading

Sewn-in harnesses distinguish themselves from other harness types through their integrated design. They are directly sewn into the vehicle's frame or a reinforced harness bar, creating a robust connection point that minimizes the risk of slippage or movement during extreme maneuvers. This integrated approach translates to several key advantages for off-road enthusiasts:

Enhanced Safety: Sewn-in harnesses offer superior protection in the event of a rollover or sudden impact. By securely holding the occupant in place, they minimize the risk of ejection or internal injuries caused by contact with the vehicle's interior.

Improved Control: A well-fitted sewn-in harness system provides a greater sense of connection with the vehicle. By reducing body movement within the seat, drivers experience improved feedback from the vehicle and can react more quickly and accurately to changing terrain. This enhanced control is crucial for navigating challenging off-road trails.

Increased Comfort: While it might seem counterintuitive, a properly installed sewn-in harness can actually enhance comfort during extreme off-roading. By minimizing body sway and movement, the harness reduces fatigue and allows the driver to focus on the trail ahead.

Customizable Fit: Sewn-in harnesses are often available in a variety of sizes and configurations, allowing drivers to achieve a personalized fit that maximizes both safety and comfort. This is particularly important for off-roaders who spend extended periods behind the wheel.

Durability and Reliability: Sewn-in harnesses are built to withstand the rigors of extreme off-roading. The robust construction and secure attachment points ensure that the harness will perform reliably even in the most demanding conditions.

Choosing the Right Sewn-in Harness

Selecting the appropriate sewn-in harness is crucial for maximizing its benefits. Factors to consider include:

Harness Points: Four-point harnesses are the most common choice for off-roading, providing a good balance of safety and mobility. Five-point or six-point harnesses offer even greater security, particularly in extreme conditions.

Harness Material: Look for harnesses made from high-quality nylon webbing that is resistant to abrasion and UV degradation.

Hardware: Ensure that the buckles and adjusters are made from durable materials, such as steel or aircraft-grade aluminum.

Installation: Proper installation is critical for the effectiveness of sewn-in harnesses. It is highly recommended to have the harnesses professionally installed to ensure they are securely attached to the vehicle's frame or a suitable harness bar.

For serious off-road adventurers, sewn-in harnesses are an indispensable upgrade. They provide a level of safety and control far exceeding that of standard seatbelts, allowing drivers to confidently tackle even the most challenging trails. By investing in a high-quality sewn-in harness system and ensuring proper installation, off-road enthusiasts can significantly enhance their safety and overall driving experience. Remember, prioritizing safety allows you to fully enjoy the thrill and adventure of extreme off-roading.

[vgrc-llc]

The Soft Touch of Spokane: Soft Washing Stories with VGRC

Greetings, fellow home enthusiasts! 🌞

We're diving into the heart of Spokane's home care magic with your favorite dynamic duo, The Roof Ninja 🥷 and Kc 👷‍♀️ from Veracity Gutter And Roof Cleaning, LLC (VGRC). Ready to explore the wonders of soft washing? Let's go on an adventure that's as clean as it is entertaining!

What is Soft Washing?

Soft washing is like giving your home a gentle spa treatment. Unlike pressure washing, which can be a bit too harsh, soft washing uses the right cleaning solutions to delicately cleanse surfaces without causing damage. It’s perfect for roofs, siding, and delicate areas that need a soft touch.

Transformation Stories from Spokane County

A Roof to Remember 🏠One sunny day, The Roof Ninja 🥷 and Kc 👷‍♀️ received a call from a lovely family in Spokane Valley. Their roof was covered in unsightly moss and grime. Using our industry-standard algaecide and the soft washing technique, we turned that mossy mess into a pristine roof, shining bright under the Washington sun!"WE FLAT LINE THE GUNK!" – Our mantra echoed through the neighborhood.

Siding So Fresh, It Sparkles ✨Next stop, Cheney! A charming cottage needed a facelift. The siding was crying out for a makeover. With our soft washing magic, we removed years of dirt, mildew, and algae. The transformation was so stunning, even the squirrels paused to admire our work!

Gutters That Glisten 🌟In Liberty Lake, we tackled a gutter system that looked like it had seen better days. Leaves, debris, and muck were no match for our soft washing prowess. By the time we were done, those gutters were ready to handle any Washington rainstorm!"DON'T RISK FALLS, GIVE US A CALL!" – Because no one wants to risk a tumble while cleaning gutters.

A Quote and a Joke to Brighten Your Day

Quote: "Clean homes, happy hearts – that's the VGRC way!" – VGRC, LLC

Joke: Why did the roof go to therapy? Because it had too many layers of issues! 😄

VGRC's Unique Soft Washing Services

At VGRC, we provide top-notch services across Spokane County, including:

House Washing 🏡

Roof Washing 🏠

Gutter Cleaning 🏠

Roof Blow-Offs 🍃

Our licensed and insured team (LICENSE #VERACGC770LW) ensures your home stays pristine and protected all year round.

DIY Tip of the Day

Tip: To keep your home smelling fresh, place a few drops of essential oil on your air filters. It’s a simple way to enhance your living space without breaking the bank!

Fun Fact about Washington

Did you know? Washington State is home to the world's largest building by volume, the Boeing Everett Factory. It covers 98.3 acres and is where many of Boeing’s aircraft are assembled. Now that’s something to marvel at!

Stay Connected with VGRC

Ready to transform your home? Visit our website to learn more about our services: 🔗VGRCLLC.com

For immediate assistance, Don’t Risk Falls, Give Us A Call!: 📞 509-530-1330

Follow us on social media for updates and insights:

✖️ Twitter: x.com/vgrcllc 

🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vgrcllc 

📸 Instagram: instagram.com/vgrcllc 

📘 Facebook: facebook.com/VGRCLLC

Join the Fun!

We love making your homes shine, and we'd love for you to share our posts! If this post made you smile or inspired you, share it with friends and family. Let's spread the sparkle all over Spokane County!

Remember, for all your soft washing needs, trust The Roof Ninja 🥷 and Kc 👷‍♀️ at VGRC. We're not just a service; we're your local home care heroes!

#VGRCByeByeMoss #VGRCHouseWashing #SoftWashingVGRC #VGRC #CleanGuttersVGRC #PressureWashing #SPOKANE #SoftWashing #HappyHome #NoRiskAllShine #VeracityGutterAndRoofCleaningLLC #SpokaneValleyWA #CheneyWA #LibertyLakeWA #AirwayHeightsWA #MillwoodWA #MedicalLakeWA

Stay fresh, Spokane! 🌿

[acrocruiser1]

Flying High Exploring the World of Homebuilt Airplane Kits

In the realm of aviation enthusiasts, there exists a passionate subset of individuals who are not content with simply admiring airplanes from afar. They desire to take to the skies themselves, to feel the rush of wind beneath their wings, and to experience the freedom of flight firsthand. For these adventurous souls, homebuilt airplane kits offer an exciting avenue to fulfill their dreams of flight.

Homebuilt airplane kits provide aspiring aviators with the opportunity to construct their very own aircraft, piece by piece, in the comfort of their own workshops or garages. These kits come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from small ultralights to full-scale replicas of classic airplanes. They typically include all the necessary components and materials, along with detailed instructions, allowing enthusiasts to build their aircraft from the ground up.

One of the key advantages of homebuilt airplane kits is the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from constructing a flying machine with one's own hands. From riveting aluminum panels to wiring electrical systems, builders are intimately involved in every step of the process, gaining valuable knowledge and skills along the way. For many, the journey of building an airplane is just as rewarding as the destination of flying it.

Additionally, homebuilt airplane kits offer a level of customization that is often unavailable with factory-built aircraft. Builders have the freedom to modify their planes to suit their specific preferences and needs, whether it's installing a more powerful engine, upgrading avionics, or adding personalized paint schemes. This ability to tailor the aircraft to individual tastes ensures that no two homebuilt airplanes are exactly alike.

Another appealing aspect of homebuilt airplane kits is the cost savings they can provide compared to purchasing a factory-built aircraft. While the initial investment in a kit may still be significant, builders can often save thousands of dollars by assembling the aircraft themselves rather than buying a pre-built model. This affordability makes flying more accessible to a wider range of enthusiasts, opening up the skies to those who may have previously thought it was beyond their reach.

However, it's important to note that building and flying a homebuilt airplane requires a significant commitment of time, effort, and resources. Builders must possess a certain level of mechanical aptitude and willingness to learn, as well as the patience to overcome the inevitable challenges and setbacks that arise during the construction process. Additionally, pilots must adhere to strict safety regulations and undergo proper training before taking to the skies in their homemade creations.

Despite these challenges, the allure of homebuilt airplane kits continues to attract aviation enthusiasts from all walks of life. For many, the opportunity to build and fly their own aircraft represents the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, a chance to experience the magic of flight in a deeply personal and meaningful way. Whether it's soaring through the clouds in a sleek composite cruiser or buzzing the treetops in a vintage biplane, the thrill of piloting a homebuilt airplane is an experience like no other.

homebuilt airplane kits offer a unique and rewarding path to aviation enthusiasts who are eager to take flight on their own terms. From the satisfaction of building an aircraft from scratch to the thrill of piloting it through the skies, the journey of homebuilt aviation is an adventure unlike any other. So, for those with a passion for flight and a desire to reach new heights, the world of homebuilt airplane kits awaits, ready to turn dreams into reality.

For More Info:-

Custom airplane kits

Ultralight aircraft kits

DIY airplane kits

[poweredbydietcoke]

Favorite books of 2023

2023 Book Totals

4  Audiobooks 11  Kindle books 8  Tree books

23 Books total

Well, I totally missed 2022’s book report, which seems about right for 2023 .. maybe I’ll finish it one of these days. Links to 2021 and 2020. Anyway, here are the top books on my list, and yet again, in no particular order. (as always, affiliate links to the books get donated to charity every year … currently to my kids’ preschool although open to other suggestions).

Many thanks to Rhia Dizon for doing the bulk of the work to get this list out this year

Foundation Series Books by Isaac Asimov

Yes, the famous sci-fi series that every credible nerd read in high school (or before) … I’m openly admitting I had never gotten to it. Turns out, it’s worth reading, although it tapered off (for me) after maybe book two or three (sort of like Star Wars, in the original order?) 

Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past by J. Storrs Hall

Very interesting, albeit with plenty of holes in the logic, reasoning, and data … I can’t handle too much of this type of writing, but occasionally I find it really interesting, uplifting, depressing, and motivating all at the same time.

In this case, “Hey, if we had kept being aggressive on technology development from the 70s on, where should we be?” He has plenty of theories as to why this didn’t happen (some of which intuitively resonate with me – regulation, anyone? :) – and some of which didn’t, like scientific attacks on nanotech), but without counterfactuals or a deeper understanding, I found those less interesting than the “vision”—also, points to anyone who weaves Feynmann’s arguments into his book so deeply.

The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich by Daniel Ammann

It's about Mark Rich, the guy who turned oil into a commodities market. This one was recommended by Alex Yakubovich. It was really good, super fun, and interesting about something I didn't know very much about, which I quite enjoyed. His life is basically building Rich and Co. and this commodities firm, how the market worked, how he traded, and how he built relationships around the world. He ended up trading with a bunch of countries that were under sanctions from the US which got him in a lot of trouble, maybe unfairly. Ultimately pardoned by President Clinton, which created a whole new scandal.

How to Astronaut: Everything You Need to Know Before Leaving Earth by Terry Virts

It was a recommendation from Dennis Pilarinos. It was fun and easy, approachable for anyone interested in space & aviation, or just adventure … no background required.

My favorite quote: “If you bail out of an aircraft and your parachute doesn't open, you have the rest of your life to figure it out”

The Mature Optimization Handbook by Carlos Bueno 

This one was actually recommended by my co-founder Vlad. A great reminder about optimizing (or not) specifically large-scale software systems … into the weeds on measurement and instrumentation, and continually reminding yourself to measure before you optimize, and resist the urge to do it prematurely (incidentally I’m listening to Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk right now and just got through the part where he realized (very publicly) that he had over-automated the Tesla factories).

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior By Kate Fox

It's funny, probably like 5x longer than it should be, but it's funny. I got it used somewhere cause it's out of print and not available on Kindle, but it seemed a worthwhile investment in my marriage.  :) It's by an English sociologist anthropologist who writes about English culture. And it's funny, huge emphasis on privacy and being private, not being offensive. A bunch of step-by-step discussions, like how do people behave in pubs? How do people behave on the street? How do they talk about the weather? What you call a sofa (or couch, or settee) what you call the toilet (or loo, or WC, etc) or a room (living room? drawing room? best room?) differentiates what class you grew up in. 

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

It was a gift from Kurt Schwartz. I ended up meeting Peter at Base Camp randomly as I was listening to it. He takes a pretty prescriptive approach to health & longevity, and it’s a lot unless you are really into it, but my takeaways:

There are four things that will kill you “in old age” - heart attack, diabetes, cancer, and dementia (I am intentionally oversimplifying his language). They are understood in roughly that order, so you can be pretty confident managing the first two(do these studies, take statins if needed, use a CGM, eat reasonably, exercise, sleep) and there’s fewer data as you go down the line.

Another takeaway from a conversation - auto accidents are a high % killer, and of those, fatal accidents are largely clustered around 1) getting t-boned at an intersection, 2) loss of control on high-speed two-lane (eg rural) roads, and 3) merging onto a high-speed road from a side road. Lizzie & I explicitly changed the route we take the kids to preschool from one that traversed a combination of 2 & 3 to one that did not as a result. (sadly, we then saw a fatal crash on our old route a few months later).

Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage by Dan Crenshaw

He's a retired Navy SEAL who got blown up by an IED, lost one eye and some other function, and then recovered pretty amazingly. A pretty inspiring story. He had a better attitude and worked through it, then became a politician, which is less inspiring. It became about conservative versus progressive etc towards the end of the book, but otherwise, it was good.

My favorite quote: “Stop saying ‘I have to do X’ … when I was lying in a hospital bed and couldn’t see, I would have given anything to do X. I now make it a point to always say ‘I get to do X’ and it makes me a little more positive, and a little less grumpy, even about things I don’t really want to do”

[dokojuice]

if i had to write a one piece au, part 1/??? i have so many ideas

steampunk edition (this one has been living in my head so loud)

Luffy is a delivery boy, working for the post press office. The only reason he took the job is to get first dibs on reading (yes he can read in this au) about the adventures published in the ‘aviation discovery’ pages, about new islands discovered by pirates selling their stories and pictures. A long time ago, when he was a child just starting to work at the press office, he came across Red-Hair Shanks, an aviation pirate who came by for a pit-stop. The pirate and his crew frequented a bar that Luffy always managed to sneak into, to be with Shanks and hear of his adventures and exploits. Shanks always told Luffy that he was too weak to set out, and he should focus on being a delivery boy. The taunts fueled Luffy so passionately that he vowed he would one day set out and fight Shanks in the greatest battle the sky has ever seen, and surpass him. 

Even after Shanks left, leaving his hat behind with Luffy as a token of the bet, he holds onto his dream of going out on his own airship one day and exploring the skies.

He lives alone in an apartment complex owned by Jinbe, the supply shopkeep that gave him a home as a private homage to his older brother Ace, a steam engineer who was affiliated with an infamous pirate group but has since gone underground due to complications regarding the government and his lineage.

Ace is now alongside their other brother Sabo, who is an ex-mechanical engineering student affiliated with an activist group that heads illegal trades of food and resources to less fortunate areas of the city, as well as smuggling out slaves from factory districts via an underground steam-engine train in the forgotten lower-levels of the city.

Zoro is a black-market mercenary, infamous in the underworld for his successful hits on whom people assumed were untouchable. He has no loyalty to this job, as he only needed something that gets money in his pocket. Despite this, he makes good money and lives in the nicer parts of town.

He had dreams of being a swordsman in respect to his childhood friend Kuina, who fascinated about the old era of Samurai, but the current age had no need for it. He tried his luck in underground bare-knuckle boxing before his job as a mercenary, and was the winner of many gambles until an opponent made a dirty move and slashed his eye with a knife. It wasn’t a destabilizing injury, and he still ended up winning the match, but it pissed him off enough to go down the mercenary route.

He meets Luffy when he was delivering papers, after his shit aim broke Zoro’s window. Since then, Luffy skids to a stop and hops off his bike in front of Zoro’s house before banging on the door and screeching about the new stories. Zoro is reeled in by the inexplicable draw in Luffy’s eyes when he says “Zoro, let’s go explore one day!”

Nami is a seamstress on the same street in which Jinbe’s shop is set up, and she often stops by for needles and thread.

Her building is quaint, with her shop on the bottom and her little apartment atop it, set up with lamps and a pretty golden-bronze clock adorned with roses and vines wrapped around the edges, complete with a skylight that opens up to the sunrise in the morning and the stars during the night. She also has a small tangerine tree set up on the same side that she is very protective over, as the trees and building belonged to her sister before her.

She spends her days sewing and designing, but she sometimes stays up ‘till midnight charting the skies and stars as a self-taught astronomist, having stolen many books across her lifetime.

Her dream of going to the skies is but a guilty pleasure until she meets Luffy, after he beat up some thugs who broke into the shop to rob her early one morning. Since then, Nami is also dragged along onto Luffy’s ambition to have adventures.

Usopp is an aviation apprentice, working in an aircraft yard that focuses on refining the designs and functions of older airships, essentially picking up a lot of redefinition jobs.

In his off-time, he’ll take whatever scrap the yard threw out and haul it back to the old clocktower on the edge of the city where he lives, and builds his own trinkets ranging from gear like goggles and gloves, to weapons like flamethrowers and slingshots. His specialty is pocket-watches, having an old sketchbook filled with designs and concept art that gets updated almost every hour. He sometimes dabbles in traditional art as well, hanging up his favorite sketches of the clocktower or the city on his walls.

The pirates who often come by for redefinition jobs tell him stories about their adventures, which he holds close to the heart as his distant dream is to one day be a brave warrior of the skies who experiences these adventures and more.

He met Luffy after Jinbe brought him along to the shipyard to drop off supplies for a settled trade deal he had with the owner. Luffy had quickly been drawn to Usopp as someone closer to his age, and they quickly became close over their shared dream to one day head out to the skies.

Usopp’s home quickly becomes Luffy’s favorite place, as the tower overlooks the entire city and draws no attention since the old clock had been broken for years. Luffy also tries to throw the paper up when he adds Usopp to his rounds but as said before, he’s a shit aim (He broke the glass backing of the clock and had to ride away before Usopp could jump down and strangle him)

Sanji is a cook in the old dinky-restaurant at the end of the same street owned by Red-Leg Zeff, an infamous old aviation pirate that quit the game after his airship was marked as lost in the skies. He returned one day, alone, with no explanation and opened a restaurant instead of going back out.

Sanji himself earned the epithet ‘Black-Leg’ due to his prototype prosthetic leg. Being the runaway son of Germa, a giant company who spearheaded many technological advancements in the upper parts of the city, he was witness and subject to many traumatic and painful experiments alongside his siblings. His father, obsessed with the monetary potential of prosthetic technology, had Sanji’s lower leg amputated and replaced with the ash-black prosthetic. His brothers had been robbed of their arms, eyes, and even bones for risky surgical procedures that replaced them with what his father called “advancements of human anatomy”.

Sanji had escaped by jumping out of the airship and miraculously landing on a sky-bridge, getting tangled up in the rope before dropping in front of the Baratie. Since then, he’s been a chore boy, Zeff’s apprentice, finally growing into a cook. He’s weary of being found out where he is, no doubt being looked for by Germa for harboring a precious prototype, but Zeff is ready to send the punks flying should they ever come.

Sanji meets Luffy when he, Zoro, Nami and Usopp stop by the restaurant to celebrate Usopp being promoted to an official aviation engineer. From then on, the group stops by weekly and the Baratie becomes the new place where Luffy shares the unpublished stories he read, and Sanji slowly but surely falls in love with the idea of going back out into the world again, eager to paint over the terrible image the skies have in his head from his time with Germa.

Chopper is a doctor’s apprentice adopted by Kureha, the city’s infamous “witch doctor”. He was often stuck to his textbooks and never witnessed Kureha doing actual doctor work until she one day decided he was old enough to come with her to the underground fighting rings, where she popped shoulders back into sockets and bandaged knuckles quite often.

Despite the harsh atmosphere and the initial sickeningly strong smell of blood, Chopper learned a lot, eventually specializing in sewing stitches and placing splints. He dreamed of going out and refining his skills and knowledge, getting bored of the same broken nose one hour, one torn-apart knuckle the next.

He met Luffy after a fight in the ring, where he came out with a split lip deeper than any other Chopper had ever seen and a deep black eye. The stupidest thing was the fact that he had to tell Luffy to stop laughing as he stitched him up. The boy told Chopper the story of how Zoro, his scary friend with the one eye, told him that he used to be a fighter and he wanted to come down and try it for himself. Chopper mumbled about how it must be nice to be strong enough to see this environment as fun, while he was sick of it. “Why don’t you leave, then?” He looks up and sees that drawing charm in Luffy’s eyes.

Robin is an archaeology professor at the local university, despite having degrees in anthropology, history, philosophy, and archaeology that would classify her as someone who could get a job in the higher districts as a museum director or better. She uses her privileges to stay in late at the university library, spending hours upon hours amongst the textbooks in never-ending curiosity about the world and it’s rich origins, as well as the Void Century, in which seemingly nobody in this city knows anything about.

She met Luffy through Nami, who was her favorite seamstress that she visited often for new clothes or touch-ups on old ones. She was in for new corsets and skirts when Luffy came bursting through the door, “NAMI! LOOK WHAT THEY SAID SHANKS FOUND!” Nami nearly dropped her measuring tape from around Robin’s waist and scolded the boy for barging in the way he did, to which Robin chuckled. Luffy took a seat and began to talk, not getting deterred by Nami’s lack of responses due to her focus on Robin’s measurements.

Since then, Robin often came by with books of old legends for Nami to give to Luffy, who almost always returned them in pristine condition with a note inside that said “THANK YOU ROBIN”. They meet frequently at Nami’s place, being the in-between, and Robin mentions remembering Sabo as an ex-student when Luffy opens up about his family, which makes him like her even more. Luffy is very animated when he speaks, which Robin finds endearing.

Their friendship evolved into Robin meeting the rest of the crew and giving them copies of her library key so they can indulge in books for their respective interests whenever they please. (Except Zoro. His only interest in the library is the giant soft couches that are perfect for afternoon naps)

Robin’s dream of finding the truth behind the Void Century is one excitedly supported by Luffy, who practically drags her by the arm and says “Let’s go!”

Franky is an aerospace mechanical engineer, and a professor at the same university in which Robin works. He is also the co-president of Galley La Company, the leading company that’s behind the construction of the city.

He used to be a weaponsmith apprentice in an independently owned shop, specializing in handguns and spearguns, until he was robbed one night and found out his guns had been used in an attempted assassination. Following that, he fell into a deep slump of anxiety and guilt, asking himself how his pleasure in creating could cause harm to others. It was his mentor, Tom, who got him out of it by telling him how he should be proud of his creations, his hard work, and those who decide how to use them is none of his concern. Franky became a professor to teach aspiring minds the same thing, that the power to create is truly amazing, and the burden of other perspectives and potentials is not anything to be concerned with, because a builder should never be ashamed of his hard work.

He bumps into Luffy one night when going to return some traditional blueprints he signed out for a lecture. The boy was just leaving the library and apologizes for bumping into Franky before eyeing the blueprints in his hand and going “WHOAA THAT’S SUCH A COOL AIRSHIP!” Franky, ever the passionate sharer, leads Luffy back into the library and starts talking about all the different kinds of airships, the kinds he wants to build, the kinds he hopes will come to light in the future. Luffy asks him if he’s ever built an airship. “I’ve helped build plenty, but I’ve never done one myself. If I ever do, I plan on sailing on that ship all across the skies.” Luffy giggles and says, “Well, good, because I’m going to go all across the sky and I need a ship to start!”

Brooke is from another place, far away from Luffy’s city, and when asked about the outside world, he responds with surprisingly cryptic answers followed by a “yo ho ho ho ho!” He makes somewhat of a name for himself in the upper districts as an entertainer, usually in restaurants that provide live music, but he soon grows bored of the settled life and longs to go out to explore again.

He meets Luffy when stopping by the Baratie, surprised to hear Red-Leg Zeff was settled here after being marked as missing in action. It was as if Brooke was frozen in time, hearing and knowing very little about the current world. It shocked others but he had a cool air about it, simply saying that he was excited to go out and rediscover it all.

Luffy was immediately intrigued by the tall man playing the piano in the corner of the restaurant and asked if he would want to join his pirate crew, to which Brooke happily agreed. 

Jinbe was earlier mentioned as the owner of a supply shop for anything and everything, but hushed whispers here and there keep his legacy as the pervious right hand of Fisher Tiger alive and well.

Fisher Tiger was a social-activist who actively worked against the government and it’s exploitation projects in the factory districts. His most infamous feat being the destruction of the largest upper city airship dock, effectively devastating the upper class for years and giving many overworked citizens a chance to escape. Jinbe frequently assisted in these attacks but never showed his face, instead choosing to be on the side that reinstated the escaped slaves back into underground society. He’s long been devastated by the doings of the government, especially after the government finally caught up to Fisher Tiger and executed him.

He met Luffy when the boy one day (again) threw the paper through his window. As the boy bowed deeply on his doorstep, Jinbe caught a glimpse of a raven-haired boy with mannerisms eerily similar. It was then he asked if he knew Fire-Fist Ace, to which the boy’s lips sealed tightly and he looked away, stuttering and denying ever hearing the name. ‘What a terrible poker face!’ 

After reassuring the boy that he knew Ace as an old friend whom he had met alongside Sabo when the underground railroad was instated for slave rescue, the boy revealed himself to be Monkey D. Luffy, Ace’ and Sabo’s younger brother. Before Jinbe, Luffy had been squatting in an abandoned bike factory, which he claimed was gross due to the old grease he could never clean up, and also explained the smell of iron and rubber that followed the boy around. When Luffy told Jinbe that he would one day leave to explore the world, Jinbe was all to eager to go along with him. 

Yamato works in the same press office as Luffy does, as a junior photographer. He met Luffy after finding the boy trying to hack off the doorknob to the printing room, where the pirate stories were stored, with his bare fist. Since Yamato’s camera is considered company property, he has a key for all storerooms for supplies he may need. They spent almost six hours that night reading through stories that were bought but never published due to potential censorship complications that could bring Morgans’ private press company to fall, as it was already on very thin ice for publishing the exploits of pirates to begin with, and Yamato had never been more fascinated.

He lived by himself, in a stripped gondola with nothing but a spent mattress and salvaged wooden furniture on an old airship yard, far off from the city. It was dinky and rusted and it’s only salvation were the photos Yamato had strung up on it’s walls, whether it be his own photos of the city and sky, or clipped photos from articles that pirates sold to Morgans’ company.

Along with his new friends, Yamato also treasures the journal of Kozuki Oden, a samurai who set out to the skies a long time ago. The journal is filled with stories of sky islands, unimaginable sights, crazy animals, and what it means to be free.

Robin teaches him how to read and write, Zoro and Yamato train together to get stronger, Usopp relays him stories that pirates who come by the shipyard tell him, and Luffy offers him a place on his future ship and he’s so touched by his friend’s support that his dreams to one day write his own novel on the world outside doesn’t seem as impossible anymore.

[dirtyriver]

Fancy Anders Goes to War, first of a series of three novellas written by Max Allan Collins, cover and chapter illustrations by Fay Dalton

"Who killed Rosie the Riveter?"

MAC's elevator pitch: In World War Two-era Los Angeles, Fancy Anders, the daughter of a successful private investigator and a snobby socialite, goes undercover at an aircraft factory in World War Two to find a murderer. An adventurous tomboy with movie-star beauty, Fancy is smart and confident but not street savvy, and can well use the help of the diverse group of women on her riveting team.

MAC on Fay Dalton: The use of illustrations was something discussed from the start – the notion of bridging my prose novel work with graphic novels, a midway point that might attract readers of both. When Fay Dalton delivered her stunning cover for Fancy Anders Goes to War, the idea of having her provide a full-page illo for each of the ten chapters was embraced immediately by all concerned. We did discuss spot illos, too, or placing the illustrations somewhere within the chapter. But I liked the retro idea of starting each chapter with an illustration, to set the tone and get the reader in the mood.

(I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think a novella is the perfect length for a P.I. story, and I wish more publishers and writers took advantage of ebooks to offer an alternative to full length–and sometimes too lengthy–novels)

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/top-5-best-leveling-kits-for-the-ford-f-150/

Top 5 Best Leveling Kits for the Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 is the most popular pickup truck in America with a best-selling record and solid reputation for delivering impressive power, performance, capability, and good looks. The F-150 is purpose-built to be relentlessly tough with a military-grade, aluminum-alloy body and torture-tested high-strength steel frame to not only get the job done, but get it done smarter. Ford merged premium-grade muscle with finely tuned intelligence and design to deliver the best of all worlds in a complete package that checks all the boxes truck owners could want. Even so, many owners flock to the aftermarket to customize their vehicle to set it apart from the rest and enhance its natural DNA. With that said, one of the first and most popular mods truck owners do is install a lift kit on their ride.

Lift kits are a great way to increase ground clearance and improve off-road performance while giving your truck that added aggressive appeal. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your tires for more traction and increase wheel travel or you just want that beefier look without altering the towing capacity, lift kits are a great mod to look into. There are so many options on the aftermarket for the Ford F-150 and all of its variants, so it may be a bit daunting when conducting research on what may be best for your needs. To help you along, we have compiled the following list of the top 5 best lift kits for the Ford F-150 to get you started. You can also browse all of our lift kits for the popular Ford F-150 right here. 

1. ReadyLift 7-Inch Suspension Lift Kit w/ Shocks

The ReadyLift 7-Inch Complete Lift Kit System will give your Ford F-150 the maximum lift you have been looking for. ReadyLift is widely recognized for offering the best comprehensive lift kits designed specifically for your vehicle, featuring high-quality components and the best construction possible to provide you with the absolute best suspension solution. With ReadyLift, your F-150 will enjoy a lifted height that maintains the factory ride quality and steering geometry so you never have to compromise. This system is a top choice for those who wish to run the stock wheels or most 17-inch (or larger) aftermarket wheels and up to 37-inch tall tires without increasing the front track width. That being said, the 7-Inch Complete Lift Kit System from ReadyLift will give your truck that aggressive appearance that performs just the same both on and off-road without letting you down.

The premium complete 7.0″ front / 5.0″ rear 2015-2020 Ford F-150 4WD kit is specifically engineered to provide maximum lift and rugged off-road strength while maintaining the factory ride on the street. The 7-inch lift kit features precision-designed laser-cut and CNC-formed subframe assemblies that directly bolt on to your truck, rear lift blocks, and rear SST3000 shocks. Welding is required for one section which attaches to the frame. The kit includes heavy-duty cast nodular iron steering knuckles, a patent-pending rack-and-pinion steering drop correction system, and an integrated differential drop bracket system to guarantee correct CV axle angles and maximum performance in 4WD mode.

This kit features patent-pending, fabricated industry-first offset steel strut extensions that provide the maximum 7 inches of front lift while 5-inch tall OEM-style rear blocks add four inches of lift to the back end that provides a quality rear lift that doesn’t sacrifice the ride. This system even includes patent-pending steering extensions to keep your factory-like steering performance so you can enjoy a well-rounded driving experience that does not sacrifice one factor for another. The patent-pending RCS (Rack Correction System) steering extension design works with the relocated steering rack to retain the stock steering geometry so you do not have to cut or replace the tie rod ends like other kits on the market. Best of all, this kit features a no-weld design and is a complete bolt-on installation.

Learn More and Buy It Here! 

Shop All ReadyLift Kits for F-150 Here. 

2. ICON 2.63-Inch Stage 3 Lift Suspension System

ICON Vehicle Dynamics is a recognized leader in revolutionary performance suspension systems. Its Stage 3 0-2.63″ Suspension System for the Ford F-150 is designed with maximum performance and the serious driver in mind. ICON engineers’ primary focus is to increase wheel travel and damping ability, which translates into remarkable vehicle control and ride quality both on and off the road. The Stage 3 system includes vehicle-specific tuned 2.5-inch coilover shocks with an internal reservoir for exceptional cooling properties and ICON-engineered Eibach coil springs for that superior vehicle “feel” throughout the range of travel.

These coilovers are also height adjustable from 0-2.63 inches, thus allowing for the use of larger, more aggressive wheel and tire combinations. Tubular upper control arms on the F-150 not only add strength and durability, but also help to retain factory alignment spec range increasing caster over stock. The ICON 2.5 Aluminum Series piggyback reservoir rear shocks utilize a vehicle-specific valving that balances the performance of the truck from the front all the way to the rear. ICON’s Stage 3 suspension system is an excellent choice for F-150 owners who are looking to enhance the capabilities of their pickup truck on the road as well as on uncharted terrain.

This package features upper control arms with ICON’s patented Delta Joint. The Delta Joint is a heavy-duty high angle ball joint that combines the durability of a ball joint with the performance characteristics of a traditional uniball. The Delta Joint features a zinc-plated housing that provides the first layer of defense against corrosion, while a tough grease seal keeps potentially harmful elements out of the inner workings. The greasable metal-on-metal design increases the longevity of the Delta Joint while also delivering a noise-free operation. And, with 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum CNC-machined components, this package is strong enough to stand up to anything that comes its way. The entire system is a bolt-on mod with no cutting or welding necessary for install.

Learn More and Buy It Here! 

Shop All ICON Lift Kits for F-150 Here. 

3. Fabtech 6-Inch Basic System w/ Stealth Shocks

In cooperation with the Ford Motor Company, Fabtech has developed this 6-Inch Suspension System for the Ford F-150. This new kit includes heavy-duty ¼-inch thick steel lower control arm crossmembers with an integrated front differential skid plate for protection and increased front suspension strength. This is an important construction feature in order to properly handle large tires both on- and off-road. Fabtech’s extended-length ductile iron steering knuckles allow the use of 18”, 20” or 22” wheels and up to 35-inch tall tires so you can tackle your next adventure with confidence.

The Basic System includes front spacers utilizing the Ford F-150’s factory coilover shocks to retain the stock ride at the front while the rear receives Fabtech’s Stealth monotube shocks. Stealth is the first all-black monotube shock absorber with an identifiable raised metal nameplate that represents the pinnacle of quality you can rely on for a superior ride at a price that won’t break the bank. Stealth shocks are built with a 46mm diameter high-flow piston and vehicle-specific valving for a great ride with oversized tires. All Stealth shock absorbers feature Nitrocarburized piston rods that are superior to chromed rods in durability and corrosion resistance. These Nitrocarb piston rods are finished in matte black for a complete black-out shock package.

This 6-inch lift kit will not only give your truck a more muscular appearance that asserts dominance, but it will also deliver great ride quality. All components of this package are made from top-quality materials to guarantee durability, performance, and longevity. Installation is straightforward with no drilling, welding, or driveshaft modifications required. What’s more, this suspension system comes with Fabtech’s 5/60 Powertrain warranty.

Learn More and Buy It Here! 

Shop All Fabtech Lift Kits for F-150 Here. 

4. RBP 4-Inch Suspension Lift Kit w/ Shocks

Rolling Big Power lift kits are designed to provide the best of both worlds so you never have to compromise good looks, ride quality, or performance. They offer the smooth ride and drivability of a standard truck with the increased ground clearance and accommodation of bigger wheels/tires of a custom off-road truck. Such is achieved by providing precision-engineered parts that replace the factory components to bridge the gap between the wheels and raised body, all while maintaining factory settings and suspension geometry. The RPB 4-Inch Suspension Lift Kit w/ Shocks will let you pull double duty, have your daily driver handle better than it did stock, and go on to tackle the off-road like a pro.

This 4-inch lift kit for the Ford F-150 is FMVSS 126 compliant, and includes the same features and benefits of the current 6-inch system for those looking for the same quality and performance at a lower height.  The system is built around two heavy-duty 1-piece lower control arm crossmembers and massive ductile cast iron steering knuckles. Differential relocation brackets place the front differential for perfect CV angles and allow for the factory front driveshaft to perform as it should. The lift is provided by bolt-on strut spacers that do not require disassembly of the factory struts to install. New eccentric cam bolts make adjusting the alignment a breeze; sway bar drops adjust the sway bar to its optimum position and a heavy ¼-inch thick differential skid plate protects the underside when off driving off-road. 

At the rear, full 4-inch cast-iron lift blocks with integrated bump stop wings provide enough lift to level the truck nicely for that complete off-road look. Rear performance shocks complete this installation and offer enough clearance for a maximum-sized tire of 35×12.50 (37×12.50s can be used but will require some trimming). Best of all, all RBP Lift Kits are backed by a Limited Lifetime Warranty – so you’re covered, no matter what. With this RBP Lift Kit package, you can tackle the streets of the city, or the trails in comfort, style, and performance with the confidence to “Go Further.” 

Learn More and Buy It Here! 

Shop All RBP Lift Kits for F-150 Here. 

5. Daystar 4-Inch 4.0 Series Tactical Lift Kit

Daystar’s impressive line of precision-engineered suspension parts delivers unparalleled ride quality, comfort, good looks, and handling. The 4-Inch 4.0 Series Tactical Lift Kit for the Ford F-150 is actually a lift and level system combined in one, designed by enthusiast engineers. This package was tailor-made for consumers who want just enough lift to clear 33-inch to 35-inch tires, depending on the vehicle. The 4.0 Series Tactical Lift Kit provides additional clearance so you can fit a larger wheel-and-tire combination to give your truck a more menacing appearance without harming the ride quality. After all, your F-150 deserves the best and this lift/level kit will allow you to achieve that nice lift without the high price tag so you can still have room in your budget for larger tires.

A popular form of lifting is to combine body lift kits and leveling kits so you can experience optimal benefits with minimal costs and negative effects on your truck. This keeps the center of gravity lower than just a lift kit and will give you the advantages of a suspension lift without the high price point. This complete 4-inch Kevlar-infused polyurethane kit will lift your truck without altering the OEM suspension geometry like some other products on the market. The Kevlar in the coil spacers is similar to rebar in concrete, it reinforces an already tough material to make it even stronger and more durable to stand up to the elements of off-roading. 

This package includes a 2-inch body lift kit paired with a 2-inch leveling kit. There are absolutely no cutting, welding, or chassis alterations needed for install. What’s more, there is no metal-on-metal contact, thus providing a noise-free operation. So, whether you want to run larger tires on the stock or aftermarket wheels, this system lets you do just that so you can have the truck look you want without negatively impacting other factors. With Daystar, your F-150 will be able to maintain its stability controls, ride quality, and towing capacity all while being FMVSS126 compliant and carrying the brand’s Lifetime Go Everywhere Warranty!

Learn More and Buy It Here! 

Shop All Daystar Lift Kits for F-150 Here. 

[scotianostra]

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin today’s anniversary posts!

On 5th August 1923 Scottish broadcaster, Eileen Mitchell, was born.

I wonder how many of you recognised the words at the top from your childhood, maybe not so many here on my Tumblr page, but many on my Facebook group. Well Eileen was the presenter of the programme, Listen with Mother. While it wasn’t Eileen who spoke those words, they were spoken by the various storytellers, Eileen has always been associated with the words.

Born in Edinburgh as Eileen Browne, she studied at the Royal College of Music for 18 months - the piano was her first instrument. But the war interrupted her career, and she worked in Novobax’s precision engineering factory from 1943 to 1946 as an inspector and tester of aircraft instruments. While at the factory, she wrote to the BBC asking if there were any vacancies in the schools music department. The correspondence dragged on for over a year, at the end of which she was given temporary employment as a junior programme assistant.

During the next seven years Eileen Browne’s assignments included Music And Movement, Music Box and orchestral concerts. As well as a popular performer, she became a gifted scriptwriter, dramatizing a series of lives of great composers for Adventures In Music. She was also asked to compose variations on nursery rhymes, sing and accompany them for four programmes for children’s television.

Yet although she was very much involved in the musical content and presentation of the programme, the memorable words of introduction - 'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin' - were not spoken by Eileen Browne, but by the various storytellers, such as Daphne Oxenford and Julia Lang.

Eileen Browne left the BBC in July 1953 shortly after her first marriage . She felt she could not combine running a home with a full-time job. However, in 1955, she was the voice of Jenny Woodentop in the Watch With Mother television puppet series and she was asked to return regularly as a part-time producer in schools radio, which she continued to do until 1964.

In 1956 she married Robert Mitchell, who died in 1996, and after her final retirement devoted her life very happily to being a farmer’s wife and mother, looking after a son, daughter and three stepchildren, who survive her. But during her broadcasting career, she touched the lives of a much wider family of children.

[vigorousways]

Travel to Holguin, explore this part of Cuba in 2021.

Located in the warm Caribbean Sea, the island of Cuba is a major tourist destination, where Havana and Varadero, share almost half of the visitors who arrive each year. However there are other places that stand out, today I will show you how to travel to Holguin and what you will find in 2021. You will discover a region that has everything to satisfy the most diverse tastes: beautiful beaches, excellent hotels, biodiversity, history, culture, safety (childproof), and a friendly and polite population. That magical town is called Holguín, and it is located in the northeastern part of Cuba. Although it does not have the glamour of Havana, the history of Santiago de Cuba, or the exclusivity of the beaches of Varadero and Cayo Largo, little by little it has been positioning itself as the third most important Cuban tourist destination.

Holguín Boulevard, one of the most popular sites in the city. Photo credit: Manuel de Nacimiento. According to the Statistical Yearbook of Holguín, published by the National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI), a total of 439,464 tourists travelled to Holguin in 2019. Let's close our eyes and take an imaginary journey through the region. This way you can find the answer to the question that gives this article its name. Related link: - Best rated experiences in Holguín - Get Your Guide. Interesting:On January 18, 1752, in the presence of all the neighbors the Marshal Arcos and Moreno made to record in order of date and years indicated that obeying to orders of the King of Spain he gave the title of City to San Isidoro de Holguín, being able to enjoy in front of all the privileges, honors and proper franchises of these institutions.

Travel to Holguin: how to get there

Frank País International Airport is only 10 kilometers from the city, and also has a terminal for domestic flights to Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Built in 1996, it is considered a medium-sized airport, capable of handling a flow of up to 1,000 incoming and outgoing passengers. In 2020, the runway was resurfaced to receive large aircraft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkhEXpJvJ84 It offers car rental services, cafeterias, travel agencies, medical and currency exchange services, specialized services for the handicapped, duty free stores and VIP lounge. A total of 13 airlines connect Holguín with cities in all continents except Asia and Africa. Among them are: Jet Blue, Air Canada, Arkefly, Belair, Blue Panorama, Condor, Monarch, and Neos. To get to the main city, cabs are readily available at a cost of approximately 15 USD. But if you are a sailor in search of adventure, Holguín offers you the Marina Internacional Puerto de Vita. This port, located only 40 kilometers from the city, has 38 berths and all the necessary amenities. It is also the starting point for catamaran excursions, fishing trips, diving and jet ski rides.

Loma de la Cruz, in Holguín, is a viewpoint of important tourist interest.

Holguin, the City of Parks

The existence of more than 70 parks in the perimeter of the city has earned it that title and is the first thing you will notice when you travel to Holguin. Although if you ask any Cuban, or a foreigner who knows the city well, he or she will surely tell you that its main distinguishing feature, besides the Loma de la Cruz, is the cleanliness and straightness of its streets. They will also tell you that in spite of the distance that separates it from the capital, its inhabitants are lovers of good art and that they have the privilege of having one of the three Lyric Theaters of Cuba, the famous Rodrigo Prats, one of the best dance companies, Codanza, and the Chamber Ballet of Holguín. So, if you wish to enjoy lyrical singing, contemporary dance or ballet, in Holguín you will not lack options. The presentations take place mainly in the beautiful Eddy Suñol Theater and in the different hotels of the northern coast.

The city's ancient architecture is one of its greatest charms. However, if your thing is not classic, don't worry, we also have Discotheques, Cabarets, Bars, Cafes and Night Clubs. The city's nights are very lively, especially between Friday and Sunday. Names such as El Nocturno and Bariay, open-air cabarets in the style of the world-famous Tropicana, as well as El Pétalo, Shambalá, El Benny, Pico Cristal, El Siboney, Jazz Club, Piano Bar or Las Tres Lucias, are widely known nationwide. There are cultural events that have acquired international renown: the May Pilgrimages and the Vladimir Malakhov Dance Competition and Grand Prix of the North Atlantic. Related link: - Top 5 experiences in Holguín - Get Your Guide. - What to do in Holguín - Vigorous Ways.

The Romerías de Mayo is an important traditional popular festival. The Romerías are celebrated at the beginning of May, and although originally a religious festivity, they have become an international Youth Festival. Concerts, street theater, photographic exhibitions and works of art, dance shows, and poetry are continuously happening during a fun week. Moreover, since 2014, the famous Ukrainian dancer Vladimir Malakhov (First Dancer and Director of the Berlin Opera Ballet), has established together with the local dance company Codanza, an International Ballet and Dance Competition that attracts numerous visitors from abroad and from other cities of the island. This year, it will be held in September, albeit virtually due to the presence of COVID 19.

Gastronomy, Habanos and cycle tourism on your travel to Holguin

Hotel Iberostar Selection is a popular accommodation in Holguín. Gastronomy in Holguin To taste the local flavors, the city has about 30 restaurants that offer delicious dishes of Creole and international cuisine. Prices range from 10 to 20 USD in private establishments. Keep in mind that 1 U.S. dollar is currently traded in the informal market for 50 Cuban pesos.Tweet State-owned establishments are more economical, although they generally have less variety and quality in their offerings. Payment is made in local currency. Based on Tripadvisor surveys, popular opinion, and my personal experience, I have compiled a list of the 10 best restaurants in Holguin in 2020: - Restaurante Bar 1910 - La Pasión - Delicias Cubanas - Ranchón Los Almendros - Maragato - Restaurante Bar Parrillada San José - La Torre - La Bodeguita del Medio - Avilés - Noi Due https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aubiEDB5LPM Habanos Cigars in Holguin Inhaling the smoke of the famous Cuban cigars can be harmful, but it is the ambition of many tourists. In Holguín, it is possible to visit an important cigar factory located in the center of the city. In addition to seeing how they are manufactured, you can also buy them at advantageous prices. There is no shortage of major brands: Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Partagás and Hoyo de Monterrey. The factory produces 16 million units annually and uses as raw material the leaves harvested in Pinar del Rio, the mecca of Havana cigars. Related link: - Top 5 experiences in Holguín - Get Your Guide. - What to do in Holguín - Vigorous Ways. Cycling when you travel to Holguin A tourist sport activity that has developed rapidly in the region is bicycle tourism. The well-asphalted road that links Holguín with the seaside resort of Guardalavaca guarantees a safe trip full of beautiful landscapes. The 54 kilometers of mostly straight and flat roads lead to the paradisiacal beaches of the north-eastern coast, famous for their white sands, warm waters and all-inclusive hotels.

The beautiful Pesquero Beach should be one of the places you cannot miss on your trip to Holguín. The town of Sao Arriba is located just 11 kilometers from the start of the trip. If you are passionate about mountain biking, you will find trails and paths that cross the picturesque region: hills, rivers, caves, pure nature. After traveling the first 30 kilometers, and always turning off to the left side of the road, we will first find Playa Blanca, famous for witnessing the arrival of Admiral Christopher Columbus to Cuba, Don Lino, Vita Bay, Playa Pesquero, Naranjo Bay, and Playa Esmeralda.

Beaches and All Inclusive Hotels in Holguin

If there is something that differentiates hotels in Holguín from those in the rest of the country, it is the quality of service. Professionalism, responsibility and experience are evident as soon as you arrive: speed, command of several foreign languages, friendliness and empathy towards the client. You can choose among the 14 hotels that serve the region's beaches. Four of them are 5-star hotels: Paradisus Rio de Oro (for couples only), Playa Pesquero (the largest hotel in Cuba), the brand-new Iberostar Selection and the recently built Hotel Almirante. The rest are 4 stars except Villa Don Lino with 3 stars.

Hotel Paradisus Rios de Oro, in Holguin, Cuba. Interesting:With a cost of only 2.00 USD per pax, and three daily frequencies, comfortable buses travel between the different hotels, Guardalavaca, La Aldea Taina, and the Naranjo Bay Dolphinarium. A must visit site is the Aboriginal Cemetery and the Taino Village. There you can discover our pre-Columbian history in a museum located on the remains of an ancient indigenous cemetery. It exhibits 56 of the 180 skeletons found to date. The village recreates the environment of an aboriginal tribe from 5 centuries ago: dwellings, 38 human sculptures, work tools, recreational objects, clothing, etc. Are you bored spending all your time at the hotel? No problem, the different Travel Agencies propose excursions through sales points in each establishment. Don't forget that the province has a total of 17 protected natural areas, including two national parks: Bahía de Naranjo and La Mensura.

Jeep Safari Adventour is one of the best-selling excursions. These are 10 of the most popular excursions: - Jeep Safari Adventour - Crucero del Sol - Catamarán Gibara - Cayo Saetía en Catamarán - Baño con Delfines en el Acuario Bahía de Naranjo - Cayo Bariay - Aldea Taina - Island Paradise - Ocean Paradise - Jeep Safari Salto del Guayabo. These and other excursions may be available through Get Your Guide, a secure site where you can book quality experiences.

Although we are discovering the beach hotels, it is worth mentioning that there are three very good hotels in the city, located in old and centrally located buildings that have been very well restored: El Caballeriza, Esmeralda, and El Saratoga. The latter was inaugurated in 2020. Private accommodations are also a good option, but this will be the subject of another article. We hope you already know why it is worth taking as you travel to Holguin‼. Read the full article

[travelguidesmagazine]

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