#john faa

[alice-blogs-things]

Feeling sad about the fact that like. Lyra had nobody waiting for her when she came back to Jordan. Yeah, Iorek said that she's always welcome at Svalbard, but as we saw in season one, that's pretty far away, it's not like she can just pop over for coffee and a catch up whenever she feels like it. Serafina goes through with her, but she's got a whole clan to be queen of, she's got shit to do- and, with the prophecy resolved, she can consider her duty to Lyra done, she doesn't need to keep watching over her anymore.

She had Roger, but he's dead and dissolved into atoms, same with Lee. Her parents jumped into oblivion, so it's not like there's even the hope of reconciling with them at some point. The only people she still has in Oxford, really, are the Master, Ma Costa, John Faa and Farder Coram, who would probably like to see she's okay, but we don't see any reunions with any of them. And at the end of the day, it's not really the same as Will reuniting with Elaine. For all we joked in the first two seasons about Lyra collecting parents everywhere she goes, when all is said and done, she doesn't really have anyone left- nobody on that level, at least.

And that's honestly really sad to me.

[hatters-workshop]

Sometimes a family is a fucked up feral girl with truth box and her talking ferret, a boy whose magic knife cut his fingers off, and the girl's adopted parents: a jordan master, a gyptian king, another old gyptian guy, a gyptian woman, a talking polar bear, a texan aeronaut, a witch queen, a scholar who just wanted to make dark matter talk to her and the scholar's best friend the deerelephant-motorbike.

[casualavocados]

I am the western king, and I'm asking you to ready yourselves to travel north. Ready yourselves to fight. And ready yourselves to bring our children home!

HIS DARK MATERIALS 1.03 | The Spies

[thelastofthebookworms]

Part 1

Other polls in my pinned post.

[117tr]

His Dark Materials S3

9 days left

[zipstick]

his dark materials is sooo funny cause the king of the gyptians wears an outfit that is like almost identical to several that i own

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Boeing’s deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured far from the company's Seattle facility, in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.

Hundreds of parts from that Material Review Segregation Area (MRSA) were secretly pulled from that cage and installed on aircraft that are currently plying the world's skies. Among them, sections 47/48 of a 787 – the last four rows of the plane, along with its galley and rear toilets. As Moe Tkacik writes in her excellent piece on Boeing's lethally corrupt culture of financialization and whistleblower intimidation, this is a big ass chunk of an airplane, and there's no way it could go missing from the MRSA cage without a lot of people knowing about it:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-30-whistleblower-laws-protect-lawbreakers/

More: MRSA parts are prominently emblazoned with red marks denoting them as defective and unsafe. For a plane to escape Boeing's production line and find its way to a civilian airport near you with these defective parts installed, many people will have to see and ignore this literal red flag.

The MRSA cage was a special concern of John "Swampy" Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who is alleged to have killed himself in March. Tkacik's earlier profile of Swampy paints a picture of a fearless, stubborn engineer who refused to go along to get along, refused to allow himself to become inured to Boeing's growing culture of profits over safety:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/

Boeing is America's last aviation company and its single largest exporter. After the company was allowed to merge with its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, the combined company came under MDD's notoriously financially oriented management culture. MDD CEO Harry Stonecipher became Boeing's CEO in the early 2000s. Stonecipher was a protege of Jack Welch, the man who destroyed General Electric with cuts to quality and workforce and aggressive union-busting, a classic Mafia-style "bust-out" that devoured the company's seed corn and left it a barren wasteland:

https://qz.com/1776080/how-the-mcdonnell-douglas-boeing-merger-led-to-the-737-max-crisis

Post-merger, Boeing became increasingly infected with MDD's culture. The company chased cheap, less-skilled labor to other countries and to America's great onshore-offshore sacrifice zone, the "right-to-work" American south, where bosses can fire uppity workers who balked at criminal orders, without the hassle of a union grievance.

Stonecipher was succeeded by Jim "Prince Jim" McNerney, ex-3M CEO, another Jack Welch protege (Welch spawned a botnet of sociopath looters who seized control of the country's largest, most successful firms, and drove them into the ground). McNerney had a cute name for the company's senior engineers: "phenomenally talented assholes." He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.

McNerney's big idea was to get rid of "phenomenally talented assholes" and outsource the Dreamliner's design to Boeing's suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn't care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a "cleanup crew" from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those "phenomenally talented assholes" could save McNerney's ass.

Swampy was part of the cleanup crew. He was terrified by what he saw there. Boeing had convinced the FAA to let them company perform its own inspections, replacing independent government inspectors with Boeing employees. The company would mark its own homework, and it swore that it wouldn't cheat.

Boeing cheated. Swampy dutifully reported the legion of safety violations he witnessed and was banished to babysit the MRSA, an assignment his managers viewed as a punishment that would isolate Swampy from the criminality he refused to stop reporting. Instead, Swampy audited the MRSA, and discovered that at least 420 defective aviation components had gone missing from the cage, presumably to be installed in planes that were behind schedule. Swampy then audited the keys to the MRSA and learned that hundreds of keys were "floating around" the Charleston facility. Virtually anyone could liberate a defective part and install it into an airplane without any paper trail.

Swampy's bosses had a plan for dealing with this. They ordered Swampy to "pencil whip" the investigations of 420 missing defective components and close the cases without actually figuring out what happened to them. Swampy refused.

Instead, Swampy took his concerns to a departmental meeting where 12 managers were present and announced that "if we can’t find them, any that we can’t find, we need to report it to the FAA." The only response came from a supervisor, who said, "We’re not going to report anything to the FAA."

The thing is, Swampy wasn't just protecting the lives of the passengers in those defective aircraft – he was also protecting Boeing employees. Under Sec 38 of the US Criminal Code, it's a 15-year felony to make any "materially false writing, entry, certification, document, record, data plate, label, or electronic communication concerning any aircraft or space vehicle part."

(When Swampy told a meeting that he took this seriously because "the paperwork is just as important as the aircraft" the room erupted in laughter.)

Swampy sent his own inspectors to the factory floor, and they discovered "dozens of red-painted defective parts installed on planes."

Swampy blew the whistle. How did the 787 – and the rest of Boeing's defective flying turkeys – escape the hangar and find their way into commercial airlines' fleets? Tkacik blames a 2000 whistleblower law called AIR21 that:

creates such byzantine procedures, locates adjudication power in such an outgunned federal agency, and gives whistleblowers such a narrow chance of success that it effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers, of which there is one in the United States, from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.

By his own estimation, Swampy was ordered to commit two felonies per week for six years. Tkacik explains that this kind of operation relies on a culture of ignorance – managers must not document their orders, and workers must not be made aware of the law. Whistleblowers like Swampy, who spoke the unspeakable, were sidelined (an assessment by one of Swampy's managers called him "one of the best" and finished that "leadership would give hugs and high fives all around at his departure").

Multiple whistleblowers were singled out for retaliation and forced departure. William Hobek, a quality manager who refused to "pencil whip" the missing, massive 47-48 assembly that had wandered away from the MRSA cage, was given a "weak" performance review and fired despite an HR manager admitting that it was bogus.

Another quality manager, Cynthia Kitchens, filed an ethics complaint against manager Elton Wright who responded to her persistent reporting of defects on the line by shoving her against a wall and shouting that Boeing was "a good ol’ boys’ club and you need to get on board." Kitchens was fired in 2016. She had cancer at the time.

John Woods, yet another quality engineer, was fired after he refused to sign off on a corner-cutting process to repair a fuselage – the FAA later backed up his judgment.

Then there's Sam Salehpour, the 787 quality engineer whose tearful Congressional testimony described more corner-cutting on fuselage repairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP0xhIe1LFE

Salehpour's boss followed the Boeing playbook to the letter: Salehpour was constantly harangued and bullied, and he was isolated from colleagues who might concur with his assessment. When Salehpour announced that he would give Congressional testimony, his car was sabotaged under mysterious circumstances.

It's a playbook. Salehpour's experience isn't unusual at Boeing. Two other engineers, working on the 787 Organization Designation Authorization, held up production by insisting that the company fix the planes' onboard navigation computers. Their boss gave them a terrible performance review, admitting that top management was furious at the delays and had ordered him to punish the engineers. The engineers' union grievance failed, with Boeing concluding that this conduct – which they admitted to – didn't rise to the level of retaliation.

As Tkacik points out, these engineers and managers that Boeing targeted for intimidation and retaliation are the very same staff who are supposed to be performing inspections of behalf of the FAA. In other words, Boeing has spent years attacking its own regulator, with total impunity.

But it's not just the FAA who've failed to take action – it's also the DOJ, who have consistently declined to bring prosecutions in most cases, and who settled the rare case they did bring with "deferred prosecution agreements." This pattern was true under Trump's DOJ and continued under Biden's tenure. Biden's prosecutors have been so lackluster that a federal judge "publicly rebuked the DOJ for failing to take seriously the reputational damage its conduct throughout the Boeing case was inflicting on the agency."

Meanwhile, there's the AIR21 rule, a "whistleblower" rule that actually protects Boeing from whistleblowers. Under AIR21, an aviation whistleblower who is retaliated against by their employer must first try to resolve their problem internally. If that fails, the whistleblower has only one course of action: file an OSHA complaint within 90 days (if HR takes more than 90 days to resolve your internal complaint, you can no have no further recourse). If you manage to raise a complaint with OSHA, it is heard by a secret tribunal that has no subpoena power and routinely takes five years to rule on cases, and rules against whistleblowers 97% of the time.

Boeing whistleblowers who missed the 90-day cutoff have filled the South Carolina courts with last-ditch attempts to hold the company to account. When they lose these cases – as is routine, given Boeing's enormous legal muscle and AIR21's legal handcuffs – they are often ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs.

Tkacik cites Swampy's lawyer, Rob Turkewitz, who says Swampy was the only one of Boeing's whistleblowers who was "savvy, meticulous, and fast-moving enough to bring an AIR 21 case capable of jumping through all the hoops" to file an AIR21 case, which then took seven years. Turkewitz calls Boeing South Carolina "a criminal enterprise."

That's a conclusion that's hard to argue with. Take Boeing's excuse for not producing the documentation of its slapdash reinstallation of the Alaska Air door plug that fell off its plane in flight: the company says it's not criminally liable for failing to provide the paperwork, because it never documented the repair. Not documenting the repair is also a crime.

You might have heard that there's some accountability coming to the Boeing boardroom, with the ouster of CEO David Calhoun. Calhoun's likely successor is Patrick Shanahan, whom Tkacik describes as "the architect of the ethos that governed the 787 program" and whom her source called "a classic schoolyard bully."

If Shanahan's name rings a bell, it might be because he was almost Trump's Secretary of Defense, but that was derailed by the news that he had "emphatically defended" his 17 year old son after the boy nearly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Shanahan is presently CEO of Spirit Aerospace, who made the door-plug that fell out of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Boeing is a company where senior managers only fail up and where whistleblowers are terrorized in and out of the workplace. One of Tkacik's sources noticed his car shimmying. The source, an ex-787 worker who'd been fired after raising safety complaints, had tried to bring an AIR21 complaint, but withdrew it out of fear of being bankrupted if he was ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs. When the whistleblower pulled over, he discovered that two of the lug-nuts had been removed from one of his wheels.

The whistleblower texted Tkcacik to say (not for the first time): "If anything happens, I'm not suicidal."

Boeing is a primary aerospace contractor to the US government. It's clear that its management – and investors – consider it too big to jail. It's also clear that they know it's too big to fail – after all, the company did a $43b stock buyback, then got billions in a publicly funded buyback.

Boeing is, effectively, a government agency that is run for the benefit of its investors. It performs its own safety inspections. It investigates its own criminal violations of safety rules. It loots its own coffers and then refills them at public expense.

Meanwhile, the company has filled our skies with at least 420 airplanes with defective, red-painted parts that were locked up in the MRSA cage, then snuck out and fitted to an airplane that you or someone you love could fly on the next time you take your family on vacation or fly somewhere for work.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/01/boeing-boeing/#mrsa

Image: Tom Axford 1 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_sky_with_wisps_of_cloud_on_a_clear_summer_morning.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

--

Clemens Vasters (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N7379E_-_Boeing_737_MAX_9.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[alwaysbewoke]

[cozcat]

His Dark Materials fan week 2022 | day 4 | a favourite unexplained mystery | John Faa and Ma Costa?

I'm going to need more information here because y'all implied too much for me to think they're just good friends and not enough to figure out what is actually happening

[hezigler]

Boeing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Why you shouldn't fly on a Boeing made aircraft for a while if you can help it.

[ghoku]

the hilarious world of Tirooon Jokes, where controllers take silliness and fun to a whole new level! Picture this: when the operator asks a pilot and say "TIRON?" and like clockwork, at least two other people respond in the background like a PARROT BIRD with an enthusiastic "TIROOOOON!!" It doesn't stop there, though.aviation humor It's an ongoing cycle of banter and playful teasing that never fails to bring smiles to our faces.🤣😂😆 Must watch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Ht100hWtXTx2YhGYVFHejldUeNIcJ2l https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Ht100hWtXSFB-KhJwrBI67JMmWDnBM-

[midnighttragedy28]

Marisa and Asriel were so iconic, like

"...it's being run by someone who has no love of Lord Asriel. Between them both, Charles, I tremble." - The Idea Of North

"Your parents, both strong in the world, both ambitious, and the Master of Jordan holding you in the balance between them." - John Faa

"He's done what they both want. He's kept Lord Asriel isolated, to please Mrs Coulter; and he's let Lord Asriel have all the equipment he wants, to please him." - Captivity

They lived, traumatized everyone, and died.

[vomitdodger]

Finally watched the above movie. Highly recommend it if you want to understand why the newer versions of Boeing aircraft are unsafe. Specifically the 737 max series.

Spoiler and summary: Boeing was once a model of quality, safety and team emphasis to produce respected aircraft. In the late 90s they were bought out by McDonell Douglas and changed all that. Everything. Profit was first and foremost. Quality and safety suffered and was in fact discouraged, ignored and punished. The movie uses excellent interviews with those most involved in the entire process: the wife of the pilot who crashed in the first incident in 2018, many family members, engineers, congressional investigators, oversight pilots, and internal Boeing quality and safety technicians and inspectors. Most notable is John Barnett the whistleblower who was recently suicided. Movie was released in 2022 so his passing is not referenced but you quickly realize how articulate and trustworthy he was. In short a clear threat to Boeing. Here’s the long why explanation this is still important to current events :

Movie focuses on the two aircraft that crashed in 2018 and 2019 within the first 5 months of the aircraft being fielded. Blame game ensues naturally but facts come to light about Boeing that were not, and are not, portrayed fully accurately or completely in the media as usual because they are bought off and in on it. At least none that I could find after the movie to compare media accuracy to the movie. After much investigation and finger pointing by Boeing, and the FAA doing nothing, Boeing in 2021 eventually agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 Billion for criminal fraud to avoid a trial and further probe of criminal conspiracy. The agreement stipulates that if Boeing meets a series of requirements, the charge of criminal fraud will be dropped after three years…which would be 2024! Shocking eh? This avoids a potential criminal conviction of Boeing as a company. That’s important for Boeing as a key U.S. defense contractor; a conviction could have excluded it from future government contracts. BIG money. Unfathomable amounts. Globally. Now and in the future.

So Boeing execs clearly made multiple decisions that killed people and no one was held responsible. Even the “fall guy” CEO, Dennis Mullenburg who “resigned” or was fired by the board in 2019 received a severance package totally some $62 million.

BUT the movie just focuses on those two early crashes naturally, which manifested itself due to lack of quality and safety early in the planes tenure. ALL the other noteworthy stuff like the below that is just NOW manifesting is due to the same overall problem:

Of note the exact Boeing CEO names get muddled in all this but it’s one big happy party of negligence and shared guilt as usual, no matter who takes one for the team. Here’s the CEO/president names since the takeover in the 90s:

Mullenburg, while guilty, did not start the process. And the current CEO has stated he will step down this year. But they are all guilty.

The problems with the 737 Max series will continue to manifest for years to come. That’s why this is important.

Don’t forget this happened for a reason:

Also not further extrapolated in the movie was who was in charge of the do-nothing Dept of Transportation under which the do nothing FAA falls:

Elaine Chao. She was the meaningless mouthpiece for all of it at the federal level. Who is Chao married to:

Mitch “the turtle” McConnell.

Starting to see how everything is connected and everyone is guilty?

Highly rec the movie. Good luck traveling!

[usafphantom2]

USAF base suffered mysterious invasions of drone swarms for weeks

Swarms of drones attacked Langley Air Base in Virginia, triggering assets even from NASA to investigate.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 24/03/2024 - 11:03am Incidents, Military

It was reported this week that Langley Air Base, located in southeastern Virginia in Chesapeake Bay, was "invaded" for weeks by mysterious drones, leading to a comprehensive investigation by the U.S. military.

According to the TWZ website, at Langley Air Base, drone swarms were seen in varying numbers, sizes and formations, indicating the presence of different types of unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

“Last December, Langley Air Base in Virginia became the center of an intriguing security puzzle by going through weeks of unexplained drone activities,” U.S. Air Force officials said, saying the drones were first spotted on December 6, 2023. The incident aroused not only curiosity, but also concern about the safety and protection of the airspace, an official source reported to the TWZ website.

Satellite image of the Langley-Eutis Joint Air Base in Virginia.

Even if the drones were not aggressive, their appearance in restricted airspace could compromise the safety of the flight. As the TWZ notes, USAF's main concern is not an imminent attack, but the possibility of security risks, such as potential surveillance or defense capability testing.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was promptly notified, highlighting the seriousness with which the military treated these violations.

"None of the incursions seemed to present hostile intentions, but anything that flies in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety," emphasized the spokesman.

Efforts to address drone activities involved a collaborative approach, involving local authorities and other federal agencies to ensure the safety of personnel, facilities and critical assets in Langley. However, the details regarding the specific measures taken or the impact of drone activities on basic operations remain undisclosed, a reflection of the discreet nature of military operational security.

NASA's WB-57 aircraft was used to monitor the strange activity of drones on the base.

The reaction included sending specialized resources, such as NASA's WB-57F high-altitude research aircraft, emphasizing the importance of having tools to monitor or respond to drone activities.

Interesting flight tonight for the Nasa WB-57 Imaging platform. It hopped to Robins AFB earlier and refueled. Now it has set up an orbit over the Newport News shipyards near Norfolk VA. Fairly low for the WB-57, 22,000 feet.

— MeNMyRC (@MeNMyRC1) December 18, 2023

This NASA WB-57 is making very nice circles over Langley AFB–especially when you consider that it looks like there may be a 75 knot wind from the southwest!

— John Wiseman (@lemonodor) December 19, 2023

Observers did not detect the presence of drones, but certainly took note of the abrupt escalation of nearby military operations.

Located in southeastern Virginia, Langley Air Base is officially part of the Langley-Eustis Joint Base, which also includes U.S. Army Fort Eustis. The base hosts F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, playing a crucial role in supporting NORAD and NORTHCOM missions to safeguard the U.S. homeland, including the defense of the country's capital, Washington, DC.

The drone swarms at Langley Air Base present a complex challenge to national security, combining technological innovation with the old game of espionage. As drones become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, their potential use in surveillance or as a tool in more malicious ventures cannot be ignored.

In recent times, there have been numerous cases of unidentified drones invading U.S. military bases, critical infrastructure and even nuclear power plants. For example, U.S. warships in the Pacific have encountered swarms of drones several times between 2016 and 2021.

So far, no country has taken responsibility for these drone activities. However, last year, there was an incident in which a Chinese spy balloon was spotted floating over the United States, leading to allegations of Chinese espionage against the US.

Tags: Military AviationDronesF-22 RaptorIncidentsUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air Force

Sharing

tweet

Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

Related news

MILITARY

KJ-600 radar plane, the "Chinese Hawkeye", is seen in new images

23/03/2024 - 21:08

MILITARY

Second German KC-130J refueling plane arrives at base in France

23/03/2024 - 19:37

In early January, the door fitting panel of one of the Boeing 737 Max 9 was torn off from the side at 16,000 feet. He left a rectangular hole the size of a refrigerator on the Alaska Arlines aircraft.

COMMERCIAL

FBI says Alaska Airlines flight passengers that suffered an air emergency in January may be 'victims of crime'

23/03/2024 - 19:04

MILITARY

First Ukrainian pilots graduate in RAF flight training

23/03/2024 - 17:39

MILITARY

South Korea will upgrade the long-range mission capabilities of the F-15K fighter

23/03/2024 - 15:43

MILITARY

GKN Aerospace receives request for future Swedish propulsion and hunting power concept studies

22/03/2024 - 19:02

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The full solar eclipse seen across part of the U.S. last August captivated the nation, becoming one of the most photographed events in recent memory.

Now, it may turn out that one of the most jaw-dropping images of the event was taken from a Southwest Airlines flight flying at 39,000 feet.

That will likely be up for debate Tuesday after up-and-coming photographer Jon Carmichael releases his composite image of the eclipse, the first in the continental U.S. since 1979.

And it had been 99 years since such a large swath of nation had seen such an event, with America’s last Pacific-to-Atlantic total solar eclipse occurring in 1919.

As for Carmichael’s image, which is officially being unveiled today at Twitter’s New York offices, it shows a view that’s hard to believe wasn’t taken from space itself.

It’s being released on the one-year anniversary of the 2017 eclipse.

Carmichael – a New York-based photographer whose work has attracted patrons like Elton John – knew the eclipse would present the chance for spectacular images. And what better place to try to capture that than from an airplane.

His first effort fell through; an elaborate video he entered for an Alaska Airlines contest ultimately was not picked.

"All my eggs were in that basket," Carmichael said.

He then scrambled to find another option. He calculated that a Southwest flight from Portland, Oregon, to St. Louis was the next-best option.

Worried that Southwest’s open-seating policy might thwart his effort, Carmichael planned to arrive at the airport with $600 in cash to try to cajole his fellow passengers into letting him into a prime window seat.

"I was so nervous about not getting a window seat," he said. "When you go this far, you’ve got to be prepared. I was ready to bribe somebody if that’s what it took. Fortunately, I didn’t have to."

Carmichael introduced himself to Southwest employees, and the crew of Southwest Flight 1368 were happy to help.

Carmichael was given seat 1A – a front-row window seat – and one of the flight’s pilots even offered to wipe clean the window so that residue on the outside of the window wouldn’t obscure Carmichael’s shooting.

That wasn’t all the help that Carmichael would get from the cockpit crew.

As the perfect angle proved elusive, the Southwest pilots helped with a series of unscheduled (but FAA-approved) turns over Idaho’s Snake River to help the photographer get into position for several cracks at the eclipse.

Several turns later, Carmichael got his angle – and the rest of the passengers on Flight 1368 got encore glimpses as the Missouri-bound Boeing 737 remained under the moon’s shadow.

The image isn't from one single shot but rather the culmination of more than 1,000 images that Carmichael stitched together.

Carmichael estimates he took around 1,200 shots during the three minutes of "totality."

"It’s by far the most technologically challenging project I’ve ever taken on," Carmichael said of the image.

"The plane is flying at 500 miles per hour, and I had to stitch it together so it looks like it was taken from one point of view."

Southwest confirmed its crews helped Carmichael with his efforts.

“The whole story is really amazing. From the pilots literally learning Jon’s story just before boarding, to them going to the lengths of washing his window before flight to help him capture the best possible shot, just really speaks to what our employees will do to make a memorable experience for our customers,” Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said to USA TODAY’s Today in the Sky blog.

“No one could have anticipated Jon capturing such an amazing photo. We’re excited to have played a small part in bringing his dream to life, all at 39,000 feet.”

The photo also is winning praise from other corners.

“This is by far one of the best eclipse photos I have ever seen. In Jon’s photograph, one gets the linkage to space, with greater landscape detail than we get from Earth’s orbit. His image is a ladder to space,” Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization of the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the American Museum of Natural History, said in a statement after seeing the image.

The roughly 6-foot-by-9-foot image will be on display in Twitter’s New York offices at least through September 9.

Twitter also will share the image via its eponymous platform.

Its permanent fate has not been decided, Carmichael said to Today in the Sky.

For now, Carmichael says he's hoping that sharing the photo via social media will help remind people of the event one year ago, when the red-state, blue-state divisions of the past few years seemed to take a back seat as Americans took in the eclipse.

"My hope is to reignite that," Carmichael said. "Here’s a way to kind of remind people what that did for us."