Cale Nicholson

Not the most prolific tweeter to be sure. In the toy biz since 1994. Avid pilot. Views posted are mine alone and do represent opinions of my employer

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@grok What about JTF-2?

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

As far as the age of the F/O is concerned:

I get that this would be discomfiting to some. But the reality is that this is often the path that aspiring commercial/ATP pilots follow. And for me personally, my reaction would be, "This young lady must be special if she's already rated to fly commercial jets."

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

I’m not at all shy about blaming DEI where appropriate, and it often is appropriate. But I see no DEI angle on this jet crash. The female pilot was not flying the plane. The captain was a 55 year old man. Trying to blame the girl for the crash is absurd and baseless. Yes she seemed frantic and terrified in the radio call but I would be to, and so would you. And even if she’d been cool as a cucumber, there isn’t the slightest reason to think it would have made any difference at all.

I’ll fully admit that I wouldn’t get in a plane if the copilot was a 20 year old girl. But that doesn’t change the fact that there is no evidence that she was personally at fault. And for the record, becoming a pilot at 20 is pretty impressive. She had her shit together a lot more than I did at that age. I’ll say that at least. I don’t think airlines or private charter companies should be making any specific effort at all to be “inclusive” of women or whatever, but it’s still admirable for a kid to have a goal like that and pursue it. I don’t see any reason to mock her, as some have done.

Some of the comments about that audio recording have been callous to an unhuman degree. None of you would have the stoicism in that situation that you demand from this girl. And again, there’s no reason to think stoicism would have magically kept the plane from falling out of the sky. Besides, she actually did seem pretty calm in that recording until the last few seconds, relative to the circumstance she was in. I don’t want my pilot to panic but I also don’t want them to be completely indifferent to the prospect of a fatal crash, as some commenters here apparently expect.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@billy_shears22 Gosh, I wasn’t aware that the NTSB completed its investigation and published their findings in the 12 or so hours since the crash.

🤡

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

Nine people died in this Learjet crash in Florida, and somehow people have already decided that a young female first officer and “DEI” explain it.

This is beyond grotesque.

The information available so far describes a crew reporting icing, turbulence and precipitation, requesting a climb, and then confronting an overspeed condition and a catastrophic rate of descent. Something went terribly wrong, very quickly. Exactly what happened, and why, is what the investigation needs to establish.

Thunderstorms are the most dangerous weather conditions that pilots face, and this horrible crash illustrates why we do everything to avoid them. But I have no idea if a) the Lear's weather radar accurately showed how strong this cell was, or b) if it would have even be possible to divert left or right. Miami's airspace is very busy, but again, who knows?

As a pilot, I want answers too. Every decision, qualification, aircraft system and weather factor that matters should be examined. If mistakes were made, the evidence should identify them.

But a woman’s voice on the radio tells you who was speaking. It does not tell you who was flying, what caused the emergency, or whether either pilot could have recovered from it. Her age and sex are not evidence that she was hired to fill a quota.

You cannot demand competence and accountability while treating your own assumptions as an accident report.

Let the investigators do their work. And show some basic decency towards the people who died and the families now facing life without them

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

“Siri, tell me how I can show I’m a complete fucking ignoramus about flying, without saying I’m a complete fucking ignoramus about flying”

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@flying_steve No, she'll just need to clear security again. No immigration

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@oranaise @WhizBuckleyGrp @Kimbahnasi Yeah, I’ve been following. Tragic.😞Perfect example of why pilots do everything possible to avoid them. It looks like they were trying to climb above it but had no way to divert to one side or the other

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@Le_Gaul

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

LOL. NBA, and it ain’t even close

[Chris ⚡ @IconicChriss]

Four major sports. You can only keep three... Which one has to go?

• NBA
• NFL
• MLB
• NHL

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

This woman can’t become the UK’s PM soon enough.

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain's leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.

If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?

On demands for reparations, whether through cash or debt relief, we have been down this track before. Twenty-five years ago, Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History argued that cancelling the debts of poorer countries would give them a fresh start. More than $100 billion of debt was eventually written off, but many of those countries have since built up even bigger debts. Labour are already spending too much on Britain's welfare state, now is not the time for Andy Burnham to be providing global welfare.

There is no reason British taxpayers today should be held financially responsible for things that happened generations before any of us were born. And I have even less patience for political elites in commonwealth countries who don’t know how to make their own citizens prosperous now looking for another opportunity to blame Britain.

As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham should be Britain’s greatest defender. Instead, he is writing articles saying we need to confront our history (as if we haven't done enough of that) and considering another formal historical apology. Tony Blair already expressed Britain’s deep sorrow and regret for our role in the slave trade nearly twenty years ago. There is no need to do so again.

This is all another navel-gazing distraction. The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards. That means economic partnerships to make us all richer and deeper military and security cooperation against common threats. If every Commonwealth summit becomes an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash then we need to start asking if it is worth the effort.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@lilchiva I had one as a rental in LA last month, and the biggest adjustment for me was the difference in torque.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@wil_da_beast630 @IonaItalia Mazet Tov!

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

One of the best tributes I’ve read.🙏👇

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

In 1987, Patrick Stewart refused to unpack his suitcase for six straight weeks.

My throat still tightens every time I read why.

Every Hollywood insider told the 47-year-old British stage actor that Star Trek: The Next Generation would be a disaster. Even his closest friend, Ian McKellen, begged him not to throw away his Shakespearean career on a television gamble.

Stewart kept his bags packed by the door, waiting to be fired and sent home to London.

That "six-week failure" lasted 36 years.

Watching him late at night here in Japan, we saw something Hollywood never expected.

In Japan, we call this quiet, unbreakable spirit "Fudoshin," an immovable heart under fire.
Most action heroes scream and fire weapons to look strong.
Captain Picard never needed to raise his voice.

Born into deep poverty in Yorkshire, terrified of a violent home, he left school at age 15 and lost all his hair by 19, convinced his life as an actor was over before it began.

Yet one English teacher, Cecil Dormand, handed that frightened 12-year-old boy a copy of Shakespeare, said "Read it out loud," and secretly paid for his first drama course.

Never forget what happened decades later.

On the morning Queen Elizabeth II knighted him as Sir Patrick Stewart, he invited that same retired schoolteacher to sit beside him at his knighthood luncheon.

No suitcase left unpacked.
No rage on the bridge.
Just a cup of Earl Grey tea, a tug of his uniform, and three quiet words that commanded the galaxy:

"Make it so."

He passed away at 86 surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, and laughter.
And this December, in Avengers: Doomsday, Professor X will grace the screen one final time.

A boy who thought he wouldn't last six weeks in Hollywood gave the world an eternity of nobility.

From Japan, with tears and our deepest salute:
Thank you, Captain. Engage. ✨🖖🇯🇵

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@AnnaKKraken And FTR, I am amazed you’re still single TBH.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@AnnaKKraken May the odds be ever in your favour.🤞

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

Oh Captain, my captain.😢😢

[The Hollywood Reporter @THR]

Patrick Stewart, 'Star Trek' Captain and 'X-Men' Superhero, Dies at 86 https://t.co/sWmmwnoDlu

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

Gotta think Matt must be tempted to have a ready supply of booze (or Rush IPA) at arm's length when looking at his X notifications

[Matt Gurney @mattgurney]

Another response to my column about the Toronto mayoral result.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

Nope.

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Dwight Gooden won 24 games when he was 20 years old. I can 100% guarantee you’ll never see that happen again.

[Cale Nicholson @cale905]

@gregbradyx King Charles III (as represented by Governor General Louise Arbour) is our Head of State. Carney is merely the head of our government.