Over at my techy-alternative blog, I linked to a great video of what a fighter jet has to do after sucking a bird into its engine, plus I told a story about one of the more interesting incidents I encountered while flying about with my Dad: Eric'o'theque!: Bird + Plane engine = bad news

I mentioned how that was one of three incidents (well, four). They are:

1. That incident of the fuel pump failing high, high up in the sky.
2. Instruments only landing with stormy high-winds in Tennessee. At night. I felt like we landed sideways. But perfect.
3. The radar left on close range that, when finally flipped to long range, revealed wave after wave of upcoming thunderstorms Dad had to thread through. Over Louisiana.
4. (I was asleep and zoned out to Tangerine Dream, my study music) Ice accumulating more and more on the wings flying out of Nevada back to Texas.

Whew. It all helps me understand why aviators are a different breed of folk.