HoodaThunk?

An RAF pilot flying a Eurofighter Typhoon in an exercise here in the US had a bit harder of a landing than he wanted, I’m sure.

A Royal Air Force top gun crash-landed a new $136.3 million Typhoon fighter — apparently after forgetting to put the wheels down during a training exercise in California.

The state-of-the-art jet was badly damaged as it skidded along a runway on its belly at 130 mph.

“Everything points to the pilot forgetting to lower the wheels, which does happen from time to time,” an RAF insider said.

One should not forget that there’s also a chance this was a malfunction; that the pilot selected “gear down” on the controls but nothing happened. The investigation will tell the tale, I’m sure, but since it’s a British craft we might never hear the results. That said, I don’t think that the RAF would have raised the possibility so strongly if there wasn’t some indication that forgetting to put the gear down was, in fact, the cause. Gotta pay close attention, folks.

As I wrote back a couple of weeks ago, the long-overdue street lights at the corner of Countryside Parkway and Algonkian Parkway were being installed. Just last night was the first opportunity I’ve had to go past that corner in the last several days and I noted that the lights are now on. This story in the Loudoun Times-Mirror tells the tale:

CountrySide residents are breathing a sigh of relief this week as streetlamps at the intersection of Countryside Boulevard and Algonkian Parkway are finally lit.

It’s been a long process, said Don Brock, vice president of the CountrySide Homeowners Association board of directors, but now, the hope is the intersection will be safer.

Two pedestrians were killed at night at that intersection in 2007, Brock said.

Let me be the first to remind everyone that I firmly believe the street lights are necessary at this intersection and I applaud the work done in getting something there. That said, I’ve got a concern and it’s one that I mentioned in my previous post on the matter. I was passing through the intersection so I didn’t get a very good look but it seems to me that the light from these fixtures does not extend all the way out into their side of the road. This is a very poor diagram of the intersection, showing where the light appeared to be hitting:

I still need to confirm this, of course, but if my impressions were correct then these lights are not up to the task. As you can see, the parkways are 4-lane divided roads. The lights do not extend all the way across their side of the street and into the median. The entire point of putting lights at the intersection was not to light the corner, but the crosswalk. The 2 young women killed at this intersection in 2007 were not killed on or near the corner. They were well out into the street and that light needs to be on the street. Hopefully I can confirm this over the next day or so and I’ll report back then.