The Mobility Forum The Mobility Forum

Nothing is more exciting than getting out on the highway with your motorcycle for a ride. The sense of freedom and adventure can be exhilarating. If you are a beginner or getting reacquainted with the art and science of riding a motorcycle after several years, however, there are basics you will want to keep in mind. Here are five musts from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s top ten list, when it comes to hitting the road with your motorcycle.

Flooding can happen from excessive rain or snowmelt. Although some floods develop slowly, flash floods can happen within minutes after a storm or containment system break.

7,500 HOURS 312 AS, Travis AFB, CA CMSgt Patrick J. TiaffaySMSgt William CopelandSMSgt Milan J. GonosMSgt Gary B. Till 6,500 HOURS 312 AS, Travis AFB,…

While conducting launch procedures for a KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft, the aircrew started both engines and were going over the pre-taxi checklist in the flight deck when the Crew Chief reported hearing a strange noise coming from the main landing gear. This noise was a hissing sound that the Crew Chief thought might be a bleed air leak within the wheel well of the left main landing gear. After appropriate coordination with the aircrew, the Crew Chief lowered and pinned the forward gear door and immediately heard the loud hissing of air escaping from a bleed air duct. After further inspection, the Crew Chief discovered a large 3-inch cracked weld around one bleed air duct and notified the aircrew of this grounding item.

More than 700 ROTC and Junior ROTC cadets, Airmen, and leadership from the 6th Air Refueling Wing pose for a photo in front of a KC-135 Stratotanker during Military Career Day at MacDill Air Force Base, FL, April 28, 2023.

Life can be interesting when we start out with one goal but learn through experiences that there may be a better path. Such is the case of Maj Gen Corey J. Martin, the Commander of the 18th Air Force headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, IL.

Many generations of children have been fascinated by anthills. Something about watching the small but mighty insects carry objects well over their body weight is captivating. There is much to take in as each worker is on a specific mission while the ant colony operates cohesively, maintaining constant productivity and deterrence.

Have you ever had one of those moments in your flying career when you are on the final leg of a long trip back to home station and cannot wait to get home? You cannot wait to see your family, or you have leave planned for the following day—you cannot get done with the trip fast enough! Unfortunately, the weather is down to minimums, you are short on crew duty day, and your crew is tired. You just have to “sneak” below the weather, stick the landing, and you are home-free!

Feb. 1, 2023, marked the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Much has been written on this incident, including comparisons with the space shuttle Challenger catastrophe, which occurred 17 years earlier on Jan. 28, 1986. Both disasters revealed that NASA accepted risks within the shuttle program discovered during previous flights, which had not performed as expected. These accepted risks added up, resulting in the mishaps. Also, in both instances, engineers most familiar with the relevant systems expressed concerns, but their concerns were overridden. Related in a safety sense are the fairly recent Boeing 737 MAX mishaps, which were also attributed to higher-level management concealing design flaws.

The 101 Critical Days of Summer (CDS) begins on Memorial Day weekend and continues through Labor Day weekend. During this timeframe Airmen and Guardians tend to participate more in outdoor activities, take time to travel, barbeque with friends, and explore new things over a season that has historically come with a higher risk of danger.

Many differences exist between individuals, or rather, every human being is unique. Because of this uniqueness, it is hard to definitively define what fatigue is.

As a Flight Line Expediter during a C-17 launch from Kadena Air Base, Japan, TSgt Daniel Hayes recognized an extremely unsafe situation and intervened with time-critical actions to prevent potential injury to ground personnel and aircraft damage. On Nov. 10, 2022, a C-17 aircrew was performing a non-standard engine start with external air due to an inoperative auxiliary power unit. The TO 1C-17A-1 procedure for engine start with external air is to start the number 4 engine, disconnect the air cart, and then start the number 1 and 2 engines on the opposite side, followed by the last engine.