Damn. For a visualization; the tallest competitive diving platform is 10-meter. That the waves were 5-meters more than that, and knowing a lot of these islands are basically flat, is terrifying.
Well, one of the 12 Tongan players in NFL history did play for the Cowboys, but he was only there one season (2017) before retiring. So yeah, 2022 Dallas has no interest in Tonga.
My understanding is that volcanic ash particles are so tiny but so abrasive that it takes very little of it to make a piston engine unusable. And in my specific example, the engine wasn’t IN the plane at the time, it had been shipped from Northern California and was in a shop being rebuilt and the ash got into EVERYTHING because ain’t no shop in the world that airtight unless you have to put on a clean room bunny suit and go through airlocks to get into it. So maybe Intel fabrication rooms might be tight enough to keep ash out but no engine rebuild facilities were at the time and probably aren’t to this day.
Sure. And ash screws up the air filters, choking off the air supply to the engine. And you really don’t want to try to run one without an air filter.
I just saw a headline that the first aid flight has landed. That is certainly good news.
Here’s a good three minute video on the relief efforts and survivor stories:
Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment … why would you want your local news station to be your source of national/international news? Shouldn’t they focus on the local items, and leave the rest of it to the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, Reuters (even Fox News if that floats your boat)?
I live in Hawaii and get pretty good local news coverage from the Hawai’i Tribune Herald and Hawai’i Civil Beat. I wouldn’t want either of those sources to dilute their focus on what’s happening locally by attempting to cover the rest of the world. ISTM that it is my responsibility as a consumer of local, national, and international news to find the best sources for all of them, rather than demand that any one source deliver everything. (Though, having said that, I think that HPR, the local affiliate of National Public Radio, does a pretty good job of that.)
This. If you’re watching local news, expect local news.
BTW, not long after my post they did update their web page with a situation report. Basically, the main undersea cable was cut at two points and they are sending a repair vessel. They restored international cellular service on 19 January, but the network is congested. The WFP & co have sent satellite terminals, phones, and ground stations. Comms are worse on the outer islands. Anyway, anyone interested can read all about it.
Update:
Thank you very much for that.