Big ones, like 260 lbs big ones.

It seems less than a month ago, a short time after given clearance to take off, the big jet lost a nose wheel. It harmlessly rolled off to the dismay of pilot & 1st officer.

By the way, it was not that long ago, a plane lost a panel after climbing, what, about 12 thousand feet, can’t remember. Today, I just heard of some kind of wing problem.

And then this. The wheel came down and totaled a few cars in the employee parking lot. (I hope one of them belonged to the one that did not properly secure that wheel. Not much chance I guess.) Regardless, the wheel could have been lethal. As the witness pointed out, it could have squashed a person like a grape, perhaps as it did with the cars.

By the way, remind me, never buy a house in line with a runway. Now wait a minute. Maybe I should sell the house I’m in before one of those not so useless parts falls on my house.

Moreover, many homes and buildings lie close to the take-off patterns of Memphis International.

One expert said that wheels falling off A/C is rare, which I find comforting, really. What I find less comforting is the fact that it does seem be recurring more often.

Just maybe we should redirect our attention back to safety rather than what color a person’s skin is. ESG is one of those things that sounds really neat until planes start falling out of the sky.

Same as when I was in the Marines. As long as that man next to me could carry his weight and could hit what he aims at, I would never care if his skin was purple. To me, the mission is priority one, not two and certainly not three. My survival depends on it. Our unit success depends on it. The lives we are defending depends on it.

Side note, I did know many good Marines who were black. My one question might be if I was good enough to share that foxhole with him. You see, he would depend on me as much as I would depend on him. I would have never been able to live with myself if I failed him.