These are the stories to close out the week...
Have a safe weekend!
Tom
2025 FIREFIGHTER STAND DOWN COMING UP (The Secret List)
All,
On behalf of the IAFF, NVFC, NFPA, FDSOA, and IAFC (Safety, Health, and Survival Section), the 2025 Firefighter Safety Stand Down will focus on the critical topic of behavioral health.
Chiefs, Fire Officers, and Firefighters will be asked to help break the stigma and RESET their approach to behavioral health through the following daily focus themes: Recognize, Educate, Strategies, Empower, and Training. As we all know, behavioral health affects every aspect of a fire department, from safety and retention to productivity and engagement.
CHIEFS & OFFICERS:
Please use the week of June 15-21 to focus department activities on gaining an understanding of behavioral health challenges and how to support team members struggling with these challenges to prevent negative outcomes such as burnout, injuries, anxiety, leaving the department, or suicide.
EVERY resource you need is linked below....
...a FOCUS and A PLAN for YOUR Department...
.....FOR EACH of the 5 days!
Safety Stand Down takes place the third full week of June each year to highlight critical safety, health, and survival issues for fire, EMS, rescue, dispatch, and other emergency services personnel. Chiefs are asked to direct crews to suspend all non-emergency activities during the week to focus their attention on these BEHAVIORAL HEALTH efforts. A week is provided to ensure that all duty shifts and non-shift volunteers can participate.
EVERYTHING YOUR DEPARTMENT NEEDS FOR A SUCCESSFUL STAND DOWN WEEK IS HERE:
Please plan now-thanks!
Take Care. Be Careful. Pass It On.
BillyG
The Secret List 5/29/2025-1125 Hours
MIT Team Releases Tempting Report On Electric Aircraft Technology
New tech could triple the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries.
Mark Phelps
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) announced research results today into a new fuel cell technology that could triple the energy density of electric vehicles. The report singled out aviation as a likely beneficiary of the advanced tech, since weight savings are a key component in electric aircraft propulsion systems.
The new technology is described as similar to a battery, but with the difference that it can be “refueled rather than recharged.” Rather than fossil fuel or hydrogen, these fuel cells are powered by inexpensive and widely available liquid sodium metal. The reactive side of the fuel cell is simply air. In between is a layer of solid ceramic material that fills the role of electrolyte, “allowing sodium ions to pass freely through” along with a porous air-facing electrode that helps the sodium to react to the oxygen in the air and produce electricity. Compared with lithium-ion battery technology, which has seemed to plateau in development, the new fuel-cell based concept could triple lithium-ion’s energy density.
The team’s findings were published today in Joule, an MIT journal. With refreshing candor, team member Yet-Ming Chiang (Material Science and Engineering professor) said, “We expect people to think that this is a totally crazy idea. If they didn’t, I’d be a bit disappointed because if people don’t think something is totally crazy at first, it probably isn’t going to be that revolutionary.”
Aviation’s weight sensitivity is clearly on the MIT team’s radar. Chiang noted, “The threshold that you really need for realistic electric aviation is about 1,000 watt-hours per kilogram.” That contrasts with lithium-ion batteries’ current top end of approximately 300 watt-hours per kilogram.
Chiang acknowledged that even 1,000 watt hours would not be sufficient for practical transcontinental or transatlantic air travel. But he asserted that the 1,000 watt-hour threshold would be practical for regional electric aviation, “which accounts for about 80% of domestic flights and 30% of the emissions from aviation.”
Another important advantage for the sodium-metal technology is safety. Noting the fire danger in high-energy-density battery systems due to the reactive chemicals being so close to each other, Chiang pointed out that with this system, one side of the battery would be just air. He noted that the air is “dilute and limited,” adding that the new technology would not have two concentrated reactants right next to each other. “If you’re pushing for really, really high energy density,” he said, “you’d rather have a fuel cell than a battery for safety reasons.”
https://avweb.com/aviation-news/mit-team-releases-tempting-report-on-electric-aircraft-technology/?oly_enc_id=3681J3205156A2X
NTSB Prelim: Lee Aviation LLC JA30 SuperStol
A Puff Of Smoke Came Out From The Top Of The Engine Cowling Followed By A Total Loss Of Engine Power
Location: Evanston, WY Accident Number: WPR25LA154
Date & Time: May 9, 2025, 10:20 Local Registration: N128EL
Aircraft: Lee Aviation LLC JA30 SuperStol Injuries: 2 None
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal
On May 9, 2025, about 1020 mountain daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Just Aircraft Superstol, N128EL, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Evanston, Wyoming. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot reported that shortly after departing runway 23 at the Evanston-Uinta County Burns Field (EVW), Evanston, Wyoming, and while in the crosswind leg of the traffic pattern about 250 ft above ground level, a puff of smoke came out from the top of the engine cowling followed by a total loss of engine power. The pilot advanced the throttle, pitched the nose down, and turned the airplane left towards runway 5. Subsequently, the pilot realized he was not going to make it to the runway and initiated a forced landing on a taxiway. The airplane landed hard and short of the taxiway on a hillside and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The airplane was recovered to a secure location for further examination.
FMI: www.ntsb.gov
Today in History
78 Years ago today: On 30 May 1947 Eastern Air Lines flight 605, a Douglas DC-4, crashed following a loss of control near Bainbridge, Maryland, USA, killing all 53 occupants.
| Date: | Friday 30 May 1947 |
| Time: | 17:41 |
| Type: | Douglas C-54B-15-DO (DC-4) |
| Owner/operator: | Eastern Air Lines |
| Registration: | NC88814 |
| MSN: | 18380 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1944 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3623 hours |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 53 / Occupants: 53 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 3 km E of Bainbridge, MD - United States of America |
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Newark International Airport, NJ (EWR/KEWR) |
| Destination airport: | Miami International Airport, FL (MIA/KMIA) |
| Investigating agency: | CAB |
| Confidence Rating: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Narrative:
Eastern Air Lines flight 605, a Douglas DC-4, crashed following a loss of control near Bainbridge, Maryland, USA, killing all 53 occupants.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 605 departed Newark Airport, New Jersey, USA at 17:04 for a domestic flight to Miami, Florida.
The DC-4 climbed to its assigned cruising altitude of 4000 feet and the crew made position reports at 17:10 and 17:27 hours.
About 17:41 witnesses saw the aircraft enter a steepening dive until it struck the ground at high speed in a partially inverted attitude. The aircraft impacted moderately to densely wooded area with trees 60-70 feet high.
The investigation of this accident was at the time the most intensive in the history of the Civil Aeronautics Board's Safety Bureau.
It was found that the empennage disintegrated during the dive but whether failure of the empennage and/or its controls was an effect or a cause of the dive was not discovered.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a sudden loss of control, for reasons unknown, resulting in a dive to the ground."
