Frazz by Jef Mallett for January 18, 2025

If this is the final comic of Frazz it wouldn’t be awful.

Wonder why I keep imagining Calvin and Hobbes while looking at this ’toon.

Why is Frazz is sitting on a tree branch?

Frazz’s boot is laying on the snow!

Don’t count your landing as good landing until you’ve walked away from it.

Chuck Yeager would have been a great astronaut. If only he had a college degree, sigh.

Did you sense any heat buildup during reentry?

It’s always good if the number of landings equal the number of takeoffs.

I think it’s one of the best available.

This was no outstanding landing for sure.

A landing is just a controlled crash.

I wonder if this was the same hill Wallace was using?

If you walk away, it’s a good landing. If you taxi away it’s a great landing. Although, if it takes full power to taxi, you may have landed with the gear up.

Anytime you can use a Chuck Yeager quote in your strip is a good day!

What if you can only use part of the “plane” the next day? (I’m thinking of SpaceX.)

Trees are notorious sled magnets, if I recall properly from my childhood.

As a pilot, I’ve heard the first panel quote ad-nauseam. As it’s so frequently quoted, I’d forgotten Yeager made it.

Pilot Officer Prune (RAF, WWII) said it earlier — and no doubt a lot of pilots have said it before and since. I think Yeager might have said it with more feeling!

Well, you’re certainly not using that sled again, but let’s see you get up and walk home.

They’re defying the laws of physics. Caulfield should be the one landing in the tree (being lighter).

I am reminded of an incident that took place in 1947. On June 18th on a Pan Am flight from Calcutta to New York an engine failed and started burning. Which caused another engine to overheat and also burst into flame. Which caused panic. While the pilot attempted to land the plane the 25 year old co-pilot unbuckled his seat belt and walk beck to the main cabin to help the passengers. He sat down next to a young woman who was flying alone. “We’re going to be ok” he said He told her this as he watched one of the burning engines seize and fall off of the wing. He told her this a fuel lines became exposed, fire overtook the aircraft and the plane pitched downward. He told her this knowing that every single person on the plane was about to die. The lane hit the Syrian desert HARD. 14 passengers and most of the crew died. the young co-pilot sustained broken ribs but that did not stop him running back into the flaming hulk and rescuing about 10 passenger still inside. And so they waited. Morning arrived, but rescue did not.

The co-pilot formed two search parties to go look for a village that had a radio from where they could call for help. The co-pilot’s party found a village that had a radio. A call was made and the 22 survivors were rescued. As for the co-pilot, he was changed. He resigned from Pan Am to pursue a career in writing for radio and eventually television. He had a TV show that was fairly successful, but his second show had difficulties. He was approached by Lucille Ball who had liked his first show. She told him he could use her studio (DesiLu) for his second. She was always helping others. The young man’s name was Gene Roddenberry. The second show was called Star Trek. He survived 3 aircraft crashes, two in WWII and that one in the Syrian desert. You might have multiple crashes, but maintain your optimism, follow your dreams and don’t be afraid to accept help on your way. And yeah, Lucy was the godmother to Star Trek.

There is a video out there of a USAF pilot landing his F 16 and it was smooth and graceful then it shows a US Navy F 18 land and it hit the tarmac hard the main landing gears straining from the force; they do have to land on aircraft carriers, catch the arresting cable or do it again (I’ve seen the cable snap nearly decapitating a landing crew when it snapped back and the plane go in the water but the pilot ejected). They do this even in near or no visibility weather. Navy plane gears are like monster truck suspension going over cars.

This seems like a ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ strip.