Hey there Robodog!___ I also spent a little time in the design and testing of aircraft and spacecraft for a few years (36 to be exact before retiring in 1994) and have also worked with the FAA on civilian aircraft certification. I have always found them tough but fair and they never rush. They are not fighting to keep a schedule like the manufacturers are and their main concern is safety. When something goes wrong with an aircraft they are the ones all eyes fall upon. They had us rush many times but we could never prod them to act faster.

I think one of the reasons they recently put out that last AC is to use it as the basis for giving Baltia a PASS in light of a less than successful slide deployment. We should be hearing from them in the next couple of weeks regardless of any holidays as you wisely noted.

OLD & WISE