I’m not concerned about Brett Kavanaugh’s reputation because (a) I don’t know him, and (b) I don’t support his confirmation for the Supreme Court (see “How did Christine Blasey Ford make it back and forth to Hawaii?” for my reasons, which predate any allegations of sex crimes).
As a frequent pilot or instructor in a propeller-driven airplane, however, I was saddened when a reader forwarded me “Christine Blasey Ford ex-boyfriend says she helped friend prep for potential polygraph; Grassley sounds alarm” (Fox).
The letter says, in part, “While visiting Ford in Hawaii, we traveled around the Hawaiian islands including one time on a propeller plane. Dr. Ford never indicated a fear of flying.”
In other words, it should be obvious to the reader that propeller implies “death machine” and that boarding a prop-driven plane is a brave act. This was probably at least a turbine-powered Cessna Caravan, not a piston-driven four-seater. (Accidents do happen in Caravans, admittedly. See “Health director who approved Obama birth certificate dies in plane crash” (NBC) for a Hawaii crash in which everyone survived except the official who was involved with Obama’s birth certificate. Compressor turbine blades failed at 4,900 hours (NTSB).)
[Separately, the letter also says “I ended the relationship once I discovered that Dr. Ford was unfaithful while living in Hawaii. After the break up, I took her off the credit card we shared. But nearly 1 year later, I noticed Dr. Ford had been charging the card, and charged about $600 worth of merchandise.” Sex with new friends and unauthorized credit card charges… Tracey Richter-Roberts! See “What will people do for love?” for a discussion of her early amorous adventures and credit card sprees.]