THIRD TRADE background information
Two years have passed since the failed terrorist attempt to sail a nuclear
bomb into New York harbor concealed in the ballast of a 125 foot sailboat.
From that story, Second Asset, one of the protagonists, Hassan Cummings, has
just entered MIT as a freshman student. Hassan is a few years older than the
average MIT freshman just out of high school. He is far more worldly, confident
and widely acclaimed. He considers the latter attribute a nuisance and endeavors
to escape its effects.
In keeping with the numbered titles in this series, Third Trade refers to the fact that Hassan in addition to his Maritime Captain's License, he is now pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Degree and in this story a Pilot's License for airplanes.
The Google Earth image below shows the general area where some of the action takes place when Hassan and his roommate were exiled and placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
The image was also used in creating the cover for the book.
In keeping with the numbered titles in this series, Third Trade refers to the fact that Hassan in addition to his Maritime Captain's License, he is now pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Degree and in this story a Pilot's License for airplanes.
The Google Earth image below shows the general area where some of the action takes place when Hassan and his roommate were exiled and placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
The image was also used in creating the cover for the book.
Third Trade is a fictional story, however much of the action
is said to take place in real locations that may be visited using Google Earth
This page shows some of those locations.
Third Trade Pictures
In this story Hassan has an opportunity to log time in three different aircraft.
Click here to view airplanes like Mr. Flether's Cessna 172 in which Hassan soloes. Cessna 172
When Hassan and Paul entered the Federal Witness Protection program in Chapter Sixteen, they were flown to Florida in an unmarked Cessna Citation. Cessna Citation CJ1
In Chapter Seven, the Dinner Key Yacht Charter company spent a day looking into the possibility of adding an aircraft to their fleet in order to enhance customer access to their boats. Maule M7
In Chapter Twenty-six there is an explanation about the function and rigging
of a device called a preventer. While this picture does not represent the
actual configuration of the preventer on the Flying Cat, the mechanics of its
use is the same. A preventer is an important safety feature when sailing downwind.
Without the preventer the mainsail boom is free to swing from one side of the boat
to the other if the mainsail were to be inadvertently backwinded by an arrant
gust of wind or helmsman's inattention in holding a heading. When such a event
occurs there is nothing to stop the mainsail boom from swinging violently to the
other side of the boat except perhaps some crewman's head. In Chapter twenty-seven
John intentionally unhooks the preventer while Hassan intentionally backwinds the
mainsail. The effect is to sweep the Portman brother off his feet thus
incapacitating him.
This picture shows the rigging of a combination of vangs/preventers which more
closely represents the rigging on the Flying Cat. Except on the Flying Cat, the
single vang was connected to a slide between (A)
and (B).
In Chapter Twenty-seven John unhooked the single vang which was all the way
to the left on the slide, thus freeing the boom to travel to the
right side of the boat when Hassan turned the boat to the
left.
In this story Hassan has an opportunity to log time in three different aircraft.
Click here to view airplanes like Mr. Flether's Cessna 172 in which Hassan soloes. Cessna 172
When Hassan and Paul entered the Federal Witness Protection program in Chapter Sixteen, they were flown to Florida in an unmarked Cessna Citation. Cessna Citation CJ1
In Chapter Seven, the Dinner Key Yacht Charter company spent a day looking into the possibility of adding an aircraft to their fleet in order to enhance customer access to their boats. Maule M7
In Chapter Twenty-six there is an explanation about the function and rigging
of a device called a preventer. While this picture does not represent the
actual configuration of the preventer on the Flying Cat, the mechanics of its
use is the same. A preventer is an important safety feature when sailing downwind.
Without the preventer the mainsail boom is free to swing from one side of the boat
to the other if the mainsail were to be inadvertently backwinded by an arrant
gust of wind or helmsman's inattention in holding a heading. When such a event
occurs there is nothing to stop the mainsail boom from swinging violently to the
other side of the boat except perhaps some crewman's head. In Chapter twenty-seven
John intentionally unhooks the preventer while Hassan intentionally backwinds the
mainsail. The effect is to sweep the Portman brother off his feet thus
incapacitating him.
This picture shows the rigging of a combination of vangs/preventers which more
closely represents the rigging on the Flying Cat. Except on the Flying Cat, the
single vang was connected to a slide between (A)
and (B).
In Chapter Twenty-seven John unhooked the single vang which was all the way
to the left on the slide, thus freeing the boom to travel to the
right side of the boat when Hassan turned the boat to the
left.