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January 10, 2008

Stupid Pilot Tricks...

Dusty sent me a series of pics. This is one of 'em.

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Hmmmm. What's this fella up to? Wanna find out? Along with what Dusty and Bill hadda say about it? Click on the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry link below and find out!

Flash Traffic (extended entry) Follows �

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by Dusty on Jan 10, 2008 | TrackBack (0)

December 11, 2007

Bill checks in from "Somewhere in theater"

First chance I've had to get online, but I've got pix enough to make everybody happy -- mix of old and brand new, oddball, and just weird. Lotta gun pr0n, some airplane fiddlies, Hummer and vehicle goodies.

And a patch that'll make AFSis jump through hoops.

We'll be out of here on *******, back to ********* (and wireless), then back stateside on Saturday/Sunday to work on POI. Already made one student convert from fixed wing to fling wing and got a blue-suiter O-6 halfway through his RW orientation (simulator only thus far).

Some minor booms around, but nothing close. Say "Hiya" to the gang.

Carborundum is *so* happy, I'm sure. "Some minor booms around," he sez. I wonder what Carborundum (Bill's long-suffering Guardian Angel) has to say about that...!

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by John on Dec 11, 2007

December 1, 2007

Go 'way. I'm busy today. Today sucked.

Contents of this post deleted due to complete irrelevance.

Ya got to be able to beat Oklahoma, boys, if you want to be National Champions.

A prefect trifecta of losses, I didn't even have *one* number in the lottery drawing.

Ah well. I can go back to not giving a flying flip about sports until next year.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by John on Dec 01, 2007

November 25, 2007

Border War


Yesterday: Kansas Jayhawks...#2, 11-0
Missouri Tigers, #3, 10-1

They met in Arrowhead Stadium last night.

Today: Missouri Tigers 11-1 And prolly #1, since LSU lost, too.
Kansas Jayhawks Chickenhawks 11-1

MU-WHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

I've taken a lot of guff this week, being a Tiger-in-Kansas.

Right now, life is pretty good. And since I completely ignore basketball and other sports, my armor is impervious.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Now to see if Coach Pinkel and his streak of Tigers can break the Oklahoma Curse in San Antonio next week.

HIT IT!
HOORAY, HURRAH, MIZZOU, MIZZOU!
HOORAY, HURRAH, MIZZOU, MIZZOU!
HOORAY, HURRAH, AND A BULLY FOR OLD MIZZOU,
RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!
MIZZOU-RAH! MIZZOU-RAH! MIZZOU-RAH, TIGERS!

Okay. Enough of that stuff.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by John on Nov 25, 2007

March 10, 2007

I went. I saw. I liked.

[Denizen Ry reviews the move 300]

300. I saw it. I liked it. It isn’t history or the only thinly veiled social commentary one expects from comics produced after 1995.

It draws heavily from history for its substance but it isn’t history, not even close. It’s also done in comic book style. Everything is at the extremes---mega-pretty or mega-ugly; mega-virtuous or mega-unvirtuous. It’s a binary world. Good guys wear leather Speedos and carry bronze shields (with the inverted V, but not done in red like I am used to seeing.). Bad guys wear not-leather Speedos and lots of gold.

Aside: “Then we will fight in the shade.” That line always brings a smile to my face, ever since I first heard it in The 300, the 1960s version of history. That ranks right up there with “Nuts” as one of the gutsiest military quotes of all time.

The talk of politics being inherent to the film shows some real shallow thinking; a real lacking grasp of the actual event and all of its particulars; and a refusal to see the piece for what it is in gollom’s opinion. It’s hagiography of the Spartans, King Leonidas in particular, done in full comic book super-hero over the top coolness. Live action anime would be a good description--- there actually were moments when I expected someone to yell ‘Hitten-misturugi style…” as they cut someone down, but that would be un-Spartan like.

It’s a comic book paeon to Leonidas brought to life without a whole lot of ‘lessons’ to be taken home, not even historical ones. Full stop. Going past that and you’re making straw men, revealing far more about you than the film itself.

At the end of the day gollum liked 300. It entertained him for two hours. If you’re a Castle regular you’ll probably enjoy it too.
--ry

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by Denizens on Mar 10, 2007

December 6, 2004

Re: How Fast Can You Fly Backward? Or Why Helicopter Pilots are Superior

*Sigh* another example of aviation penis envy.

Whenever someone starts slamming others, especially other pilots about their jets, look out. To paraphrase Shreck, sounds like hes trying to compensate for something.

AnywayI like helicopters. I think theyre kinda cool and would love trying to fly one. But, in the end, I like the idea of carrying enough killing power to equal a modern-day American artillery unit. Me. Alone. By myself.

As far as operating by the numbers is concerned, the fixed wing community does that because it must. To not do so puts you and the people around and underneath you at risk. (Vtoss, by the way is not something fixed-wingers have to worry abouttry Vmc, Vxse, Vyse, and Vsse, but I digress). Every airplane, fixed wing or rotor, has limits. How about an 80-knot crosswind? 100 knots? Do you guys fly in tornados? Its not how slow you can land, its what going on around you when you do that matters. Ask any Navy VERTREP guylanding on a pitching deck is predicated on what the boats doing, what the winds are doing (among other things), not how much forward speed hes gotalthough Im sure that factors into the equation somewhere.

As far as operating environments go, ever heard of Texas Lake? See: A-10s, Nellis, Red Flag, austere operating environments. Heh. Want a spot landing? See: United States Marine Corps, Harrier pilot, standard, one each. As for flying VFR, that would be what most of the fighter guys do on most of their sorties (OK, the air-to-muddersHogs and Vipers moren likely).

As far as flying in busy airspace goes and with cosmic cockpitscool. And, thereforewhat?

Workload. Well, I have fueled my own jet, loaded my own bombsOK, they were BDUs, but gimme a few hours of checkout and Ill help on the big stuff. Now lets talk mission workload: 100 AGL, three wingmen, radar threats, weapons, fuel, and mission management, based on what the FAC and ground commanders want/need. Serious helmet fires abound in this environment, but its when youre most alive. And, assuming you dont get assholed by an SA-whatever, 57mm AAA, small arms fire, or run into the friggin ground, its the ultimate high. Doing it well, even though it taxes you to the max, is THE rushso bring on the workload.

Fisking time:

But wait, like the Ginsu knife, "there's more!" The rotor-head does it all. He does all the pre-flight planning, submits the flight plan, prepares all the paperwork

In the Air Force, thats called being a rated pilot.

loads and briefs the passengers

Mine dont care and dont talkthey just go boom.

This part is my favorite:

Finally, the all important question, "What about control touch?" I want to shut up all the hotshot fighter pilots. I've been in their aircraft and they have been in mine... I could fly theirs but they were all over the sky in mine! So then, Mr Starch Winger; when you see a Hughes 500 or Bell 206 pilot hold one skid on a 5000' knife edge ridge that is only two feet wide so passengers can step out onto the ridge, while the other skid is suspended in space... when you watch a Skycrane, Vertol, S61, 212, or 214B pilot place a hook, that's on a cable 200 feet below the aircraft, in the hand of a ground crewman... when you see a Lama, AStar, or Bell 206L land in a space in the trees that's scarcely bigger than the helicopter... and if you ever watch a BK 117, 105, or A109 pilot land in a vacant lot next to a busy freeway surrounded by power lines -at night... Well then, you'll have some idea who is the master manipulator of aviation equipment.

Oh, please.

Yes, its easier to fly a real airplane for the first time if: you didnt do the takeoff, dont do the landing, dont go to the range, dont fly fingertip (three feet from your jet to his at cruise speeds, varying g-loads and bank angles) and basically do all the important shite you do as a fully qualified fixed-wing combat aviator. This is not to belittle the helo aviators skill, but it helps to put it in perspective.

Could I hover on my first try? Probably not very wellbut if I had a competent IP, I could probably figure out the basics in a short time. I have never been in a helo as a person with hands on the controls, but, figuring the cyclic let me go forward/back and left/right and the collective gives me up/down (and power), Id pick a visual reference on the ground and fly the airplane by keeping it in the same position relative to that point using those three controls (plus a little pedal action to keep the nose/tail aligned). Would that be a start? and Ill take all the techniques youre willing to offer.

For bird-like control touch, see: USAF/USN/USMC fighter/attack pilots, all, in fingertip formation, 90-degrees of bank, 2-3 gs, plus Thunderbirds and Blue Angels (for same in cool uniforms and surrounded by babes after landing). And thats just one example.

The bottom line is; if all you want is to get into the air, find a Cessna, Beech, F-16, or 757. However, if you want to truly fly, to be an artisan in aviation and develop a bird-like control touch; then, you want to be a helicopter pilot. After all, a rock would probably fly if you made it go 180 knots. The real question for our fixed wing brethren should be, How fast can you fly backward?

No.

The bottom line is, if you want to fly, get in an airplane. It can be fixed- or rotary-wing. They all have their uses, their peculiarities, their plusses and their minusesbut theyre ALL airplanes and theyre ALL fun. The real question to our rotary-wing brethren should be, When was the last time you did a loop?

Fly safe, dude.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

by Dusty on Dec 06, 2004
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