First Flight party

Post #131,177 by deSitter 12/17/03 10:10:28 AM 12/17/03 10:19:39 AM Reply	First Flight party Bush came and spoke of "mathematicians and mechanicians" (not mechanics - they were bike mechanicians) - then left without bothering to wait for the re-enactment - then Lee Greenwood sang his pulpy potboiler about being "proud to be an American where AT LEAST I know I'm free" (yeah right - total pessimism and then the wrong conclusion) - IOW the usual jingoism while American aerospace fades away and is replaced by mil-industrial cogs while Europe and France in particular take over the business of flight. A president who can't speak, followed by a pessimistic jingoist potboiler - what a way to celebrate. (I'm proud to be an American, where I can't get a job if I'm over 40, have no medical care, can't make a TV or a camera, can't find Arizona, but AT LEAST I know I'm free - I don't care about what goes into MAKING me free, like, say a healthy, optimistic population with work to do, but AT LEAST I know I've got something that I have no real clue about, and I didn't have to earn it, but I am more than willing to deny to others if they get in my WAY. AT LEAST I've got that. Yep. AT LEAST I know I'm free.) (edit: in the interim before the flight, the PA is blasting stupid non-descript rock music, because apparently people think the movie Top Gun was reality.) -drl Edited by deSitter Dec. 17, 2003, 10:19:39 AM EST Expand All History
Post #131,182 by a6l6e6x 12/17/03 10:27:00 AM Reply	One has to cringe every time W opens his mouth. Besides, words with over two syllables are involved. :) Alex A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true. -- Demosthenes, Greek orator (384-322 BCE)
Post #131,208 by mmoffitt 12/17/03 11:48:41 AM Reply	What's depressing to me. I've asked everyone I've run into today if they know what happened one hundred years ago today. No one has known (my daughters don't count, when they woke up this morning they said, "Happy Centennial, Daddy!") The funniest answer came from a Gen-X'er here at the office: "Was that when Reagan was elected?" We are doomed, friends. DOOMED. bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.
Post #131,227 by a6l6e6x 12/17/03 1:32:04 PM Reply	Re: What's depressing to me. I know what you mean. Last night, in a locally (North Carolina) produced PBS show they had a historian talk about the Wright brothers and the Outer Banks. One of the photographs he discussed was one that was taken in 1902 showing the [link\|http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/airplane/air1902.html\|1902 glider] with a lowered right wing. It was at that point that the Wrights understood controlled flight. Of course at that time they were actually deforming the wings shape as one of the control surfaces. On getting back to Dayton, Ohio, they applied for the relevant patents. The actual powered part of flight they considered a straight forward next step. So, in a sense, the celebrations are a year late. Alex A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true. -- Demosthenes, Greek orator (384-322 BCE)
Post #131,228 by bbronson 12/17/03 1:41:27 PM Reply	Doesn't surprise me, but... My flight instructor not knowing!?! This morning's lesson got weathered out (too windy). I was hoping I could, if not solo, at least get a lesson in on this day. Oh well. Brian Bronson
Post #131,230 by mmoffitt 12/17/03 2:02:26 PM Reply	Know what you mean. METAR KGSH 171735Z AUTO 26017KT 1 3/4 SM -SN BR BKN 013 OVC034 M04/M06 A2986 RMK A02 SLP123 P0000 60000 T10391056 11039 21061 58012 AIRMET ICE...WI MI IL IN LS LM LH FROM YQT TO SSM TO YVV TO DX0 TO FWA TO JOT TO DLL TO YQT OCNL MOD RIME/MXD ICGICIP BLW 100. CONDS ENDG ARND 18Z WI/IL PTNS...CONTG ELSW BYD 21Z...ENDG IN PTN 21-99Z...CONTG ELSW THRU 03Z. Swell, huh? bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.
Post #131,234 by deSitter 12/17/03 2:21:03 PM Reply	Re: Know what you mean. LS, LM, LH? Oh, Superior etc. Nice. Ocnl - huh? Occasional OK.. "Occaisional moderate rime/mixed icing and frozen precipitation, below 10,000 feet. Conditions ending around 18:00 GMT, WI-IL portions, continuing elsewhere beyond 21:00 GMT..." A lot of the conditions, I have no idea :) Looks like maybe "broken clouds at 1300 feet, overcast at 3400". I guess 26017 is 260 azimuth, 17 knots? -drl
Post #131,238 by jb4 12/17/03 2:39:18 PM Reply	Thanks for the translation, Ross As for you, Mike...Screek Engrish, Troop! jb4 "There are two ways for you to have lower Prescription-drug costs. One is you could hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper ... or you can elect me President." John Kerry
Post #131,247 by bbronson 12/17/03 4:03:22 PM Reply	Hey, now you know how I feel when you REAL computer geeks start spouting your obscure language! ;-) Brian Bronson Who only pretends to be a pseudo computer geek
Post #131,274 by jb4 12/17/03 6:01:08 PM Reply	Hey! If you're pretending.... to be a pseudo computer geek, that would have to mean that you are a REAL computer geek.... jb4 "There are two ways for you to have lower Prescription-drug costs. One is you could hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper ... or you can elect me President." John Kerry
Post #131,339 by mmoffitt 12/18/03 9:39:28 AM Reply	Heh. Ross did really well. When I first saw one of those my reaction was: WTF? Reading this is harder than flying the airplane. Here's some help: [link\|http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/conversion/swometardecoder.html\|http://lwf.ncdc.noaa...metardecoder.html] METAR KGSH 171735Z AUTO 26017KT 1 3/4 SM -SN BR BKN 013 OVC034 M04/M06 A2986 RMK A02 SLP123 P0000 60000 T10391056 11039 21061 58012 Automated Surface observation Dec. 17, at 1735 UTC Wind 260 at 17 knots, visibility 1.75 statute miles. Light snow mist. [sky condition Ross nailed]. Temperature -04C, Dewpoint -06C. Barometric pressure (for setting altimeters) 29.86. The rest is left as an exercise ;0) AIRMET ICE...WI MI IL IN LS LM LH [Ross nailed] FROM YQT TO SSM TO YVV TO DX0 TO FWA TO JOT TO DLL TO YQT These are all VORs. The YQT is Thunder Bay, Canada. You just draw lines from VOR to VOR. This is pretty big, FWA is Fort Wayne, Indiana. My airport is 20nm north of Fort Wayne. OCNL MOD RIME/MXD ICGICIP BLW 100. CONDS ENDG ARND 18Z WI/IL PTNS...CONTG ELSW BYD 21Z...ENDG IN PTN 21-99Z...CONTG ELSW THRU 03Z. Occaisional moderate rime/mixed icing in clouds and precipitation below 10000 ft. Conditions ending around 1800Z in Wisconsin and Illinois, continuing elsewhere beyond 2100Z ending in Indiana sometime after 2100Z, continuing elsewhere through 0300Z. (Z = UTC) That better jb? bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.
Post #131,345 by tuberculosis 12/18/03 9:49:46 AM Reply	Time to update those They're antiquated. Designed for teletype transmission - there's not reason to maintain this format. Your FAA tax dollars at rest. "I believe that many of the systems we build today in Java would be better built in Smalltalk and Gemstone." -- Martin Fowler, JAOO 2003
Post #131,347 by mmoffitt 12/18/03 9:59:20 AM Reply	They're working on it. But it's sort of like the VOR's. They were supposed to be down in 2005. Think that'll happen? Not a chance. Nobody's (and most importantly my) LORAN would work anymore ;-) bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.
Post #131,348 by tuberculosis 12/18/03 10:14:07 AM Reply	Bah - the so-called FAA systems modernization has been a total hose job. 6 VB Programmers and a chimp could have done a better job. This has been mumbled about since I was a student pilot (20 years now?!?!). Meanwhile, how many accidents have been caused by mis-interpretation of these cryptic missives? Quite a few I'll wager. "I believe that many of the systems we build today in Java would be better built in Smalltalk and Gemstone." -- Martin Fowler, JAOO 2003
Post #131,357 by boxley 12/18/03 10:52:10 AM Reply	HEY!! HEY!!! HEY!!! I worked on that system We had a unique system that put all the airport controls on one screen. You get an alarm you drill down until you saw (an example) readouts of alarms on a generator 1200 mile away and a webcam so you could actually see the oil pressure guage. Used COTs and open systems stuff. All this so some jamoke didnt have to take an 8 hr boat ride to reset the generator unless he really needed to. It was state of the art. It was so state of the art that UNISYS went to congress to get the funding yanked in favor of their tandem boxen. So take yer VB Chimps and put the blame where it belongs on yer congress critters. Not the FAA. thanx, bill stick a spork in it. questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #131,638 by mmoffitt 12/20/03 10:23:27 AM Reply	Heh. Personally, I can't wait for the circus of "free flight" to take hold. With all the fly-by-wire crap coming to an airliner near you soon, this should make commercial aviation the very best reason for everyone to get get their PPSEL. bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.
Post #131,355 by jb4 12/18/03 10:38:08 AM Reply	Yes, thanks! Now, for 100 bonus points and a chance at the lightning round: What is the TLA for Waukegan airport? For Waukesha? (bbronson can answer, but since he already knows the answer to the second one, no bonus points. BTW, I don't know the answers; that's why I'm asking!) jb4 "There are two ways for you to have lower Prescription-drug costs. One is you could hire Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper ... or you can elect me President." John Kerry
Post #131,361 by bbronson 12/18/03 11:04:37 AM Reply	Airnav.com is your friend [link\|http://www.airnav.com/airports/\|AirNav] Enter the city name and click Get Airport Information. In this case, you'll get a result set showing that Waukegan, IL airport is code KUGN. Follow that link and you can find out just about everything about the airport. BTW, Waukesha is KUES. Brian Bronson
Post #131,240 by deSitter 12/17/03 3:05:12 PM 12/17/03 3:05:59 PM Reply	Anti-depressant This is the Yorktown, in 1940, leaving the US after stocking up on planes and supplies. The biplanes to the front are Grumman F3F "Hellcats", the early Hellcat - the F6F Hellcat monoplane had a similar robust boxy frame. In between was the F4F Wildcat, which got its lunch eaten. Nevertheless Grumman has done aviation proud over the years. [link\|http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/models/html/3414.htm\|http://www.accurate-...els/html/3414.htm] [link\|http://www.mucheswarbirds.com/F3Fart.html\|http://www.mucheswar...s.com/F3Fart.html] To the back, dive bombers, Douglas SB series (e.g. Dauntless). This had a rear-facing gunner position. Also visible are TB series "Avengers", also Grumman - torpedo planes. [link\|http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/models/html/3411.htm\|http://www.accurate-...els/html/3411.htm] You can see the complement of airplanes was about half-and-half between torpedo planes and bombers. No one had ever fought a carrier war so it was just a guess. All the planes on the deck of this ship are alreadly obsolete. [image\|http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020501.jpg\|\|\|\|] -drl Edited by deSitter Dec. 17, 2003, 03:05:59 PM EST Expand All History
Post #131,335 by mmoffitt 12/18/03 9:06:46 AM Reply	Thanks. Those are GREAT! bcnu, Mikem Java, Junk. Both start with a "J", both have four letters. Coincidence? I think not.

Welcome to IWETHEY!