Lady Pilot's Letter To FAA

Alt.Disasters.Aviation ^

[Just Lori]

This is hilarious!

[Horatio Gates]

LOL...thanks for that ping!

[valkyry1]

I do not know much about the A6 per se. I was just thinking along the lines of a large twin engined jet with lots of power and inertia, and bleed air for thermal anti-icing capability, which I guess the A6 might not have.

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

I was just thinking along the lines of a large twin engined jet with lots of power and inertia, and bleed air for thermal anti-icing capability

The A-6 had all that and more. Even so, accumulating ice and flying through thunderstorms is hard on the life insurance premiums!

Just because the Pocket Check List (PCL) had a Thunderstorm Penetration Checklist, doesn't mean I have to put myself in a situation where I really have to use it.

I was also really proud of the fact that while most of my Emergency Procedures pages were well-worn, the last page, entitled "Ejection / Bailout" was still in mint condition when I finally retired.

[valkyry1]

I see, and we are on the same page there. My time/experience flying was way less than yours.

Hey, of which airplanes you that never flew, would you have like to have flown?

For me it would have been the Focke-Wulf 190D ‘Dora’ and the F105 ‘Thud’.

[bootless]

FARs! Break ‘em all and impress your neighbors! (ROFL!)

[bootless]

Me too! That shows you’re sane!

[Balata]

“Time, distance, and heading are your friends”

Don’t forget the wind vector. ;)

[valkyry1]

Wow check this out.

A 1946 Republic Aviation 100,000lb 4 engine (piston) reconnaissance-bomber that hits 470 mph in level flight, gets up to an altitude of 45,000’, and has a 4000 mile range.

To the rest of the world, we are as MC Hammer’s ‘You Can’t Touch That’

[Libertina]

Flight instructors must have some pretty hairly tales! My brother’s plane is finished, though it currently has no dorrs. I went up for the first time late one evening before dusk and not having doors DOES add a certain thrill to the ride! (That and new pilot, a bit of wind, and a fairly low gas tank) ROTFLOL I believe I had what is know as a “frozen smile” on my face ;)

The story my brother told me (which he heard from his flight instructor) was how a student froze one time, the instructor couldn’t reach the controls and ended up biting the student on the ear to get him to engage... Don’t know how much of that is true, but I’m sure books could me written and money made from some of these “near misses.” :)

[valkyry1]

here is the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XF-12_Rainbow

[KeyLargo]

[wita]

Spot on! Systems will never replace brains and common sense. Navigation skills should never be replaced by GPS. Perhaps enhanced, but certainly not put in place of. The vaulted and exaulted FAA is planning to have the GPS system as the backbone of the new and improved air traffic control system. I hope they are considering some backup considering your N+1.

Flew around (in the proximity of) the North Pole for many years in the 70’s with two navs, one to operate the inertial nav system, and radar, the other to DR and celestial the inertial nav fixes. Occasionally things would be totally in the hands of nav 2 when the INS crumped. Not many electronic nav aids where we were flying.

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Hey, of which airplanes you that never flew, would you have like to have flown

I never thought of it that way. If it would get airborne with a reasonable probability of landings equaling takeoffs, I was game.

I would like to have been present for a couple of the historic "firsts," mainly because ignorance is truly bliss and I am amazed they got away with it.

Examples would be the Montgolfier brothers balloon flights, thank God the carbon soot coated the inside of the balloon as that was what made it "airtight" enough to work. Or with the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk using an old five pound coffee can with a nail hole in the bottom to drip gas instead of a carburetor. Oh well, I'd rather be lucky than good, any day.

Flights I wish I could have flown involve the aircraft meeting the moment: Flying a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain, flying an A-10 or AC-130 on a close air support mission in Iraq or Afghanistan, or taking us back into space on Discovery after the loss of Challenger.

But the ultimate would be the Doolittle Raid, flying B-25's from the deck of the USS Hornet to take the war to Japan. It is hard enough flying from a carrier in aircraft designed for that purpose with the assistance of a catapult. But deck running a medium bomber elevates it to a whole other level.

When we get to that last great rendezvous in the sky, all of us are going to join up on the wing of Jimmy Doolittle.