Aircraft

[xoxoxoBruce]

They got tired of spinning those props.

[Gravdigr]

Designed by a one-handed former prop spinner, I assume?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Actually he was a pilot.

Bentfield Charles Hucks (25 October 1884 – 7 November 1918) was an aviation innovator in the early 20th century. As well as test flying numerous aircraft types, he was the first Briton to perform a loop in an aircraft, which he performed in his Blériot at Hendon airfield in September 1913.[1] He is also credited with the Hucks starter and many feats of test flying during the First World War, while working at Hendon for Airco.

[Gravdigr]

Was he hit in the face by a flying hand/arm from a soon-to-be-one-handed-former-prop-spinner?

[Gravdigr]

[Glinda]

Some hippy in Portland has started a campaign to remove the Air National Guard unit from the local scene, because their regular sorties to protect our fucking coastline hurt his ears.

Complaint targets military jets over Portland neighborhoods

I daresay his ears would ring much louder if Pootie or Lil Kim lobbed a nuke our way.

[Gravdigr]

Pootie and Li'l Kim...

[Glinda]

poot
noun
Word used by the religious in place of the objectionable word "fart." Farts usually follow a day of drinking draft beer and eating soft-boiled eggs, whereas a poot is usually let loose on a church pew after a healthy breakfast of grapefruit and bran muffins. Both can have a nosehair curling stench and loud reverberating echoes, however the poot is usually excused as "God's Little Airhorn."

[xoxoxoBruce]

If the jets are so loud the "neighborhood felt like being in a war zone", why do they need billboards to make them aware of it?

[Glinda]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

If the jets are so loud the "neighborhood felt like being in a war zone", why do they need billboards to make them aware of it?

Years ago, I worked in downtown Vancouver, roughly seven miles from the PDX Air National Guard base as the F-15 Eagle flies. Every day, at 8:45 am and 12:45 pm, when the jets took off for another sortie, everyone for at least 15 miles around heard the noise.

You're right, this guy isn't telling anyone anything they didn't already know. I'm sure the noise next to the airport is incredible every time the Air National Guard jets take off, but most of us aren't stupid enough to live next to an Air National Guard base expecting anything else.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I worked two miles from Philly Airport, right on the river which was the landing/tale off route depending on the wind direction. At peak hours the planes would be less than a minute apart. It was spooky quiet for three days after 9-11-01.

[Glinda]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I worked two miles from Philly Airport, right on the river which was the landing/tale off route depending on the wind direction. At peak hours the planes would be less than a minute apart. It was spooky quiet for three days after 9-11-01.

I was living in the SF Bay Area at that time, and had a great view from my condo of the skies over the Bay. That first night, I stood on my balcony and marveled at the empty skies - no planes at all. Very spooky.

But every now and then, there were a few lights in the sky from military jets patrolling the Bay and coastline. Seeing those occasional lights in the sky was very heartening, knowing that the Air National Guard and other military groups were out there on the job, (making noise and) keeping me safe.

These days, out here in SW WA, lights in the night sky belong almost exclusively to the stars, but I do get the occasional convoy of six or eight military helicopters passing extremely close by. It always gives the creeps.

[Carruthers]

Being awake at some ungodly hour, I switched on the radio to a local station in London which I wouldn't ordinarily bother with due to reception out here being poor at times.
Essentially it's just background noise for me, but when conversation came around to aircraft I paid attention.
They were following the progress of the first non-stop scheduled flight from Perth to London. Read on...

The first non-stop flight from Australia to Britain has touched down at Heathrow. Qantas flight 9 from Perth, capital of Western Australia, landed at 5.02am after a flight that had lasted 17 hours and covered 9,050 miles.

The route took the aircraft over the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, the southern tip of India, Oman, the UAE, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

After a flight through the night, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner made landfall over Foulness Island in Essex, and flew over north London and Berkshire before landing on the southern runway at Heathrow.

Previously, all Australia-UK flights had stopped at least once en route to refuel. But improved technology and fuel efficiency means the 787 can cover the ground between Perth and London with a full payload without the need to stop.

The first passenger to emerge was Robert Williamson, a mining executive from Perth who had travelled in business class. He told The Independent: “It was surprisingly good - above my expectation. I feel really good.”

Peter Robinson, a builder from Liverpool who now lives in Perth, flew in economy. He said the flight was “good, quicker than I thought”, but described the food as “ordinary”.

“There were cameras everywhere on the plane,” he said. “All the presenters from Perth TV are here.”

Four pilots operated the flight, with Captain Lisa Norman in command. She told The Independent: “This is absolutely the pinnacle of my career.

“No one has ever done this before. I’ve flown into Perth lots, and I’ve flown into London lots, but I’ve actually never joined the two dots together before.”

CNN’s business presenter, Richard Quest, emerged from the flight to say: “I think they’ve nailed it. They have made what could be an extremely unpleasant experience into something quite enjoyable.”

Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas, said: “This is a gamechanger. This is a historic moment for Australia, and historic for Qantas.”

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner carried than 230 passengers and crew




The Independent

The Guardian

Great Circle Mapper


Friends who now live in Perth make the journey back to the UK at least once a year and take flights which typically stop at Singapore or Dubai.
They tend to stop for 24 hours at these staging posts rather than hop back on the plane for another eight or ten hours of tedium.
I couldn't face the journey no matter how it was arranged!

[xoxoxoBruce]

With just two engines and a woman pilot, the times they are a changing... for the better.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

With just two engines and a woman pilot, the times they are a changing... for the better.

Enjoying as I do, a little light reading, I had a look at the ETOPS rules.
I'm not sure that I would like to be on a twin engine heavy with an engine out over water and potentially three hours from landing.

ETA The aircraft left London for Perth at about 1230GMT and is presently over Romania.
I expect that it recovered from the first leg rather quicker than the passengers and crew will.