Not to easedrop but our former Governor way back said that Minnesota water some day would be as important as oil. Some enterprising guy was trying to sell tons of it and got shot down but I’m thinking maybe we could trade water with Arizona for solar power or something?
Back to helicopters. My folks and I were at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota when I was somewhere around 19 or so. They were giving helicopter rides and my dad was a big flying fan and had his license and everything (my mother would not fly) so we took a helicopter ride around the faces. It was a great ride but a week later we read in the paper that the guy crashed killing all on board. I always felt that after spending so much money on college that my life has been spared several times because of it.
While that is true, engine-outs often lead to un-planned off-field landings. And sometimes they’re high-g landings.
And especially in GA where a lot of guys only fly enough to maintain legal currency, how often do you suppose they’re practicing engine-out scenarios outside of check rides?
I tend to side with you on helicopters, btw. I’ve ridden in a number of them in my past career. Loud, vibrating things that only fly because they’re so ugly the ground rejects them.
Neither my friend nor my BIL would get into one of those types of tour helicopters. They could see and feel the machines had not received what they would find acceptable levels of service. They both had a pretty high standard coming from their military training.
I’ve always had a dream of building my own little Helicopter and flying around in it. I’d love to be able to fly…anything really. I never gave this enough attention in my life, always thought it was just out of reach.
I was offered a warrant officer promotion and helicopter flight school in the Marine Corps but took some good advice and turned it down. When I arrived in country and took a few trips on CH 46s I realized how good the advice had been. Army and Air Force Hueys were a seemingly much better (safer) ride but I’ll never ride in a rotor wing again if I can avoid it. I recall a hillside covered with helicopters that failed to auto-gyro.
Yes and our lake michigan water is valuable also, but then the pipeline proposed just north of pine river would pollute so many lakes if there was a break I am surprised the rich folks have not killed it yet, as a spill would be catostrophic in the river basin. Our lake is not connected, but maybe they will be able to skim the oil from a spill and use it in their diesel engines,
I liked him but they nick named him Governor Goofy. Mall of America, had the Gaul to set up a waste and mismanagement work group, but people were aghast that we’d ever sell our water. Gotta agree with that one. My vote is no. Let them without water just freeze some salt water for a year. The oceans are rising anyway.
aircraft piston engines have a duty cycle something like:
1 warm up for a while until heads and oil come up to safe limits.
2. take off at maximum rated power typically for several minutes then back off to climb power which is about 80 % of rating then when reaching cruise cruise at about 60% power rating.
3. aircraft engines are made light as possible since they must fly and power aircraft that also must fly. Excess weight in engine comes out of payload on the plane. The light weight requirement cuts into excess safety factor designed into the parts.
In my 20+ years as a Naval Flight Officer we had to feather many engines while we were flying because of internal component failures like dropped valves and jugs that blew off the engines; then we cruised on with the spares-some planes 3 and some planes 1. In my time as a power plants officer at the squadron level many of the engines were removed for those kinds of failures before they reached the 2000 hour safety R/R.
I just have one question? Has anyone ever seen an airplane pull off an airway onto the shoulder (a.k.a nearest cloud) put on its 4 ways and await the arrival of a tow? Neither have I.
It’s not just the engine, the whole airplane has to have an annual inspection by a certified mechanic, and it’s way more than making sure this horn honks, the tires are good and the lights work.
And not just any A&P certified mechanic. One must be an “I/A”, or have an inspection authorization on their FAA certificate. One interesting thing: The inspection itself has to be done by an “IA”. But the plane can be “returned to service” by an A&P, once the discrepancies (and there ALWAYS are discrepancies) are fixed.
My Piper Seneca was on an Air Taxi certificate (used to fly fare-paying passengers). In addition to the annual inspections, there were 100 hour inspections also. AND, I was prohibited from doing “preventive maintenance” at that time - even oil changes and changing light bulbs. I lost a ton of money during those years. Never again.
One of GM’s company airplanes showed an airframe crack when it landed in Kokmomo, IN that the pilot caught on a walk-around. The flight was cancelled and the passengers headed to Dayton, OH rented cars to drive home. The entire airframe was inspected by X-ray and failed. The plane was scrapped right there in Kokomo.
I have just one question. Is there a ground vehicle equipped with 4 ways that will safely get me to or from one of my locations to the other, 1,500 miles, in 2-1/2 hours, like the Airbus A-320s I use when I’m not endangering my life by driving for 2 days?
I feel, and statistics prove it, that the quick Airbus ride is waaaay safer than a personal vehicle, and so much more pleasant. I do the driving thing twice each year and the flying thing in between. CSA
