scarier

11 ms·

31.
by scarier 4y ago
For what it's worth, I'm not particularly worried. My understanding is that the accident was caused by a combination of poor maintenance practices, inadequate preflight procedures, and possibly poor ground procedures by the pilots
32.
by scarier 4y ago
Fair--we've both seen different parts of the elephant. I agree that military flight training is extremely rigorous, but I'd argue that it's so broad it has to gloss over a lot of technical detail in order to focus on developi
33.
by scarier 4y ago
ATC probably thought they were giving a different measurement. Especially in older planes, systems aren't particularly well integrated, and most of the time you ask them what they're seeing because you can't check your own Mo
34.
by scarier 4y ago
They can via primary radar, but the default displays secondary radar information (the transponder interrogation) as it tends to be significantly more precise. Surveillance radar has very coarse altitude resolution.
35.
by scarier 4y ago
Frankly, I think the reality is even less interesting than that. US military aviators are trained to be proficient systems operators, but typically (and, I want to stress, very reasonably) have little or no education in EM/EO theory, a
36.
by scarier 4y ago
The main reason is stiffness—off the top of my head, it’s roughly a quarter as stiff as typical steel, so it needs significant engineering and often much more reinforcement to keep the concrete within allowable deformation limits. Basalt an
37.
by scarier 4y ago
I mean, in the 1980s turbo era F1 engines were putting out way more than that--try around 1000 hp/l! That was done with absurd levels of boost, fuel that bore little to no chemical resemblance to gasoline, and engines with a life expec
38.
by scarier 4y ago
With a fission bomb. Don’t have a good explanation for your second question, although I think the short answer is “not with the way the Livermore experiment was set up.”
39.
by scarier 4y ago
The short answer is no.
40.
by scarier 4y ago
Check out frontal head restraint systems. In combination with a good harness they eliminate the C-spine concern, at the cost of reducing your field of regard a bit. If they can figure out the mobility piece, I’d happily drive with one on th
41.
by scarier 4y ago
Check out 14 CFR 91.119 [1]. Over sparsely populated areas, there is no specific minimum altitude requirement—only that you need enough altitude to safely land following engine failure. [1] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/
42.
by scarier 4y ago
I'm not an etymologist, but I don't think the word "analog" originally referred to electrical circuits when it came into use. I think the figurative use case we've given it makes way more sense than a lot of other w
43.
by scarier 4y ago
If we're talking military logistics, that may well still win out on efficiency over current methods. Even if it doesn't, it still has enough potential advantages to be game-changing.
44.
by scarier 4y ago
You'd be surprised at how often they do--especially at how often the planes involved land safely despite the damage.
45.
by scarier 4y ago
Often enough that it isn't good practice to assume one outcome or the other.
46.
by scarier 4y ago
My best guess based on the video is that the P-63 pilot had been high and out of position in formation, and tried to get back in position using both geometry and speed. He may have recognized that he had too much closure and wasn't in
47.
by scarier 4y ago
Ah, gotcha. Yeah, there’s zero chance that you can make a pressurized pancake using rib-and-stringer architecture, probably even out of unobtanium. The best candidate I can think of is making it like a submarine, although that would definit
48.
by scarier 4y ago
How is that a meaningful distinction from either a design or manufacturing standpoint?
49.
by scarier 4y ago
I mean, the rise of low-cost carriers has shown pretty clearly that passengers are willing to put up with a lot for cheaper tickets…
50.
by scarier 4y ago
I mean, aerodynamic drag scales linearly with both Cd and A. It isn’t too far-fetched to think that you might be able to trade them off in a blended wing design and come out ahead by reducing interference drag and wetted surface area. The p
51.
by scarier 4y ago
Take a look at 14 CFR Part 23. The standards are performance-based. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any kind of proposed aircraft design that doesn’t fall into existing categorization.
52.
by scarier 4y ago
The differences in ribs across the span of a wing are much less of an issue than compound curvature in the wing skins—this is where composite manufacturing really shines, because you can mold them into arbitrary shapes.
53.
by scarier 4y ago
To be fair, even if Boeing's legal team cuts the CYA maintenance clause out of the purchase agreement, absolutely nothing will change in terms of actual maintenance on the aircraft they sell. The FAA requires all certified aircraft fly
54.
by scarier 4y ago
Classic “screamer” failure—the tag line is that you have the rest of your life to figure it out. “The Man Who Rode The Thunder” is another classic parachute story worth reading.
55.
by scarier 4y ago
Also the Foreign Dredge Act [1]… [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Dredge_Act_of_1906
56.
by scarier 4y ago
Do you have a source for the Gulfstream type rating cost? Most type ratings cost around $10-15k, and the most expensive I’ve seen is around $35k. Very few pilots pay out of pocket for type ratings, but the vast majority who do only need to
57.
by scarier 4y ago
There are a number of VTOL aircraft that have used multiple engines. The Yak-38 used two lift engines and one lift-cruise engine, the VJ101 used four lift-cruise engines and two lift engines, and the Do 31 used two lift-cruise engines and e
58.
by scarier 4y ago
I would argue that various forms of cycles (going well beyond the UCI definition of a bicycle, but still using common components powered primarily by a human) are much more compatible with disabilities than cars are. I've seen both dou
59.
by scarier 4y ago
Ooooohhh, the air-cooled vs. water-cooled argument is a great one. The mechanical simplicity of air-cooled engines is a very strong point in their favor, but it's arguably the only one. Water-cooled engines can be run leaner (i.e. more
60.
by scarier 4y ago
Fair point—I never got good at “dating” as a standalone skill. I still think that’s the benefit of activity dates over bar/dinner-and-a-movie/whatever dates, though. Doing a thing that you’re both already reasonably confident at h

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