Glad I'm not a passenger

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,353

These guys are still in service, in Iran.

I landed (riding in a helicopter from our ship) on that carrier in 1980. Those poor boys were fried after being at GONZO station for 100 days.
 
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cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,788
Sad story about the loss of the entire family.

When I left that Helicopter carrier after years of flying in those death traps, I swore, never again, never, never, ever.
A helicopter is a very complicated machine ... and the more complicated a machine is ... you know the rest.

My heart goes out to that family. It's an absolute nightmare when you add to it that they were on a vacation.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,935
A helicopter is a very complicated machine ... and the more complicated a machine is ... you know the rest.

My heart goes out to that family. It's an absolute nightmare when you add to it that they were on a vacation.
Agreed -- but to put things in perspective, how many families on vacation have gotten wiped out when involved in a car crash? We just seldom hear about incidents like that, at least not nationally, yet those are every bit as tragic.

On a different note, I'm hearing a big deal being made about the pilot radioing in that he needed fuel. So what? Has absolutely nothing to do with anything. What if he had radioed in that he wanted a turkey sandwich? Just one more example of the news media's routine habit of making mountains out of mole hills because they refuse to bother to do basic checking on the information they get. I can't count the number of times that I've radioed in that I needed fuel -- it just means that you are telling the FBO (fixed-base operator) that you would like a fuel truck to meet you after you land, taxi in, and shut down so that you can get fuel. The alternative is to walk to the FBO (which might be some distance away from your parking spot, if you even know where it is at an unfamiliar airport) and then wait for the truck to get around to you. If you radio ahead, the truck is often waiting for you on the parking apron, often at an open spot so that you can just taxi up to them and shut down. Especially convenient if you are just passing through and making a fuel stop. Many FBOs also provide other services, with a fairly common one being an arrangement with the local greasy spoon (often in the same building) so that you can place a food order at the same time you request the fuel truck. The truck then delivers your food order at the same time. Then you only have to leave the aircraft if you need to use the bathroom (and at one airport, the FBO also had a food truck that had a platform on the back with two porta-potties that they could send out!).
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,353
https://local12.com/news/nation-wor...action-taken-trip-birthday-celebration-banned

Ryanair stated that the crew "called ahead for police assistance after a passenger became disruptive." The airline added, "Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behavior."

Police confirmed they received a report of a disruptive passenger but quickly determined it was a civil dispute. "No action was taken," they said.
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,788
https://local12.com/news/nation-wor...action-taken-trip-birthday-celebration-banned

Ryanair stated that the crew "called ahead for police assistance after a passenger became disruptive." The airline added, "Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behavior."

Police confirmed they received a report of a disruptive passenger but quickly determined it was a civil dispute. "No action was taken," they said.
Penny-pinchers SOB's ... :mad:
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,788

Rick Rojatt is a Canadian stuntman, In 1976, Rojatt performed a 250 mph (400 km/h) wing-walking stunt on top of a DC-8 airliner flown by Clay Lacy.

1744777865217.png
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,353
https://www.msn.com/en-us/technolog...rcraft-that-bet-is-now-unraveling/ar-AA1DgoDh
Airbus Promised a Green Aircraft. That Bet Is Now Unraveling.
Airbus’s reckoning with hydrogen adds to the lineup of companies now recalibrating green efforts that they rushed to embrace in recent years. Oil giant BP recently said it would slash spending on renewable energy and pivot back to fossil fuels. Porsche has similarly scaled back its all-electric ambitions and is investing in new combustion-engine cars, citing lower-than-expected demand from consumers.

Airbus has spent more than $1.7 billion on the project, according to people familiar with the matter, but over the past year concluded that technical challenges and a slow uptake of hydrogen in the wider economy meant the jet wouldn’t be ready by 2035.

The setback is a blow for the dream of clean aviation, which governments, investors and customers have pushed the industry to tackle.

Airbus says the past five years of work and money haven’t been wasted. The company has established that hydrogen is technically feasible and delaying the project will give it more time to fine-tune the technology, executives said.
There were a raft of technical challenges, not least the safety concerns exemplified by the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. Engines would need to be reconfigured to run on a different fuel. Aircraft would need to store the hydrogen in liquid form at minus 423 degrees. The heavier fuel load and equipment would weigh on seat capacity and range.

A hydrogen plane would also require a new supply chain to produce the fuel in large-enough quantities, transport it, and safely store it at airports.

Executives at Boeing, which had explored hydrogen for years, were vexed.

“We don’t think hydrogen’s the answer,” then Boeing CEO David Calhoun said at an investor day in late 2022 when asked what the company was doing on the technology.
For once, Boeing was right. IMO, they took for project for the subsidy money, not to build an actual aircraft.
 
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