tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post4358995321156262159..comments2024-03-28T16:22:14.888-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: I don't want my flying carUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76693262060548248922013-05-09T14:03:56.444-07:002013-05-09T14:03:56.444-07:00Also, I don't think Buckley was a flight instr...Also, I don't think Buckley was a flight instructor during the war, unless flight is a euphemism for <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/qa-with-sam-tanenhaus-on-william-f-buckley/" rel="nofollow">sexual hygiene</a>.Douglas Knightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-44124695737249019732013-05-09T07:33:07.022-07:002013-05-09T07:33:07.022-07:00For those interested in the stories of Buckley'...For those interested in the stories of Buckley's flights, they are in his essay "<a href="http://wayback.archive.org/web/20100106164426/http://cumulus.hillsdale.edu/buckley/Standard/downloads/originals/learningtoflydotpdf_4135_buckleypublicationsbyyear1977articles/LearningtoFly.pdf" rel="nofollow">Learning to Fly</a>." However, Steve has conflated two different flights. Buckley got lost when sober. During the flight after staying up on speed for a couple of days, he fell asleep.Douglas Knightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8472059988013031842011-07-12T07:21:43.877-07:002011-07-12T07:21:43.877-07:00Re: Pete's Comment
But the Mfrs haven't ...Re: Pete's Comment<br /><br /> But the Mfrs haven't changed their designs much, if at all. The electronics are better, but is training? If your account is accurate, then either the liability issue is still a ticking time bomb, or GATRA is working. Bankruptcy can't be used against new claims going forward- and BTW, many of the mfr's did go bankrupt and were bought by others, corporate names intact. Or am I missing something? <br /><br /> Did your uncle's bike ever get into production? I was thinking along the lines of a Honda monkey with folding bars or a Yamaha mini-enduro size bike....Charlesz Martelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24050414066427291242011-07-11T07:41:41.121-07:002011-07-11T07:41:41.121-07:00"When JFK Jr crashed his plane I asked my fat...<i>"When JFK Jr crashed his plane I asked my father (who had been a pilot in WWII) about it. He said instrument flying (for which JFKJr was not qualified) is extremely unnatural. You have to train yourself to completely ignore your body's sense of space. This isn't so easy."</i><br /><br />What a fascinating insight. Thanks to both you and your dad.Kylienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4039607956175325952011-07-10T23:22:49.429-07:002011-07-10T23:22:49.429-07:00The Heathkits that are in big demand, unbuilt, are...The Heathkits that are in big demand, unbuilt, are the vacuum tube hi-fi and ham radio ones. People still want to build this stuff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-65061880411938331672011-07-10T19:16:54.681-07:002011-07-10T19:16:54.681-07:00When JFK Jr crashed his plane I asked my father (w...When JFK Jr crashed his plane I asked my father (who had been a pilot in WWII) about it. He said instrument flying (for which JFKJr was not qualified) is extremely unnatural. You have to train yourself to completely ignore your body's sense of space. This isn't so easy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-19456571429115986452011-07-10T06:54:42.075-07:002011-07-10T06:54:42.075-07:00I always wondered why a small motorcycle, with a s...<i>I always wondered why a small motorcycle, with a small enclosure of some sort, carried on board the aircraft, wasn't a better solution. Most would run quite happily on avgas, for example.</i><br /><br /> My uncle was an Air Defense Command pilot on the big Convair lawn darts and he designed one for that very purpose. It had a low compression Cushman engine that would run on JP-4 (a wide cut gasoline jet fuel, not a kerosene like Jet A/JP-5/JP-8). The handlebars folded and two D-rings that enabled it to be winched into the missile bay. The USAF banned it (for crew use) as they felt a source of fuel fumes in the missile bay would be Very Bad. <br /><br /><i>I agree and disagree with Darfur Miller- I'm a pilot and have owned airplanes as well. The Liability issue was HUGE for General Aviation (GA). Piper was found 5% liable for a 50 year old airplane, rebuilt three times by non-factory shops, and flown by a legally drunk, non IFR pilot at night into the side of a mountain-just one of many egregious examples. Cost them millions.</i><br /><br /> They could have done what everyone else did and used the bankruptcy courts to cut off those judgments. Besides, 99% of these big judgments were reduced by the judge and there was a "confidential out of court settlement". I know of not one of these cases where they actually just went out and paid the award cash. <br /><br /> Most people's knowledge of GA tort law came from aviation magazines. Richard Collins, J.Mac mclellan and Budd Davisson all told pure horseshit to their readers because they didn't want to piss off the aircraft companies who bought huge full page ads. <br /><br /> The GA manufacturers did NOTHING to reduce their liability (such as, making a safer aircraft or providing for really effective flight training) and just bought more and more liability insurance. For decades. I lack great sympathy for them.<br /><br /> By the way, GATRA did little to reduce actual awards since most of them were for relatively new aircraft.Petenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-54066749747186320682011-07-09T21:41:31.442-07:002011-07-09T21:41:31.442-07:00Not for a second did I fall for your flying car st...Not for a second did I fall for your flying car story. You could've at least provided a cartoon of the Jetsons to spice it up a bit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24110233561800791172011-07-09T16:24:00.732-07:002011-07-09T16:24:00.732-07:00Oh- per Heathkit-
What killed Heathkit was the i...Oh- per Heathkit-<br /><br /> What killed Heathkit was the increasing complexity of the kits. Electronics got to the point where Surface Mounted Devices (SMD's) were wave-soldered to keep them small. Heathkit was getting repair rates of over 50% on finished kits. There are still some kit manufacturers out there (see Make magazine if you like to build stuff) but none of the Heathkit quality- they were the gold standard in kits. You can still find their stuff on Ebay- but you'll pay collectors' prices for unbuilt kits. Got to the Dayton Hamvention some year to see all the kit guys still out there- and to bring this back to the HBD side, look at the age/race of all the old men, and wonder about our country's technological future. Sic Transit Glorea Munde.Charlesz Martelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-53830330930394915442011-07-09T16:18:23.722-07:002011-07-09T16:18:23.722-07:00Check out the Moller Skycar for a Jetsons-like veh...Check out the Moller Skycar for a Jetsons-like vehicle- I'm sure there's a youtube video.<br /><br /> I agree and disagree with Darfur Miller- I'm a pilot and have owned airplanes as well. The Liability issue was HUGE for General Aviation (GA). Piper was found 5% liable for a 50 year old airplane, rebuilt three times by non-factory shops, and flown by a legally drunk, non IFR pilot at night into the side of a mountain-just one of many egregious examples. Cost them millions. Juries feel that someone should pay, and they choose the guy with the money. Under our laws, you can be 1% legally liable but financially responsible for 100%. When the cost of hull insurance per aircraft built exceeded the cost of building the entire aircraft, stopping production made economic sense. As soon as Clinton signed the law limiting liability (I think it was 20 years and 5 million, or something like that)- Cessna immediatley announced they were restarting light aircraft production. Prices had been going up 10-15 % per year for all GA aircraft, as the industry wasn't making them anymore (except homebuilts and experimentals). One of the very few things Clinton did right, by my book. If GA aircraft were not profitable, then why did Cessna restart production? Now is the golden age for corporate jets, so presumably hangar space for new ones is even more valuable now.<br /><br /> The problem with GA aircraft as a transportation device has always been weather, skills, and lack of car. GA makes sense for trips between 300-600 miles. Further than that, fly commercial, less, drive-except in special you-can't-get-there-from-here circumstances. Most GA pilots think flying impresses women.In my opinion, women tend to think that that's just money wasted that they could otherwise be spending on shoes.<br /><br /> I always wondered why a small motorcycle, with a small enclosure of some sort, carried on board the aircraft, wasn't a better solution. Most would run quite happily on avgas, for example. And there was/is a motorcycle with a weatherproof enclosure for sale in Europe- I've seen them.<br /><br /> Lastly, Elvis became hooked on speed while in the US Army in Germany- his sergeant gave them out to keep guys awake for guard duty. Maybe our Air Traffic Controllers should do the same! (Joke).Charlesz Martelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8445165085888359332011-07-09T14:11:50.530-07:002011-07-09T14:11:50.530-07:00"you still have to take off and land, that an..."you still have to take off and land, that and weather conditions (ice, wind shear) are what get people killed."<br /><br />This is why flying cars have to ascend and descend like the ones in BLADE RUNNER. Vertically up and down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-85423145880017553622011-07-09T14:10:30.925-07:002011-07-09T14:10:30.925-07:00Flying car wouldn't be for everyone, but there...Flying car wouldn't be for everyone, but there is the appeal. It would be for the elite. <br />Flying motorcyle would be cool too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47945015212715391532011-07-09T14:08:42.485-07:002011-07-09T14:08:42.485-07:00"Even with clear weather, uncareful pilots wo..."Even with clear weather, uncareful pilots would get lost all the time. It was hard to figure out where you are."<br /><br />This won't be a problem with GPS. <br /><br />Btw, this is not a flying car but a mini-plane. A flying car is like what Jetsons use. Or the stuff in BLADE RUNNER.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8433562963501296762011-07-09T10:57:29.799-07:002011-07-09T10:57:29.799-07:00A car that is also a plane does not have to be ver...A car that is also a plane does not have to be very good at either to be of use. <br /><br /> Years ago I knew a guy who had one of the old Ken Brock gyrocopters. As a few gyro owners did, he put lights and mufflers and whatnot on it and registered it for road use as a motorcycle. It was a lousy motorcycle. But he would fly ten minutes over water and land and drive up to his employer saving a nearly one hour drive plus considerable bridge tolls. <br /><br /> Remember the car that was also a boat? It wasn't great at either, but it was sure handy for quick fishing trips-or if a flood happened, or high water on roads, or for other specialized uses. It actually wasn't THAT bad a boat, except it was made out of stamped steel and rusted, and doors below the waterline....Well okay, it was terrible. But one bad IMPLEMENTATION of a concept doesn't invalidate the idea. I would like to have a floating car or a flying car if it were done right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-7256046257023601552011-07-09T10:27:12.402-07:002011-07-09T10:27:12.402-07:00My cousin was an amateur pilot and told me that wh...My cousin was an amateur pilot and told me that when GPS systems first came out they temporarily increased the number of accidents involving amateur pilots. The reason: imagine one such pilot flying from say LA to Sacramento and another from Sacramento to LA. Now imagine they both took off at roughly the same time and that both set their GPS-based autopilots for a great circle flight at about the same altitude. I'm not sure whether this whole story is true and my cousin was known to stretch the truth but the scenario does sound plausible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-26824471397574109702011-07-09T08:02:19.694-07:002011-07-09T08:02:19.694-07:00Buckley spent a good deal of his adult life abusin...Buckley spent a good deal of his adult life abusing Ritalin. Maybe he got the habit at good old Yale.Dutch Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02687679491743923216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-79718335762965465942011-07-09T07:45:25.918-07:002011-07-09T07:45:25.918-07:00Your question could best be answered by taking fly...Your question could best be answered by taking flying lessons.<br /><br /> I flew actively for twenty years before the kind of flying I liked doing became too expensive. The value of the antique biplanes and warbirds has gone through the ceiling, just like most eligible vintage road racing cars, another activity I participated in. It had nothing to do with fuel costs or the great bugaboo product liability.<br /><br /> I started out in PA-18 Super Cubs, went to Stearmans and eventually BT-13s, T-6s and even got to get dual in and eventually solo a P-51-all in my early twenties and all on the salary of a railroad clerk. Flying anything like that today means buying one. A Mustang is half a million to a million dollars today.<br /><br /> Piper, Beech and Cessna make roughly the same light planes they always have. They quit for a while because of "product liability", but that is bullshit. The real reason was and is that corporate jets are a lot more profitable per square foot of hangar space and per dollar of employee salary. Aircraft plant employees are NOT well paid-as a function of the value their work produces per dollar of net spendable generated or the gross price of the finished product they have never been paid less, they are getting wages far lower than UAW auto workers. <br /><br /> I doubled my salary and then some when I quit Cessna in Wichita and went to work for the (then) Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR. I was already a licensed A&P and had just gotten my commercial, multi and instrument rating. To get ANY flying job with Cessna then you had to have an ATP and Citation rating or several thousand hours GA time with CFI and CFII ratings and experience and a four year college degree. <br /><br /> As a kid you had a lot of blue collar union workers who flew and owned airplanes. That is mostly gone. Most were straight and level day VFR pilots and fatal wrecks were rare. <br /><br /> That market was abandoned by the GA industry not because it was not profitable but because Citations and Caravans were MORE profitable. Which is why the RR abandoned passenger service and why the electronics industry got rid of Heathkit and made it hard for hobbyists to buy electronic parts.<br /><br />The Europeans would have whacked their balls really hard for that. Which is why they still have those things there. And also manufacturing.Darfur Millernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-58867346382681636722011-07-09T07:45:24.167-07:002011-07-09T07:45:24.167-07:00Your question could best be answered by taking fly...Your question could best be answered by taking flying lessons.<br /><br /> I flew actively for twenty years before the kind of flying I liked doing became too expensive. The value of the antique biplanes and warbirds has gone through the ceiling, just like most eligible vintage road racing cars, another activity I participated in. It had nothing to do with fuel costs or the great bugaboo product liability.<br /><br /> I started out in PA-18 Super Cubs, went to Stearmans and eventually BT-13s, T-6s and even got to get dual in and eventually solo a P-51-all in my early twenties and all on the salary of a railroad clerk. Flying anything like that today means buying one. A Mustang is half a million to a million dollars today.<br /><br /> Piper, Beech and Cessna make roughly the same light planes they always have. They quit for a while because of "product liability", but that is bullshit. The real reason was and is that corporate jets are a lot more profitable per square foot of hangar space and per dollar of employee salary. Aircraft plant employees are NOT well paid-as a function of the value their work produces per dollar of net spendable generated or the gross price of the finished product they have never been paid less, they are getting wages far lower than UAW auto workers. <br /><br /> I doubled my salary and then some when I quit Cessna in Wichita and went to work for the (then) Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR. I was already a licensed A&P and had just gotten my commercial, multi and instrument rating. To get ANY flying job with Cessna then you had to have an ATP and Citation rating or several thousand hours GA time with CFI and CFII ratings and experience and a four year college degree. <br /><br /> As a kid you had a lot of blue collar union workers who flew and owned airplanes. That is mostly gone. Most were straight and level day VFR pilots and fatal wrecks were rare. <br /><br /> That market was abandoned by the GA industry not because it was not profitable but because Citations and Caravans were MORE profitable. Which is why the RR abandoned passenger service and why the electronics industry got rid of Heathkit and made it hard for hobbyists to buy electronic parts.<br /><br />The Europeans would have whacked their balls really hard for that. Which is why they still have those things there. And also manufacturing.Darfur Millernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10699999880523975372011-07-09T04:35:45.005-07:002011-07-09T04:35:45.005-07:00Ayn Rand also partook of speed. The founders of mo...Ayn Rand also partook of speed. The founders of modern American conservatism, ripped to the tits!Marlowenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-60266121094275576002011-07-08T23:41:43.923-07:002011-07-08T23:41:43.923-07:00Steve, the automation hasn't made its way into...Steve, the automation hasn't made its way into most of the general aviation fleet. Most GA aircraft are still 20-50 years old but they now sport a portable GPS unit and a active noise-canceling headset and reliable radios. <br /><br />The automation is in the few new aircraft sold ($250k and up, the personal/business jets, and the airliners). <br /><br />The new aircraft that are selling Cirrus/Cessna Columbia has a "panic button" that will return the aircraft to straight and level flight if the pilot becomes disoriented (not disorien-TATED) and the aircraft can be equipped with a balistic parachute recovery system that lowers the entire aircraft to the ground if necessary. This aircraft, I believe James Fallows flies this, costs about $250k. So it's like seeing a commercial for Mercedes or Lexus new uber-wagon and presuming the '98 Mitsu Eclipse in the next lane can park itself or has night vision deer detectors.<br /><br />The 2 biggest causes of GA aircraft crashes are running out of fuel and flying into bad weather. These indicate a persistence of bad judgment.<br /><br />AOPA.org is the NRA of aircraft community. They have lots of stats. It's safer than in the past but the safety record hasn't progressed at the exoponential rate that airline safety has improved. Automation and a revolution in crew training technique has revolutionized airline flying. Many years airlines have zero deaths in the US while they fly about a half billion passengers in the US.<br /><br />Here's an idea for HBD research, why do Latin American and African airlines have such high accident rates compared to US/Euro airlines with Asian airlines in between? You see cultural difference in starl and measurable ways at any sufficently busy flight school.Tscottmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14100013717816613313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-19771409444479017772011-07-08T22:46:46.776-07:002011-07-08T22:46:46.776-07:00The popularity of this thread's subtopic leads...The popularity of this thread's subtopic leads me to think that the flying car isn't an engineering problem, but a chemical one. Just ask my old friend <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5_SyvxDXE" rel="nofollow">Harry</a>.Anonymoushttp://(optional)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8034226270563542352011-07-08T22:30:24.503-07:002011-07-08T22:30:24.503-07:00"Anonymous said...
Drugs in the Fifties:..."Anonymous said...<br /><br /> Drugs in the Fifties: Read Kerouac for first hand accounts. And the there's James Ellroy, whose fictional Los Angelinos - cops and civilians alike - were always swallowing uppers.<br />Gilbert P."<br /><br />Elroy's novels, at least the better ones like "L.A. Confidential" or "The Big Nowhere" are a form of speed themselves - you can easily stay up all night reading them. And then one feels the need for a long hot shower to wash off the resultant dirty, grimy feeling.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89485983051218036452011-07-08T22:26:54.699-07:002011-07-08T22:26:54.699-07:00"Kylie said...
In my own middle-class ne..."Kylie said...<br /><br /> In my own middle-class neighborhood in the early 60s, a couple of the moms popped pills so they could go on marathon cleaning and ironing sessions. They called them "pep pills"."<br /><br />Mother's Little Helper:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfGYSHy1jQs<br /><br />Although, I think they're actually referring to downers, not uppers.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-32431850567452885812011-07-08T22:19:05.556-07:002011-07-08T22:19:05.556-07:00In case it wasn't mentioned, the flying car co...In case it wasn't mentioned, the flying car comes equipped with airbags, and a parachute. With GPS, I wouldn't be afraid of flying in one-if I were driving.<br />The parachute makes a big difference for me. Get overloaded by circumstances, just say "fuckit," hit the chute, and let the air bags take care of the rest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-48193773369755263012011-07-08T22:01:40.817-07:002011-07-08T22:01:40.817-07:00Drugs are a pretty constant theme in Heinlein'...Drugs are a pretty constant theme in Heinlein's sci-fi novels from 1940s onward, even in his juveniles.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.com