Gary Drescher wrote:
"Blanche" wrote in message
...
112 mph, 30 deg bank = 3000 ft turn diameter
112 mph, 45 deg bank = 2000 ft turn diameter
112 mph, 60 deg bank = 1000 ft turn diameter

So, if the "canyon" is 2000 ft wide, and they were traveling
up the middle, incredibly difficult to make the turn safely.

www.csgnetwork.com/aircraftturninfocalc.html

I wouldn't characterize a 45-60 degree bank as "incredibly difficult". But
if there was an easterly wind, then their margin would have been reduced by
several hundred feet; that could've been part of the problem.

--Gary

The winds here are usually S or N Easterly, but on that day in the
afternoon were very light with weak infrequent gusts.

The margins you guys are talking about seem awful tight, but that's why
you're pilots and I'm not. I can calculate pretty well in my head and
have good technical ability (was a contributor to the original Ethernet
standard that became the Internet), but hurtling along in the sky
trying to figure and implement turning radii? Forget about air over the
wing plane, my gray matter wuold go into a stall. Yet, the record is
what it is and it's obvious almost all of you manage just fine. Plainly
there is an almost pure Darwinian selection that goes on and you people
who end up at the throttle have passed through filters within filters.
This even more than licensing is what gives you the right. This is also
why celebrities, athletes and perhaps the occasional type-A
businessman/woman are a bit worrisome-- they have the means and status
to sidestep some of these filters. What we may need here is a
contribution from some of our better legal minds: can you craft an
enforceable law making it a little harder for new GA pilots from
non-aviation backgrounds to zip next to skyscrapers, all without being
communistic or fascistic about it?

--
B

--
B