Thread: Fly Boy ?????
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  #8  
Old October 24th 03, 10:03 PM
George Z. Bush
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"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
k.net...

"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...

Anyway, since I started this thread with an innocent question, in

recognition of
the **** storm it generated, I'm going to claim author's rights to revise

my
question. AIR, we were talking about ditching characteristics, and I

asked what
the manufacturer had to say on the subject.

In those days, before an aircraft hit the inventory, the only people who

knew
how it was going to behave were the manufacturer and his test pilots.

Before
they turned the aircraft over to the military for their acceptance

testing, they
sat down and wrote a flight manual, which contained everything the

operator
needed to know about how to make the bird go up and come back down in one

piece.
Before the first of that model actually ditched in the water somewhere,

its crew
should have familiarized themselves with every bit of the information in

that
manual, including how it was going to behave when it hit the water and
recommendations on how best to make initial contact with the water.


Unless the manufacturer actually ditched the aircraft whatever was written
in the manual was theory.


Actually, some manufacturers (and maybe all, for all I know), did do exactly
that with scaled models of their new aircraft. In any case, I'd rather have
some applied theory from an aeronautical engineer who designed the aircraft than
guesswork from somebody who thought he knew how it would react better than the
bird's designers.

Since you seem committed to pooh-pooh the manufacturer's knowledge no matter
what, what does the pilot who has the misfortune of having to ditch the first of
that model aircraft rely on? Who tells him the best approach speed for that
bird, or the best escape routes out of the aircraft after impact, or the things
that he needs to do to give himself the best odds possible of surviving the
experience. If not the manufacturer, who? Somebody else who hasn't gone
through the drill?

George Z.