My rather poor translation went something like this

Test Pilot: Gemessen an der Zeitspanne - also wenn man überlegt wann
die zuerst geflogen sind (Erstflug 29.09.90), haben wir denen jetzt
schon drei bis vier Jahre abgeknöpft.

Test Pilot: Given the timeframe - when considering that the first
flight was in 1990, have now already lost 3-4 years.


Und das was ich sehe und was ich höre...

And from what I see and hear...

Letzten Sommer war ich in Edwards, wo wir Probeflüge gemacht haben für
unser Helmdisplay in einer F-16.

last summer I was in Edwards, where I was test flying a helmet
displays for the F-16's

Und da haben die Amerikaner so in
bisschen über Raptor gesprochen.


and there the Americans spoke a little about the Raptor.

Und die müssen extreme Probleme
haben.

and they must have extreme problems

Die haben halt in das Flugzeug alles integriert über einen
einzigen Computer

They have halts in the aircrafts fully intergrated main computer

- da ist so ein riesen Computer drinnen der ausser
Flugsteuerung eigentlich alles macht.


There is a large computer inside which controls everything except the
flight controls.

Und da bin ich eigentlich sehr
froh über unsere Avionikarchitektur. In diese "fünf Familien" ist sehr
viel Redundanz eingebaut.
And there I'm pleased with our (different) avionic architecture,its
split into five familiys with lots of redundency built in.

Wenn uns etwas ausfällt, dann übernimmt ein
anderer Computer die wesentlichen Funktionen des defekten Systems.
If ours fails then another computer takes over the major fuctions of
that defective system.

Die Amerikaner haben halt das Problem,
dass wen dieser Computer
abstürzt oder Fehler hat, dann geht alles unter - inklusive
Kommunikation, Navigation und allem.
The Amercans have to stop the problem. that when there computer fails
or (software) errors, every thing goes down inclusive of
Communications, Navigation, everything.

Und die Piloten haben erzählt,
sie haben jetzt Vorrichtungen im Cockpit wo sie ein Handy eingebaut
haben, damit der Pilot mit unten telefonieren kann wenn nichts mehr
geht

The pilots have be told they have inserted a device in the cockpit so
that the pilot can telephone ( or Communicate) when nothings working.

. Da muss ich sagen, was wir bei uns haben ist ein serienreifes
Flugzeug und in USA ist das immer noch im Prototypenstadium.

There I must say, what we have with us is a series ready airplane and
in the USA are still in the prototype stage.

Well, my German's about as rust as you can get, and still order Beer,
but what I make of the above is that he's commenting on the high level
of integration of ancilliary systems, and that it's tough for
Third-Party (Not on the System Prime) team to integrate their stuff
into the aircraft. I don't read "unten telefonieren" as Cell Phone
though. In context, and allowing for what appears to be a bit of
circular translation, it's more like a "backup voice radio" than
anythig else. Which could be anything from a standard UHF/VHF set in
the panel to a handheld in the Pilot's Pubs Bag. (Which is pretty
much the norm - when I've been flying things that need a radio, I
always bring a handheld, just in case, and whe my brother's off in his
767, he's got a handheld in his Jepp Case. (Along with a Maglite, the
appropriate sectionals, etc.) Which would just be prudent.

Think about it - in this context, an Aviation Band transceiver makes
much more sense than a cell phone.

Ah, that said - Cell phones are nice and small:-), I really have
trouble with some German colloquial sayings and translating it into
English, one classic example of English to German springs to mind
"out of sight ,out of mind" got translated to "invisible maniac"

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

John Cook

Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.

Email Address :-
Spam trap - please remove (trousers) to email me
Eurofighter Website :- http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk