Reporters saying "TARMAC" how stupid!!

Jose wrote:

Tarmac (short for tarmacadam) is actually a trade name for
the substance; it (the word)is formed from "tar" and "macadam". Macadam
(the paving substance made of crushed stone and a binder, usually tar)
is named after its inventer, John L. McAdam, a Scottish engineer.

Macadam is just the gravel, without any binder. John L. McAdam was the
first who built roads using several layers of gravel, without any
binder, each layer being pounded before the next layer was applied. This
method was new. The resulting surface was called macadam.

Tar-macadam most probably was the same thing with a binder, originally
tar, as I would assume.

Stefan

What do they use now? Sure smells like tar.

Now that's funny. Those of us in both the aviation and the civil
engineering fields use the term all the time.

Try a rant about something else?

Shawn
"CASK829" wrote in message
...
Why is it that idiot reporters use the term "TARMAC"? Nobody in the
aviation
world uses that term do they? But then again reporters usually know
abolutely
nothing about aviation. What inspired this rant? The recent reporting on
the
US Airways baggage situation and the Northwest airlines flight that kept
the
passengers on the airplane for 14 hours. On another note did Northwest
lose a
lawsuit awhile back for keeping people on an airplane while they sat on
the
ground for a very long time. If I remember correctly there was talk of
false
imprisonment charges against the airline.

Jay Honeck wrote:

snip

English often doesn't make much sense, except in context.

Don't get me started on "pre-boarding"....

--
Frank....H

On 05 Jan 2005 17:36:23 GMT, unkno (CASK829) wrote in
::

Why is it that idiot reporters use the term "TARMAC"?

Perhaps it's because of this entry in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate
Dictionary:

Main Entry:tarmac
Pronunciation:*t*r-*mak
Function:noun
Etymology:from Tarmac, a trademark
Date:1919

: a tarmacadam road, apron, or runway

Not to bust anyone's bubble but HYX is getting a new ILS and in the
process just got a new ramp - made of guess what -Tarmac... We have
already found the limitations of Tarmac and it is helicopters plus
sunshine... Helicopter skids, leetle round tubing thingies, leave
nasty dents in Tarmac in the summer...

Denny

Bob,

I keep thinking of the terms in aviation that have evolved. In World
War I Max Immelman performed what we would call a chandelle, creating a
maneuver that was given his name. It was a maximum performance
maneuver for the Fokker Eindecker he flew and was most definitely not a
half loop and half roll, the airplane would not do it and none of those
who observed it described it as such. Looking at books on aerobatics
in the '20s, the Immelman is a steep climbing turn. Sometime in the
'30s it became a half loop and half roll and the original Immelman turn
became the chandelle. Despite the error, we've long since accepted the
misuse of the name and probably couldn't correct it if we tried. The
only problem is that Max is credited with doing a maneuver he could not
have done, nor would he have ever done in combat because of the radical
loss of speed and risk of stalling at the top.

Warmest regards,
Rick

Jay,

Don't you love aviation terms.

We're going to depart from "the terminal".

Before landing we're on our "final" approach.
Really inspires confidence, eh?

Warmest regards,
Rick

Jay,

Actually, Fixed Base Operator is an accurate term. It was coined to
describe the operators who stopped going from place to place to teach
flying or give rides. When they decided to stay at one airport, they
established a fixed base.

Then again, a fixed base operator could have had a certain surgerical
procedure... He wasn't broken, but we got him fixed and now he
doesn't work.

Warmest regards,
Rick

wrote:
Jay,

Don't you love aviation terms.

We're going to depart from "the terminal".

Before landing we're on our "final" approach.
Really inspires confidence, eh?

and taxiways without cabs lined up.
an apron that wouldn't fit Paul Bunyan.
and its always been the tarmac for the last 40 years that I've been
using the term