WAC vs Sectional

I was merely speaking of the probabbility of complete engine failure
compared to the risk of driving. However, you seem to be taking this
personally. Did you run out of gas?




On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 21:13:01 -0800, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

Excuse me, "moron", but the fan sputtered to a halt at 10,500 over Faceless
Wyoming on the way home from Oshkosh last year.

Second engine failure in 5,000 hours of flying. Why don't you regale us
with your experiences of engine failure?

Jim


wrote in message
.. .
Let me reword this.

The probability of the "fan sputtering to a halt", unless you are a
moron and run out of gas, is probably no greater than a truck
running you off the road at 75 miles an hour.

wrote:

I was merely speaking of the probabbility of complete engine failure
compared to the risk of driving. However, you seem to be taking this
personally. Did you run out of gas?


Nope one of his cylinders blew. In far less hours of flying than Jim
I've had a couple of failures (one total and a mag failure where I couldn't
get more than 19" which is about the minimum to bumble along in level
flight at the clean stall speed).

I've also in the past year got my Suburban totalled by a moving van.
My first car was also wrecked by a truck that crossed the center line
on a two lane highway.

So I can't vouch for the relative probabilities of these things, but
I still want to make sure I have the option of the NEAREST airport.

(and much as I was thinking about replacing the 'burban with something
smaller and fuel efficient before the accident, I decided to go out
and get another full size truck to replace it).

Recently two people were killed not far from here with an oil-covered
windscreen trying to make it to the nearest airport with about 20
miles of level seaside beach well within reach.

I also know a cropduster who easily survived 14 engine failures. He
worked for a guy (he now owns the business) who, it is safe to say,
was not dedicated to maintenance of his aircraft. Since all the
engine failures were over alfalfa fields, there was never any serious
problem.

The point is, there are options besides the NEAREST airport, some of
them a whole lot more desirable. Flying at 500-1000 feet along most
of the eastern seaboard shouldn't be considered any more hazardous
than your next outing among the road -ragers along Interstate 95 in
heavy traffic, if you ask me.



On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 07:38:03 -0500, Ron Natalie
wrote:

So I can't vouch for the relative probabilities of these things, but
I still want to make sure I have the option of the NEAREST airport.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
...


I used to do that. It's amazing how many towns are named "Municipal Water
Department."

This whole thread has been pretty funny, but this one had me ROFL. Thanks,
George!

So I can't vouch for the relative probabilities of these things, but
I still want to make sure I have the option of the NEAREST airport.

Three young Iowans were killed last week in the Milwaukee area, while
driving on I-94. The driver (the only survivor) tried to pass a snow plow
(which, on a freeway, isn't all that unusual), lost control, hit the back of
the plow, and careened sideways into a bridge abutment.

Just like *that* three 20-somethings gone, in the blink of an eye. All
that potential (these were great kids -- all recent UI college grads, all
well employed), all those future headaches, heartaches, and triumphs,
gone...

The parents, relatives and friends are, of course, devastated.

So, we all know life isn't fair, and Father Death tends to deal random blows
to all concerned. That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.

I fail to see what passing a snowplow and dramatizing the resulting
tragedy has to do with aviation.

In any case, the same can reasonably be said of jumping out of a
perfectly good airplane is also tempting fate a wee bit too much, as
is climbing a mountain on foot, flying single pilot night IFR in the
Pathfinder, or doing aerobatics.. In fact, one very experienced
member of my flying club maintains that the autopilot should be used
all the time, and to hand fly puts passengers in grave danger.

I won't even =mention= what the life-shortening stress of running an
aviation-themed hotel as opposed to taking some nice, safe job such as
chartered accountancy does to your poor wife and children when you are
raced to the hospital with a heart attack after the last guest stiffed
the maids, who then quit en masse just before the big convention. Who
will comfort them at the gravesite? Your relatives and friends will
be any less devastated?

Just like *that*, all your life's dreams gone, in the blink of an eye.

That said, I ask you - why do you fly in those dangerous crazy
contraptions in the first place? I've read some of the stories you've
posted, and while I wouldn't call them "crazy", some of them have
given me pause to wonder.

Jose
--
Money: What you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck wrote:
That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.


I've done that before for other reasons (low ceilings, high winds)
over suitable terrain. I actually felt more comfortable with regard to
emergency options when flying 500-700 ft. over Kansas or central
Alberta than I usually do when flying 3,000 AGL over the mountainous
terrain I usually fly over.

Most of Kansas, for example, is one huge emergency landing site as far
as the eye can see.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

A mile to a mile-and-a-quarter per 1000 feet altitude.

Jay Honeck wrote:
Have you calculated your glide range from 500 feet? When that big fan
sputters to a halt, your choice will be to land straight ahead, or maybe 30
degrees off either side...

Okay, what was the MSL ground elevation where you ended up? ;-)

RST Engineering wrote:
Excuse me, "moron", but the fan sputtered to a halt at 10,500 over Faceless
Wyoming on the way home from Oshkosh last year.

Jose wrote:

And where did that rising heated air come from?


The sun heats the ground. The ground heats the air. The air expands
and goes up. Cooler air comes in from the outside of the desert, not
from above me.

Sure, there are some downdrafts, but the net is up.

Sorry, but not even most deserts heat that uniformly.


Matt