cooperplace

The optometrist casually mentioned this while she was examining my eyes, and added, they're at an early stage, lots of people get them, they are easily fixed by an operation. I'll discuss this with my ophthalmologist (he's a nice guy, and a pilot too), but I'd like to know if many people here have had this issue, and how it turned out.

what works for me is if as early as possible, and I mean with still say 2500 ft, I ID my landing spot and then the points where I'll turn base and final. I do this exercise quite often, like you in the hope that I'll never need it. When I started doing it, even on a clear farmer's strip, I was sweating every time, and often I'd come in too low or too high. At least with too high you can sideslip, so that's another handy skill to have in the toolbox. If I don't work out early on where I'll make those turns, then I usually don't get it right. I've now done this exercise many times and am feeling a bit more relaxed about it. It's a great thing to practice, practice, practice. My concern is that if I need this skill in real life, I might identify a landing location and then when it's too late, spot hay bales or a SWER line in the way, both of which can be hard to see. So when I'm flying and looking out for potential landing spots, I try to find places that offer a plan B. Yes, I know it's a lot for the mind to cope with. Yes, above all stay calm, that's really the most important thing. Don't forget, as soon as you know you are going to make it, get in full flaps: whatever you hit, you want to be going as slowly as possible.

yeah, these planes aren't worth much these days. The main thing is they walked away. Everything else is of secondary importance.

ah yes, one less thing to worry about in the Jab.

what's MP?

how many among us have been guilty of taking our eye off it for a second or two, and then spotting that airspeed is dangerously low? My instructor drilled into me, especially at times like turning base to final: Airspeed! ball in the centre! for which I'm grateful.

is there any news re pilot and passenger? Are they doing OK?

fabulous that they walked away, and good to hear that it's not an engine failure. Someone will use the right wing!

the international airport in Luanda, Angola, has a huge graveyard of plane wrecks: Panoramio - Photo of Wrecks at Luanda Airport The one and only time I flew in there, in 1994, about 6 wrecks lined each side of the runway, as if to warn pilots to not stuff up their landings. Apparently they've been cleaned up now. It's a good place to avoid.

agree with all of this, especially speed on short final and over the fence. Nailing that speed makes it a lot easier.

wonderful, keep safe. Always good to know there's one more person praying for pilots everywhere: even tho' I'm not religious I think we all need all the prayers we can get.

exactly that worked for me too: when I was learning I'd say "I'm NOT going to land this plane, I'm just going to fly a foot above the runway". Worked every time.

how can he watch both at once?

Hi SrPliot, thanks, that's an amazing article. Those pilots are extraordinary.

designed over 60 years ago, amazing; and apparently v difficult to fly.

a quick back-of-envelope calculation based on prop rpm and a guesstimate for prop diameter suggests that those prop tips could well be supersonic; happy to be corrected.

maybe the prop tips are exceeding the speed of sound?

it must have been in the later 70s that the change came: like jab7252 I was taught in inches, did yr 12 in SA in 1972. Showing my age.

wheel and tyre sizes for cars are not metric. Anyone with an older BMW with metric sized wheel will tell you it's a pain

I know that all birds have high wings. I've yet to hear a good explanation for this.

is it high wing just because the strut thing works that way? Or is there some efficiency that flows from high wing?

yep; Sully did a great job, just like the rest of the crew.

there's also Italian metric. My 450 Ducati used it; my later 900 duke had gone over to ISO

to drive on the LHS makes complete sense. The English did it with horses because a man riding a house along a road would stick to the left to give him best opportunity to defend himself with his sword hand, and most people are right handed. This is why we drive on the LHS and historically it makes complete sense. The reason other nations drive on the RHS (eg the French and all they influenced) was because they hated the English way of doing things. My 2c worth.

my experience also