If anything ever really comes of it (and I don't think anything will) I suspect it will at best resemble a Catalina in size and configuration, but be an all-new airframe design. Unfortunately, as much as I love the old Catalina I don't see demand sufficient to justify bringing another new amphibian ...
Jump to postBy all means, find a good AME who will work hard with you and for you. But don't do the formal application "for real" until you are as sure as you can be that you will pass, because a denial will screw you. It's far better to not apply at all than to be denied. Note that gliders do not req...
Jump to postFor whatever it's worth... my dad retired a couple years ago after 29 years flying for a US major. When I was growing up I had expressed interest in flying professionally (military to civil) though I always knew I'd study engineering in college. Dad's advice was "don't fly for a living like me....
Jump to postAny known airports/areas that received a demotion? I imagine that one-time that many class Ds went to part time that some were outright cut. My hunch would be many in the Midwest with shrinking populations. Other than towers closing completely (which would result in Class D becoming Class E or G) I...
Jump to postFor what it's worth from someone who could have gone that path and didn't... when I was much younger, I wanted to follow my dad--start in the military and move to the airlines after a while. One would have thought I'd be a natural fit. In high school, as I was close to graduating, I talked some to D...
Jump to postElectronic controls for piston engines would probably also have to be held to the same certification standards that were originally written for FADECs on airliners (because the FAA already has rules for electronic engine controls and they are notorious for "one size fits all"). Divide horr...
Jump to postModern 4 and 6 cylinder auto engines are amazingly trouble free, long lived, and put out equally amazing amounts of power. They have been adapted for marine use which require high output for long periods. They have become increasing lighter and more compact, and relatively cheap. Yet none of them h...
Jump to postThere's something to be said for a regular job (even if 9 to 5 is a terrible schedule). Owning/running a business is a LOT of work, often with much longer hours and much more stress. Kudos to those who can pull off running a business of any kind--I want no part of it. I like being able to do my 40 a...
Jump to postN1120A wrote:It is still silly and rather pedantic to do the old throttle/power/thrust lever differentiation.
Small inch threads like 1/8 are taken by pipe threads, and you don't want to add them to the mess. Having NPT 1/4 and 1/4-20 as totally different things is good enough to make things messy. Pipe thread (NPT) has nothing to do with standard UN (Unified National) threads like 1/4-20. UN thread is bas...
Jump to postIt’s like, everything else equal, counting 0.9, 2.5, PI, 5.5, 7.7, 9.3, 11.5 instead of 1-10 and insisting it is a completely equal, practical alternative to regular counting of how many eggs you have left in the fridge. That's a poor analogy, not least of which because eggs are countable items, no...
Jump to postI was an AE major, too. Our professors used both--one problem would be in metric, the other in US units. I like that approach; keeps you fluent in both. Except orbital mechanics; that's the only place in the AE school that was all-metric. I now work at a well-known aircraft OEM. Everything is in US/...
Jump to postCopy all what you said with electric cars. Apart that we did not figure out how to produce all that electricity, end point distribution will be an issue. Just think to all this blocks in old cities, with hundreds of aparments without their own garage or park place. BTW, why aircraft engines need 10...
Jump to postAsking for comments from the industry on special conditions is SOP for both EASA and the FAA. And pretty much the only people with sufficient expertise to respond other than other regulators will be the competitors of the people asking for the special conditions, it will not be malicious, it's not ...
Jump to postLooks like you are correct. I was partially correct. CFR 121.358 requires an airborne windshear warning system on all turbine-powered aircraft, which I interpreted to mean also requires PWS. However, I consulted with someone else who told me that technically speaking you can comply with only a Reac...
Jump to postA friend of mine has always been annoyed at the perception people have of engineers. He terms himself a "Bluecollar Engineer" to make it clear to people that there is hard dirty work involved. Good engineering is not just "design on a computer" (though there are many engineers l...
Jump to postWhen I was King for a short time I started running my program just like 747Classic stated. We didn't do "just in time" because we aren't Ford, making trucks. Program ran extremely well, met the needs of the end user and was within budget. At first people's head's exploded at the thought o...
Jump to postYikes. My generation (Gen Z) will never be able to pay 100k-900k for a single engine piston aircraft compared to previous generations having reduced costs when it comes to COL. It is the reason why most of the time the only young people in GA are only interested in being a commercial pilot rather t...
Jump to postThe Gulfstream’s flaps extend on the chord line, the Global’s extend normal to airflow. One’s simpler, the other might be a touch better aerodynamically. But, the G650 wing has 28% lower wing loading to compensate for its simpler system. GF Not quite normal to the chord... It starts out that way bu...
Jump to postDo yourself a favor: study hard, find a good career in a future-proof field and save some money to fly GA. That's where the fun is anyway, not looking at a seemingly paused EFIS screen for hours at the time in the middle of the night while struggling to stay awake. My dad (captain at US major, clos...
Jump to postI grew up in a major hub and went to high school with countless kids of pilots. It is completely possible to have a normal family as an airline pilot especially towards the latter stages of the career. The early regional days are tough so I have heard. My dad got out of the Navy and on with a US ma...
Jump to post[quote="Revelation"In aerospace applications it seems vendors find ways to claim "generic" actuators and motors aren't really generic and charge big markups.[/quote] Oh, it's not just actuators and motors. All kinds of commercial off-the-shelf items get a new nameplate, some fanc...
Jump to postDon't overlook homebuilding. I'm building an RV-7. Something like an Aircam would be nice as a summer flier second airplane, and (more realistically) maybe a partnership on an RV-10 or a Velocity. I won't touch certified airplanes with a ten-foot pole. If someone else was paying all the bills... an ...
Jump to postOk. Here's what's going on. I know I want to be a pilot, but in what field? I have to make a living. So my 3 choices would be either flying for the US Marine Corps in either CH-53Es or F-35s, Hawaiian Airlines 717s, or flying cropdusting /firefighting ops in an AT-802. The 3rd is really just someth...
Jump to postThe Gulfsteam has a lot of grandfathering on their exits. The Falcon and Challenger / Global are built to more modern standard with the main and emergency exit. The baggage for doesn’t count as an exit. The new Gulfstreams with square-ish window exits were able to show an Equivalent Level of Safety...
Jump to postWhy exactly are EECs and IDGs so expensive? Is the the manufacturing requirements or the R&D costs or what? Yes. Plus certification costs (paperwork), liability, etc. But also, low unit volumes. An airliner with a production run of 1000 or so airframes may only have 3000-4000 or so of a given c...
Jump to postI'm an engineer for an OEM (transport-category jets). Did an MBA because I thought I wanted to be a department head/lead. By the time I got to my last semester of the MBA I realized I no longer wanted to do management but was too far in to quit. Only pursue a management degree after you've been in t...
Jump to postI know of one light airplane that sits a bit left wing low after the person flying it (not me!) landed a little hard and bent a gear leg up a bit.
Still going strong 15 years later...
You can get your third class medical. You'll just have the restriction on your medical that you can't fly at night. I don't know about a second class. I've been aware of that for a while, kinda bothers me a little. Any idea if it will affect a cross-country rating? No such thing as a "cross co...
Jump to postI would recommend that you not formally go for your first medical until you are sure that you will pass. Talk to the AME ahead of time, if necessary; work with your GP, do whatever you need to do. But what you do not want is a denial, because that bars you from personal flying under Basicmed or Ligh...
Jump to postI believe there are some tests of the arming circuitry that require "fooling" the interlocks.
However, it looks like someone forgot the four rules...
If you don't mind kitplanes, an RV-10 could be your ticket for 4 pax and gear. My quip to this thread is always "GA and economical don't belong in the same sentence." I fly the RV10 and can vouch that it is an amazing plane. About 150KIAS at 65% power, ~900' T/O roll at MTOW at 5 000' ele...
Jump to postI second RetiredWeasel's advise, join the EAA. Generally speaking, application of automotive powerplants in aviation have not worked very well. Aircraft powerplant requirements are very different from those of an automobile, thus their design requirements differ. Automobile engines don't normally s...
Jump to postSorry to hear about that... but as MaxQ puts it, all hope is not lost. A career in aviation is still certainly possible (engineering, maintenance, etc.) and even though the FAA will probably never sign off on a medical for you, there are a couple of options still open to fly. Flying with another pil...
Jump to postVarsity1 wrote:It's a gulfstream. Either a V or a 550.
It is a synthetic vision device. Fedex is working with the FAA trying to develop a Synthetic Vision approach. Has been ongoing for a couple of years. Nitpick: this is an Enhanced Vision System. It's taking in real images from outside the aircraft. Synthetic Vision is a computer-generated display ba...
Jump to postHaving an A&P would be a nice resume booster for an engineer, and might distinguish you enough to get certain positions (if the hiring manager values practical experience). However, it's certainly not a requirement. If I had to guess, at my employer (civil aircraft manufacturer) only 1% or so of...
Jump to postIt is not only that; SpaceX generally prefers to design and build critical components in house rather than ask a contractor to do it unless the contractor comes in a lot cheaper than what they can build themselves. That way, they can control the cost and maintain control over the design elements of...
Jump to postYes, that's just repeating the display from the cabin entertainment system. I'd bet that screen can display video from external cameras etc. and it's there (officially, at least) to aid the pilots by displaying such video. That it can tie into the cabin may well be something you aren't supposed to d...
Jump to postThere's also the misconception that Va means "the speed at which you can do anything with the controls and not hurt the airplane". That is false. It's possible (as AA587 highlighted) to break parts of your airplane with full (and especially alternating) inputs well below Va. If I'm doing m...
Jump to postIt's possible. Cambered wings (as on a Cirrus and most aircraft) will generate some lift at zero AOA. You actually have to go to negative AOA to get zero lift. Throwing out flaps accentuates that (it increases camber). But you also need to look at the incidence of the wing--that is, the angle that t...
Jump to postIt’s the brakes being applied and it is followed by another thump when they are released much like when an A320 thumps when brakes are applied and thumps twice when they are released. I’d say the noise comes from the hydraulic system. The 767 makes a very similar noise when it’s brakes are released...
Jump to postNot until nuclear fusion technology (the safest/harmless nuclear technology available) in a small and light package becomes feasible. Which is to say, maybe 100-200 years from now, if ever. They are still trying to nail down the basics of nuclear fusion. 100-200 years for fusion is a little pessimi...
Jump to postLast decade's hottest trend in the nation's top MBA programs: Return on Net Assets and Risk-Sharing. This decade's hottest trend in the nation's top MBA programs: Vertical Integration. To be fair, I like this trend better, but I wonder if we'll see it taken to similarly questionable extremes like t...
Jump to postYou'd never make back the cost of the conversion. Why bother?
Jump to postThere may be restrictors in the gear down circuit to ensure the gear is deploying slower. With retraction you want the gear coming up quickly to reduce drag; extending that's not as important and your actuators may have a better mechanical advantage at full down. You don't want to slam the gear into...
Jump to postWe actually get a fair number of requests from operators wanting to ferry their business jets gear down. Usually what happens is they have some kind of gear-related maintenance issue, and being at a small airport they don't have jacks or maintenance facilities to do the ops checks (like gear swings...
Jump to postWe actually get a fair number of requests from operators wanting to ferry their business jets gear down. Usually what happens is they have some kind of gear-related maintenance issue, and being at a small airport they don't have jacks or maintenance facilities to do the ops checks (like gear swings)...
Jump to postWe'll still support airplanes that were made in the late 60s, if the operators call in for support. I've worked a couple of them in the last few years. But generally we find that those operators aren't going to contact us in most cases--our support is expensive and anyone operating one of those airp...
Jump to postAirframe is American vocabulary while fuselage is European, both mean the same thing. Ah, no. Fuselage is very specific and means the same thing in Europe and the US (and AFAIK, the rest of the world). More specifically, when I hear the term "airframe" or see it used at work (aircraft man...
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