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Trailrider #896

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Everything posted by Trailrider #896

  1. As far as taking off with one engine is concerned, it would depend on how powerful each engine is, and also if both engines were close to the aircraft centerline. If outboard on the wings and you are below Vmc (minimum control speed), and you lose an engine, you pull back power on the good engine or you may wind up on your back, which could ruin your whole day! At least that is what my IP's taught me when I got my FAA light twin rating.
  2. First it snew, an' then it blew, an' then begorrah it friz!
  3. Except in places like New York, Chicago and elsewhere, where you can break the law multiple times and be out without bail multiple times!
  4. There have been all sorts of incidents/disasters where intel was available, but the people in charge of responding paid no attention or discounted the information. In the case of the recent terror attack in Moscow, it is reported that we warned Moscow of the potential for the attack. Apparently, Putin wasn't interested. Some people tend to blame "intelligence" for failure to prevent such tragedies, but the information is useless if nobody in command is willing to pay attention to it!
  5. I have cable, so don't need StarLink, but if I did, I'd sure get it! A lot of people criticize Elon Musk, but SpaceX's StarLink is probably the greatest thing since...slice bread...the incandescent electric light...the phonograph. That fleet of satellites is making communications possible for people, in places, never before available. Do I have a vested interest? I wish I could buy some stock, but Musk keeps it completeley close to his vest. U.S. military is thinking about hooking up with something similar. SpaceX just successfully landed a Falcon9 first stage booster for the 20th time! If I were 58 years younger, I'd be down in Texas banging on his door, asking if he could use a rocket engineer! Go SpaceX! Go StarLink!
  6. No obscenities, please! We had 24+ inches a week-and-a-half ago, which melted off when the wx turned into the 50's-upper 60's. Now we got about 3 inches, and still snowing. It is supposed to be Spring. Don't need no more of that white stuff!
  7. Some idiot former-media executive posted a comment about a certain individual being "fair game" having turned 18 years of age. It was taken in some serious contexts, and the idiot withdrew the publication. I was thinking in another context, however. What about the thinking of some 18-year-old females about a tall, handsome and probably potentially rich as Croesus, in terms of being "fair game"? Not, of course, that they could get anywhere near this person?
  8. And we have to pay to see the Rockies! Not that they may be worth seeing, but...
  9. When I was playing football...both of them!
  10. IMHO, with the two-shot load in the '87, no matter who does what to the gun, it isn't worth the brain damage! Years ago, the late Cathouse Bill Blattler and I ran tests where we loaded six shell in the '87 under the clock, versus loading two in a SxS, or six in the '97. We switch off guns, and the times to get off six rounds was nearly identical. But we could never get the rules changed, so rather than messing with the '87, he went back to loading his '97 one at a time, and I went back to my SxS. Hope you can get the Drop Two to work for you.
  11. NASA officially went metric in the 1970's, but most U.S. manufacturing stayed with English units. This led to loss of a Mars probe, when JPL was using metric and Martin-Marietta was using English. They had laid off 3,000 of us in 1989, so I was no longer involved. First thing I'd have done had I still been on the program would have been to call JPL and ask what system they were using! I learned metric in high school in the 1950's, but I still cannot think in metric, and have to convert, especially when watching SpaceX velocity and altitude figures which are in metric. Have to multiply by .625 to get miles and mph.
  12. There was a TV show, "Here Come the Brides", about importing women to the Seattle area in the 1860's. I think it was based on an actual situation.
  13. Must be careful flying over gopher country. Could cause engines to flame out, or cracked windshields!
  14. Our military is strongly considering contracting with SpaceX, once Starship/booster are developed, to use that system to logistically support materiel for our troops using it surface-to-surface. Space Force is also working on a backup to GPS, utilizing SpaceX's Starlink system derivatives, as well as maintaining our surveilence satellites from possible destruction by Russia and the PRC . Development of lunar resources, including rare earth materials, will be directly in competition with the PRC, which has stated as a definite program the landing of taikonauts on the Moon within the next few years. As far as our submarine and other naval ships are concerned, that is what Congress needs to figure out on a fiscal year basis, rather than this continuing resolution crap that has been going on for years! Take that up with your representatives and senators. (Right now, as of the end of the month, I won't have a congressman until a special election is held, as he is quitting!) Ad Astra!
  15. The theory of "daylight precision bombing" was to destroy the enemy's ability to make war by destroying manufacture of strategic materials, ball bearings, fighter aircraft, etc., avoiding "collateral damage". The results of adhering to this theory were more KIA suffered by Eighth Airforce than U.S. Marines in WWII. The same idea was attempted in the Pacific, and it didn't work there either. Took a cigar-chomping major general to decide that the Brits had the right idea...bomb the targets at night using incendiaries! (In June 1964, Old Iron @$$ himself swore in my AFROTC classmates as 2LTs. (I had another year of engineering to go until graduation and commissioning.)
  16. Neighbor was back around with his snowblower to clean up what fell last night. OTOH, just got an email from out trash collector: they won't be able to get to us this week! Had to haul our trash buckets back to the garage from the curb. Fortunately, they are on wheels and the sidewalk was relatively clear. Oh, well...
  17. Granted, NASA and Space Force are acting as customers, but it is still necessary that it be done. U.S. military is looking at Starship as a potential way of moving supplies from place-to-place here on Earth! If you want to object to what is being spent by NASA on getting astronauts back to the Moon, then get them to terminate Artemis and Gateway, and let SpaceX do it right and a lot cheaper. As Musk eventually wants to use Starships to explore and later colonize Mars, he will do it anyway, and get us to the Moon in the process. When Space Shuttle was cancelled, 2500 peole were laid off at the Cape. At the time they had nowhere else down there to get jobs. As a result, 10,000 jobs were lost in Brevad County alone! Apollo put between $9M and $20M into the economy for every dollar spent directly on that program. SpaceX is hiring a lot of people at both Boca Chica and the Cape who are not rocket people. I bet a welder can make good money assembling the booster and Ship, and will use that money to feed, clothe and put a roof over his/her family's heads. Same for a heavy equipment operator. If I were fifty-five years younger, I'd be down in Texas banging on Musk's door and asking if he could use a rocket engine engineer, or even a janitor! Ad Astra!
  18. Uh, Slim...it ain't your money. What SpaceX is doing with Starship is private/commercial enterprise. Yes, once it is developed, NASA will pay for the lunar landing flights, but if we (America) doesn't do it, the Chinese will for whatever reasons to go back to the Moon. Big Sade...and we did all that with sliderules and maybe a Friden desktop mechanical calculator, or later with large mainframe computers. We recovered Space Shuttle SRB's using parachutes, not backing down on their own exhaust plumes like Falcon 9. Eventually, Starship will be developed to be more useful than what most people can imagine. The fact that it didn't make it this time is part of the development process. I have NO DOUBT it will be a success eventually! They are planning at least 3 or 4 more development flights this year. Ad Astra! (To the stars!)
  19. Can't do nothin' right! Got the boiler put on off-center! (That's to counterbalance the driving cylinders, in case some don't know I'm kidding.) Those Southern Pacific cab-forward Mallet's are something else, as well. Good thing they burn oil, as firing coal might be a tad difficult from up front!
  20. Well, not sure if it burned up, but probably broke up on reentry. Terrific views while it lasted however! Some problems getting good telemetry link with the TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellite). They did apparently open and close the cargo hatch. They did NOT get a relight of the Raptor engine they were hoping to get in space, but will have to study what data they got. Also, the booster failed to light the center engines for simulated touchdown (by splashdown) in the Atlantic. Have to see what happened there. But at least no RUD's this time, so maybe the FAA won't get their knickers in a knot about issuing the next license. Build a little, test a little, modify and fly again! I don't recall how many unsuccessful landing attempts on Falcon 9 before they got the first one landed okay. Now they've landed nearly 300, including a couple that have reflown 19 times. Starship and booster are an order of magnitude more complex. They'll get it pretty soon!
  21. Springtime in the Rockies, right? We got an upslope snowstorm...still in progress...along the Front Range, including Denver & vicinity. At lease 18 inches according to the TV, and I think more like 24"...so far. Supposed to snow all night! At 81-1/2 there is no way I'm ridin' down coronary gulch trying to shovel that stuff off my front porch, much less the driveway. Dogs started barkin' looking out the front storm door. It's our neighbors five of them with snow blowers and shovels, clearing out most of the white stuff! Can't ask for better than that! Will have to do something for them...probably Easter baskets with some goodies in them that my wife likes to put together. Supposed to stop tomorrow, and then warm up into the 50's and 60's next week. Glad we live on relatively high ground. Folks downhill might need to consider buying a boat when it all melts!
  22. Don't know about down thataway, but I hear there is a lot of norovirus going around in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Had a bad case of it a couple years ago at Rochester, MN, while visiting the Mayo Clinic of all places. Probably left on a hamburger bun by a restaurant cook who didn't wash hands well enough. Really unpleasant for a couple of days! Wife and I are supposed to go back up there for our annual checkups in April. Hope that bug has cleared out by then.
  23. All well and good, as far as it goes. However, UNLESS the gun is stamped or otherwise shown to have been NITRO PROOFED, it will have been proofed for Black Powder only, though it won't say so on the gun. There are various proof marks on European-made guns that will tell to what standard they were proofed for that country. A long time ago, Gun Digest had an extensive article showing proof marks and standards for British, French, German, Austrian, and Belgian standards, according to the date of the law for that particular test. The chamber lengths will NOT be shown in English units of measure. They will be shown in metric. If the marking is "65", then it is a 2-1/2" chamber, and as the video says, that is the length of shell after being fired that can be used. ONLY if the mark is "70" can a 2-3/4" shell be safely used. HOWEVER...if the gun has only been proofed for black powder, then it is highly likely it was only shot with black powder shells. The problem there is one never knows how well the gun was cleaned immediately after using. In that case, there is the possibility of intergrannular corrosion having developed along the seams of the Damascus twist. You cannot determine if that is the case with Non-destructive tests. Therefore, I highly recommend the gun be hung on the wall, or, if one can find them, the use of modern steel inserts, such as Savage Four-tenners" be used with .410 shells!
  24. When I was a kid, we called most adults Mr. (surname) and Mrs. (surname), even the parents of the kids next door, who were close friends of my folks. OTOH, I was allowed to call close friends of my folks, "Uncle David" and "Aunt Miriam", even though they weren't relatives. When I was finally in college, I asked if I could call the grownups referred to in the first example by their first names,, which was granted. Likewise, their kids had the same sequence. I don't recall what the situation was with my own kids...now in their fifties, but it was respectful, regardless. When my younger daughter was a teacher in a metropolitan middle school, she was called simply, "Miss" until she got married, then "Missus". By virtue of the respect in which she was held by her students and their parents...especially one father, who was a highly respected individual among his peers... "Miss" was "safe". She was to be protected, and her vehicle immune from vandalism when parked in the school vicinity!
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