If he's still high enough and atmospheric conditions aren't too bad, indeed he can.Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
He can glide that far, right?
Will he make it?? (that remark makes it sound like a cheap TV quiz, doesn't it?)
Order of Kilopi
If he's still high enough and atmospheric conditions aren't too bad, indeed he can.He can glide that far, right?
Will he make it?? (that remark makes it sound like a cheap TV quiz, doesn't it?
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Curiously, he is actually flying away from Salina now.
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He's pushing his luck
Seriously, I guess he's just following the best winds for the final part of the trip.
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MSNBC has some great video (free, no bandwidth trouble)
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Yes, their weatherman just remarked Fossett rode the 'Pineapple Express' in from Hawaii and that the plane could land within 1,000' of runway...
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Landing on CNN right now!
Senior Member
=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
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He's back.
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Landed safely. 19:49 UTC. =D> =D> =D>
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The announcer on CNN wanted to know what the big red thingy was on top of the fuselage.ops:
Order of Kilopi
Oh my God, they lost his luggage!
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He was the luggage! =D> =D> =D>
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NoooooooThe announcer on CNN wanted to know what the big red thingy was on top of the fuselage.
"that red thing is a special device, which sucks in fuel and burns it away, which reduced the aircraft wieght and hence increases the performance. In fact this unit is so good, it had digested almost all fuel by the end of the trip, hence creating a very low weight plane. Obviously this unit needs a lot of cooling air, as can be seen by the fan it incorporates". :roll:
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=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>NoooooooThe announcer on CNN wanted to know what the big red thingy was on top of the fuselage.
"that red thing is a special device, which sucks in fuel and burns it away, which reduced the aircraft wieght and hence increases the performance. In fact this unit is so good, it had digested almost all fuel by the end of the trip, hence creating a very low weight plane. Obviously this unit needs a lot of cooling air, as can be seen by the fan it incorporates". :roll:
Oh man, i need to know who dared to ask that one on camera!
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Judging by the signage on the red thing it was an advertising billboard that they reluctantly carried around the world. Extra weight you know...
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Yeah, but they probably got the Williams International engine for nada. Seems they have some fairly ambitious plans:
"...Last fall under a competitive procurement program among jet engine companies, NASA selected Williams International to join NASA in a $100 million cooperative effort to revitalize the once-flourishing light aircraft industry..."
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Not gonna happen. The light aircraft industry has been killed by the insurance industry.
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Maybe only indirect. The true culprit may be liability with absurd sums when something happens.
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That's the one indeed.Maybe only indirect. The true culprit may be liability with absurd sums when something happens.
"You made a plane that doesn't work: It flew into a mountain."
"Person 1: Your engine makes noise A dB, you should stay under B dB". "OK fixed: under bdB now". "Person 2: your engine makes too much noise, it should stay under C dB" etcetc. Result: a very expensive and less powerful, making the 172 effectively an expensive three seater...
The examples are numerous.
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Agree, insurance is all well and fine for covering what its intended to cover, the torte lottery needs to be shut down.Maybe only indirect. The true culprit may be liability with absurd sums when something happens.
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The "lottery" is easily fixed. In Canada you can sue for actual damages plus a maximum of $300,000 for "pain and suffering" and punitive damages. That's it. The maximum is rarely awarded. What sucks is that it doesn't make our rates cheaper as they are based on US claims experience.
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It would be nice to have that kind of logic applied on this side of the border.
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Hadn't considered the insurance/liability issue before, not owning a plane, but good point in light of my auto insurance rates. Yikes!
While 'Space' is what most people associate with NASA, the 'Aeronautics' seems to be getting the short end:
February 27, 2005
"...Less than 6 percent of NASA's $16.2 billion budget for 2005 will be spent on aeronautics. Although research funding already has been slashed by almost 60 percent since 1994, even deeper cuts are planned..."
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A sidenote concerning that figures is that aeronautics research often is cheaper than space research, which needs to be taken into account.
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No Aeronautics or Science Agency
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Great site, kucharek!---still chuckling:
"...WARNING! This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something..."
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I wonder how far that thing could have covered while gliding in ground effects. I didn't see the landing, but I heard they used a small chute to slow it down before it even got on the ground.
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"...The mystery of the missing fuel...it was lost overboard due to an error in the placement of fuel vents, Fossett said. When the air in the tanks expanded at high altitudes, fuel instead of air was vented overboard...If you're in Oshkosh, Wis., on Tuesday, July 26...catch....GlobalFlyer, SpaceShipOne, and White Knight all together...if you can't wait...The Virtual Virgin GlobalFlyer..."
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#189407
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July 29
"...[Fossett] announced a new plan to take the aircraft around the world again, and then keep going...The fuel vents were in the wrong place, and now they have been moved...engineers have told him the aircraft is capable of nonstop flight of up to 29,000 miles..."
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