321–330 of 491 posts
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Taking off isn't hard, an airplane will take off on its own. It'll fly straight and level if you simply let go of the controls. It's the landing that's hard, and Moore would crash every time he landed.
If it is trimmed correctly, and knowing where the trim control is or what it does is not obvious :)
And don't get me wrong, there are plenty of ways to kill yourself even in a simple airplane.
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Genuine question, is my experience playing Microsoft flight simulator any use in being able to answer those questions, because it certainly feels like I can say something sensible about them.
Pilot here: It could help with some familiarity but generally in MSFS you can get away with ignoring the gauges and just mess around. The tutorial might gloss over some of it. Having an unbelievable number of hours in MSFS when I was a kid ... landing a real plane is considerably harder and a ton of instruction time is just focused on getting you to land reliably. I finished my PPL in just over 40hrs which is close t…
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The real reason is that we don't have one-person aircraft that can stop and hover with <300ft stopping distance and is under 10 ft wide. Helicopters come close but they're expensive and I'd hate to see parking for such a model of transportation.
Helicopters aren't really allowed to fly over most areas in cities though, except for police and other emergency helicopters. The noise and danger make it a no go, even if they were smaller.
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Indeed. This is why you can't drive around just looking at the back of the car in front of you , you need to look way down the road. The distance to the car in front of you needs to be large enough that you can react if that driver steps on the brake, but will never be enough should they impact a stationary object. You need to see stuff like that much earlier, and if you can't, you're driving too fast. I'm constantly…
They're so rare that most drivers can't even imagine it happening to them. Combined with the fact that most drivers don't even understand what it is they should look for.
* In order to avoid last minute moves and spot possible traffic hazards, you should always look down the road ahead of your vehicle.
* Your attention should be focused on the road ahead, following your intended path of travel. It would be best if you allowed a visual lead-time of at least 20-30 seconds.
* Scanning the road ahead while you’re driving is one of the best safety tips you can employ when you’re behind the wheel! Generally speaking, you should look ahead 15 to 20 seconds or an eighth of a mile when driving in the city and 20 to 30 seconds or about a quarter of a mile on the highway.
etc, etc.
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Helicopters aren't really allowed to fly over most areas in cities though, except for police and other emergency helicopters. The noise and danger make it a no go, even if they were smaller.
Helicopters can fly wherever they want, barring the same restrictions that apply to fixed-wing planes. For the most part, there aren't really any helicopter-specific restrictions.
Edit to clarify: Presumably you'd want to land your flying car almost anywhere in the city; this is not going to happen anytime soon, for the same reasons that helicopters and planes can't.
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Genuine question, is my experience playing Microsoft flight simulator any use in being able to answer those questions, because it certainly feels like I can say something sensible about them.
Pilot here: It could help with some familiarity but generally in MSFS you can get away with ignoring the gauges and just mess around. The tutorial might gloss over some of it. Having an unbelievable number of hours in MSFS when I was a kid ... landing a real plane is considerably harder and a ton of instruction time is just focused on getting you to land reliably. I finished my PPL in just over 40hrs which is close t…
This seems familiar - I remember flying with mitten gloves (due to cold!), controls were joystick, rudder, flaps, and an altimeter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingsby_T.21
I bet this was a guy raised on video games. I was about to make a joke about it but I'm actually serious. Once I, a former Houstonian with no experience driving on ice, was driving through the snowy mountains and lost control of my car. Instead of panicking, my video-game-induced laser focus kicked in and I calmly piloted the car until the wheels gained traction and I could park the car on the side of the road. But l…
My joke was going to be "Half the lurkers on r/flightsim enter the chat...". I lurk on that sub, and I feel like half the people fantasize of being able to "save the day!" when something goes wrong on the plane. Not fanticizing that something goes wrong... but if it did... the flight would be fortunate enough to have them there to save the day.
Though, thinking of having the tower talk someone down always reminds me of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" ~ "What could possible happen to an Old Fashioned?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWoCLqMq8qM
[Edit] Formatting.
Looking at the ATC transcript, the passenger couldn't figure out the transponder, change frequencies or give out his cell phone number. At least he was able to get the microphone working. Likely he eventually picked up the phone number ATC gave him and they took it from there. The video shows ATC got him to a really long runway, a good portion of which he overflew. No flare on the landing, but the Caravan is a tough…
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Both your comments were "dead", you could maybe mail HN to have your account set to not be shadow banned.
How did you know that?
That shows dead comments with a color and text indicator when enabled.