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Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

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Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#343
post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For one thing, for remote communities, small planes are an absolute necessity, not simply for recreation. You've lumped together all small aircraft with hobby flying. That aside, I think your environmental argument against hobby flying is interesting, but this other chip you have on your shoulder regarding "entitlement" and "the elderly" and "entertainment" people isn't very persuasive. Dismissing something as "just…

> for remote communities, small planes are an absolute necessity No problems there, so long as remote means not here, except lack of specifics. What remote communities have an absolute necessity for small planes? > Hobby flying is far from the only environmentally damaging thing that humans do only for entertainment. This is Whataboutism, a variant of the tu quoque fallacy, but it also has maybe a bit of Bandwagon fa…

>No problems there, so long as remote means not here, except lack of specifics. What remote communities have an absolute necessity for small planes?

There are plenty in Northern Canada [1]. That is the only area I've been personally, but I imagine there are similar areas around the world. Possibly also of interest is bush flying in general [2].

> This is Whataboutism, a variant of the tu quoque fallacy, but it also has maybe a bit of Bandwagon fallacy as well. In any event, this is a fallacious argument.

The habit of name-dropping logically fallacies and thinking it is some kind of slam dunk is so cliche that it needs it's own name.

I was not saying that we should ignore the impact of hobby flying because something else was worse (whataboutism), nor that you cannot criticise hobby flying because you do other things that are comparable (tu quoque), nor that hobby flying is good because it is popular (bandwagon).

My point was simply that doing something "only for entertainment" is not in itself a bad thing! Most of what people do, besides surviving, is essentially for pleasure. In fact, that people enjoy doing it is a point in favour of hobby flying!

The question is whether the benefits of allowing it (pleasure, availability of trained pilots, freedom) outweigh the costs (environmental, noise, danger).

[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2020/08/new-m...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_flying

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always said the reason we don't have flying cars yet is because people can't drive in 2D much less 3D. This gives me hope.

"Flying cars" made sense to me until I started flying. Now I think "driving airplanes" is the more appropriate phrase for what might be in the realm of possibility. For example: here's how you'd prepare to visit distant relatives with each vehicle: Car: load up however much weight you want, turn the keys and start driving. Low on gas? Just turn off at the next exit. Weather looks bad? Just drive slowly and carefully…

How much weight do you think it would realistically take to alter flight in a plane of this size? For instance, if both the pilot and passenger weighed e.g. 200lbs and sat toward the left of the plane, would that considerably (or perhaps even just perceptibly) impact flight? Same for some of the other variables, is there an appreciable different for things like magnetic variation? Wind, of course, seems reasonable - the others I've heard less about. I don't fly, and have never been in a small engine craft.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the better snl's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRcJQ9tMbY

As long as we're celebrating the Scottish accent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs Never gets old :-)

Oh imagine, the delights of the Banter, frozen in celluloid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5K1HxEBCU

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t 3D easier? There sure is a lot more room.

3D has the problem is that you can't just stop, wait and think if anything is totally weird. A self-driving car can pull over if it's confused, a self-flying plane can't.

Then again, self flying planes have been a thing since the early 1910s. It's far easier when you can just pick and altitude and heading and you're basically 99.9% in the clear that you won't hit anything.

In a car that approach will get you roughly a few meters forward, so it's incredibly hard to make a working car autopilot in comparison.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always said the reason we don't have flying cars yet is because people can't drive in 2D much less 3D. This gives me hope.

The autopilot declares an emergency via transponder code and radio calls, which means suddenly everything else in the sky is moved out of your way for you and you're given near-exclusive use of whatever airport the autopilot picks. This does not bring us closer to "flying cars."

You mean like when cars turn on emergency blinkers any everything moves out of your way?

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Moore is suspected of being responsible for approximately 100 thefts in Washington, Idaho, and Canada, including bicycles, automobiles, light aircraft , and speedboats.[15] It is believed that he learned how to fly small planes by reading aircraft manuals, handbooks, watching a "How to fly a small airplane" DVD, and playing flight simulator computer games .[17] One plane he stole was a Cessna 182, FAA registration n…

I've been nerding out over airplanes recently, and I want to get my private pilot's license. One thing that has surprised me is that airplanes are actually pretty simple machines. They're not hard to fly, either. The part that is expensive (besides fuel) and time consuming is all the emphasis on safety. You want to be REALLY sure your plane is working and REALLY sure you know how to fly it. If you just want to hop in…

Flying a plane is easy for the most part. It's the radio and all the rest of the stuff that's basically impossible to get a hang of.
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