Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

fox13seattle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 264 posts

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#91

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

avalys wrote: post #53

Since there’s a lot of commenting about his age, I’ll remark (as a 36-year-old private pilot) that in my opinion an elderly man flying recreationally is actually much less hazardous to the general public than an elderly man driving a car. Flying is a specialized skill, but once you learn it it’s not especially difficult and requires less sustained focus, reflexes and reaction time than driving. It’s not as if there’s…

But I read he was doing a loop right before the crash. Is the same true for acrobatics?

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#92

Post by [deleted] »

wszrfcbhujnikm wrote: post #62
AmVess wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intentional loop. He entered it too fast and too low. On the descent, he was going too fast for his aircraft to have any type of control authority and he was a passenger at that point. The aircraft basically stalled out in a dive, and with no cohesive airflow over the control surfaces, the aircraft continued to stall to the point of impact.

What could be the reasons for this? Misread the altitude? Sudden wind?

[deleted]

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#95

Post by re »

danielecook wrote: post #63
jvm___ wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shutter speed was 1/250th of a second, so the earth rotated about 4 miles or 6 kms while the shutter was open. Not enough to blur the photo obviously, but crazy to think about.

I’m confused. Does this math check out? Circumference is 24,901 - so about 1000 mph at equator. 1000 mph / 3600 s / h = 0.27 mps 0.27 * (1/250) = 0.001 miles? Doing this math on my phone but am I missing something here?

I think the parent comment was confusing/misremembering the rotational speed value in miles per hour as miles per second.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#96

Post by hiddencost »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #81
jefftk wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be surprised to see a pilot endorse that

Developers are such on-the-spectrum nitpickers. I guess that is what makes them good at their jobs and such unenjoyable cocktail party companions.

Says the one who managed to insult autistic people and engineers at the same time?

Many of the best partiers I know are on the spectrum.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#97

Post by almostnormal »

fargle wrote: post #37
darby_nine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This wasn't sarcastic at all—any driver of a car is far more dangerous than one in a plane. 9/11 is essentially meaningless in the shadow of auto deaths (to provide a direct comparison). I can't get a firm number on number of plane fatalities in the US (or auto fatalities worldwide), but 9/11 alone would amount to about only 0.04% of total vehicle fatalities in the US since 2000.

if i live to be 90, i'd wish to die quietly in my sleep like my grandpa. not screaming in terror like his passengers.

Both scenarios are unlikely. Most likely it will be a long time of being tortured by doctors trying everything in the book to squeeze a few more days of money from your insurance.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#98

Post by dclowd9901 »

greenyoda wrote: post #12

> the plane that crashed was a vintage Air Force T-34 Mentor... About the plane: "The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is an American propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_T-34_Mentor

Man what a cool plane.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#100

Post by Cerium »

jvm___ wrote: post #61
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Anders He took the Earthrise photo, which Nature photographer Galen Rowell described as "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise https://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/earthrise.htm

The shutter speed was 1/250th of a second, so the earth rotated about 4 miles or 6 kms while the shutter was open. Not enough to blur the photo obviously, but crazy to think about.

I have no idea how to calculate it, but I interpreted this to mean not that the earth rotated (which everyone is trying to calculate) but that the earth was crossing the horizon of the moon such that four miles of earth crosses the horizon during the shot causing earth blur for a moon-stable reference frame.
Post reply on HN