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I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

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Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#31

Post by mikestew »

Jtsummers wrote: post #23
larrik wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you serious? How long do you need this title to be?

There is a long standing tradition on HN to complain about titles that don't totally and completely accurately capture the message of the article, such that the article is a mere 1000 word bit of fluff to the tweet-sized message itself. Any title short of that measure is clickbait or just wrong. Best option is to ignore them.

Captain Pedantic[0] also seems to be under the illusion that the title is exclusionary. Quite the contrary: many, many people can fall from 15K feet altitude and live, and the title will be just as accurate.

[0] Kidding aside, I take it to be just a poorly-executed attempt at humor.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#33

Post by vuln »

rootusrootus wrote: post #18

This happened in 1963. Planes had only been flying for 60 years at that point; it really is pretty amazing how quickly we progressed on technology during those early years. We still fly 737s, which are descended from a design that first flew in 1967. As well as the C130, which was part of this story. And don't get me started on B-52s, which are even older. We have made great strides since then, of course, but it does…

The U-2 was 1955-1957 still flying today.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#35

Post by ISL »

rootusrootus wrote: post #18

This happened in 1963. Planes had only been flying for 60 years at that point; it really is pretty amazing how quickly we progressed on technology during those early years. We still fly 737s, which are descended from a design that first flew in 1967. As well as the C130, which was part of this story. And don't get me started on B-52s, which are even older. We have made great strides since then, of course, but it does…

> We have made great strides since then, of course, but it does feel like 90% of the fundamental aviation technology we have today was created just in the first few decades.

That's because the seminal work rapidly evolved into something that's good-enough, and in some cases, close to optimal.

If you look around, wherever you're sitting, you'll find plenty of other human-engineered objects from a similar design-trajectory.

My coffee mug looks a whole lot like cups from Mesopotamia and earlier.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#37

Post by the-printer »

crdrost wrote: post #28
Test0129 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was under the impression that for non-surfaced subs the only way to communicate them was to fly close to the surface and lower a boom into the water. Is that not the case?

These aren't subs, they are ships. I would imagine the plane circled overhead at a low altitude several times, tried to get their attention, kept going away and seeing if they would follow, kept going back when they didn't. And people on the ship were probably looking up being like, “what's his deal?” A “shot across the bows” is a colloquial expression for a warning demanding imminent action. The idea was that long a…

The dynamics of how humans can communicate with each other, especially in spontaneous occasions like this, are so interesting.

From what you’re explaining, the expression wasn’t something necessarily standardized “code yellow” sort of thing. Could two novices been able to convey or comprehend the meaning between themselves?

With stories like this, who needs film!

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#38

Post by fit2rule »

Test0129 wrote: post #7
NikolaNovak wrote: post #2

The whole description is wordy but astonishing. It is strange that the part that strikes me the most though is this one: "The Coast Guard amphibian gained altitude and flew off. (I learned later that he headed for a squadron of minesweepers that was returning to the United States from a tour of the Western Pacific. He was unable to tune to their radio frequency for communications. But this ingenious pilot lowered a w…

I was under the impression that for non-surfaced subs the only way to communicate them was to fly close to the surface and lower a boom into the water. Is that not the case?

No post body was provided.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#40

Post by soperj »

ISL wrote: post #35
rootusrootus wrote: post #18

This happened in 1963. Planes had only been flying for 60 years at that point; it really is pretty amazing how quickly we progressed on technology during those early years. We still fly 737s, which are descended from a design that first flew in 1967. As well as the C130, which was part of this story. And don't get me started on B-52s, which are even older. We have made great strides since then, of course, but it does…

> We have made great strides since then, of course, but it does feel like 90% of the fundamental aviation technology we have today was created just in the first few decades. That's because the seminal work rapidly evolved into something that's good-enough, and in some cases, close to optimal. If you look around, wherever you're sitting, you'll find plenty of other human-engineered objects from a similar design-trajec…

On the other hand snowshoes though look nothing like snowshoes from 50 years ago.
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