The de Havilland Comet • Hacker News Board

Re: The de Havilland Comet

#51

Post by adolph » Wed, Feb 13, 2019, 3:45 AM UTC

scolby33 wrote: post #46

adolph wrote: post #41

I wonder why all the planes were names in some variation of Yoke [name, including Yoke]? Maybe: yoke: NOUN; Irish informal; A thing whose name one cannot recall, does not know, or does not wish to specify. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/yoke

It looks like it's based on their registration "numbers" written out in the phonetic alphabet in use at the time: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/comets-tale-63573615/

Thanks!

Comet 1—registration G-ALYP, dubbed “Yoke Peter,” from the phonetic alphabet then in use in Britain (George-Able- Love-Yoke-Peter)

Re: The de Havilland Comet

#52

Post by D_Alex » Wed, Feb 13, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

na85 wrote: post #50

D_Alex wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I work in airworthiness and maintenance, so I deal with aerostructures on a daily basis. You? I know you work in airworthiness from your post history. It also indicates you work with flight systems, and not structures. Amirite? What is your professional qualification? You can see what I do in my profile. >What happens if you take a square with sides of length x, and smooth the corners down until the radius of each c…

>Amirite? You are not quite rite, no. "Flight systems" is ill-defined but if you mean flight controls like elevators and ailerons and whatnot, then yes. I also work with structures as a routine part of maintenance, repair and overhaul. Why would you assume my HN comments are a good way to accurately determine my area of professional expertise? Most of my comments are just shitposting about javascript anyways. >The tr…

> Not sure why you have so much emotional investment in this topic

I can't sleep when someone is wrong on the internet!! :)

Peace.

Re: The de Havilland Comet

#53

Post by grkvlt » Wed, Feb 13, 2019, 3:57 PM UTC

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #6

I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight. Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story. The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or…

Which, although technically correct, is still quite misleading and misses out the fact that this was done purely as a precaution, since the actual crack causing the failure did not come from a passenger window [0] but rather the ADF aerial square cutouts in the roof. These are what the photograph in the article shows, and the position is also highlighted in the diagram there. The 'square' passenger windows, as pointed out in the wiki link cited above, had similar corner radii (or smaller in some cases) to those of the Boeing 377 and Douglas DC-7 aircraft.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet#Window_shap...

Re: The de Havilland Comet

#54

Post by NeedMoreTea » Wed, Feb 13, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

grkvlt wrote: post #53

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #6

I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight. Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story. The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or…

Which, although technically correct, is still quite misleading and misses out the fact that this was done purely as a precaution, since the actual crack causing the failure did not come from a passenger window [0] but rather the ADF aerial square cutouts in the roof. These are what the photograph in the article shows, and the position is also highlighted in the diagram there. The 'square' passenger windows, as pointe…

My intent had actually been to point that out in the first place when TFA concluded, as is often the case, it was the windows. See my brain fail comment somewhere downthread, as I only came back too late too edit the original:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143911