The Hangar

falstro

06:43

@JayCarr Good luck and watch out for sharks! :)

falstro

07:38

@Manfred @Federico care to elaborate why aviation.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/1454 should be tagged take-off and braking, if anything it would be aerodynamics and flight-controls, no?

Federico

08:15

Take-off because is related to that phase of flight (correct me if I am wrong, but the initial climb is still part of that phase, or, at least, in most papers dealing with flight planning a flight is divided in "TO" + "cruise" + "landing")
As for braking, having no wiki, I thought that the tag might refer to any question dealing with the brake system. I agree that this might be questionable and aerodynamics might be more appropriate. I wouldn't remove TO and add flight-controls, though.

falstro

08:42

@Federico It's only related to that phase off flight because the checklist says so, the question is whether spinning wheels affect flight, regardless whether it's at takeoff or not, isn't it?

and so far everyone has failed to note whether the wheels start spinning again or not as a result of having wheel-fairings covering the upper half

ratchet freak

@falstro that would depend on the friction in the bearings and the surface of the wheels (the grooves in particular)

falstro

@ratchetfreak true, you don't think a 120 kt wind to the exposed lower half (or third, probably more realistic) will turn a slick tire over?

ratchet freak

it might, it also depends on the aerodynamic properties of the wheel-fairings

Federico

09:06

@falstro yes it is.

falstro

09:18

@Federico thinking about it some more, I think you're right, if anyone comes looking for the question, they probably think of it in terms of take-off, so I guess that makes sense

@ratchetfreak I entered it as a separate question. We need more questions anyway right? ;)

Stack Exchange

09:36

This Day in Aviation: 8 May 1927

posted on May 08, 2014 by Bryan Swopes

8 May 1927: At 5:18 a.m., famed World War I aviators François Coli and Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser departed Le Bourget Airport, Paris, aboard their single-engine Lavasseur PL.8 biplane, L’Oiseau Blanc (“The White Bird”). Their destination was New York City, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1919, New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered […] The post 8 M…

This Day in Aviation: 9 May 1926

posted on May 09, 2014 by Bryan Swopes

9 May 1926: Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Byrd and Chief Aviation Pilot Floyd Bennett, United States Navy, departed Spitzbergen on the island of Svalbard, Norway, on a round-trip flight to the North Pole. Their aircraft was a Fokker F.VII/3m three-engine, high-wing monoplane, construction number 4900. It was purchased for the Byrd Arctic Expedition by Edsel […] The post 9 May 1926 appe…

Federico

10:08

@falstro yet, nothing prevents from adding additional tags :P

falstro

@Federico huh?

Stack Exchange

This Day in Aviation: 9 May 1932

posted on May 09, 2014 by Bryan Swopes

9 May 1932: At McCook Field, Ohio, Captain Alfred F. Hegenberger, U.S. Army Air Corps, flew the very first solo instrument approach and landing, using a system which he had developed. The Hegenberger system, which was adopted by both civil and military aviation authorities, used a series of non-directional beacons (NDB) and marker beacons on the ground, along with a […] The post 9 May 19…

falstro

10:25

gah, I'm going crazy here... I've rewritten parts of the texture binding setup and now I get a GL_INVALID_OPERATION when setting the texture unit uniform with glUniform1i. Anyone done a bunch of OpenGL by any chance? :)

ratchet freak

I've dabbled

but only showing a point cloud

falstro

the uniform location is correct, the shader is set, the texture is bound to the texture unit (no errors there btw)...

ratchet freak

program bound and all?

falstro

yeah, that's what I meant by 'shader is set'

ratchet freak

well I'm out of ideas...

falstro

10:37

welcome to the club :)

ratchet freak

as I said I only know how to display a ponitcloud at this point

Federico

@falstro if you fell that they are appropriate and want to add the tags aerodynamics and flight-controls to that question, you can/should do it.

falstro

11:19

@ratchetfreak found it, the location is off by one for some reason, which is weird because I don't calculate them myself.

@ratchetfreak wow, what an extraordinary typo I had in the title of that question. That was awkward.. :)

ratchet freak

@falstro freudian slip?

falstro

11:36

@ratchetfreak something like that

Farhan

13:15

Good Morning.

Finally it's Friday.

ratchet freak

[insert Friday snippet here]

Farhan

13:33

@ratchetfreak What's that?

ratchet freak

►

falstro

@voretaq7 a new york state snack? and yogurt? dafuq? :)

Farhan

13:53

@falstro Are you in Germany?

falstro

@Farhan yes?

Farhan

@falstro I used to live there (Hamburg), when I was a little boy.

falstro

@Farhan I hear Hamburg is a cool city. Did you like it there?

Farhan

@falstro Yes, my first memories are of that city.

falstro

@Farhan When did you leave?

Farhan

14:05

@falstro 1983

I used to think that that was the best time of my life, until I realized that present is the best one. ;)

Jay Carr

@Farham Ohhmmm...

falstro

@Farhan heh. At what age was that?

Farhan

@falstro 7

Federico

@falstro may I ask which city? Stuttgart here.

falstro

@Federico I currently live in Frankenthal (Pfalz), so not that far away

Federico

14:21

no, indeed. I have also a couple of friends living in your backyard, Mannheim. I was there 2 weeks ago :P

Farhan

@Federico My father studied Deutsch in Stuttgart.

Federico

@Farhan after 3 years in Germany I am still trying to learn it. Working in English does not speed up the process much.

Farhan

@Federico I agree. My brother went there for masters and although his program was in English, he was telling me that many people outside the university prefer to speak in German. I understand the reason and appreciate it.

Jay Carr

@Farhan Do you mean just people in general or do you mean people who will speak English at the University prefer to revert to German when off campus?

Which would make a lot of sense...

Farhan

outside university

Jay Carr

14:34

That's.....still a dangling modifier. Though, to be fair, I'm easily confused.

University students/faculty or just, you know, run of the mill German citizens.

falstro

@JayCarr I'm guessing both. ;)

run-of-the-mill german citizens are unlikely to have much command of english at all to be frank

Jay Carr

Yes but in context of the-- ah, you know what, nevermind ;). I was mostly thinking it would be odd to know someone can speak the same language as yourself, and have them do it in one place (like the university or work or what have you) and then have them insist on speaking a language you don't understand when outside of the workplace.

falstro

@JayCarr Yes, in that context, I'm guessing students/faculty are unlikely to speak much english outside of the workplace

not all, but most, would be my guess.

Jay Carr

Mmm, I guess the moral is to either learn the local language or find friends who just really enjoy speaking in your native tongue.

falstro

@JayCarr I'd go with the first option

Jay Carr

14:44

Mmmm...as much as that would be nice... I mean one's head can only hold so many languages, especially if you only have so much time to devote to language learning. But, that being said, if you're going to spend a significant time in a given country, I'd have to agree.

Stack Exchange

14:56

This Day in Aviation: 9 May 1978

posted on May 09, 2014 by Bryan Swopes

9 May 1978: McDonnell Douglas delivered the 5,000th F-4 Phantom II, F-4E-65-MC 77-0290, to the United States Air Force. The Mach 2 fighter bomber was developed in the early 1950s as a long range, missile-armed interceptor for the U.S. Navy. The first Phantom II, XF4H-1 Bu. No. 142259, made its maiden flight at St. Louis […] The post 9 May 1978 appeared first on This Day in Aviation.

voretaq7

15:29

@falstro The official snack of New York is Pizza :)

falstro

@voretaq7 not according to the new york senate apparently... ;)

voretaq7

@falstro DaFUQ they know they're in Albany!

falstro

@voretaq7 I just caught it on The Daily Show. That was a true bike shed discussion if I ever saw one. :)

voretaq7

15:46

@falstro This is America. We don't have bikeshed discussions. We have parking garage debates.

falstro

16:06

@voretaq7 oh yeah? what color did'ya end up painting your garage?

voretaq7

@falstro Purple. With green and yellow polka-dots, and blue and orange stripes.

(I really wanted to honk off the homeowner's association!)

falstro

16:20

@voretaq7 :) A noble reason!

egid

sounds pretty nice

voretaq7

@egid It's the standard color I suggest painting things I don't care about

Jay Carr

Random question for everyone here, what's your favorite plane to fly?

voretaq7

@JayCarr "The one I'm in." :)

falstro

@voretaq7 man.. ninjad again

voretaq7

16:29

@falstro <karate stance and ninja yell goes here>

falstro

@voretaq7 vimeo.com/29265497 <-- paint it like that :)

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 Does that remain true when you're on a commercial flight? Seems problematic.

voretaq7

:1543621 too much work

@JayCarr I really try to avoid commercial air travel whenever possible. It's a thoroughly miserable experience. Might suck less if I got to fly the plane though :)

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 lol, next time you're off to Europe, you should give it a try. I bet if you asked really nice and explained how you're a ninja and such...

voretaq7

@JayCarr "…and that's when the air marshal panicked, pulled out a TEC-9, and shot holes in the cabin, killing everyone..."

falstro

16:33

@JayCarr Wait wat? You get to fly airliners over here? I must be doing something wrong...

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 "...next up on CNN."

@falstro So long as you're a card carrying ninja, yeah.

falstro

@JayCarr ah. missed that part. darn

where do I get one of them cards? :P

Jay Carr

@falstro Not entirely certain, but if you google "ask a ninja" I bet you could figure it out. The only step I recall is "and you have to defeat every beast known to man."

At what I couldn't tell you. Chess maybe?

voretaq7

@JayCarr Serious answer: I really liked the two AA-5s I flew, just not enough to buy one :)

@JayCarr Ninjas are Japanese - presumably they play Go.

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 - Any particular reason that aircraft && No, ninjas are from time immemorial, they've exitsted since before the first dragons rose from Mt. Doom. They just had a time of public celebrity in Japan.

falstro

16:37

@voretaq7 @JayCarr I've only ever been in a DA20, TB10 and a WT9, so I couldn't really tell you. The SR22s look pretty comfy though

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 Though, to be fair, I bet they probably play "Death Chess" instead of just Chess, or some such...

@falstro I've only ever been around the SR22s, but I do like the look of them, I agree.

falstro

@JayCarr It's easy to beat anyone at chess, you just have to think outside the box and do aerial bombardment.

Jay Carr

Kinda curious about the Cessna 400 (previously Corvair?).

@falstro You're about halfway to being a ninja methinks.

falstro

@JayCarr but then again, if someone were to drop a gulfstream, lear or a falcon in my lap and pay for all expenses...

Farhan

@JayCarr I like Piper PA-34 Seneca. It is a tiny bit out of my range. Starting at: $1,011,300. I've $1,300 so far.

I think it was in this movie:

Altitude (film)

Altitude is a Canadian horror, television and "direct-to-video" film directed by Canadian comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews.Anchor Bay Entertainment is set to distribute the film in North America, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand The trailer for Altitude premiered at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con. Plot A small aircraft has a family of three (parents and a child, later revealed to be Bruce) and a pilot (Sara's mother) on board. The child is extremely nervous and starts hyperventilating. Wondering why he is so afraid, the passengers suddenly see an out-of-control aircraft that c...

Don't judge me. I did NOT enjoy or like watching that. In fact I thought how people could spend money on such ideas.

Jay Carr

16:46

@Farhan I've only ever flown the Seneca in a simulator, but that's probably what I would like to get if I could buy a plane. I thought they started at $75,000 or so? Still >1,300 I guess ;).

@falstro Well, if we're going that way, I've always wanted an F-16C.

falstro

@Farhan yeah, the new Seneca is kinda nice. Flying had an article about it in the December or January issue I think.

egid

@JayCarr not Corvair. Columbia.

the Cessna 400 is a wonderful airplane to fly

I have a bit under 100 hours in one

falstro

avherald.com/h?article=474144f1&opt=0

"According to Associated Press quoting the head of Kabul Airport, Mr. Yaquob Rasouli, there were no injuries and the aircraft sustained no damage."

Yeah, that plane looks just fine

Jay Carr

@egid Ah, thanks for the correction. I'm only familiar through the fact that X-Planes creator has one and swears by it. They sound pretty quick, which must be nice. They look nice, that's for sure.

egid

They aren't just fast and good looking... in my opinion, they handle a lot better than Cirrus

I also would not say that Austin is the best spokesperson for, well, anything, but I'm glad he likes his, and makes enough money to afford one.

Jay Carr

16:54

lol, I'd have to agree with that assessment, I'm just pointing out where I heard it.

egid

:)

seriously though, how well is X-Plane doing?

he is on like his third one... he had a Columbia 400, then traded in for a Cessna 400

Jay Carr

Well, to be fair, the development team is doing pretty well considering... Well, how small they are.

fooot

@falstro Apparently the crew raised the gear on the extended rollout to prevent damage to the tires and wheels, allowing the engines and belly to slow to a stop on the grass... The debris around must be from inside the cabin after the un-necessary evacuation... If I was assigned the next leg, I wouldn't even bother with a walkaround.

egid

we're talking an almost $750k airplane

fooot

that was chris 777's comment, i thought it was hilarious

Jay Carr

16:55

@egid Yeah, 3rd one.

Ah, yeah, X-plane must be doing okay...

@egid how does the 400 compare to a Beechcraft of similar type (yeah, sorry, a bit vague). Or a Piper, for that matter.

falstro

@fooot :) Yeah, I read that comment

egid

@JayCarr, what, price wise?

Jay Carr

Performance wise.

egid

significantly faster

lower useful load

longer range

Jay Carr

Which has which?

400 x <other plane>?

egid

16:57

those were all attributes of the 400

Jay Carr

Ah

egid

the 400 is significantly faster, carries less, and has longer range

Jay Carr

Hmm, useful load kind of matters to me, but, eh, this is all pipe dreaming...

egid

also has superior takeoff and glide performance

glide is something like 18:1

which is nuts

Jay Carr

Huh, that's pretty dang good.

And you say it handles better?

egid

16:58

well, i haven't flown a Bonanza

but better than a Piper, yes, and I prefer it to the Cirrus, although I have less Cirrus time.

Jay Carr

I guess the comparable Piper is the Archer?

...or...not sure :)

egid

i'm not sure there is a comparable piper

Jay Carr

Saratoga?

egid

the matrix is a lot bigger, and the cherokee-based singles are all a lot slower

Jay Carr

Well, that's bigger though.

egid

16:59

yeah, maybe

it's probably got the best perf

speed wise

Jay Carr

Mmmm

egid

honestly if you need 4 seats and decent performance i would say newer 182

Jay Carr

I wish choosing a plane to fly was a bit more like buying a car. You can rent/buy just about anything you can find on the net. Airplanes...a lot harder. Kind of limited to what's local...

falstro

@egid 18:1? That's higher than a Katana

that's like a glider

egid

@falstro i forget the exact number

it's well into the two-digit range

falstro

17:01

cool

egid

i haven't flown one in a couple years, the FBO i worked at lost their leaseback airplane

@JayCarr openairplane.com

falstro

@egid "lost"?

egid

yeah, it moved to CA

not hull loss lost ;)

falstro

ok, phew. :)

Jay Carr

@egid oooooooh. That looks useful.

egid

17:02

@JayCarr they recently added the ability for owners to offer up their aircraft for rent

so that might open things up a bit

Jay Carr

Nice, so in theory the planes at my local airport (KSGF) could be on that list then.

egid

someday perhaps

Jay Carr

Mm, talking about this makes me wish I lived in a major metropolitan area...would make it easier.

Ahhh...openairplane has nothing at KSGF... KC has one though, if I wanted to drive a few hours.

voretaq7

@JayCarr I just like the design (low wing, sliding canopy), and they're very maneuverable.

@Farhan That is a weird ass movie

Jay Carr

@voretaq7 Sliding canopy! Oh, that's moving right to the top of my list. It looked like it might have it on wikipedia but I wasn't sure. And it looks fast enough...

falstro

17:19

@voretaq7 do you have any idea why gnome-terminal snaps to 78 columns when I resize the height of the window? :P

Jay Carr

@falstro Are you using Ubuntu? That seems to be the reason for all the worlds ills last I checked.

;)

falstro

@JayCarr ;) nope

debian

Jay Carr

I almost went with being that cool.

egid

@JayCarr anyway i'd seriously suggest 182s depending on what you need to do

Jay Carr

Then I remembered I'm a n00b, and my co-workers are using Ubuntu so...there you go.

egid

17:21

the newer ones have incredible performance for the price - great short field, and they do 140 knots true on 14 gph carrying 4 full-size adults

Jay Carr

@egid - Well, if I was actually outlining a mission it would be to fly from Salt Lake City to Springfield Missouri on one tank in less than 5 hours.

falstro

@JayCarr HAH! I'll have to remember that the next time my wife rolls her eyes when I say something geeky.

Jay Carr

Me and one other person as the load

@falstro Happy to be of service sir!

egid

@JayCarr a 182 would probably do it in 6

but the one tank bit might be a bit tight

Jay Carr

It's roughly 1000 straight line.

egid

17:23

900nm

skyvector.com/…

Jay Carr

Oh, right, nm, not mi.

I still think in miles, sorry ;)

egid

6.5 hours with zero wind in a 182

at which point you're out of gas

but 87g tanks, 14 gph, 140 knots

Jay Carr

Eh, I don't really like that idea a lot.

I'd rather have fuel for diverting and such.

falstro

@JayCarr 1660 km!

egid

@JayCarr easy solution: make a stop

3 hours is a good bio break leg length

:)

Jay Carr

17:24

How long do those usually take? (Sorry, n00b at this)

lol

egid

probably add 30 minutes

maybe 45. descent, fuel, takeoff, climb

Jay Carr

See, I want to be able to travel home for the weekend. 7 hours one way is....long

I figure 5 hours total would be optimal.

egid

that means you need to hit at least 180 knots over the ground

averaged

slower during climb, faster during descent

you're going to have a hard time finding a solution to that problem that is affordable

Jay Carr

What kind of plane does that for a reasonable price is the million dollar question I guess ;)

egid

unless you are rich, in which case, congratulations :)

Jay Carr

17:26

lol

Rich might not be the best desecriptor for me.

egid

@JayCarr what do you consider reasonable?

Jay Carr

Maybe I should just figure on a longer flight.

egid

we need to work backwards, here

Jay Carr

Oh lord, this has been such a pipe dream that I"m not sure.

egid

:)

Jay Carr

17:27

Well, taking commercial would cost roughly $800 round trip. I figure going to a factor of 1.5 for the convenience of flying myself? So...$1500 a trip or so?

How's that for a first number?

egid

no no

for the airplane :)

or are you talking about renting?

Jay Carr

Unless putting together an owenership group is less.

Which I somehow doubt...

egid

a random cirrus is 273/hr

Jay Carr

Or maybe it s.

That's without fuel, right?

egid

god i hope that's wet

yes, just checked

Jay Carr

17:29

lol, okay okay, sorry.

egid

that's in WI

ok, so, cirrus is ~180 ktas

Jay Carr

2730 dollars all around then, right?

egid

now, we aren't accounting for wind, which is bad, but it's simpler

yeah ... 900*2/180*273

lemme do some foreflight maths

with today's winds

Jay Carr

lol, I think what I'm finding out is I'm flying commercial if I need to go home for a weekend...

egid

my dad's old rule of thumb:

if it's more than 4 hours to drive, it's cheaper to fly yourself. if it's more than 4 hours to fly yourself, it's cheaper to take an airline.

this is also sort of including the cost of your time :)

Jay Carr

17:32

Fair enough.

So, if it's 5 hours to get out there, just buy a ticket on SW and call it a day.

egid

anything more than that, you're doing it because you like it.

Jay Carr

But, if I'm flying to, say, Phoenix. Go for it.

From SLC

egid

yeah. these days, with gas prices as they are, you may have to modify slightly.

falstro

@egid keep in mind that during times of low traffic, most cars can easily do 100 kts ground speed... ;)

egid

with today's winds at 15000, a cirrus would take almost exactly 10h round trip

@falstro what the hell kind of cars do you drive? :P

ah, ninja edit.

falstro

17:33

;)

egid

well, my airplane does 125ktas on 9gph, so it's a bit harder to achieve with a car.

Jay Carr

@falstro, my car does about 135 kts, I could just do that I guess.

falstro

@egid I'm working on my ninja card

Jay Carr

I mean, that's what Kansas is for, right?

egid

@JayCarr Kansas has a purpose?

Jay Carr

17:34

Yeah, going 150 on the freeway, did I not just mention that?

egid

;)

Jay Carr

:D

Did you know that, technically speaking, Kansas is flatter than a pancake?

falstro

@JayCarr you can do that here too, only difference is... it's legal. :)

Jay Carr

Seriously, standard deviation of the surface for Kansas v. a Pancake...

egid

@JayCarr how does it compare to North Dakota?

I spent three years up there. the ground slopes 1 foot per mile.

Jay Carr

17:35

@egid Kansas has one hill, I think.... I could be making things up ;).

@falstro - Yeah, but people actually drive on the Autobahn. Have you driven through Kansas? The only place emptier than that is Nevada.

falstro

@JayCarr yes, but they're all going 120, so as long as you're on the right side of the road, you're fine ;)

jokes aside, that's why I drive during the night when I'm doing longer trips, a lot less traffic

Jay Carr

@falstro I dunno, I've watched them traversing the Autobahn on Top Gear, looked like a lot of big trucks pulling into the left lane just...for fun I guess.

@falstro Agreed. On the Autobahn that would be...amazing.

falstro

@JayCarr one of the finest pieces of road in the world has got to be the A7 through the mountains of Kassel during early hours of morning. Three lanes all to yourself, winding and weaving through the mountains, it's a ton of fun

Jay Carr

@falstro I bet. To me the best road in the world is Highway H, probably 20 minutes from here. 2 lanes, 60mph, super super twisty, but not so bad that you really have to drop below 35 (in a good car). Lucky to have it so close by, I've been on a lot of roads in my life, but that one takes the cake.

The Ozark Mountains in general produce some really really good roads. Tends to be that old, steep hills do that.

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr I haven't spent a lot of time in ND, but it seemed a hell of a lot flatter to me than Kansas. Eastern Kansas (where I'm sort of from) is not flat at all.

Jay Carr

17:44

@BretCopeland Oh, where abouts? (I'm only pulling peoples legs...sorry, all in good fun.)

@Also, to be fair, the entire planet's standard deviation is less than a pancake ;)

Bret Copeland

Where in KS or ND?

Jay Carr

Kansas.

I live near Springfield in SW Missouri.

Bret Copeland

I'm originally from Kansas City, MO

Went to college at KU

Jay Carr

Nice!

Bret Copeland

My step sister lives in Springfield.

Jay Carr

17:46

Hey, maybe I know her!

:D

Bret Copeland

so I've been there once or twice

Jay Carr

I've been up to KC several times, it's a nice place too. No real complaints, at least when I'm being serious.

Bret Copeland

My step-mom works for an FBO at an airport in a suburb of KC

Ironically, I've never flown in or out of that airport.

Jay Carr

Sounds like you've got some deep roots out here.

lol

You should, just for kicks, right?

Bret Copeland

just for kicks and thousands of dollars.

Jay Carr

17:48

Pff, what's money? Oh wait...

Anybody else need me to mock their hometown? I feel bad that I've only done it for @BretCopeland so far.

egid

Spokane. Go for it.

:)

actually that's not really true

i am technically from seattle

Jay Carr

How am I supposed to mock that town?! I love Seattle!

Well, at least when it's sunny.

Which means I pretty much hate it, right ;).

No, but seriously, I lived in Seattle for a couple years and really enjoyed it :D.

egid

great flying out here

also great mountains and water!

Jay Carr

Mmmmm... Tempting, oh so tempting. My work just told me I'm allowed to remote from wherever I want recently. I can technically move anywhere I can afford... Keep thinking about Seattle.

Bret Copeland

18:16

This answer is so factually appalling. I don't understand how I'm the only person who's downvoted it.

6

A: Will Concorde-style air travel ever make a comeback?

It's all about cost. Concorde stopped flying because it wasn't making money. When the air france one crashed it took a sizable portion of the customer base with it. The airlines and airbus had had enough keeping it alive, so they are now all in museums. Tickets were fantastically expensive. Con...

Farhan

@voretaq7 I totally agree. I only watched it because it had a plane. Though the support role girl was hot, even hotter than the main lead. Stupid director let the monster abduct her :(

Jay Carr

@BretCopeland Any chance of you posting a more factually accurate answer? Or is this just a question that can only be speculated on? Perhaps it ought to be closed?

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr yeah, it's a terrible question, which I think should be closed, but I'm not going to do it unilaterally.

If the community wants the question, it's not my place to close it.

It is my place to point out factual inaccuracies.

Jay Carr

@BretCopeland Can you not vote to close?

As a mod?

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr as a moderator, if I vote to close, it is simply closed immediately.

Jay Carr

18:24

@BretCopeland Ah. Well, I will admit, I was thinking of voting to close it yesterday but stopped myself because... I don't recall having a good reason. So I've rectified that.

I will admit, I was not aware just how much inaccurate speculation was involved in that first answer...

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr did you read my comments?

(that I left a few minutes ago)

Jay Carr

@BretCopeland After seeing your post in here, yes I did. That's what alerted me that my assumptions about the accuracy for that answer were...well, half baked at best.

I think that first answer is simply what most people have been told is true (me included) so we just assume... In this case that assumption has kicked us right in the butt.

If I could take back my upvote at this point, I would.

The best I can do is vote to close it on the grounds I originally had in mind and move on.

Because it is, at very least, highly speculative.

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr you can take back votes, just click it again.

Jay Carr

@BretCopeland It's been 20 hours, it says it won't let me.

I tried.

Bret Copeland

oh

Jay Carr

18:30

I did consider giving it a minor edit just so I could vote it down...but that seemed a bit too crafty.

Bret Copeland

yeah, no need to go through that.

Jay Carr

I did leave a comment on the question though, so, hopefully I'm still being a good community member... (just feeling a bit dumb for not checking the facts.)

Bret Copeland

I'm the person who always calls bullshit on Concorde and Space Shuttle "facts" which people spew out.

3

I know a lot about both, and can usually spot something which isn't right pretty quickly.

Jay Carr

Oh? High interest or in your line of work?

Bret Copeland

They're both sort of exotic aircraft which people don't know that much about, and so they hear something and think "oh, that seems like that could be true" and never bother to fact check it.

@JayCarr just very interested.

I worked on a Space Shuttle navigation plugin for the Orbiter simulator once, and did a lot of research about the shuttle then, which is generally why I know the answers to questions about Shuttle reentry and landing phases.

(in other words, the portions where it has similarities to an airplane)

Jay Carr

18:37

@BretCopeland The Orbiter simulator? Like the official one at NASA?

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr no, orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk

Jay Carr

Oooh! Nifty! I bet it's better than the one in X-Plane...

Makes me wonder what you think of Kerbal Space Program.

Bret Copeland

@JayCarr looks interesting, but I've never tried it.

I haven't done anything in Orbiter for a couple years either.

It just takes a lot of time.

Orbiter eventually rubbed me the wrong way anyway. It's the worst of both worlds: free, but closed source. Meaning there's no incentive for the maintainer to add or fix things, and there's no way for you (or the community) to do it yourself.

Jay Carr

KSP is mainly fun because it lets you design ships and send them into space. While I'll admit it's not the most rigorious physical model you'll ever see, the game seems fairly accurate and it is fun.

Ick, yeah, that's not really the best way to go with a project like that.

egid

@BretCopeland not anymore! I also downvoted. :\

@JayCarr <3 KSP

And with FAR, it approximates an aerodynamic flight model

:)

Jay Carr

18:44

@egid Me too! I have some ridiculous amount of hours in that thing...

FAR?

egid

it's a mod... Ferram Aerodynamics Replacement or something like that

adds stall conditions, etc

Jay Carr

Does it come with some decent wings?

The parts they have to build planes in that game are... Well, there's a reason it's a rocket sim.

egid

yeah

the modder who originally made them is ... not great

anyway, um, there are a couple of 'procedural' mods

that let you create and size parts on the fly

get the procedural wing mod

Jay Carr

Oooooooh

Mkay.

Sending a note to myself...

egid

there are also a couple for fuel tanks, SRBs, that sort of thing

Jay Carr

18:46

Oh, do you have a link?

egid

not on hand no

browse the forums, though

Jay Carr

Fair 'nuff

egid

:)

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