Now you’ve done it. You’ve encouraged him. And the next time, he’ll be trying for one more Estevez, you bastard.
How could Broomstick have a pilot’s license if she’s color blind, as she also claims?
I haven’t looked through the site but there is The Colour Vision Defective Pilots Association
I would give cash money to see the verbatim transcript of this conversation, just to see how the reality differs from this…interesting interpretation.
[QUOTE=Broomstick]
There was also that recent encounter I had with a Catholic priest who kept going on and on about how wonderful it was he ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ every day. He had no clue that from outside it was pretty damn creepy. (Not to mention the irony that it wasn’t that long ago that some of his group was accusing the group my family came from of being cannibals).
[/QUOTE]
ETA Linky: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18572666&postcount=47
“I say Mass daily.”
It’s almost like you were there!
All this criticism of Broomstick…
It’s like a mass rebeWk.
That seems to be an Australian organization. I think the U.S. FAA has stronger issues with color blindness.
No pilot would ever “hand prop” a Piper Cherokee knowing that it had a defective electrical system, (and not knowing the FULL extent of the problem to the aircraft) and thereafter, fly that aircraft over areas where there might be people or someone’s property below. No pilot would ever endanger the public in such a reckless manner. Yet broomstick claims she did that exact thing(in the thread I linked above). This set off about 3 bullshit alarms on my computer. She might have flown in an airplane once, but honestly, I’d want to be in another state if she ever touched the controls of one in flight.
Especially if any of the controls are red or green.
The position lights are red and green. Red, right, returning as they say. If red is on the right side, the aircraft is flying towards you. A colorblind person might not be able to make that call and that could result in a problem for 2 aircraft.
A PA28 (Cherokee and later, more politically-correct names) uses a 320 or 360 cu in Lycoming 4 cyl.
It is possible to hand-prop such a low-compression engine. Not advisable, but possible.
The problem with operating a plane without an electrical system is the transponder - a radio beeper that is required just about everywhere now, but 20 years ago, there were still remote places where NORDO (no radio) flying was legal.
And the part about a required prop is legit - in the shop, a shortened prop called a “club” is used.
Also, the communication and navigation radios, some of the flight instrumentation, and some engine gauges. Even announcing your position at an uncontrolled (requires working radio), or hearing the position of others as they were in the pattern would be impossible. A controlled airport would be out of the question. Imagine a color blind person trying to determine if the light from the tower was red or green.
Explain to us non-flight peeps how Broomstick might be lying about once being a pilot. Using small words and big pictures.*
*There’s just a lot of lingo that’s flying over my head. I can’t make heads or tails about what’s an argument for or against her claims. And yeh, you see what I did there.
Broomstick has a reputation for posting questionable things. That’s a nice way of saying it.
Here is an example.
Quoting Broomstick.
Accidental mishaps are rare (thank Og!) but airplanes don’t need batteries to start. In fact, I used to fly ultralight/sportplane types that had no batteries, you used a pull-start to get the motor and prop going. A lot of early small single-engine airplanes were designed to be started by hand-propping. And, one fine summer day, when I failed to notice an alternator failure and ran the battery completely flat I got home by hand-propping a 4-seat Piper Warrior and then flew it back home without a working electrical system.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18568503&postcount=29
Airplanes do not need batteries to start - basically true. BUT a Piper Cherokee has low wings, and a has an electric fuel pump that is turned on before take off to insure fuel flow to the engine. No battery, no electric fuel pump. ( I know, I owned 1/4 of a Cherokee 140 once) It’s possible the engine might start without the electric fuel pump, but NO pilot would take off with it “off” or inoperable, and face fuel starvation in the climb out. (Yes, turn fuel pump on is on the pre-takeoff checklist) That would be stupid/dangerous to do so *take off with it not operating)
ultralight/sportplane types that had no batteries - true, but they have fuel supplies higher than the engine, negating the need for the electric fuel pump.
- A lot of early small single-engine airplanes were designed to be started by hand-propping* true, way back when.
And, one fine summer day, when I failed to notice an alternator failure and ran the battery completely flat - I assume a “flat” battery is a dead one. Failed to notice a alternator failure would be pretty hard to do with an assortment of gauges and instrumentation going to hell in a hurry. possible for a totally incompetent pilot I’m sure though.
I got home by hand-propping a 4-seat Piper Warrior and then flew it back home without a working electrical system. - This is the totally unbelievable part. Broomstick has yet to tell us about her A&P certifications (Airframe and powerplant - A FAA license to work on planes) but I’m sure she will get around to it. Neither does she have a license to diagnose or repair flight instrumentation. Therefore she’s totally unqualified to diagnose a failure - EVEN it it’s obvious. Her inability to diagnose the failure, plus her inability to understand the extent of the failure raises the question of what else might be wrong. A short circuit, a potential fire risk, something else? Yet, blissfully ignorant to the extend of the situation, she (claims) she took of in a “broken” aircraft and flew it home by hand propping it. (note, hand propping takes at least people)
The story is just so unbelievable that I can’t believe a pilot would ever relate such a pile of steaming plop publicly.
Then in another part of that post, she referred to “airplane fuel” claiming that the board members wouldn’t understand that “avgas” was - well, gas. Pilots call it fuel - which I assume the board would have understood, or more correctly, avgas, or by the octane rating, as in 80, 100, 100LL, etc. Never “airplane fuel.” (ignoring jet engines here as IANAJP).
Add to this the fact that her credibility is the board equivalent of a having 450 FICA score, and, well, I put on a big pair of boots.
Missed Edit window.
Hand propping takes at least 2 people. The old “switch on, contact” thing from the movies. You pull the prop to a compression stroke, turn the switch on, kick your leg up, and pull it down getting the hell out of the way quickly as you do. Not something likely to be done by “anyone” without being trained in it.
And there’s the previously mentioned part about flying a defective aircraft over potential victims.
Pilots have been known to stay with a disabled aircraft to avoid potentially injuring people on the ground. Sometimes paying with their own life for doing so. Only an idiot would fly a plane known to be unairworthy and risk injury or damage to the innocent victims.
Thanks Morgenstern! And believe you me, I take Broomstick’s post with as much credibility as I could probably throw her, and I’m guessing that’s saying hardly at all.
There was a thread in ATMB a few months back where a new poster was posting in all green, and that’s when she displayed outrage for those, like her, were colorblind and unable to read what she was posting. I challenged her pretty hard on that one. But still, she doubled down and insisted.
Yes, I saw a documentary about it. I think it was called, um, Little Miss Sunshine? It was very popular back in the day. It’s about a teenager who all he wants to do is be a pilot and then somebody tells him he’s colorblind so he can’t be. Luckily his little sister is able to calm him down.
(It’s possible there was more to the movie than that. But that’s mostly what I remember.)
I saw that movie when it came out, but forgot all about that until you just mentioned it. I mean it’s still a movie, but does it have a basis in reality according to the FAA?