# The Great Ongoing Aviation Thread (general and other) (Part 1)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499 "2011-10-23T02:17:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 340
### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6783 "2024-10-10T19:54:40Z")
[Las Vegas hard landing](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nbcnews.com/video/video-shows-frontier-flight-catching-fire-during-landing-in-las-vegas-221027397782&ved=2ahUKEwjTmc_fy4SJAxVUFVkFHX6dEpEQwqsBegQIDRAF&usg=AOvVaw1QRMM2H_AN1X6kqtlKCcqO)
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6784 "2024-10-11T02:14:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> 59 years old seems very young, especially when pilots are subjected to stringent medical examinations.
IMO there’s a medical gap in their examinations. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of testing for clogged arteries.
I lost a close friend who had a heart attack at about the same age. Not only is there a gap in this area but pilots are incentivized to avoid getting such tests because it puts their medical in question.
There are companies who travel the country giving ultrasounds. I imagine you could get one under the radar to see if you have problems.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6785 "2024-10-11T17:08:06Z")
[WZAZ in Chicago where disco lives forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtsQI2IeM5U) is the first thing I thought of after hearing that [KKOB radio tower collapses in ABQ after being hit by a hot air balloon](https://www.ketv.com/article/hot-air-balloon-hits-tower-new-mexico/62580648)
Just happened a little bit ago. The balloon landed safely & no reported injuries, I’m sure it’ll ultimately be pilot error…unless they somehow determine the tower jumped into his way at the last minute. 🙃 I know balloons have mass but I can’t help but think that a properly constructed & maintained tower should be able to withstand a balloon hit & not collapse, I’m guessing authorities may be thinking the same thing because they’re checking the other tower for ‘precautionary reasons’
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6786 "2024-10-12T18:48:00Z")
I’m guessing the balloon hit a support wire. The videos appear to show an antenna field that the balloons launched into. If this is an organized event then they may have just bought an antenna.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6787 "2024-10-12T18:51:11Z")
But again you would expect the wire to be strong enough to withstand that.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6788 "2024-10-12T19:15:12Z")
You’d think so. Years ago I almost hit a TV tower while flying a small plane. It just fell over a month later. Makes me wonder how sturdy they are.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2024, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6789 "2024-10-13T14:55:49Z")
There’s no mention that he contacted a second tower but the fact that they created an exclusion zone & evacuated homes & inspected the other towers makes me think that the authorities were questioning how stable the tower was before it was hit & decided they needed to check out all the towers in that group.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6790 "2024-10-13T21:08:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> You’d think so. Years ago I almost hit a TV tower while flying a small plane. It just fell over a month later. Makes me wonder how sturdy they are.
When I did my long solo before getting my license, one leg was from St. Paul to central-Wisconsin. There was a 2,000 foot tall antenna on the route. I made sure to be above it, but I was low enough to see it.
> [@Spiderman](#):
>
> …but the fact that they created an exclusion zone & evacuated homes & inspected the other towers makes me think that the authorities were questioning how stable the tower was before it was hit…
Maybe they’re worried that some part of the first tower might have hit the guy-wires of another tower as they fell.
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### Author:  [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6791 "2024-10-13T21:44:03Z")
Please excuse the off-topic interruption, here, but I have some questions that, while not directly related to aviation, I believe aviators would be most likely to have the answers I seek.
It has to do with instrumentation to be used in a ground vehicle, to measure parameters that are similar to those more commonly of interest in aircraft.
My thread on the subject is at…
> [@“Aircraft” instruments in a Jeep?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-instruments-in-a-jeep/1008731):
>
> Since getting my Jeep, I have found myself, in some circumstances, wanting to have an objective sense regarding its attitude and movement, that I associate with aircraft-type instruments. Most specifically, but not the whole of it, is that I often find myself wanting to know, with objective certainty, whether I am going uphill or downhill, gaining or losing elevation, and at what rate. To a lesser degree, I want an objective sense of what my pitch and roll angles are, relative to what th…
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6792 "2024-10-13T23:40:58Z")
> [@Bob\_Blaylock](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > aft-type instruments. Most specifically, but not the whole of it, is that I often find myself wanting to know, with objective certainty, whether I am going uphill or downhill, gaining or losing elevation, and at what rate. To a lesser degree, I want an objective sense of what my pitch and roll angles are, relative to what th…
It sounds like you want a vertical speed indicator which measures how fast you’re moving up or down in feet per minute.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2024, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6793 "2024-10-14T02:46:26Z")
[This is just one example](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.borknet.aircraftcockpit&hl=en_US) but you could look through phone apps for cheap or free versions of cockpit gauges.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6794 "2024-10-15T20:37:41Z")
^ Dead link
More bad news for you-know-who:
> **[Boeing’s crisis is getting worse. Now it’s borrowing tens of billions of...](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/15/investing/boeing-cash-crisis/index.html)**
>
> Cash-starved Boeing, contending with massive financial losses from a crippling strike and years of operational and safety problems, is turning to major banks and Wall Street to raise tens of billions of dollars in cash.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6795 "2024-10-17T15:06:59Z")
An EA-18 Growler out of NAS Whidbey Island crashed east of Mt. Rainier on Tuesday. The wreckage has been found, but the pilots are still missing. It’s not said on the news, but I assume that if the pilots were not found that they were able to eject. But each would have been equipped with a survival radio. _If_ they ejected, it’s not a good sign that they have not used their radios.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6796 "2024-10-17T15:27:44Z")
Yeah, that’s a tough story. I’ve been following it best I can from down here. Looking at the ADSB tracks of the search aircraft and reading what’s been released, they had what sure looked like an awfully large area to search. Much larger than what I’d expect if there were any radio signals, automated or not, to home in on.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6797 "2024-10-17T20:36:35Z")
Nitpick since we’re in a thread for aviation enthusiasts, not the Unwashed Masses ,
An EA-18 has one Naval Aviator and one Naval Flight Officer who are both crewmembers who collectively form a “flight crew”. IME both groups are rather prickly about the difference between their titles and the shape of their uniform wings.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6798 "2024-10-17T22:11:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> An EA-18 has one Naval Aviator and one Naval Flight Officer who are both crewmembers who collectively form a “flight crew”. IME both groups are rather prickly about the difference between their titles and the shape of their uniform wings.
I just _knew_ someone would call me on that. I tend to become verbose when I try to be very accurate, and decided the short post would not benefit from explaining the difference.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6799 "2024-10-17T22:25:54Z")
It took me a long time to force myself to default to “crew” rather than “pilot(s)”. I get it; I totally do.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6800 "2024-10-17T23:16:11Z")
Are both stations set up for redundant flight and can the weapons be released in a redundant manner?
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6801 "2024-10-17T23:29:25Z")
What I am reading on the PPRuNe message board is that the Navy does not fit controls in the back seat of the EA-18Gs.
> _USAF does, Navy doesn’t. Navy doesn’t fit dual controls unless its for specific trainers._
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/6802 "2024-10-17T23:45:55Z")
Interesting. I suppose there’s no reason if it’s all carrier based landings. I’d think they would go for similar set-ups with the Air Force to keep things simple.
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