# What's the cyclic for again?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 14, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399 "2014-05-14T01:52:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/1 "2014-05-14T01:52:54Z")
[Some fun near-disasters](http://sploid.gizmodo.com/compilation-of-aircraft-crashes-avoided-at-the-last-sec-1575779453/+caseychan) in aircraft that are \*\*\*supposed \*\*\*to be controlled by intelligent people…
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/2 "2014-05-14T02:10:31Z")
Wow!
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/3 "2014-05-14T02:16:52Z")
Cool old Brantley. I wonder if it was old film or a restored chopper.
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### Author:  [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/4 "2014-05-14T02:37:45Z")
What’s happening around 8.40, the one where the tires are exploding? Why was that happening and why we’re they not wanting the fire put out?
6.50. OMG!
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/5 "2014-05-14T02:40:47Z")
I’ve seen this one before. My personal favorite is the sequence involving the overheated landing gear on the A340. What a complete FUBAR.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/6 "2014-05-14T05:00:31Z")
That rollover one (the third one maybe), the guy kept putting his foot down, like he was going to stop it. I know it’s natural, but in reality it’s a good way to break his leg. I remember when I was learning how to ride a motorcycle, it was always so tempting to put my foot on the ground around corners, but I quickly realized that if I was gonna fall, having my leg down wasn’t going to stop a 600# bike and I’d rather scrape up my leg then break it. I hope he was wearing a seatbelt so if it does flip he stays in it and doesn’t end up under it.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/7 "2014-05-14T05:55:50Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#):
>
> What’s happening around 8.40, the one where the tires are exploding? Why was that happening and why we’re they not wanting the fire put out?
>
> 6.50. OMG!
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> I’ve seen this one before. My personal favorite is the sequence involving the overheated landing gear on the A340. What a complete FUBAR.
I saw a documentary on the development of the 777. One of the certification tests was to simulate a worst-case aborted takeoff. The plane is loaded to max. takeoff weight, accelerates to rotation speed, and then has to stop using the wheel brakes only (no reverse thrust). Then the plane has to not catch fire[sup]\*[/sup] for five minutes. (I’m not sure it was exactly five minutes, but however long it would take for the firefighters to respond at a real airport.) This being a pre-planned test, the firemen are already on scene, but they’re waiting to see what would happen if they weren’t.
As you can imagine, the amount of energy absorbed by the brake disks is pretty damn substantial. The heat causes the air pressure in the tires to climb, and I think they have special plugs built-in so that if they do burst they’ll do it in a predictable way.
- It might be okay if there are small fires around the brake disks or tires, as long as it doesn’t pose a threat to the whole airplane.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/8 "2014-05-14T06:01:10Z")
Or I could just link to [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXpjBxD0Rhg).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/9 "2014-05-14T14:38:48Z")
I don’t have time to watch the video (I’m working), but I did watch the JetRanger at the beginning. The title said that you don’t hang out on taxiways in a helicopter. That’s why you buy them. It depends on the airport, really. Some controllers might want _all_ aircraft to be where they expect to see aircraft. We were shooting ‘full-down’ autos at HHR to the runway instead of to a non-movement area. At VNY, helicopters take off and land on the taxiways. Taxiing aircraft were to hold until the helicopter landed, or make it past the landing spot before the helicopter got there. Helicopters would hover-taxi to their parking spaces. (Of course, it was a short taxi.) I don’t see anything unusual about the JetRanger following the asphalt. But it looks to me as if the pilot failed to hold short for crossing aircraft on an intersecting taxiway.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/10 "2014-05-14T18:52:48Z")
Do not relax or turn off your brain until the aircraft is chained down.
The mantra of all Beech 18 / Swift / Stearman pilots.
I have twice in my flying had a tower controller and a ground controller turn me into a near collision. ( feet & seconds ) You are not cleared until you can see that you are clear no matter what they say.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cyclic-for-again/688399/11 "2014-05-14T19:18:09Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#):
>
> I have twice in my flying had a tower controller and a ground controller turn me into a near collision. ( feet & seconds )
**Tower:** Musketeer 98724, cleared to land, runway 6… Cherokee 37117, cleared to land, runway 24.
**N98724:** Ah, tower, 724… You just cleared _me_ to land on runway 6!
**Tower:** Y’all be careful now, y’heah?