JS

Here is a tough one....

2!

As you can tell from my post above, I said the plane WILL takeoff and it WILL NOT take off, depending on how the problem is defined and where the feedback device is that is "moving the conveyor in the opposite direction." So, "as an engineer," I wholeheartedly agree with you that I am wrong. I also wholeheartedly disagree with you that I am wrong. Again, you are considering only the speed of the wheels of the wheelchair and you are assuming that the speed of the conveyor will remain constant when you applied the extra force of pulling on the rope. By definition of the problem, the minute you pulled on the rope, the speed of the conveyor would increase to keep the wheelchair at it's original relative speed - 0 kts - regardless how fast the wheels were spinning.

Thread revival - I have been meaning to reply to this one for a few weeks, but have been out of pocket. The reason why so many people disagree on this problem is because the question is worded very poorly and very vaguely - as Mr. Durden himself points out in his Avweb article. "On a day with absolutely calm wind, a plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyor). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyor moves in the opposite direction. The conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the airplane ever take off?" First off, when he says "The plane moves in one direction," is he talking about the wheels of the plane, or the actual fuselage (and pitot tube and airfoil) of the aircraft? If we are assuming that the conveyor matches the speed of the wheels, then the plane will generate relative motion and airflow over the wings after you add thrust, and Slacker130 would be correct: And MATTUSAF would be correct too: And BFM would be correct: All 3 basically said the same thing. HOWEVER, if the treadmill is matching the speed of the rest of the aircraft (say through some kind of motion detection laser or something), then the aircraft will never move relative to the ground and will not take off. As soon as the wheels inched forward a millimeter and the fuselage of the aircraft moved forward one millimeter, the conveyor would start in reverse and would not stop until the aircraft was back at the original speed that the conveyor/laser system was trying to maintain - in this case 0 knots. As more thrust was added, the conveyor would speed up in reverse until the tires oversped. Again, under this assumption the conveyor is ignoring the speed of the tires and only trying to match the speed of the metal of the wings of the aircraft. As a matter of fact, in order to satisfy the original condition, which has the aircraft initially at rest, the conveyor would HAVE to keep the body of the plane at zero ground speed if it truly "tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction)" as the original description indicates. By sheer engineering definition, if a system is going to exert an unlimited force to maintain an opposite speed of an object, then the objects speed could never change. If the experiment started at 0 kts, that speed could not change by definition of the experiment. If the experiment started at 120 kts, as in the example of the plane doing a touch-and-go on the treadmill, then the treadmill will keep it at 120 kts - the original speed. Again, it is all in the wording and assumptions of the definition of the problem. In my second example/assumption, no external forces would help the plane move forward, because, again, the conveyor system is overcoming any forces that are trying to move the fuselage of the plane forward, and not the tires. In that case, the following would be incorrect: After you put the truck in gear, you have added an external force to the fuselage of the plane, and the conveyor system in the 2nd assumption will match that force and keep the plane at it's original speed - 0 knots. This would also be incorrect: Again, no matter where the thrust came from -whether it was from "your buddy's truck," your legs, the tires of a hot rod, or the thrust of an F-15 or C-172 - the minute the fuselage of the plane moved a needle-width forward, the conveyor would put out it's max effort (if necessary) to keep the plane's fuselage from moving. In engineering terms, it is called a closed-loop system with the position loop being closed based on some sort of feedback. Rocker would be correct in this second assumption: Let's not forget that, Mr. Durden, the author of that Avweb article that states that the plane will take off, is a lawyer. I guess that is what lawyers do - they take an ambiguous paragraph or problem and convince others of a specific answer, regardless of the specifics (or lack thereof) stated in the original problem. As an engineer, I can say that you cannot come to a solid conclusion on this one without first making some assumptions and/or clarifications in the original definition of the problem.

Whatever you do, don't forget to get silencers for them when you are issued them at OTS or ROTC or wherever. When we got them at OTS, a few of us headed straight for the military clothing store (those of us who were fortunate to have the lack of demerits to leave the OTS campus over the weekend) and got silencers for the whole flight. A few days later at our mobility exercise when we were living in tent city, every OT decided to wear the damn things all day - including during PT. The end result was a mass formation run each morning with 100 or so pairs of metal dog-tags clinging against one another as everyone ran. It was one of the most annoying sounds. Not to mention that during some of our other "combat" exercises in the woods, where you were supposed to be quiet and camouflaged so the enemy could not detect you, all you could hear was those damn metal, unsilenced dog-tags clinging around.

2

Here

The way I was able to free up a TON of time at UPT was to track into the T-1 program after Tweets. Besides, skydiving doesn't really take as much time as it may appear in the movies. I jumped twice (before UPT) and each one was over in like 5 minutes. Plenty of time at UPT for that.

Wow! So if one of my subrodinates commits suicide, should I get charged for manslaughter? Where does it stop? Some responsibility has to fall on the subordinate at some time. Where do you draw that line?

If only the new law would cover guys who claimed to be in the special forces, in particular the Navy SEALs.

Like Toro said, they were not all from the Academy. Like Hacker said, the culture we are talking about is the "cooperate to graduate" and "if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'." At UPT, there are cultural pressures of having to perform very well on these weekly tests (I believe 85% to pass, but you are expected to get above 90% on each test). To achieve these grades, there is tons of gouge around to help you study - old tests and notes etc. In this situation, that cultural mentaility was taken too far, and an IP gave out the actual newly revised test answers to a student. When offered the answers by their classmates, most students assumed (perhaps incorrectly given what we know now) that it was just a rite of passage in the UPT culture to have the exact test answers to study from. This is the culture we are talking about - it has nothing to do with the Academy. The rest is UCMJ history. [ 20. July 2005, 13:53: Message edited by: JS ]

I had a similar story: I was told by a civilian doc, an AD recruiter and a guard Wing CC that I would not be able to be a pilot in the AF (each had a different reason why). I finally got a Reserve slot, but it got taken away. I got another slot and was then medically DQ'ed. I got a waiver for that, and here I am flying. Don't ever give up and don't ever take "no" for a final answer. [ 13. July 2005, 13:51: Message edited by: JS ]

You obviously figured out he was full of it, but there is no such 'Private Ryan' type rule in the Air Force. There was a guy in my squadron at Lakenheath whose twin brother was in our sister squadron right down the street. The two of them were actually at ONW at the same time and got their picture and a short blurb in the af.mil sight.

I am sure a lot of people ask about this, but a lot of bars waive the cover charge for military. I have also found that when you hit cities a few hours away from base, they are usually even more friendly to military because we are more rare there than in a "military town." I have gotten in free to plenty of $10 cover bars, and one $10 bar even let me and my girlfriend in for free because of military discount.

Well, I learn something new everyday. I figured anything was possible in the wierd history of military aviation, I just could not verify that Marines flew the F-14. Anyway, I still think the guy was full of crap. You think that he would have brought up the Iranian instructor thing to me after I questioned whether or not the Marines ever flew the F-14. Instead, he just had a scared look in his eyes like he just realized that he was talking to someone with a little military aviation knowledge and he was about to get called out.

Wow. I can't top the shockwave story, but I have heard 2 or 3 good ones: The night OIF started I was watching the news with a guy in a hotel when they showed a Tomcat taking off of a carrier on CNN. He yells "those are my boys" or something. I inquired and found out that he was a former MARINE who flew F-14's. I thought that maybe there was a short time in history where the jarheads flew the F-14, but I later did some research and could not find any instance of this at all. I even asked 2 buddies of mine in the Marines who fly helos and they said that the Marines never flew the F-14. Anyway, I pressed the guy more about the F-14 and pilot training. He said he went to Meridian for all of his flight training. He also said the F-14 was "way underpowered." I asked him some basic questions like what kind of thrust, top speed, and ceiling the jet had. He had no idea. He claims he was retired for about 5 years and "he didn't remember that stuff." I asked him a few more questions about the military in general and it was obvious that he was full of it. A friend of mine works at a beer distributor and a kid he works with got a slot to "fighter pilot" school with the Air Force, but the military would not let him go because he had a brother also in the service and the rules (Sullivan brothers & Private Ryan type rules) prohibit the military from sending 2 children from the same family overseas in case they both die. Therefore he, with no college education, had to give up his pilot slot and work at a beer store stocking shelves. Perhaps my favorite was a relatives neighbor who was a "blue SEAL" in Vietnam. This was a special type of Navy SEAL, but much better trained and more advanced etc. He said he killed "thousands" in Vietnam. He was a hoot. The funny thing about special forces is that they call them the "quiet professionals" for a reason, because they are usually quiet about their jobs, unlike the loud mouth special forces posers. [ 30. May 2005, 20:41: Message edited by: JS ]

I just did the math and the average age of my UPT class was around 25. We had plenty of 23-24 year-olds, but also a few 29 & 30 year olds to bring the average up.

Holy shit, ClearedHot. You weren't kidding when you said you have to read a book a day. I guess I should not complain when in ASBC or SOS all we have to do is read our little "reader" with like 20 pages of case studies. I looked up some of those books on Amazon (do you have them issued to you or do you have to buy all of them???), and each one is around 400-500+ pages. How in the hell can you read a 500 page book each day? It would take me a month just to read the book. At SAASS, Do you guys just read all day instead of going to class? How much time do you spend discussing the books? Do you have to write papers etc. on these topics? Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to figure out how these advanced courses work. [ 07. May 2005, 16:30: Message edited by: JS ]

If you have prior service time, 48K is about right for 2LT. Base pay for O-1 over 3 is ~$3000 + ~$180 BAS + ~$125 flight pay + ~$700 BAH = $4000/mo = $48K/year.

How many clubs actually require you to be a member to go in there and drink? I have been to around 6 O'clubs, a Navy O'club, and a few E-clubs and have never had to prove I was a member to go in there and give them my money for drinks. My logic, like others, is that if you don't need to be a member to hang out there (assignment nights etc.) and drink, and you are not using $16 worth of lunch discounts per month, then it is not worth it. PS if anyone is planning on going to ASBC anytime soon, the Maxwell Club gives out $50 in coupons (yes, good for beer and food) just for already being a member. So don't cancel right before you go there if you are already a member.

Are you sure this is a rule? I don't doubt it is, I just never heard of it. I have dropped off, picked up, registered, and unregistered my gun a few times and have never heard this from any of the SF guys. I also have never read it anywhere in any base welcome packages in the section regarding firearms. I have a funny feeling that if I asked 10 different SP's to clarify it, I would wind up getting a 50/50 response from them (after they, of course, used the "red phone" to call someone with a clue) I always just drove up to the armory (after calling ahead) and never actually declared the firearm with the gate guard. I figured why complicate things if I don't have to. I really don't see them arresting me inbetween the gate and the armory for not having declared my registered gun with the gate guard. But you never know, I guess.

I was TDY at Keesler and learned a few things too (not sure if it they are Keesler specific or not) There are 2 options when you register your gun - short term and long term. Short term is if you will be there for 30 days or less. You can just drop it off and pick it up with little hassle except for a form. Long term involves "registering" the firearm, which in turn involves your commander being notified. Furthermore, when you take the gun out for a weekend, for example, you have to return it in 48 hours or else your commander gets a call. I think you can call SF if you are going to be late on bringing it back (say on a 3 day weekend or if you are on leave). Bottom line is that they are much more controlling and it is a bigger ass-pain if you do it this way. The guy wound up telling me to register it short-term (even if I was TDY for more than 30 days there), and when I took it out just to "unregister" it until I came back on base with it. This way there is no time limit on how long it can be out and your commander's number is not on file etc. Plus if you have family/friends who live near the base and you are going to target practice with them, you can perhaps leave the gun with them etc. Anyway, each option will fit different people better. I was just not aware that there were differences in how you registered it in the first place.

The HUD on the C-130J is a certified primary flight display also.

Cool. What kind if qualications do they look for in order to "jump into the Beech left seat right at the start?"

Are there any guard/reserve guys out there that are actually using their type rating in the Beechjet? If so, in what context? Flying part-time charter or corporate while bumming? I was just curious if actually having the type rating is as big of a selling point as some people make it out to be (ie worth $5000 to your future employer etc.) Just trying to come up with some bumming ideas.