Aviation BS and Photo Thread

You know what is amazing about that nose wheel noise? It is WAY quieter than a Gulfstream. The nose gear in that hits the uplocks with such force that you swear something broke. It is pretty unnerving the first time you hear it.

 

I am now one of the “old guys”.....celebrated my 20th anniversary at NJA back in March. Never would’ve thought I would’ve been here this long (total of 27 years getting paid for this job) but it’s been a great job and made lots of great friends. Here’s to 11 more, will be 65, then it’s off to the golf course full time.




This is for all the guys starting out....it can be achieved. I started out in C-152’s back in 1987

 

I can show you a crap ton of ASAPs that would say otherwise. You obviously haven’t been in aviation long enough. There but for the grace of God go I.

 

But are they real diamonds?

Good to see this...hoping to get there soon!

 

Congratulations, John.

 

Cool beans.

 

One day you can fly an air O plane too!

 

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Moved out of the city last year and into a more rural area ... now we have some daily civilian rotary wing traffic ...

And today had 2 -- AH-64's fly over ... they were kinda low ... cell pic with no telescopic lens used.

 

Here's the old girls doing what they're designed for - picking up and dropping off bullets and turning money into noise.




Here's them doing what they do most often otherwise - getting fixed.




And here's the go bit, a GE 701D. Just a baby engine compared to a lot of stuff these other guys fly. This is the one that oversped on one of my guys. Technically didn't quite exceed the NG RPM max speed and require replacement but it needed a replacement cold section for an upgrade so we ripped it out anyway.

 

Another round in the sim! Just finished up ETOPS training and I found it very interesting. I’ve never done Class II Nav or ETOPS so this was a fun training experience. Looking forward to some Hawaii trips.

 

Had to look that up - Extended range Twin engine OPerations. So able to extend flight time out to 180mins from nearest airport, presumably for 737 Max

 

A lot of planes are ETOPs certified, not just the maxes.

 

Or for a ton of other twin engine airframes. Like basically anything from a 777 or A350 on down.

 

Engines Turning Or People Swimming

 

It isn't just the Max that is ETOPS. Many other aircraft also fly over large areas of water. There's another phrase related to this type of trip "wet foot/ dry foot". Say you're flying a LearJet to Hawaii from California. On paper it has no issue at cruise altitude making the trip, that's a dry foot print. However, a trip like that is alway planned for one of the big three emergencies. Passenger medical issue (1), Engine failure (2), or depressurization (3). #1 dictates at what point is it faster to land (sometimes called equal time point or ETP) - continue the course at altitude or turn around. Since you've planned for it, have calculated a decision point and fuel necessary for it - this is called a dry footprint. 2 & 3 will require a descent and then continue or reverse course depending on if you've reached the ETP for that type of emergency. If you don't plan on 2 or 3 happening, you'll come up short on fuel - which is called a wet foot print.

Here's an example of #1 happening without a diversion point close enough. Depending on the circumstance, the diversion point isn't just a runway. It might determined by specific ground equipment, or medical facilities of a certain caliber.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-express-ed-president-gilligan-dies-1432925490

 

Yes, i understood that this is not unique to one aircraft. I was thinking the reliability of the aircraft, its engines - their Mean Time Between Failures, ability to tolerate and continue to operate with one engine failure, redundancy in systems, and fuel range would all play into the factor of the risk of having limited 'alternate' landing places.

 

Bingo. Well, sort of. In the turbine world, either the engine runs or it doesn't. There isn't a scale of reliability as if you were comparing a Yamaha YZ250 to a Kinner K5 to a P&W R-985 to a Lycoming O-360.... Those engines each have varying characteristics, reliability and maintenance schedules. Unless just out of major maintenance, then you might dispatch the aircraft local for a flight or two before sending it out over water for several hours.

While not ETOPS related, but another example of considerations involved when choosing alternates or diversion airports - a friend of mine used to work for an owner that chose their destination and alternate airports based on available crash fire rescue services. Their principal had specific requirements and they'd skip a satellite airport over a major, even if the satellite airport was more convenient but lacked appropriate resources.

 

Gulfstream you’re sitting right over the NLG compared to a 737... at least you hear the noise and know that it’s up haha.