Moo you landed where?

I guess reinforced cow-catchers are now available for the Cessna 150 and 172

 

Makes me feel good about flying!

 

Moooooooo......

 

When I first moved to rural North Dakota I briefly considered getting a pilot's license (I had passed my written exams and gotten as far as soloing as a student pilot a few years earlier) and becoming a crop duster. I dropped the idea when I realized that every crop duster in the area, including a few farmers who did their own crop dusting (yes, a surprising number of farmers own a plane and spray their own crops: that way they don't have to wait when the time is right for chemical application) had crashed at one time or another. This means not only the serious risk of death in the impact, but also being suffocated in the resulting cloud of pesticide.

 

Actually I hate flying on commercial aircraft, just because its not a pleasant experience to sit for several hours in coach seats. But, when I have a seat where I can see the wing(s), I watch how much the wings can flex, particularly in turbulent air, and think back to the stuff about how aluminum alloys eventually overage and become more brittle and how a crack can start and propagate and the structure can fail catastrophically if the required inspection and maintenance is not performed. And then I think about how most of the major carriers are in financial distress and near bankrupcy.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243]Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

I always sit at the back of the jet so I can see the wings and be among the first to kiss my arse goodbye when it snaps off.
And the black box is in the back of the aircraft for good reason, I use first and business class as a crumple zone.

 

These are good points. But statistically, cars are worse. And staying home is no fun. I don't like flying either. It's boring, uncomfortable, and tiring. I put up with it because there are fun places to go.

I had to sit in the back once. I found the experience of sitting next to the toilet did not justify the thought that in a crash I'd live a millisecond longer than the folks at the front.

One of these days maybe I won't re-appear here after announcing that I'm going on a trip, and you'll read about a plane crash on its way to or from some exotic location. And you'll never know if I was on that plane, or if I just met some dusky island beauty, or more likely some woman past her prime who's willing to settle for an ugly old fart, and I'm too busy, or too exhausted, to turn on the computer.

Hey, I can dream, can't I :wave:

 

This was clearly not the thread to read just before my flight back to the US....

I agree. There is one aspect of flying I do love though - the views. I flew of Queenstown today and my god - perfectly clear weather and the views of the mountains as we ascended were breathtaking.

 

Yep, the views are great, I saw Mount Everest on my way to the UK once and flying over the middle east at night is spectacular. Love that tracer fire! <joke. Actually the streetlights sparkle like jewels.
I always get the window seat which gives me a buffer from the toilet and I don't have people climbing in and out making me get up like if I was in the aisle seat.
when I fly internationally I love the back 5 rows on the outside even more. on most international aircraft the seats go back into the taper of the tail so the 3 outside seats reduce to 2 in the back 5 rows. This means I get extra shoulder room, and for me shoulder room is important, more so than leg room. I don't like the very back row though because the window seats often have limited recline due to either a bulkhead or emergency slide on the exit door. The recline is limited enough anyway. Back rows are usually the first in cattle class to board too although often the last to disembark. That never worries me because if I have checked luggage I have to wait for the luggage anyway. I laugh at the people who are busting to stand up as the aircraft is taxiing into the terminal, they most likely have to wait for luggage too or are in transit so will have to wait for their connecting flight.

One thing I hate about air travel is the hurry up and wait aspect, and when I'm on a flight which is running late and I have a connecting flight with a departure time a bit too close to the arrival time of the flight I'm on.

 

They're supposed to do that, and are designed to do that. Fatigue failure happens a lot more often in fuselage, eg the Aloha 737.

Amazing what airplanes can take. This landing tested the oleos

 

I'm lucky enough to ticket first or business. Very comfy, I enjoy snoozing on planes and readily do so

I figure if the plane is going to crash, I don't want to last even a millisecond longer than necessary. Get it over with already. This guy apparently thought so too

Unruly man jumps from plane in Nunavut, crew hailed for landing safely - Yahoo! Canada News

Haven't heard if they found the corpus. He obviously reached terminal velocity before impacting the frozen hard tundra below. Most likely, the polar bears had a good snack

Me too. I take my sweet time deplaning, there is no rush. A few times I've had the nice flight attendant gently nudge me to wake me up "Sir, you can wake up now, we're here"

I once had a passenger poke me in the ribs to wake me up. That really startled me, so I asked why the hell did he wake me up

"Because we're LANDING!"

At the time, we were still at altitude, the pilot had just announced they had begun the decent

"No s***? I always thought landings were optional"

I can be put into a vile mood if I am startled from a sound sleep

 

I'd settle for that woman instead of the mysterious island beauty. I very much prefer honest middle-aged women over finicky young things

 

I know, but its still amazing to see the wing deflect a couple of feet at the tip when you hit some rough turbulence.

 

In testing the wings only snap if they're pulled up to almost 90 degrees

 

I'm one of those. I'm just in a hurry to get up and stretch my legs. I'd rather be standing up than sitting down after being forced to sit for hours. It's a physical restlessness. My muscles need to move and get some circulation going.

Maybe he just didn't want to go to Nunavut.

I'd take anything I could get, as long as she's a non-smoker and not actually physically repulsive.

 

Good point. Who would??

Oh gawd, but you're picky.

 

Yeah, you probably would have too