Massive Aviation Geeks

[Michael Palaeologus]

BarryRoad bravely stuck his head above the parapet and declared himself an Aviation Geek.

I will join him in coming out of the hanger.

In any given crowd, I am the one staring at the small dot in the sky, saying "Ooh, whatsat?"

Any others out there? Come on, fess up, you know you want to. The burden lifts once you go public.

[Huguenot]

Yep, well, erm.. buses, know 'em all.

Did anyone notice the most impressive takeover of all time this week?

Was going to link it, but figured that if you really wanted to know, you'd look it up.

Staphylococcus aren't you in Estonia? You could get shot for that?

[BarryRoad]

Good man Michael.

I'm even the 20+ Future Flight Greener by Design poster compeition winner 2006. I got a free PC (now loaded up with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, of course) and tickets to Farnborough IAS trade day, and... a model of the A380.

I also own a pair of Randolph Engineering aviators.

I do have my excuses, though. I was a student pilot at the age of 16, but when I found out I was colourblind and far too tall to make a career out of it I jacked it in. So I even have a general aviation headset!

[Michael Palaeologus]

Thats so cool. Do you ever, you know, wear the headset and aviators when playing the flight sim?;-)

Estonia is quite interesting planes-wise. Lots of Antonovs, Mils and Lets at the airport. I make sure I check-in EXTRA early to take it all in. Much the deep exasperation of my colleague whos stomps off to the bar.

Anybody do Airshows?

or Busshows?

You realise that there are only 3 people likely to read this thread of course.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Boy do I feel left out - but next time my pop-in-law is up I gotta introduce you - he wanted me to tape Discovery Wings about 10 years ago

But he will think you are a commie. Even if you are Senator Gonzales

[dulwichmum]

Mmmm - I may just start a thread on shoes...

[BarryRoad]

Ha ha ha! No, I don't wear the aviators and headset when using flight sim. Shame really!

I do airshows when I can afford them. Not this year :-(

[Nero]

I am a bit of a plane geek-light. When in HK I would go to the roof of the car park at the old airport and watch the planes come in. I've flown in there a few times. It was great! Nero

[BarryRoad]

The old HK airport was insane! I flew in there when I was about 10 years old.

ahh the famous Kai Tak Checkerboard approach....

[Michael Palaeologus]

I flew in the one of the planes of the Queen's flight once and (pre 9/11) go to sit in the cockpit of an A320 taking off and landing in Lanzarote and Gatwick - for work - fantastic! The pilots even bought my duty free for me because I was busy.

[Fear 'n boozin]

I was looking at planes over the weekend, and have a few questions for you aeris-punctums (could look it up I guess....). Anyways, how close can planes get (or how far apart should they be)? And what are the rules on the dumping of fule? Over Brixton seems to be popular......

[citizenED]

When we was little my ma and pa got very worried about my older brother because they kept seeing him flat on his back in the garden. It transpired that he was simply laying down to get a more stable view through his binolulars of the planes flying overhead. (we used to live under the Luton Flightpath)

citizen

[mockney piers]

I've had a bit of a dig around and it seems that fuel-dumping is done to bring a plane to within certain weight tolerances on landing, and is usually only needed if a plane is forced to land early, say, if you have a swarthy employee on board taking a legitimate company flight.

What we witnessed was then probably the planes hitting a particularly warm humid pocket of air and leaving a brief contrail of water vapour, which is apparently quite commonly mistaken for fuel dumping (I know I did). The fact that it was happening at the same spot did rather make it look like they were picking on Brixton though.

[jim_the_chin]

Michael,

my dad has been a die hard bus fan for 70 odd years now and still does the cobham bus show every year. i used to get dragged to them when a bairn so obviously have an aversion. i used to enjoy playing around the bunkers when they held it near brooklands.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Piers has it right re fuel-dumping. If airliners need to dump fuel then it is because there is an emergency - it would have to be done over the sea because dolphins like kerosene and people dont. If its not a really dangerous emergency they just fly in circles intil they have burnt off enough fuel Contrails are caused when a plane goes through humid air and the increased air pressure caused by jet engines or high velocity air streaming of the wing tips causes the water vapour to condense - they are often seen over South London as the planes descend into Heathrow or City airport.

Years ago I was sat beside Conningsby RAF base watching the planes take off and land. It was the cold war and an exercise was on so there were about 70 planes on the go. A Phantom (big jet fighter) declared an emergency on take off and dumped its fuel load on the immdiate vicinity (different rules apply to the military). I drove home stinking of aviation fuel - which if you are a plane geek, is a good thing.

Re the distance between planes - dont know, there is a limit when flying into an airport. If a plane flies into the disturbed air created by the plane infront the things can get very rough.

There is much discussion about reducing the distance between airliers flying in the main airways as new radars are more sensitive.

[LostThePlot]

> Re the distance between planes - dont know, there

> is a limit when flying into an airport.

I was at Heathrow for the last concorde flights, and have a nice shot of three of them on the flight path for the final touch down. Must be about 2 miles apart, but obviously very hard to judge that sort f stuff in the air.

Sadly the hard drive the images are on went PHUT, so am deliberating spending ?????'s to get it recovered... :-(((((

[Bleep]

I used to be a big jet fan, but am totally uninterested in them now. I only like WW2 aircraft.

[upland]

i used to love flying when I was a kid and luckily for me my dad was an oil engineer so we were always travelling around throughout the 70s and early 80s. I just found the whole experience so exciting...particularly as there was a real sense of spirit amongst air crews from the stewardesses who were so friendly and beautiful to the pilots who were only too happy to let me sit in the cockpit for what seemed like hours at a time. I still have my little BOAC travel book that the pilots would sign after every flight and detailing how far we had flown, all points in between and what the weather had been like.

For want of a better word it just seemed so stylish... unlike today when the whole experience is about as glamorous and exciting as getting the National Express bus to Swansea.

I was driving over Battersea Bridge when the last Concorde came over and everyone stopped their cars and got out to have a look.... such a shame that they have been mothballed.

I like planes in general too.... my all time favourite has to be the P51D Mustang. When I'm rich I'm going to buy one!

[Michael Palaeologus]

I'd buy a Hawker Hurricane - not as famous or stylish as the Spitfire, but it did the job.

[BarryRoad]

I did a google on the aircraft spacing thing and haven't come up with anything. I left my private pilot's textbook at my mum's.

I think it's something like 2nm horizontal and 1,000 feet vertical separation.

[BarryRoad]

Also, anyone make it to any of the air shows this year?

[LostThePlot]

BarryRoad Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I did a google on the aircraft spacing thing and

> haven't come up with anything. I left my private

> pilot's textbook at my mum's.

>

> I think it's something like 2nm horizontal and

> 1,000 feet vertical separation.

I've dropped a message to my nephew. He's currently undergoing his commercial pilot training in Oxfordshire. Not sure of he's done the "How not to hit anyone else" part of the course yet though.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Too wet!

I do Farnborough and really want to get to Fairford one year.

I was on holiday in the South of France a few years ago and was treated to regular ad-hoc displays by the then very new and under test Rafale.

[mockney piers]

I was strafed* by a spitfire this time last year at a barbeque in Loughborough. Really made my day

*he didn't actually fire his guns I hasten to add.

[LostThePlot]

mockney piers Wrote:

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> I was strafed* by a spitfire this time last year

> at a barbeque in Loughborough. Really made my day

>

> *he didn't actually fire his guns I hasten to add.

Has anyone heard the latest advert for the RAF on Virgin Radio. Starts of talking about an AWACS flying at a given height, then says this is kept there by the people on the ground. "The Technicians" (Then engine sound dies away) then other people get a mewntion and it creates the impression that it's the ground staff keeping it in the air. All well and good, then there is mention of protection from attack by enemy aicraft...then you hear a Stuka Siren building up, as if it's attacking it! Made I laugh!!! (For info on the Stuka, and a rousing Stuka marching song have a look at http://www.myunclewillies.com/about5.html2.html or this, for a true model...http://www.myunclewillies.com/about4.html1.html