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sherpa

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Posts posted by sherpa

  1. 48 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:


    https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/video-kobe-bryant-helicopter-audio/535392

     

    Flight wasn't that brief.  They cut out the dead space and other pilot transmissions on the same frequency so listeners aren't bored to tears.

     

    There's nothing in that transmission about a climb to "go above a layer of clouds" though it could be previous.  The pilot told the Van Nuys tower controller that he was "VFR at 1400" (above sea level) which in controlled airspace is 3 miles visibility and 500 feet below clouds.   Van Nuys is 800 ft MSL (above sea level) so he's saying he's roughly 600 ft above the ground and 500 feet below the reported ceiling (but he hasn't gone a layer of clouds under that scenario).

     

    Based upon the interview with the sound engineer in the TWA hat, cloud conditions were lower than that near the crash

    He was asking for vfr radar services ("flight following" in pilot lingo) from enroute air traffic control (Center) and being declined on the grounds of being too low for radar to pick him up at the end.   It's not uncommon for Center to be unable to provide radar services to an aircraft that is at a safe altitude above terrain, but below where their radar can pick him up.  Flight following is not navigational guidance or terrain avoidance, it's traffic alerts.

     

     

    I don't want to quibble or appear pedantic, but be very careful when you are talking about an accident that isn't even close to being truly started before offering opinions.

    First, he is special VFR, which for a helo doesn't even require a mile and clear of clouds, so the altitude stuff is not relevant.

     

    That's why he is being held up at the beginning. Without the actual radio transmissions, because they are not on the freqs he is, it is obvious they are clearing IFR traffic in front of him, which takes priority over SVFR, and he is waiting his turn.

    They eventually build a hole and send him on his way.

    Further, he was not talking to center, ever. They don't work traffic that low. He is talking to various towers and eventually gets handed off to SoCal approach, who never really handles his request for following as he is too low.

     

    Maybe wait a while.

    • Like (+1) 1
  2. There's clouds and there's fog, and they can exist in the same area, because they are the same thing, codensed water vapor, except one is very close to the ground.

    LA basin has predictable coastal fog at predictable times every year, and it burns off mid morning.

    A low ceiling can turn to fog with a half degree temperature, and "burn off with just the same temperature change.

    Nothing strange about it.

    I would never engage in impromptu accident investigation, but its a really bad idea to hunt around for a cloud base when you don't know it it extends to the surface.

  3. 3 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

     

    it was enough for him to quit the school so ...

     

    i imagine planes are a little safer, he said something about anti rotation being a big problem.

     

     

     

    The actual term is "autorotation."

     

    Its what helo folks do to minimize crashes by attempting to minimize the sink rate during an engine failure.

    During normal flight, air is pulled down from above.

    If the main rotor system is not being powered, an autorotation is done and the air goes up through the rotor.

     

    Not a helicopter fan. Way too many moving parts.

    • Like (+1) 2
  4. 6 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

    You are the 1st one to get it.  I was thinking something similar but from a different angle.  When I go to a Super Bowl city I want the tourism mixed with the anticipation of a future game and the day I do my sightseeing and do things like the NFL Experience is Saturday, the day before the game.  Once the game is over half the fans will be too disappointed to want to do things football related.  I know Saturday is when I'm doing my most spending.  This is especially true when the tourism is in a different area than the game, like Super Bowl 50 when the big football and non-football big events were in San Francisco. Saturday we went to the NFL Experience in SF, restaurants in SF,  etc,Sunday down to Santa Clara.  It was a similar thing when the game was in NJ and the big events were in Manhattan for the tourists.  

     

    The "schedule" of a Super Bowl is quite simple and predictable, and it's as much about the NFL courting corporations as anything football related.

    Corporate jets arrive Friday, hotel rooms and suites rented  and "conferences" and other events held Saturday to entertain corporate clients.

    Tons of money for hotels, restaurants, FBO at the airport, taxis, and a host of other related businesses which all pay tax to the host city, and all tax deductible as corporate expense.  Corporations spend millions and millions on Saturday, all benefiting the host city.

     

    Play the game on Saturday and that really isn't possible to anywhere near the extent it occurs with a Sunday Super Bowl. 

     

    • Thank you (+1) 1
  5. A priest, a rabbi and a Protestant minister are at a multi-faith conference in a rural wooded area.

    On Monday, after a meeting they are conversing about which faith is the best.

    Priest says Catholicism is, Pastor says Protestant faith is, Rabbi says Judaism is.

    They decide to compete by seeing who can be the most successful and converting to their faith throughout the week and meeint Friday night to decide.

     

    Friday comes and Priest spots Pastor and they start talking.

    Priest says: "I was quite successful. I met a bear in the woods and have him a Catholic Catechism, told him a bout Mary and the Pope and all that, and he had his first communion today."

    Pastor says: "I had great fortune too. I also met a bear in the woods and told him about salvation by grace through faith, and I baptized him this morning." 

    Neither can find the Rabbi, but after about ten minutes he comes in being carried on a stretcher with bandages all over him and claw marks on his face.

    Pastor and Priest both say in unison: "What happened to you?"

     

    Rabbi says: " I ran into a bear in the woods. I knew I shouldn't have started with circumcision."

    • Haha (+1) 8
  6. A hydrogen atom walks into a police station and says:  "Somebody stole my electron."

    Policeman says: "Are you sure?"

    Hydrogen atom says: "I'm positive."

     

    A neutron orders a beer at a bar.

    Finishing it, he asks the bartender: "How much?"

    Bartender says: "For you, no charge."

     

    A photon checks in at the ticket counter for his flight.

    "Agent says: "Any bags to check?"

    Photon says: "No, I'm travelling light."

    • Like (+1) 2
    • Haha (+1) 5
  7. 7 minutes ago, Chef Jim said:


    I know. That was my way of asking if you were. 

     

    Any time Jackie Chiles can be integrated, tis a good thing, and combining it with Loyd Bentsen's famous quote was an opportunity.

    Just don't use the balm.

  8. Uh-oh.

    The Islamic Republic is fixing up its toy another round.

    Given recent events, maybe they should convert it to a cruise liner.

     

         "Iran is repairing its imitation aircraft carrier, likely preparing it for a new round of exercises during which it will probably get blown up. The “carrier,” a mockup built up from a floating barge, was first built in the early 2010s and then used for target practice. The barge is being rebuilt, presumably for more punishment, in an exercise with decidedly more sinister undertones than the first time around."

     

    Islamic Nimitz

     

     

     

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Thank you (+1) 1
  9. 17 hours ago, dpberr said:

    I think the Iranians accidentally shot that plane down with an AA gun, not a missile.  In the context of shooting missiles into Iraq, somebody heard a plane, got nervous, shot and happened to hit the wings of a fully-fueled 737.  That's likely why the plane was on fire as it crashed.  There were some crash site images that showed perforations in the fuselage.  

     

     

    The TOR M1 surface to air missile has a high explosive frag warhead detonated by a proximity fuse.

    If it operates properly it will cause lots of holes. 

  10. 23 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

     

    You're still hung up on something I never said. 

     

    I posted a news article on the story -- I offered no opinion on it or the people involved. 

     

    I've offered plenty of opinions over the years, but never on that. And when you spoke up about knowing the people involved I listened ;) :beer: 

     

    What you say is OK with me.

     

    What you did is post a suggestion of involvement in an illegal activity by people I know and also know were not involved, and your suggestion was clear.

    That was not, and should not, be taken lightly.

     

    That causes me to be suspicious.

    Shouldn't matter to you.

    The facts always prevail.

     

     

    • Thank you (+1) 1
  11. 3 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

     

    The Post and NYT wrote up the Fat Leonard scandal, too, so I wouldn't be that quick to accuse DR of tossing around baseless conspiracies in that case.

     

    I know what he posted, and I stand by what I said.

    That isn't important.

    But.....When you claim some sort of credibility based on honest consideration of facts, your skeletons get exposed.

     

     

  12. 36 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

     

    I hear you. I really do. I didn't vote for him, and this is the last thing I expected to find when I began digging into it. But I go where the evidence leads..

     

    You didn't go where the evidence lead when you posted that nonsense about Seventh Fleet corruption, and specifically, Adm Pat Walsh's involvement, which you suggested.

    Once you do that, no matter how honorable your intentions, people who know these folks doubt your ability or sincerity  to:

        "go where the evidence leads"

    No disrespect intended.

    Just things remembered, and not admitted.

  13. 2 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

     

    Please don't misunderstand me or my take -- I've got nothing but respect for you and your opinion even when we disagree. I did not say or mean to imply that you were defending anyone of those folk. 

     

    I was just pointing out that you're judging Trump's actions based on a reality which no longer exists. The game has been exposed, the actual bad guys are on the run - not on the advance. This is a war unlike any other we've seen in our lifetimes, and it's changed everything if you're paying attention. Forming your analysis based on the old rules, which were set by the very people who are losing now and who ***** us over for decades, makes it impossible to see what's really happening.

     

    Trump is a tank. His job is to destroy the old guard and expose the game for the people to see what's actually happening. And he's brilliant at it.  

     

     

    He's not doing it alone. That's never been my assumption. He's got lots of help from very smart, and very capable people. Names you'll never know or hear about, because they work in the shadows not in the spotlight. 

     

    I honestly want to believe you, but the names of people who have either refused to serve his presidency, along with those who have resigned underpin the doubt I have in him that is made more evident by gross business failures.

     

    • Like (+1) 1
  14. 4 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

    Removal is ideally best done via elections but your alternative won't be so hot.  Spoiler alert:  Commie.

     

    And in case you haven't noticed, everything is a reason for removal.  Bad ideas, good ideas, fake collaboration with Russia, imagined abuse of power, choice of frozen dessert.  That's where we are dude.

     

    Not sure what you mean. 

    I haven't proposed any alternative.

    I'm in favor of any election, whatever the result.

    I'm not in favor of this silly impeachment or any other extra-constitutional removal.

  15. 10 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

    Perhaps he is succeeding because the system our forefathers set up, when not impeded by people bent on power over their "inferiors" and graft of the excess, actually works.  Imagine what was gained simply by removing people like Kerry from the mix.

     

    I think you are right.

    The system our forefathers set up was incredibly prescient.

     

    There is a difference though, in seeking his removal or pointing out gross incompetence, and a stupid course that could lead to really serious problems.

    I'm just pointing out the incompetence.

    Removal is best done via elections.

  16. A step back.

    Only on social media would an individual like me be asked to defend John Kerry, Robert McNamara or LBJ because I think Trump's nonsense about cultural sites was a stupid, unforced error objectionable to the entire military.

    In the "only happens here" dept, and this site is more reasonable than most.

     

  17. 12 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

     

    You assume that things are on the up and up. We've seen undeniable evidence the past three years they are not. 

     

    You're basing your analysis on fiction rather than reality. It doesn't work that way.

     

    I am assuming that there is absolutely no need to deal with this guy's incompetence, whether as a businessman or a leader of a nation in possession of the greatest military and financial capability the world has ever known.

     

    I did a bit of financial work, formally and paid,  on his "business" a few decades ago when he tried to launch a hostile bid on a company.

    Thank God he failed.

     

    I've watched him "fail" in many other endeavors that ended up in court, and those of a more personal nature that we all know about.

     

    I hoped he would work out, because I sure as hell wasn't going to vote for his competitor.

     

    He is in over his head, and everything suggests that, at it always has.

     

    All that aside, no matter the suggestion of his advanced skilled nuance, never visible in his track record heretofore, he has suggested that the US military will do something it doesn't, and won't do.

     

    If this is because he is brilliant, I'll admit it when I see it.

    What I see is stupid unnecessary nonsense.

     

    • Like (+1) 2
  18. 3 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

     

    All evidence proves you wrong to date. He survived something no other elected POTUS could have survived -- an attack from within. And came out stronger. 

     

    And he's not done yet. 

     

     

     

    He hasn't survived anything yet, and I honestly hope he does. 

     

    The secret to good leadership though, is  being leader enough to not having to "survive an attack from within." 

     

    A good leader is convincing to the point that the attack never comes.

     

    This man is not a good leader at all.

    • Awesome! (+1) 1
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