Nied
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Posts posted by Nied
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Consensus on both ARC and F-16.net says that this ended up being the same guy flying when
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Honestly it looks great except for that forward fuselage. I think they just need to make the nose longer, if that means a big pointy uniboob in batroid mode I'm fine with that (Yamato has always been about good looking fighter modes anyway). I've also got to agree with David, all of the control surfaces need to be scaled up a little (what is it with Yamato and putting control surfaces that are too small on their M+ Valks?)
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Well then you want to talk to Vinnie he's the one who's drawing the comic.
But anyway I promised stories so here's one that probably wouldn't work for the comic since it requires a two seat plane.
On the weekends the Navy allowed instructors to take aircraft out for short trips and such, the only requirements were that you couldn't leave the country, and you had to have the plane back by Monday. At the time he was stationed in Texas which put Las Vegas a few hours away. So he and a friend check out a T-2 Buckeye on Friday night to go to fly to Vegas. They hop in, take off and start climbing up to 40,000 ft (the Buckeye is many things but it is not fast, but up high the air is thin which means less drag). They get up to about 30,000 ft when they notice their oxygen levels seem low. It seems their crew chief didn't know that two people were taking the plane out, and being brash young naval aviators they didn't do any kind of pre-flight before leaving ("kick the tires and light the fires, brief on guard" was the saying my Dad used). Getting enough O2 would require landing, getting out of the plane, and then waiting about an hour for the aircraft to cool down so as not to start a fire, all of which would take up enough time to completely scrub their mission to Vegas. So they did what any sensible person would do: they shut off the O2. To prevent total asphyxiation they came up with a plan, one of them would breathe and fly the plane while the other got dopey in the front or back seat, every 15 minutes or so they'd switch off breathing and flying, and so on until they got to Vegas. This actually ended up working rather well, although landing was interesting (but that's another story).
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I think I'll do that after I get home from work tonight.
Incidentally Vinnie I've picked my Dad's brain clean enough that I might be able to answer a lot of questions for you (and any that I can't I'll pass on to my dad).
::edit:: Just to tide you guys over till then, here's a photo of one of the planes which, according to his logbook, my Dad flew personally:
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All aircraft have some teething problems, some are small, some are major. When it comes to the F-22 though, well we are starting to the see the final results of stealth design. In particular maintenance on the F-22 will be a nightmare due to there being far too few maintenance access panels, and the far too crowded landing gear and weapons bays. Wonder what I mean, well look in your standard landing gear well, it is relatively clean and uncluttered, look in an F-22 landing gear well and it is crammed full of valves, fill ports, sumps, gauges, etc... That was all done to minimize the number of opennings on the exterior of the aircraft to increase stealth, but then look how low it sits to the ground, oh yeah the maintainers just love it.
I thought it sits so low to the ground to increase maintainability. Everything I've read said that was done so that all access panels would be at chest height.
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Whoa, what did your dad do? If he was with fixed-wing fast-movers, is there any chance I could use him as a technical consultant?
Fixed wing, yes. Fast mover, well...
My dad ended up as an instructor for the bulk of his career in the Navy. Back in the late '60s someone got the idea to take pilots fresh out of flight school and make them instructors, the idea being that they'd empathize with the new recruits more. My dad jumped at the chance and spent most of his naval career as an advanced flight instructor in Louisiana. Most of his carrier time was spent qualifying or getting people qualified on the USS Lexington.
As for consulting I'll ask him next time I talk to him. Hell if anything some of his stories could be thrown straight into the comic (my favorite is the one about flying to Vegas without enough oxygen).
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I can't help but think of what my father says about how great it was to be a Naval aviator, because in his words "The whole Navy existed so that I could have a place to land!"
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Which is fair enough. Still, the report just cites shutdown above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 48 degress Celsius), not sure if glitches would start showing up at lower warmish temperatures.
Truth to be told, it's a result of the overhyped and overbloated cost of the F-22. Poured that much money down that pit, and we still get this kind of reports. Uncharitable sorts would probably make a lot of noise about it, but at the moment I'm undecided as whether I am amused or annoyed.
Compared to some of the design flaws I listed (which literally killed pilots) this is increadibly small. Consider it a benefit of pouring all that money into the thing, all we've gotten is a design flaw that makes it tough (but not impossible) to deploy to specific locations at specific times of day (it's not 120 degrees at night).
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Nied--don't you mean F-16 h.stabs, not v.stabs? And I don't think it was a problem so much as an improvement. Ironically it seems easier to fix aerodynamic problems than mechanical/electical problems, historically. It's not the planes, its their systems...
Anyways--ironically, the F-16 has actually had one of its ram-air avionics cooling scoop deleted recently----unnecessary.
I did mean H. stabs. That'll show me for posting on three hours of sleep.
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I'm actually ok with those problems (well, sort of). I mean, those are design issue that impacts no matter where you deploy them. It's bad, but once you fix it you can deploy the aircraft anywhere you need to.
I meant a design issue that specifically preclude or limit an aircraft from deploying to a specific climate. The F-22 issue would, for safety reasons, limit their deployment to hot climates (which means the Middle East, Central America, and South Asia.. all of which can become hotspots). Granted, with proper care the F-22 can still fly in those climates, but a hanger queen reputation is not something that you want from such an expensive aircraft.
To be fair with the exception of the Middle East most of the locations you listed don't get over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Hell the F-22 is long ranged enough that you might even be able to fly missions to the middle east from bases cold enough to deploy from (Diego Garcia maybe). While the problems I listed left aircraft completely unusable and worthless until the problems were fixed.
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Could this be the F-22 problems that Knight26 refered to a couple pages back?
I started writing a fairly ranty post, but decided to throttle back.. so I'll just ask this, just to know: how many aircraft in the last few generations suffered from similar problems?
Define similar. While there isn't much precedent for teething trouble from the computer systems of most aircraft there's plenty of examples of big problems cropping up in aircraft after they're already in production. The F-100 Super Sabre had far too small of a vertical stab installed on the first hundred or so examples. They had to halt production and redesign the whole tail after a string of accidents. The F-14 Tomcat needed to have several reinforcements installed on its back because the area around the wing hinge ended up being too weak. The F-16 originally had vertical stabs that were far too small (although this didn't require that big of a re-design). The F/A-18 had a nasty problem where the vortices off of the LERXs could conceivably rip the tail fins off during high Alpha maneuvers, that grounded the entire fleet before it was fixed. And as much as I think it's a good plane you don't want to get me started on all the problems they had with the Super Hornet. I'm sure there's more examples out there.
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Fair enough. Still this doesn't seem like an insurmountable problem, I joked about COTS, but it really does seem like some of the stuff your average overclocking computer builder uses could come in handy here. Why not incorporate some peltier chips in the new COTS computer modules that are supposed to be installed in '07?
::edit:: Better yet incorporate clock cycle throttling like on new CPUs. The F-22 Raptor, now with "Cool 'n' Quietâ„¢" technology from AMD!
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One of many Neid, one of many.
Anyway today I really wished that I could bring a camera onto the flightline. Basically I will keep this short I went out to pick up a crew from a returning mission, since I am on ODO duty, and what should be parked out on the ramp but a brand spanking ROKAF F-15K.
Bah. This one's easy. COTS, just switch to Arctic Silver 5 and it'll lower your CPU temps by at least a few degrees C.
In all seriousness why not just rig up a portable AC to blow cold air on the avionics bay while the aircraft is on the ground?
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Could this be the F-22 problems that Knight26 refered to a couple pages back?
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Man, PopSci just loves dubbing planes "switchblade" don't they.
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Photo(s) of the week:
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=35949
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=35952
B-2's AND carriers? What could be cooler?
PS---sheer coincidence that a USAF strategic stealth bomber group met up with 3 carrier battle groups (half the Pacific fleet) near North Korea this week.
B-2s, Hornets (both super and baby) Strike Eagles, Vipers and carriers? (You can see all of them in that picture although one of the Vipers seems to be having trouble keeping formation.)
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"Download Hi-Res" read numbers. *smack forehead*.
Thanks. Always wanted to compare supercarrier sizes across the classes. But the perspective might distort the relative size. Is it a camera effect or is there another reason why the carrier on the port side of the formation has much darker decks? Under a cloud?
The one on the right is the USS Reagan, it's the newest carrier in the fleet so it's deck hasn't had time to fade in the sun like the Lincoln and the Kitty Hawk.
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I remember asking about this in the old thread as well. I think we all concluded that the MIG-21 might have the advantage.
But both of them are known to be very fast as well, thing is would the F-104 even have a chance? The MIg-21's got it in a turn but I think the F-104 could potentially out accelerate it, dive down, split S and shoot a winder up the fishbed's tailpipe. But it would probably have a smaller window of opportunity than the fishbed since the fishbed is so much more nimbler and presumably has a higher instantaneous pitch rate. I guess its a moment of chance for the F-104 in the end.
Thing is I heard it was made for air superiority, not just interception. And it faired well as a fighter bomber(limited armnament though. By today's standards it didn't carry much).
I found the special edition 21st century toys 1/18 scale luftwaffe F-104 and promptly put it on layaway. I noticed the sidewinders are mounted on the belly.
Is there a reason for doing so? Wouldn't the fuel tanks on the wingtips give it a lot more drag?(Thats how it is on the toy and some pics I have seen too). Wouldn't that diminish its roll rate?
I don't think the belly mounts could take the weight of the bigger fuel tanks. That and I think the shockwaves coming off of them at high speeds could cause problems that close to the fuselage.
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Now this I found amusing, that LOAF guy banned me a year or two ago for the same thing, lol.
I seem to remember a similar discussion like this occurring on F-16.net. Of course there you have a guy that actually flies an F-104 so the discussion went a little differently.
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I met Lou Reed while working at a RadioShack in Boston, sold him some cables he needed for his concert that night.
Later on when they shifted me to a store downtown I met General Wes Clark at a book signing during the Democratic National Convention. That same week I also spotted Hilary Clinton with fellow NY Senator Chuck Schumer, and Ben Affleck. A week later I saw Steven King leaving a book signing at the same store I met Gen. Clark.
Since moving to SF the only person I've met is Bill Simmons, and had him sign a copy of his new book for my fiance (she a huge Red Sox fan and reads his column on ESPN.com religiously).
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No he gets micloned in the original TV series. The stuff about macronizing himself again was made up to explain why he's full sized and has DYRL style pulsing brain and tentacle mods in M7.
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*Or not marrying. I doubt a society trying to build itself up from the threshold for survival is going to place too much emphasis on traditional monogamous relationships.
Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for ze future of ze human race.
Incidentally I think Renato might be remembering the back story for how Exsedol started looking like his DYRL version in M7. He was apparently worried about losing his mental capacities as a miclone so he macronised himself and added pulsing brain and tentacle mods.
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^word^
UPS and their employees could care less what happens during transit, they're like a union in teh sense they get paid regardless of the crappy work they do. the company is too big and got too much money, so who cares?, they just cut checks to whoever they screw over.
USPS falls under the same catagory as UPS except the cutting checks part. perhaps if the gov't gave some kind of incentive to their employees, their work ethic might change, but as is, they just don't give a crap.
put it this way, i shipped something priority mail and it took over 2 weeks to get to its destination. when i asked why it was taking so long, and that i paid for priority mail, they said, "if it was a priority, you should've shipped it express".
fedex on the other hand, are individually owned and operated by each driver. they are solely responsible for getting a package to its destination and only get paid when packages is delivered. you can guess which shipping company i use.
anyway, sorry for your loss. a crushed box totally sucks but at least they didn't break the valk.
My theory is that when dealing with a big business (like RadioShack or my office) UPS can't afford to piss them off or they'd go out of business, whereas if your some guy who gets maybe two deliveries a year from them you can go fart yourself. FedEx with their owner operated drivers on the other hand, are eager to make sure a package is marked as delivered, which for individuals means they go the extra mile to get it to you, but for businesses (like the RadioShack I ran) it means they try and trick you into signing for something even if they didn't deliver everything.
Basically if I'm running a company I'll use UPS. If I'm trying to get my Yamatos shipped back to me in one piece I'll use FedEx (I've had good luck with USPS too).
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When I get personal packages shipped to me UPS is far and away one of the worst shipping companies out there. I actually once had them claim that my house didn't exist! On the other hand Fed-Ex has always delivered my stuff in top condition. But here's the weird part: back when I was managing a RadioShack they switched from using various companies for shipping merchandise to the store to using Fed-Ex exclusively. The UPS guys were courteous professional and always delivered the correct number of boxes in impeccable condition, the Fed-Ex guy on the other hand was a complete jerk who regularly delivered my stuff in crushed boxes and always tried to rush me through counting the boxes because he would regularly short me by at least one box. In my new office I have a similar experience, the Fed-Ex guy is less of a jerk but the UPS guy is generally more friendly and professional. Despite all this UPS still totally reamed me trying to get a package delivered to my apartment last month.
Comic Strip #1
in Fan Works
Posted
To be fair to any current Naval aviators it's also a product of the times. This is back in the days of a conscription based military (IIRC my dad joined in '66 and served stateside through the height of Vietnam) which tended to make the culture a little different from the professional force you're in. If you'd like I can PM some more stories for you and any of the little bits of tradition I might have picked up talking to my dad (and uncle, they served together).