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The Water Cooler
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<blockquote data-quote="BillM" data-source="post: 3742270" data-attributes="member: 45785"><p>They are, after all, heavier than air. When the go-parts stop going, they tend to fall out of the sky. I spent a decade as a still photographer for the USAF, and quite a bit of my business was aircraft accident and incident photos. Yep, pilot error was real common. Mechanical or electrical malfunctions were also pretty common. Particularly when you're doing things that stress the airframe in a high-performance aircraft. Five of those years I was at Nellis AFB, where they do the Red Flag exercises. Those exercises were started because they found that most of the pilots they lost in the war in Viet Nam were lost in their first 10 mission. If they made it through the first ten, they had a pretty good chance of completing their tour and going home safe. The intent of Red Flag (and to a lesser extent, the Navy's Top Gun) were to give those first ten missions to the pilots in as safe an environment as was possible. Of course, when you're moving somewhere between 600 & 2200fps (or "Faster than a speeding bullet!" ) it's real easy to get into trouble you can't get out of. Fifty feet off the ground, for example. There was a young airman there who used "Smokey Sams" (balsa & cardboard rockets) that left a smoke trail much like that of the SA-7 Grail (Strela) rocket to make the exercises more realistic. That kid got a case of beer for every aircraft he actually hit. SEVEN of them that I knew of. The SA-7 is an IR guided rocket. His Smokey Sams were not. BTW, the missiles the Germans wanted to send Ukraine are SA-7 Grail, or Strela, rockets. </p><p></p><p>As for an inflated tire: We shipped vehicles, with tires on and in them, via air. Depending on how high you are, the air pressure in the aircraft might be quite a bit lower than where that tire was filled. If the tire ruptures, and throws bits of trash around, it can break important parts of an airplane. See my first two sentences...</p><p></p><p>Bill</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillM, post: 3742270, member: 45785"] They are, after all, heavier than air. When the go-parts stop going, they tend to fall out of the sky. I spent a decade as a still photographer for the USAF, and quite a bit of my business was aircraft accident and incident photos. Yep, pilot error was real common. Mechanical or electrical malfunctions were also pretty common. Particularly when you're doing things that stress the airframe in a high-performance aircraft. Five of those years I was at Nellis AFB, where they do the Red Flag exercises. Those exercises were started because they found that most of the pilots they lost in the war in Viet Nam were lost in their first 10 mission. If they made it through the first ten, they had a pretty good chance of completing their tour and going home safe. The intent of Red Flag (and to a lesser extent, the Navy's Top Gun) were to give those first ten missions to the pilots in as safe an environment as was possible. Of course, when you're moving somewhere between 600 & 2200fps (or "Faster than a speeding bullet!" ) it's real easy to get into trouble you can't get out of. Fifty feet off the ground, for example. There was a young airman there who used "Smokey Sams" (balsa & cardboard rockets) that left a smoke trail much like that of the SA-7 Grail (Strela) rocket to make the exercises more realistic. That kid got a case of beer for every aircraft he actually hit. SEVEN of them that I knew of. The SA-7 is an IR guided rocket. His Smokey Sams were not. BTW, the missiles the Germans wanted to send Ukraine are SA-7 Grail, or Strela, rockets. As for an inflated tire: We shipped vehicles, with tires on and in them, via air. Depending on how high you are, the air pressure in the aircraft might be quite a bit lower than where that tire was filled. If the tire ruptures, and throws bits of trash around, it can break important parts of an airplane. See my first two sentences... Bill [/QUOTE]
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