New, Official Poll For PSU Meet-Up

[Indecisive]

Never said x was safer then x. Its just that to the human pyche, well, mine at least, driving "feels" safer. Also, if you are gonna crash in a car, you accually have a chance of surviving. Not so for a plane. 100000 feet + terminal velocity + ground - parachute = death

I hate how the wings wobble.

[1024]

i also wobble at 400+ mph

[Triggar]

Originally Posted by Gohan

if you are gonna crash in a car, you accually have a chance of surviving. Not so for a plane. 100000 feet + terminal velocity + ground - parachute = death

Well, if you have an engine out at (let's say a more realistic altitude) of 45,000 feet, then you've got 45,000 feet of time to try and restart the engines and glide down to a safe emergency landing, maybe even on a runway.

If you've got a cabin fire at 45,000 feet, again, you've got 45,000 feet of time to deal with the in-flight emergency.

What you have to remember is that pilots are trained so extensively to handle all of these emergency situations. They have practiced the procedures so many times that they are second-nature. Everything is backed up with a checklist and ATC can be contacted via radios or transponder codes.

How many drivers do you know that would react instinctively to an engine failure on the highway, or a blown out tire? Or an alternator failure? I can only name three off the top of my head. THREE.

Originally Posted by Gohan

I hate how the wings wobble.

Also, to put your mind at rest, Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers actually do tests to see how much weight the wings can withstand in each direction before they break off. I don't remember the actual numbers, but I do remember an engineer saying that it's like twice the weight that would ever be applied to them. I'm talking about weight from both above the aircraft and below. So yeah, a little bit of wingtip vortices will not make the wings of the plane break off and send you to your death.

[Indecisive]

Something about not being connected to anything just scares the shit outta me.

Well, not really.

I wouldnt care if

a. Turbulance wasnt there
b. The god damn wings didnt flap

[martyr]

well, look at it this way:

they're supposed to flex.

if they didn't, they'd break off.

a 74's wings are built to flex in normal flight around 8', and up to 20' if they need to.
they do this for both safety and physics: as the wings are drained of fuel, they change their geometry; similarly, when flaps and ailerons are deployed, the flex keeps the change in forces from giving you whiplash.

they're effectively the shock absorbers, and take a lot of the turbulence out of the ride for you.

[Triggar]

Originally Posted by Gohan

I wouldnt care if:
The god damn wings didnt flap

Also, I don't know if Martyr mentioned it (mainly because it's 0310 and I'm lazy), but the wing flaps NEED to be deployed in order to increase drag on the plane and slow the flow of air over the wings, thereby slowing the plane down. We put the flaps down on final approach to land, for example.

I found this for you, if you want to play around a little bit with it to understand things a bit better.

[Indecisive]

I figured they needed to flex, its just not cool to look out the window and seeing the only thing keeping you up flapping up and down like a duck

[Hezzy]

The statistics from dying in a plane crash are lower than being killed by a donkey.

[Hamma]

I like watching the wings move when I fly

[Triggar]

Who doesn't? Well, besides Gohan.

[Dharkbayne]

I like pissing off the Stewardesses to no end with the old "There's something on the wing!" thing,

[Indecisive]

[Kaltagesta]

"i just heard a bark!"

[Triggar]

Did anyone ever see the MadTV where Miss Swan crawled under the seat and bit the leg of the guy in front of her?

Anyway.... PSU meet... still up in the air

[OneManArmy]

man we should just meet up anyways and spend the weekend in orlando regardless....