Ferrari Mailing List: Re: [NFC] Aviation is... not for the faint of heart

[Peter Rychel (dino308gt4]

Rick, thank you. You turned on the lightbulb.

 

You guys are not speaking English, you are speaking pilot-talk. This is a whole different ball game and it’s been this way all along. As a civilian and a non-pilot, I was not aware of your language and it’s definitions, therefore I have been taking this out of THAT context.

 

Any other lingo we should all be aware of?

 

Rick, if we ever meet, how’s your drinking skills? Because we are going to pound back a few and the treat is on me.

 

Peter

 

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From: Rick Moseley
Sent: November 14, 2021 11:52 PM
To: Anthony Bauco; Peter Rychel
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari][NFC] Aviation is... not for the faint of heart

 

Agreed, it is a basic factual statement. 100%!!  I'll even say it is a fantastic basic factual statement!

If it makes you feel better, use it, PLEASE.  I won't take issue with your using it, sincerely, I promise.

We come from a world where content and brevity matters.

Clyde said the same thing in 4 words.  You took 12, 13 if you don't include the contraction.

It takes you 3 times as long to say it.  Twice as long if you only count syllables.

In the air, in an emergency, that time matters.

In 4 words, I knew exactly Clyde meant: people died and it was in a plane. 

No judgement, no emotion, no ill will were conveyed to me by that statement. I wasn't offended (offense can only be taken).

If you don't like the context of the words, then you don't like them. No one says you have to like them.

Please, feel free to NOT use them.

No one in aviation is trying to hurt your feelings by using them.  Nor are they concerned if they do.

 

Listen to the patter on pilot/ATC communications.  It's all programmed. Yes, they do actually count words and try to come up with phrasing to minimize them.

The patter is designed to communicate clearly, concisely, quickly.  Clyde lived in that world much longer than I did, both Military and commercial (nearly the same).  It's ingrained in him.  I still speak it, but not fluently anymore.

 

You are the one(s) tying those emotions to those words... because of some predisposition in your reference.  But your reference isn't Everyone's!

Sometimes cleansing is a good thing - who doesn't like a freshly bathed baby

Sometimes cleansing is a bad thing - (see YOUR own definition below)

Now, was that baby "dirty" (evil)?

It is never always just one way or the other.

Not EVERYONE sees things from your perspective(s).  And that's OK.

If we all thought the same way all the time this place would really suck. 

Yes, gravity won.  It always does. What goes up, must come down.  Sometimes as a complete unit (preferred), sometimes rapidly disassembled (not good for living creatures).  If it is sentient (by your standard), why don't they charge it with murder?

 

 

 

On Sunday, November 14, 2021, 09:50:07 PM PST, Peter Rychel <dino308gt4 [at] hotmail.com> wrote:

 

 

Points well taken Rick.

 

I understand that what you’re getting across to me is the act of flying is always a combat to keep this mechanical object suspended in mid air. An aircraft that in it’s safest state is at rest on the ground and in it’s most dangerous condition is in flight. With the mechanics and engineering operating in it’s best condition and with people that have the best training at the controls, the act of flying is fulfilled and the craft with people onboard leave and return in one piece. As a basic principle, the battle with gravity has been won. So has the battle of maintaining fuel pressure and quantity, plus clear conscience of the person(s) flying the plane.

 

I can’t speak for Anthony, but what I interpreted/understood from his comments and what I posted last night is that when cLyDe posts these messages to the ‘List and the way the subject lines are titled, what I read relates to lexical semantics. I am still standing ground on the choice of wording “cleanse” and it’s true definition and how it relates to the situation at hand. Should I understand the act of “cleansing” is that gravity won in the battle with this craft? I still don’t think that’s the correct use of that word. This really has nothing to do with focusing on a beginning, nor an end. It really isn’t a part of that context.

 

I will admit that the example I used of flight MH370 is presumptuous (although – and it’s been many years since this happened, so I don’t remember exact details – it does appear this was an intentional act as the captain radioed to the control tower wishing them a good night, transmission went silent and the path on radar veered and dropped off. Forever). Fair enough. I don’t remember which airline it was, but many years before that, there was that one regional, European flight where the pilot was on a suicide mission and punched the plane into the side of a mountain in either Austria, or Switzerland. Definitely intentional. But when you say that aviation “found a weakness and exploited it” and/or “has removed a weak link in its chain”, that in a way is saying that the act of flying and force of gravity are passing judgements. They can’t do that, it is what it is. I’m sorry but making those statements is making it sentient. Nothing different with cleanse either. There’s emotion tied to that word as it implies there’s something “dirty” (evil) and it needs to be gotten rid of. Gravity couldn’t care less because it can’t, therefore it can’t cleanse.

 

Why can’t all of this be summed up by saying “here’s a story of a plane that fell out of the sky”? That’s not passing any judgement and that’s not attaching any emotion to it. It doesn’t imply how it happened or what the final cause/reason will be. It’s a basic, factual statement. Can we agree on that?

 

Peter

 

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From: Rick Moseley
Sent: November 14, 2021 10:54 AM
To: Anthony Bauco; Peter Rychel
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Aviation is self cleansing

 

Peter,

Like others, you are focused on the end, not the beginning.

 

We don't know the pilots made mistakes... or that MH370 was intentional, or a mechanic screwed up or missed something, or a designer missed something, or the builder screwed up, or...  and it doesn't matter, what's done is done.   The statement is after the fact.

 

But aviation (as a non-sentient concept, if that helps) found a weakness and exploited it.  Whether it be man, machine or procedure... Those involved either couldn't or didn't intervene correctly.  By exploiting a <insert modality> weakness, aviation has corrected an error in its realm.   Often those corrections are harsh.   That is all Clyde is saying.... all that I'm saying.  No passing any judgement, not claiming to be better than anyone, just that Aviation has removed a weak link in it's chain.  Again.  Not for the last time.

 

Anthony,

Some refer to such mishaps as "An act of God", "Mother Nature", or just cold hard physics.

Accepting that "Some" are correct, would you say God is judgemental?  Mother Nature has an Ego?  Physics is cocky?

Or, are we just shooting the messenger?

 

And the TLDR:

I have found through the years that many equate flying to be just driving in the sky.   It is not.  But until you have been on the other side of that equation, you may not accept that.     

 

Food for thought. Like driving a Ferrari, flying a plane is a glorious experience.  When your Ferrari runs out of gas... it begins to slow in the X axis.  But you are on the ground.  If you have power steering, turning the wheel may get harder but it works, same with power brakes.   99% of the time, the driver pulls to the side of the road by moving in the Y axis and stops.  All you have to deal with is the long walk to gas station and perhaps a bit of humiliation from all the jokers laughing at Ferrari-boy-done-fucked-up, maybe some rain.  There is no relevant Z axis.

 

In a plane, if you run out of gas both X and Y are also in play.  But you now have Z to contend with...  Z is controlled by gravity and you have no say in it's presence or power. You have little or no recourse other than to trade some of your X for more Z.  More Z also means more time to enact a solution.   Unfortunately, you only have to air to pull to the side of... and that doesn't work.  You need a road or something similar to a road to accomplish your Y and deal with your ever diminishing Z. You need to be able to travel to that road.  Not so easy if you're over mountainous terrain, tall city buildings, homes with families in them or in my case...  hundreds of miles of water.   This is all compounded (in a jet) by your control surfaces be EXTREMELY hard if not impossible (fly by wire) to operate.  Most commercial and military aircraft have something akin to power steering and brakes, but it operates on 3000psi hydraulics.  No fuel - no engine. No engine - no 3000psi hydraulic pump.    There are methods to overcome this situation and survive, but you better have trained for it and trained well and be ready to act in a heartbeat... It may involve a trip in a parachute,  or killing hundreds of passengers.  Yes, you've got gauges but you have multiple tanks and transfer pumps to worry about, contend with.  Your backup is to always be mindful of your speed and fuel consumption and kinda know how many pounds of fuel you still "think" you have on board, that you can get too, if you can get to it.  Does what is in your head, jive with the gauges.  When you get back to the boat, do you have enough for a few go arounds?  It's important, you are trusted with millions of dollars of taxpayer assets, the life of the guy sitting behind you. Most personally, the North Atlantic is F'ing cold water, you don't want to ditch or have to punch out.

 

And this is just for something as simple as running out of gas.

 

Think about it the next time the gas gauge in your Ferrari shows low...  if it is even working.  What if your next fill up means life or death before you get home or to work?

 

Aviation:  A quote from one of my early instructors as I was standing on the flight-line watching a fellow student up in the air.

 

"It is always better to be down here wishing you were up there than it is to be up there wishing you were down here."