Ocelot GT said:
Where do (baby) ultralight aircraft come from? :3
Snowmobiles. No really, the Rotax 912ULS is pretty much a snowmobile engine. Heck, that's how Rotax got started for the most part.
Squid94 said:
Have you ever been really suspicious of one of the passengers (provided you saw them)?
If so, did you do anything about it, and if so again, what was it?
For the most part no, I haven't really ever had any suspicions of passengers that would endanger myself or the aircraft. Though, I have thought about how some of the passengers were afraid of flying/heights/etc. The way to deal with that is just be professional.
Gabanuka said:
Why dont you let kids see the cockpit anymore!
On my charter flights we do when we're on the ground. Sparking the dream of flight in a person always puts a good feeling in your heart.
stinkychops said:
Are you worried about cancer?
No, I might when I get alot older; but right now I don't really have any health worries related to flying.
DC_Josh said:
How high could you fly a plane before various forces disabled/destroyed/did bad stuff to the plane? Say you removed the human factor as well (you have full life support inside) when would stresses just make the plane stop working.
And i'm talking about your average long haul airbus, no military jets.
The service ceiling for most of the larger airline jets are around FL450 (45,000ft.) As far as the limiting factor for altitude, would be a combination of wing-loading (how much lift each sqare foot of wing produces) and thrust. See when you get up high enough, there isn't enough air for a wing to produce lift and you'll have stalled wings, even if you're going quite fast.
The other limiting factor is speed. An aircraft is desinged to cruise at a certain speed, but the airframe can withstand a bit more than that. Exceed the Vne (Velocity, Never Exceed) you'll have a good chance of airframe failure.
Also at altitudes that high, you must carefully watch icing conditions.
ethaninja said:
I want to be a pilot. What are the steps I should go through in doing that?
Go up atleast once or twice before you decide to start flight training. I've known several people who were all gung-ho to start flying, but once they got into a little airlplane they didn't like it anymore.
If that works, then get your medical and buy some study material. I always liked the Jeppeson text books with the ASA Question guides for the written. Contact a local flight school and start flying. Each school is a little different and they'll guide you on the path they want you to take to achieve your license.
Also, it'd be a good idea to get yourself a good headset. Don't go cheap, because you'll be wearing that thing for hours on end and they last for next to forever. I personally recommend David Clark, but I've heard good things about the Lightspeed Zulus.
flaming_squirrel said:
Have you ever lost control of an aircraft and crapped yourself?
Well, I had the situation under control but...
One day, I was up practicing snap rolls. And I might have pitched up a little bit to much. Okay, maybe alot too much and didn't apply enough down pressure on my rudder yaw. This stalled one of my wings more than the other and I was in one badass from hell spin.
Though I quickly put my ailerons at neutral, and stood on the opposite rudder, broke the stall and recovered. I figured I probably spun about 4-6 times. I do know it was 3 rotations before the rudder input took hold.
I wasn't really scared, just my flight instruction kicked in hardcore, everything I did was automatic.
Though this is the one time I can recall when the airplane did something I didn't want it to do.