• Can aviation go "green"?

    From Byker@21:1/5 to All on Sun Feb 16 18:58:10 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    Don't make me laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to Byker on Sun Feb 16 21:39:04 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58:10 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    Don't make me laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    Electric trans-oceanic aircraft ? Ridiculous !
    Battery tech will not even get your Tesla from
    NYC to Chicago without some long layovers
    for recharging - and it is not going to improve
    very much for a long time. You can recharge
    your F-150 with gasohol in about five minutes
    and be on your way.

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible. Depends on your mission.

    But for the LONG hauls, are they planning to
    ressurect the Hindenburg ? Sailing ships ?
    London to NYC in six or eight WEEKS, if
    you are lucky ???

    Sorry, the 20th century created aircraft for a
    good reason, we no longer had the time to
    dick around on sailing ships, the pace of life
    had increased. Cannot go back.

    Maybe in the 22nd century they will be able
    to "beam" you anywhere or you step through
    some dimensional thingie or whatever. But
    NOW, no.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Byker@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Mon Feb 17 09:49:19 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    "PhantomView" wrote in message news:giuj4ft5611prgbqbanqa0g40v8gpnht1n@4ax.com...

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible.

    Only if you have a LOT of time on your hands. If you have a two-week
    vacation and want to travel from NYC to LA, you'll spend half your time just getting there and back.

    Depends on your mission.

    New York to Chicago by train is no faster than it was at the turn of the
    20th Century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_–_New_York_Electric_Air_Line_Railroad

    "Trains would run at 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and complete the journey between Chicago and New York in 10 hours. At the time the two fastest trains between New York and Chicago, the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pennsylvania Special (forerunner of
    the more famous Broadway Limited), each required twenty hours to make the journey."

    Things haven't improved much, if at all:

    "Amtrak has one train a day from New York to Chicago. It takes 19 hours, and you sleep overnight on the train.": https://tinyurl.com/y7dnm6tf

    "An average trip on Amtrak from New York to Chicago takes 22 hours and 45 minutes, while the fastest available Amtrak trip will get you to Chicago in
    19 hours and 5 minutes.": https://www.wanderu.com/en-us/train/us-ny/new-york/us-il/chicago/

    Chicago Union Station Amtrak to New York Penn Station via Amtrak = 19 h 53
    min https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York

    It's actually faster to take a Greyhound bus: 17 h 40m https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From George@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Tue Feb 18 08:02:01 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 21:39:04 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58:10 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    Don't make me laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    Electric trans-oceanic aircraft ? Ridiculous !
    Battery tech will not even get your Tesla from
    NYC to Chicago without some long layovers
    for recharging - and it is not going to improve
    very much for a long time. You can recharge
    your F-150 with gasohol in about five minutes
    and be on your way.

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible. Depends on your mission.

    But for the LONG hauls, are they planning to
    ressurect the Hindenburg ? Sailing ships ?
    London to NYC in six or eight WEEKS, if
    you are lucky ???

    Sorry, the 20th century created aircraft for a
    good reason, we no longer had the time to
    dick around on sailing ships, the pace of life
    had increased. Cannot go back.

    Maybe in the 22nd century they will be able
    to "beam" you anywhere or you step through
    some dimensional thingie or whatever. But
    NOW, no.



    They tried the battery/solar powered aircraft.
    Carried one crew/pax at a very low speed and required up to a month at
    the end of each leg.
    Stick to real aviation

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to Byker on Mon Feb 17 22:25:57 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:49:19 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    "PhantomView" wrote in message >news:giuj4ft5611prgbqbanqa0g40v8gpnht1n@4ax.com...

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible.

    Only if you have a LOT of time on your hands. If you have a two-week
    vacation and want to travel from NYC to LA, you'll spend half your time just >getting there and back.

    Depends on your mission.

    New York to Chicago by train is no faster than it was at the turn of the
    20th Century: >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_–_New_York_Electric_Air_Line_Railroad

    "Trains would run at 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and complete the journey >between Chicago and New York in 10 hours. At the time the two fastest trains >between New York and Chicago, the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century >Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pennsylvania Special (forerunner of >the more famous Broadway Limited), each required twenty hours to make the >journey."

    Things haven't improved much, if at all:

    "Amtrak has one train a day from New York to Chicago. It takes 19 hours, and >you sleep overnight on the train.": https://tinyurl.com/y7dnm6tf

    "An average trip on Amtrak from New York to Chicago takes 22 hours and 45 >minutes, while the fastest available Amtrak trip will get you to Chicago in >19 hours and 5 minutes.": >https://www.wanderu.com/en-us/train/us-ny/new-york/us-il/chicago/

    Chicago Union Station Amtrak to New York Penn Station via Amtrak = 19 h 53 >min https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York

    It's actually faster to take a Greyhound bus: 17 h 40m >https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York

    Planes or airports ... you STILL waste a lot of time at the
    terminal ends of the journey. Then you have to get a taxi
    or rent a car to get you from the airport/station to where
    you really need to be.

    I can believe Greyhound is a bit faster sometimes.
    Less BS to slow things down.

    The utility of trains -vs- planes is also dependent on
    how FAR you need to go. For a shorter hop, scheduled
    train travel may be superior. Airport delays negate the
    speed advantage of planes. Now 500+ miles, then the
    plane is surely better.

    One factor of note is beginning to have an effect. The
    actual NEED to have an actual human being go from
    NYC to LA in a day has diminished. Teleconferences
    can replace a lot of that - and the younger generation
    is more comfy with 'virtual' meetings (though maybe
    they should not be).

    Now I would not mind a three-day train trip across
    country in a VACATION scenerio. The trip would be
    part of the vacation itself, kind of like a cruise ship
    or one of those barge excursions a lot of people like.
    However the condition of the rail network is iffy in a
    lot of places. I would have a little worry about the
    thing coming off the tracks.

    But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
    An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)

    Now across oceans ... even powered ships are too
    damned slow - and Greta wants to get rid of all those
    and go back to sails. You can see the messianic
    fevor in her eyes .......... never trust a zealot.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Byker@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Mon Feb 17 21:38:02 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    "PhantomView" wrote in message news:cclm4f9hve821j6126qonv38hn4ua1n9v4@4ax.com...

    But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
    An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)

    I did just fine on a Sportster...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to George on Mon Feb 17 22:57:26 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:02:01 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 21:39:04 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58:10 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    Don't make me laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    Electric trans-oceanic aircraft ? Ridiculous !
    Battery tech will not even get your Tesla from
    NYC to Chicago without some long layovers
    for recharging - and it is not going to improve
    very much for a long time. You can recharge
    your F-150 with gasohol in about five minutes
    and be on your way.

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible. Depends on your mission.

    But for the LONG hauls, are they planning to
    ressurect the Hindenburg ? Sailing ships ?
    London to NYC in six or eight WEEKS, if
    you are lucky ???

    Sorry, the 20th century created aircraft for a
    good reason, we no longer had the time to
    dick around on sailing ships, the pace of life
    had increased. Cannot go back.

    Maybe in the 22nd century they will be able
    to "beam" you anywhere or you step through
    some dimensional thingie or whatever. But
    NOW, no.



    They tried the battery/solar powered aircraft.
    Carried one crew/pax at a very low speed and required up to a month at
    the end of each leg.
    Stick to real aviation

    I recently saw, I think on the BBC site, some company
    that is trying to produce an electric puddle-hopper.
    Looks almost exactly like a Piper Cub - probably made
    of high-tech composites and carbon fiber weave that
    take so much energy to create that it will put a big dent
    in the overall "carbon footprint" of the plane. Will not be
    very fast and probably has to lug 250 kilos of flammable
    lithium-ion batteries around. MY guess ... a 100 mile
    range before you have to sit around for 6 hours to
    recharge the thing.

    Long long back I got in exactly two hours piloting
    a Cub. Fun, but SLOW. Think it had a 35hp engine.
    Had to start the thing by hand-spinning the prop
    too ...... don't forget the wheel chucks ! Switch-OFF,
    throttle barely cracked, spin the prop through two
    or three times, stop near a compression stroke,
    switch-ON and SPIN that sucker hard ... and there
    is a technique to that so your arms and body
    naturally fall away from the propeller arc. I was 16,
    but I still remember how.

    For each task there is a best way of doing it. For long
    range travel we have jet planes. If you just want to get
    to the next town, drive a car (or maybe take that
    electric Cub). Zeppelins are death-traps, even using
    helium - bad weather snaps them in half. Ships,
    especially Greta's favorite ones with sails, are
    TOO DAMNED SLOW. They are for vacations,
    not practical transport.

    So, we await the tech to be "beamed" from 'A' to 'B'
    and hope all the bits arrive in the right order ......

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From George@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Wed Feb 19 08:14:35 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 22:57:26 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:02:01 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 21:39:04 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58:10 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net>
    wrote:
    Don't make me laugh:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    Electric trans-oceanic aircraft ? Ridiculous !
    Battery tech will not even get your Tesla from
    NYC to Chicago without some long layovers
    for recharging - and it is not going to improve
    very much for a long time. You can recharge
    your F-150 with gasohol in about five minutes
    and be on your way.

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible. Depends on your mission.

    But for the LONG hauls, are they planning to
    ressurect the Hindenburg ? Sailing ships ?
    London to NYC in six or eight WEEKS, if
    you are lucky ???

    Sorry, the 20th century created aircraft for a
    good reason, we no longer had the time to
    dick around on sailing ships, the pace of life
    had increased. Cannot go back.

    Maybe in the 22nd century they will be able
    to "beam" you anywhere or you step through
    some dimensional thingie or whatever. But
    NOW, no.



    They tried the battery/solar powered aircraft.
    Carried one crew/pax at a very low speed and required up to a month
    at the end of each leg.
    Stick to real aviation

    I recently saw, I think on the BBC site, some company
    that is trying to produce an electric puddle-hopper.
    Looks almost exactly like a Piper Cub - probably made
    of high-tech composites and carbon fiber weave that
    take so much energy to create that it will put a big dent
    in the overall "carbon footprint" of the plane. Will not be
    very fast and probably has to lug 250 kilos of flammable
    lithium-ion batteries around. MY guess ... a 100 mile
    range before you have to sit around for 6 hours to
    recharge the thing.

    Long long back I got in exactly two hours piloting
    a Cub. Fun, but SLOW. Think it had a 35hp engine.
    Had to start the thing by hand-spinning the prop
    too ...... don't forget the wheel chucks ! Switch-OFF,
    throttle barely cracked, spin the prop through two
    or three times, stop near a compression stroke,
    switch-ON and SPIN that sucker hard ... and there
    is a technique to that so your arms and body
    naturally fall away from the propeller arc. I was 16,
    but I still remember how.

    For each task there is a best way of doing it. For long
    range travel we have jet planes. If you just want to get
    to the next town, drive a car (or maybe take that
    electric Cub). Zeppelins are death-traps, even using
    helium - bad weather snaps them in half. Ships,
    especially Greta's favorite ones with sails, are
    TOO DAMNED SLOW. They are for vacations,
    not practical transport.

    So, we await the tech to be "beamed" from 'A' to 'B'
    and hope all the bits arrive in the right order ......


    Only Cub I ever flew was the Super Cub.
    We adopted them to use as ag aircraft
    The rate of climb was astonishing and you could land on a bank note and
    have change at the end of the run.
    However most of my needs were met by Cessna

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to Byker on Tue Feb 18 22:08:09 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:38:02 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    "PhantomView" wrote in message >news:cclm4f9hve821j6126qonv38hn4ua1n9v4@4ax.com...

    But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
    An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)

    I did just fine on a Sportster...

    I had one of those. It was just a little too small,
    a little too narrow - and that HURT me. Might
    be OK for younger people though. Also, seemed
    I could not go out for a days ride on the thing
    without *something* breaking ............

    An Indian Chief looks good. My legs are a tad
    too short to safely hold up a Goldwing at a
    slippery intersection, so the trike comes to
    mind (but they cost as much as a Escalade).
    Hondas are reliable. The late great Victorys
    were reliable. Kawasakis are mostly reliable.
    BMWs ... depends. One bike that intrigued
    me was the Triumph Rocket-III ... never rode
    one but I sat on one and it was a surprisingly
    light-feeling bike. They have an updated model
    this year - about 25% more power :-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to George on Tue Feb 18 22:44:12 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:14:35 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 22:57:26 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:02:01 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 21:39:04 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58:10 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net>
    wrote:
    Don't make me laugh:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ1t993-vw0

    Electric trans-oceanic aircraft ? Ridiculous !
    Battery tech will not even get your Tesla from
    NYC to Chicago without some long layovers
    for recharging - and it is not going to improve
    very much for a long time. You can recharge
    your F-150 with gasohol in about five minutes
    and be on your way.

    That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
    of trains IS possible. Depends on your mission.

    But for the LONG hauls, are they planning to
    ressurect the Hindenburg ? Sailing ships ?
    London to NYC in six or eight WEEKS, if
    you are lucky ???

    Sorry, the 20th century created aircraft for a
    good reason, we no longer had the time to
    dick around on sailing ships, the pace of life
    had increased. Cannot go back.

    Maybe in the 22nd century they will be able
    to "beam" you anywhere or you step through
    some dimensional thingie or whatever. But
    NOW, no.



    They tried the battery/solar powered aircraft.
    Carried one crew/pax at a very low speed and required up to a month
    at the end of each leg.
    Stick to real aviation

    I recently saw, I think on the BBC site, some company
    that is trying to produce an electric puddle-hopper.
    Looks almost exactly like a Piper Cub - probably made
    of high-tech composites and carbon fiber weave that
    take so much energy to create that it will put a big dent
    in the overall "carbon footprint" of the plane. Will not be
    very fast and probably has to lug 250 kilos of flammable
    lithium-ion batteries around. MY guess ... a 100 mile
    range before you have to sit around for 6 hours to
    recharge the thing.

    Long long back I got in exactly two hours piloting
    a Cub. Fun, but SLOW. Think it had a 35hp engine.
    Had to start the thing by hand-spinning the prop
    too ...... don't forget the wheel chucks ! Switch-OFF,
    throttle barely cracked, spin the prop through two
    or three times, stop near a compression stroke,
    switch-ON and SPIN that sucker hard ... and there
    is a technique to that so your arms and body
    naturally fall away from the propeller arc. I was 16,
    but I still remember how.

    For each task there is a best way of doing it. For long
    range travel we have jet planes. If you just want to get
    to the next town, drive a car (or maybe take that
    electric Cub). Zeppelins are death-traps, even using
    helium - bad weather snaps them in half. Ships,
    especially Greta's favorite ones with sails, are
    TOO DAMNED SLOW. They are for vacations,
    not practical transport.

    So, we await the tech to be "beamed" from 'A' to 'B'
    and hope all the bits arrive in the right order ......


    Only Cub I ever flew was the Super Cub.
    We adopted them to use as ag aircraft
    The rate of climb was astonishing and you could land on a bank note and
    have change at the end of the run.
    However most of my needs were met by Cessna

    That relatively large thick-chord wing gave a lot of
    lift at low speeds. You did not need a huge engine.

    The one I tried out was an original J-3. I looked it
    up and I remember the horsepower was in the
    30s. The docs say 37hp. The thing would hold
    altitude even at about 35 knots - speed of horse.

    The military bought lots of Cubs back in WW-2.
    They were cheap, they were relatively quiet, they
    were stable enough to hang cameras on and could
    use almost any short patch of grass as an airfield.
    I guess the fabric skin also did not have much of
    a signature to what passed as German radar.

    I never loved tail-draggers though ... there was too
    much risk of hitting a rut during landing and the
    thing immediately dumping over on its nose. With
    the J-3 the thing between you and the engine was
    the fuel tank ......

    Still, a hell of a lot of people post-war leared to fly
    in surplus Cubs. The Super-Cubs are more "super",
    but large numbers of J-3s are still up there too.

    Cessna ... good general-avaition planes. Solid
    design and I liked the over-wing models because
    you could actually see the ground below.

    But alas, the death of cheap AvGas put an end to
    my flying. Now you can take that 16 and turn the
    numbers around and then a bit. Hey, guess I could
    buy one of those Gyrocopter kits - but those things
    seem to crash a lot. Might be the pilots, might be
    something about the mechanicals ......

    Ooooh ! How about a hydrogen-powered Gyro ?
    Greta might like that ! :-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Byker@21:1/5 to Byker on Wed Feb 19 11:50:39 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    "PhantomView" wrote in message news:eo8p4fptkq4f51g7fajb88fd7eiu7nqesr@4ax.com...

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:38:02 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    "PhantomView" wrote in message >>news:cclm4f9hve821j6126qonv38hn4ua1n9v4@4ax.com...

    But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
    An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)

    I did just fine on a Sportster...

    I had one of those. It was just a little too small,
    a little too narrow - and that HURT me. Might
    be OK for younger people though.

    I'd go on HOG touring rallies, sometimes up to 2,000 miles from home, and people would say, "You rode THAT all the way from Oklahoma?" I'd reply,
    "What do you think 900cc is, a moped?"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From George@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Thu Feb 20 08:03:02 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:44:12 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    That relatively large thick-chord wing gave a lot of
    lift at low speeds. You did not need a huge engine.

    The one I tried out was an original J-3. I looked it
    up and I remember the horsepower was in the
    30s. The docs say 37hp. The thing would hold
    altitude even at about 35 knots - speed of horse.

    The military bought lots of Cubs back in WW-2.
    They were cheap, they were relatively quiet, they
    were stable enough to hang cameras on and could
    use almost any short patch of grass as an airfield.
    I guess the fabric skin also did not have much of
    a signature to what passed as German radar.

    I never loved tail-draggers though ... there was too
    much risk of hitting a rut during landing and the
    thing immediately dumping over on its nose. With
    the J-3 the thing between you and the engine was
    the fuel tank ......

    Still, a hell of a lot of people post-war leared to fly
    in surplus Cubs. The Super-Cubs are more "super",
    but large numbers of J-3s are still up there too.

    Cessna ... good general-avaition planes. Solid
    design and I liked the over-wing models because
    you could actually see the ground below.

    But alas, the death of cheap AvGas put an end to
    my flying. Now you can take that 16 and turn the
    numbers around and then a bit. Hey, guess I could
    buy one of those Gyrocopter kits - but those things
    seem to crash a lot. Might be the pilots, might be
    something about the mechanicals ......

    Ooooh ! How about a hydrogen-powered Gyro ?
    Greta might like that ! :-)


    Flew a J1 only once the fuel tank was over my knees.
    Not the safest machine
    And the cylinder heads were hung out in the breeze.
    A couple of old blokes in the US I used to talk on a group had
    gyrocopters and seemed quite happy with most of the performance

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to Byker on Wed Feb 19 21:57:52 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:50:39 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    "PhantomView" wrote in message >news:eo8p4fptkq4f51g7fajb88fd7eiu7nqesr@4ax.com...

    On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:38:02 -0600, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:

    "PhantomView" wrote in message >>>news:cclm4f9hve821j6126qonv38hn4ua1n9v4@4ax.com...

    But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
    An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)

    I did just fine on a Sportster...

    I had one of those. It was just a little too small,
    a little too narrow - and that HURT me. Might
    be OK for younger people though.

    I'd go on HOG touring rallies, sometimes up to 2,000 miles from home, and >people would say, "You rode THAT all the way from Oklahoma?" I'd reply,
    "What do you think 900cc is, a moped?"

    I know a guy who rode from Jacksonville FLA as far
    up the coast into Canada as you can get and then
    back - with his girlfriend on the pillion ! Amazed they
    could still walk afterwards. Their ass-ologist will
    likely make a fortune removing 'roids :-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to George on Wed Feb 19 22:18:16 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Thu, 20 Feb 2020 08:03:02 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:44:12 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    That relatively large thick-chord wing gave a lot of
    lift at low speeds. You did not need a huge engine.

    The one I tried out was an original J-3. I looked it
    up and I remember the horsepower was in the
    30s. The docs say 37hp. The thing would hold
    altitude even at about 35 knots - speed of horse.

    The military bought lots of Cubs back in WW-2.
    They were cheap, they were relatively quiet, they
    were stable enough to hang cameras on and could
    use almost any short patch of grass as an airfield.
    I guess the fabric skin also did not have much of
    a signature to what passed as German radar.

    I never loved tail-draggers though ... there was too
    much risk of hitting a rut during landing and the
    thing immediately dumping over on its nose. With
    the J-3 the thing between you and the engine was
    the fuel tank ......

    Still, a hell of a lot of people post-war leared to fly
    in surplus Cubs. The Super-Cubs are more "super",
    but large numbers of J-3s are still up there too.

    Cessna ... good general-avaition planes. Solid
    design and I liked the over-wing models because
    you could actually see the ground below.

    But alas, the death of cheap AvGas put an end to
    my flying. Now you can take that 16 and turn the
    numbers around and then a bit. Hey, guess I could
    buy one of those Gyrocopter kits - but those things
    seem to crash a lot. Might be the pilots, might be
    something about the mechanicals ......

    Ooooh ! How about a hydrogen-powered Gyro ?
    Greta might like that ! :-)


    Flew a J1 only once the fuel tank was over my knees.
    Not the safest machine

    Confirm ... a J-ONE ? I did not know there were any
    of that model - which was basically a TaylorCraft/Piper
    prototype - still in service. Cannot be many J-2s either.

    As for "safe" - I suppose AT THE TIME they were as
    safe as most other planes. That they were intentionally
    made to be cheap and minimalistic, well, you get what
    you pay for.

    And the cylinder heads were hung out in the breeze.

    J1 to the original J3 ... yep, out in the breeze. Later
    variants went to a full cowl. Looked better, but I do
    not know if it had any functional relevance. The things
    fly so slow that any wind-resistance factors involved
    would be rather trivial.

    A couple of old blokes in the US I used to talk on a group had
    gyrocopters and seemed quite happy with most of the performance

    They DO look like good fun. However there also seem
    to be a lot of crashes. Now with an "X" machine you do
    not really need much training or anyone to even confirm
    your heart is beating, so perhaps that is a contributing
    factor. These things are KITS too, so if you forget to
    tighten a bolt here, forget a lock-washer there, it could
    come back to surprise you.

    I would have to do a lot of research into whether structural
    issues were a major thing, cracked supports or the rotor
    popping off.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From George@21:1/5 to PhantomView on Fri Feb 21 08:08:27 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 22:18:16 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Thu, 20 Feb 2020 08:03:02 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:44:12 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    That relatively large thick-chord wing gave a lot of
    lift at low speeds. You did not need a huge engine.

    The one I tried out was an original J-3. I looked it
    up and I remember the horsepower was in the
    30s. The docs say 37hp. The thing would hold
    altitude even at about 35 knots - speed of horse.

    The military bought lots of Cubs back in WW-2.
    They were cheap, they were relatively quiet, they
    were stable enough to hang cameras on and could
    use almost any short patch of grass as an airfield.
    I guess the fabric skin also did not have much of
    a signature to what passed as German radar.

    I never loved tail-draggers though ... there was too
    much risk of hitting a rut during landing and the
    thing immediately dumping over on its nose. With
    the J-3 the thing between you and the engine was
    the fuel tank ......

    Still, a hell of a lot of people post-war leared to fly
    in surplus Cubs. The Super-Cubs are more "super",
    but large numbers of J-3s are still up there too.

    Cessna ... good general-avaition planes. Solid
    design and I liked the over-wing models because
    you could actually see the ground below.

    But alas, the death of cheap AvGas put an end to
    my flying. Now you can take that 16 and turn the
    numbers around and then a bit. Hey, guess I could
    buy one of those Gyrocopter kits - but those things
    seem to crash a lot. Might be the pilots, might be
    something about the mechanicals ......

    Ooooh ! How about a hydrogen-powered Gyro ?
    Greta might like that ! :-)


    Flew a J1 only once the fuel tank was over my knees.
    Not the safest machine

    Confirm ... a J-ONE ? I did not know there were any
    of that model - which was basically a TaylorCraft/Piper
    prototype - still in service. Cannot be many J-2s either.

    1963

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From PhantomView@21:1/5 to George on Tue Feb 25 22:00:27 2020
    XPost: alt.global-warming, rec.travel, rec.aviation
    XPost: talk.politics.misc

    On Fri, 21 Feb 2020 08:08:27 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 22:18:16 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    On Thu, 20 Feb 2020 08:03:02 +1300, George <gblack@hnpl.net> wrote:

    On Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:44:12 -0500
    PhantomView <pv@PhantomView114.net> wrote:

    That relatively large thick-chord wing gave a lot of
    lift at low speeds. You did not need a huge engine.

    The one I tried out was an original J-3. I looked it
    up and I remember the horsepower was in the
    30s. The docs say 37hp. The thing would hold
    altitude even at about 35 knots - speed of horse.

    The military bought lots of Cubs back in WW-2.
    They were cheap, they were relatively quiet, they
    were stable enough to hang cameras on and could
    use almost any short patch of grass as an airfield.
    I guess the fabric skin also did not have much of
    a signature to what passed as German radar.

    I never loved tail-draggers though ... there was too
    much risk of hitting a rut during landing and the
    thing immediately dumping over on its nose. With
    the J-3 the thing between you and the engine was
    the fuel tank ......

    Still, a hell of a lot of people post-war leared to fly
    in surplus Cubs. The Super-Cubs are more "super",
    but large numbers of J-3s are still up there too.

    Cessna ... good general-avaition planes. Solid
    design and I liked the over-wing models because
    you could actually see the ground below.

    But alas, the death of cheap AvGas put an end to
    my flying. Now you can take that 16 and turn the
    numbers around and then a bit. Hey, guess I could
    buy one of those Gyrocopter kits - but those things
    seem to crash a lot. Might be the pilots, might be
    something about the mechanicals ......

    Ooooh ! How about a hydrogen-powered Gyro ?
    Greta might like that ! :-)


    Flew a J1 only once the fuel tank was over my knees.
    Not the safest machine

    Confirm ... a J-ONE ? I did not know there were any
    of that model - which was basically a TaylorCraft/Piper
    prototype - still in service. Cannot be many J-2s either.

    1963

    Cannot confirm the existence of a "J-1" Cub - either
    under the Taylor and/or Piper name. A cursorary
    search of the aircraft registry reveals none.

    According to :
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Cub

    What one might call a "J-1", aka a "Taylor TigerKitten",
    aka "Taylor E-1", was essentially a prototype fitted with
    a 20hp engine. The engine was not strong enough to
    allow the plane to clear the runway and it crashed.
    With a few embellishments, and a stronger (albeit
    more expensive) engine the Taylor "E-2" was then
    produced in limited numbers (353 ). The Taylor J-2
    was a slightly spiffed-up version.
    http://www.aviation-history.com/taylor/j2cub.htm

    When Piper, an early investor, bought-out the
    bankrupt TaylorCraft, it became known as the
    "Piper J-2" instead.

    There were some other "J-1" aircraft out there in the
    early days, including one built by the creator of the
    beloved "Jenny"s.

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)