I totally agree with you on all that. And absolute kudos for your focus and drive.
For me, a few things would have been an issue. First, I'm Canadian, so at best could only have got into a CF-18 had I the talent to make it into a front-line jet. Second, my left eye was 20/65 (right 20/25). However, the biggest thing prolly would have been that I'm 6'5".
Oh well. Still plan on getting my private license once I'm at a place where I can dedicate the necessary resources to it...
Have to ask though. What was the highest / fastest you've gone?
Have always been a huge Eagle fan. I'd pretty much give anything to get a ride in one, or hell, any combat jet. Wish I was a celebrity and could score a free ride like they can!
In fact, they do give you the CD if there is something obviously wrong.
After many episodes of Really Bad Headaches, I finally had a scan prescribed. I noticed that the tech and assistants seemed to look at me quite a bit differently after the scan. It turned out that I in fact had a tumour and a very large cyst which would have been immediately obvious to anyone, no medical training required. In retrospect, they were probably thinking "you shouldn't be walking around with that thing in your head!" about me. And they did give me the CD. It was probably a good thing I didn't look at it before I went to see my Neurologist!
Anyways, two weeks later I was on the table at UCLA medical center, where Dr Linda Liau and her wonderful team fixed me up.
In my case, after the resection of my tumour (a gangliglioma) nearly 3 years ago, my prognosis does not anticipate any further development for the forseable future. However, there is no way to fully discount the possibility of a recurrence, so I do like to keep tabs on the field. If something starts to redevelop, I'd sure like to know of alternative treatments so I don't have to get any more holes drilled into my skull!
BTW, this work sounds related to that done by my neurosurgeon Dr Linda Liau and her team at UCLA (Westwood).
Whale:... And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello Ground! [dies]
again, inadequate pilot training training and the general mis-use of the the plane explain a lot of the crashes.
From a US helicopter pilot who flew in Germany:
... I've been in enough manuevers where Luftwaffe F104s were in support - I've been on hilltops looking "DOWN" into the cockpit - coming in so close I could tell if the pilot shaved or not - put that together with the tremendous 'wire-hazard' problem - wires and electric train wires meander through the valleys - F104 pilots like to fly "LOW" very LOW through the valleys - the have no margin for error.
I've been flying border traces in my OH-58 Scout helicoptor and have F104 pilots fly UNDER me - I've seen them fly UNDER high bridges - I've seen them PULL UP to come over a hill - and almost take my antenna off my track.
I'd venture to guess that the majority of accidents were pilot error.
From a US Navy crewman:
I'll concur with the flying habits of German F-104 pilots. During a NATO exercise I was in, they liked to fly supersonic on the deck, frightening us poor ship drivers. One day, a 104 flew under a LAMPS helo that was on final for recoverey on it frigate. The US admiral said "NEGAT" to any further 104 flights in the area.
From a distinguished USAF F105 pilot:
I will contend until the day I die that the greatest contributing factor to the Luftwaffe's problems with the 104 was the policy of selecting 100% of pilot training graduates for 104 assignment. During the mid-60's fully one third of pilot production at Williams AFB was German. All of them were pipelined upon graduation to Luke AFB where they received 104 training.
The quality spread of German input was very similar to the quality spread of US trainees. There were a few very good ones, a bunch of average pilots and a couple of marginal guys in every class. US graduates competed for assignments and more than 90% went to some form of crewed airplane where they could be "seasoned" for several more years. Only the top one or two graduates went to single-seat fighters. The Germans meanwhile sent all of their grads to a very demanding airplane. The result was inevitable.
while undoubtedly there were design problems (as with any sophisticated machine), and the typical military-industrial complex shenannigans, it seems that a lot of the blame fell on the mis-application of the mission it was given and poor support/training:
During its period of service with the German armed forces, about 270 German Starfighters were lost in accidents, just under 30 percent of the total force. About 110 pilots were killed. However, the attrition rate in German service was not all that much greater than that of the F-104 in service with several other air forces, including the United States Air Force. The loss rate of Luftwaffe Starfighters was not all that extraordinary, since the Luftwaffe had suffered a 36 percent attrition rate with the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, the Starfighter's immediate predecessor. There was nothing intrinsically dangerous about the Starfighter, since the Royal Norwegian Air Force operating identical F-104Gs suffered only six losses in 56,000 flying hours, and the Spanish Air Force lost not a single one of its Starfighters to accidents.
Nevertheless, some of the Luftwaffe crashes could indeed be traced to technical problems with the F-104G itself. Engine problems, including difficulties with the J79's variable afterburner nozzle, and contamination of the Starfighter's liquid oxygen system causing loss of consciousness of the pilot were listed as contributing factors in some of the accidents. There were also problems with the automatic pitch-up limiter during high-speed low-altitude flying and in tight turns, resulting in its temporary removal, with accompanying restrictions on the maneuverability.
However, the high rate of crashes while in Luftwaffe service could be blamed more on the hazards of flying low-altitude missions at high speeds in the bad weather of Northern Europe than on any intrinsic flaw with the F-104G. Human error was probably the major cause of the majority of the accidents. The Starfighter required 38-45 hours of maintenance for every hour in the air, and many of the Luftwaffe ground crew personnel were conscripts who were probably too hastily trained. In addition, German Starfighter pilots were only flying 13-15 hours a month, compared with the NATO average of about 20 hours.
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f104_17.html
While I do not have seizures, I can relate a little. Two years ago I had neurosurgery to remove a brain tumour. The first couple days in the ICU were difficult, not from any sensation of pain, but beacuse my perceptions of the world were so distorted by the trauma of the procedure. Whenever I opened my eyes, everything was like an offset double-image. Very confusing. By the third day, my brain had fully remembered how to properly integrate the inputs from each eye. Now, I am pretty much back to normal. The main thing that remains is that I lost about half of the peripheral vision on my right side (the tumour was on the left side of my brain), and a difficulty in maintaining concentration (a frequent result of having brain tumour/surgery, but have meds that help that).
Anyways, best wishes for you in getting effective treatment!
I saw it too. I live about 50miles east of LA, near San Bernardino. I just got out of the movie theatre (saw American Beauty - excellent), and saw the people near us pointing in the sky. I actually saw the rocket going up. I'd never seen an actual launch before, but have seen the contrails left over.
The big wispy luminescent cloud at the top was probably where the missile reached true space, about 50 miles up. The exhaust gases will behave differently there versus lower down in the atmosphere, so much so that they were actually diffracting the sunlight, giving it that rainbow effect. To see what it looked like, check out this article on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/US/9910/02/missile.defense.test .ap/
I have to say the contrail was one of the most amazing things I've ever scene in the sky, seconded only by good aurora borealis shows. (I'm from Canada, so have seen quite a few). Got me to thinking about how ironic it would be if there ever were a full-scale ICBM launch. Quite a specatacular sight to see tens or hundreds of these contrails going up. At least it would be until your eyes were burned out by the flash of the first retaliatory burst...
Anyways, if you want to see an excellent analysis of the contrail, look here:
Ok, so its pretty much accepted that JarJar was a freeking annoying character. In fact, he wasn't even necessary to the rest of the movie after the Jedi's met the leader of JarJar's race for the first time. Another problem was that Darth Maul wasn't really developed well. We _know_ he's bad, he looks bad, he wears all black, etc etc. But, how about if they had made him do something that would show his evilness?
Scene on Tatooine goes like this:
- Maul gets on his Space Harley and rides into town looking for evidence of the Queen. - You see him moving through the crowds. Most aliens give him a wide berth. One gets in his way. This is JarJar. JJ says something stupid. A flash of red light and JarJar's hideously dismembered body is lying in a puddle of steaming green blood. - Qui-Gon comes upon the scene shortly after, just seeing the back of Maul's cape disappear into the onlooking crowd. Realizes there is trouble, and hastens everyone's return to the ship.
So, this would have spared all of us the suffering of JarJar's unnecessary presence in the rest of the film, and serves to make out Darth Maul as a serious Bad Guy.
BTW - Anyone else notice how similar in design the Queen's starship was to the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane?
Slashdot Mirror
Links to related articles at Planetary Society:
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/targetearth/tunguska.html
http://www.planetary.org/about/press/releases/2008/0626_Target_Earth_How_Prepared_Are_We.html
Cool. Thanks for relating your experience.
So much nicer to see posts from the real deal, not some "keyboard flyboy"...
I totally agree with you on all that. And absolute kudos for your focus and drive.
For me, a few things would have been an issue. First, I'm Canadian, so at best could only have got into a CF-18 had I the talent to make it into a front-line jet. Second, my left eye was 20/65 (right 20/25). However, the biggest thing prolly would have been that I'm 6'5".
Oh well. Still plan on getting my private license once I'm at a place where I can dedicate the necessary resources to it...
Have to ask though. What was the highest / fastest you've gone?
Cool!
Have always been a huge Eagle fan. I'd pretty much give anything to get a ride in one, or hell, any combat jet. Wish I was a celebrity and could score a free ride like they can!
from your nick, I'm guessing you are/were an F-15 pilot?
Maybe a typo, but its the F-15, not F-14, that does Mach 2.5+. Tomcat goes 2.3 - 2.4.
Other well known Mach 1.6+ jets include Mig25 Foxbat (2.3-3.2), F-111 (2.5), F-104 Starfighter (2.2), F-4 Phantom II (2.2), B70 Valkyrie (3.1) and the Concorde (2.2).
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070520044927AAfSvFz
Even the prototype Avro Arrow achieved Mach 1.96, back in 1958.
n/c
For $2-3000, you can. Just go to any MRI facility and make an appointment.
The alternative is to get to have it prescribed by a Neurologist, and then your medical insurance should pay for it. At least, that worked for me.
In my case, I am actually able to say the following:
<ahnold>It's not a too-mah. Wait. It IS a too-mah!<\ahnold>
(yes, I did in fact have a brain tumour)
In fact, they do give you the CD if there is something obviously wrong.
After many episodes of Really Bad Headaches, I finally had a scan prescribed. I noticed that the tech and assistants seemed to look at me quite a bit differently after the scan. It turned out that I in fact had a tumour and a very large cyst which would have been immediately obvious to anyone, no medical training required. In retrospect, they were probably thinking "you shouldn't be walking around with that thing in your head!" about me. And they did give me the CD. It was probably a good thing I didn't look at it before I went to see my Neurologist!
Anyways, two weeks later I was on the table at UCLA medical center, where Dr Linda Liau and her wonderful team fixed me up.
me too!
In my case, after the resection of my tumour (a gangliglioma) nearly 3 years ago, my prognosis does not anticipate any further development for the forseable future. However, there is no way to fully discount the possibility of a recurrence, so I do like to keep tabs on the field. If something starts to redevelop, I'd sure like to know of alternative treatments so I don't have to get any more holes drilled into my skull!
BTW, this work sounds related to that done by my neurosurgeon Dr Linda Liau and her team at UCLA (Westwood).
Best of health to you!
-j
From a US helicopter pilot who flew in Germany:
From a US Navy crewman:
From a distinguished USAF F105 pilot:
giving the Starfighter a low-level ground attack mission was about as sensible as using Me-262s as bombers...
While I do not have seizures, I can relate a little. Two years ago I had neurosurgery to remove a brain tumour. The first couple days in the ICU were difficult, not from any sensation of pain, but beacuse my perceptions of the world were so distorted by the trauma of the procedure. Whenever I opened my eyes, everything was like an offset double-image. Very confusing. By the third day, my brain had fully remembered how to properly integrate the inputs from each eye. Now, I am pretty much back to normal. The main thing that remains is that I lost about half of the peripheral vision on my right side (the tumour was on the left side of my brain), and a difficulty in maintaining concentration (a frequent result of having brain tumour/surgery, but have meds that help that).
Anyways, best wishes for you in getting effective treatment!
-j
I saw it too. I live about 50miles east of LA, near San Bernardino. I just got out of the movie theatre (saw American Beauty - excellent), and saw the people near us pointing in the sky. I actually saw the rocket going up. I'd never seen an actual launch before, but have seen the contrails left over.
t .ap/
o ntrail_schematic.html o ntrail_23_june_1997.html o ntrail_picture.html
The big wispy luminescent cloud at the top was probably where the missile reached true space, about 50 miles up. The exhaust gases will behave differently there versus lower down in the atmosphere, so much so that they were actually diffracting the sunlight, giving it that rainbow effect. To see what it looked like, check out this article on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9910/02/missile.defense.tes
I have to say the contrail was one of the most amazing things I've ever scene in the sky, seconded only by good aurora borealis shows. (I'm from Canada, so have seen quite a few). Got me to thinking about how ironic it would be if there ever were a full-scale ICBM launch. Quite a specatacular sight to see tens or hundreds of these contrails going up. At least it would be until your eyes were burned out by the flash of the first retaliatory burst...
Anyways, if you want to see an excellent analysis of the contrail, look here:
http://www.znet.com/~schester/fallbrook/views/c
and:
http://www.znet.com/~schester/fallbrook/views/c
and:
http://www.znet.com/~schester/fallbrook/views/c
talljuan
The last 'bigger fish' looked kinda like Godzilla from last summer. I guess after that movie's dismal failure, he was looking for work...
Ok, so its pretty much accepted that JarJar was a freeking annoying character. In fact, he wasn't even necessary to the rest of the movie after the Jedi's met the leader of JarJar's race for the first time. Another problem was that Darth Maul wasn't really developed well. We _know_ he's bad, he looks bad, he wears all black, etc etc. But, how about if they had made him do something that would show his evilness?
Scene on Tatooine goes like this:
- Maul gets on his Space Harley and rides into town looking for evidence of the Queen.
- You see him moving through the crowds. Most aliens give him a wide berth. One gets in his way. This is JarJar. JJ says something stupid. A flash of red light and JarJar's hideously dismembered body is lying in a puddle of steaming green blood.
- Qui-Gon comes upon the scene shortly after, just seeing the back of Maul's cape disappear into the onlooking crowd. Realizes there is trouble, and hastens everyone's return to the ship.
So, this would have spared all of us the suffering of JarJar's unnecessary presence in the rest of the film, and serves to make out Darth Maul as a serious Bad Guy.
BTW - Anyone else notice how similar in design the Queen's starship was to the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane?