Amen. This seems like a good idea...but for the things I do that don't involve sitting in front of a computer or a book, it'd be a disaster. Both driving, and to an even greater extent flying, involve repeated, regular, rapid changes in focus distance from close to far, and especially while flying, my hands have better things to do than stay up at the bridge of my nose adjusting how well I see.
I've worn bifocals since I was 16 years old. (Focus flexibility problems don't always start in middle age.) These new glasses will not replace them, for me.
I've had this argument with several big-name EFF supporters (Cory Doctorow springs immediately to mind). If the EFF weren't anti-spam blocking, there would be no issue.
I block tens of thousands of spams sent to my system weekly. That's a lot more than "a few emails". Your argument is the same as the spammers' "just hit delete".
If they ignored spam, I wouldn't have a problem. They've actively fought anti-spam measures, though, and that puts them squarely on the wrong side of the line.
I'll donate to the EFF when they get a clue about spam. Their official position is that spam is protected free speech, and measures to fight it are far worse than the problem. They don't understand that spam is highly destructive to the net as a form of communication.
If the Kindle DX had a color display, I'd have ordered one already as a paperless cockpit solution for my airplane. I need to see charts in color. Yes, I know that a big part of the charm of the Kindle is the e-ink display, which enables long battery life...but I'll give some part of that up to get color. I really don't want to spend a couple of kilobucks on a tablet PC.
Yeah. There's enough confusion between knots and MPH that I wanted to make sure which we were dealing with. I finally went to Terrafugia's site, where they said it cruises at 115 MPH (100 knots). That's kinda disappointing, though with as much frontal area as the Transition has, making it go faster on the Rotax 912S's 100 HP would be problematical at best. They're probably well into the range where more power would only marginally increase speed, too.
Actually, cropdusters don't have to follow the normal traffic pattern, per FAR 137.45. If they don't, however, they're required to give way to aircraft that do.
There's a cropdusting operation at my home airport, and they're quite good about staying out of everyone else's way.
This is because the FAA has a maximum VH of 87 knot limit (100 mph) for the current sports license. This is not correct. The sport pilot license is good for any light sport aircraft, with at most an additional signoff required for those with a Vh of over 87 knots but less than 120 knots. My AMD Zodiac XLi is a light sport aircraft, with a Vh of 120 knots. See the definition of "light sport aircraft" in section 1.1 of the FAA's rules.
Yeah, I know...my Zodiac's useful load is only 470 pounds. I can carry me and a passenger and fuel, but I have to be careful about how much fuel - but that's still on the order of 20 gallons, which takes me as far as I want to go in one leg anyway.
Those who don't use their radios are indeed taking unjustified risks...but it's quite common for airplanes not to have radios at all. (Some airplanes don't even have electrical systems.) You can't assume that the pattern is empty just because nobody's talking. You have to look. Depending on the radio is just as foolish as depending solely on your own abilities to see and avoid.
You're assuming that "your typical civilian" would be flying one. This is not the case: it requires at least a sport pilot license. The requirements for that license are substantially the same, for those privileges that are common, to those for the private pilot license. (I've got the test standards right in front of me; I'm in the final phases of preparing for the CFI-Sport Pilot checkride.) Those standards most certainly include using checklists for all phases of flight. If they don't use them, they don't pass.
Not gonna happen. The 1320 pound/600 kg max gross weight limit is something the FAA is dead set on keeping. Yes, it excludes a large number of certificated aircraft - but it was intended to: the goal was to create a market for new airplanes.
Part of the pre-takeoff checklist for every aircraft I've ever seen is "FLIGHT CONTROLS: FREE AND CORRECT". You move the stick and make sure the control surfaces move in the proper direction. It's not just (or even primarily) for detecting sabotage; it's because mechanics have been known to hook cables up backwards during maintenance.
The video voice-over says that the Terrafugia's empty weight is 890 pounds. With a maximum gross weight of 1320 pounds set by the Light Sport AIrcraft rules, this leaves a useful load of just 430 pounds. Gasoline weighs 6 pounds per gallon. With two real people aboard, it won't have much range...
However, they don't have to talk to you, and may well refuse to do so if you're openly recording them. I was being scapegoated at one job, and brought in a recorder for my exit interview - and when I asked them to state the reason for their action, the HR guy reached over and turned off my recorder, and when I turned it back on, he said that he would not say anything further while being recorded. There wasn't much I could do but say that I felt the action was unfair and unjustified, and leave.
It may have been improved since we gave up a few years back...but at the time, it was extremely common for a program to break badly when a CPAN module it used was updated, and there was no way to prevent it from being updated if another program being installed called for it.
I don't use CPAN any more for the same kind of reason I don't deal with the Ford Motor Company any more, even though I unloaded my last Ford 13 years ago: they burned me so badly that I cannot afford another failure of that magnitude, and the alternatives did not have the same problems at all when I tried them.
The problem was that the program was written to work with one revision of the modules...and then when the admin put another package on the system, or upgraded another package, that used the same modules, they would get upgraded from CPAN without any way to control or isolate them. Since module authors don't give a fuzzy rat's ass about backward compatibility, things broke, badly.
There's no way to tell CPAN "don't upgrade this module unless it's compatible". There's also a total lack of concern for compatibility within the CPAN developer community. That's why the project I was involved with failed, and a large part of the reason I personally switched to Python.
I refuse to use both Fink and MacPorts because they insist on bringing in huge amounts of other stuff whenever I try to install anything. I'll build for myself from source first.
CPAN is the closest thing to DLL hell on Unix systems. Modules are updated willy-nilly. No attempt is made to preserve compatibility between versions, or between modules and their dependencies. A company I used to work for had to totally abandon a large program because it was impossible to keep it working in the face of CPAN-driven upgrades, even if they did manage to get it installed the first time (by totally bypassing CPAN).
Indeed. I'd love to get Internet in my airplane, but whatever comes along to provide that service will be big, heavy, bulky, and very, very expensive for the first several years.
I don't expect ADS-B datalink weather to be practical for the small airplane owner with nationwide coverage for at least another decade.
I consider the XM weather essential for long-distance cross-country flights (more than one 300 nm leg), to the point I'd have to seriously reconsider a trip if it broke. Being able to have current weather along my route of flight quickly available and presented graphically, without having to get someone to read it to me, is a major enhancement to aviation safety.
I'm not that fond of the changes they made to XM 46 and XM 49 after the merger, but it's still mainly something to listen to in between ATC transmissions anyway, so I'm not going to argue that loudly. My favorite channel for a long car trip, Old Time Radio (XM 164/Sirius 118 after the merger), isn't practical for listening in the airplane, since ATC overrides the program audio, and they talk too much.:-)
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Amen. This seems like a good idea...but for the things I do that don't involve sitting in front of a computer or a book, it'd be a disaster. Both driving, and to an even greater extent flying, involve repeated, regular, rapid changes in focus distance from close to far, and especially while flying, my hands have better things to do than stay up at the bridge of my nose adjusting how well I see.
I've worn bifocals since I was 16 years old. (Focus flexibility problems don't always start in middle age.) These new glasses will not replace them, for me.
I've had this argument with several big-name EFF supporters (Cory Doctorow springs immediately to mind). If the EFF weren't anti-spam blocking, there would be no issue.
I block tens of thousands of spams sent to my system weekly. That's a lot more than "a few emails". Your argument is the same as the spammers' "just hit delete".
If they ignored spam, I wouldn't have a problem. They've actively fought anti-spam measures, though, and that puts them squarely on the wrong side of the line.
I'll donate to the EFF when they get a clue about spam. Their official position is that spam is protected free speech, and measures to fight it are far worse than the problem. They don't understand that spam is highly destructive to the net as a form of communication.
If the Kindle DX had a color display, I'd have ordered one already as a paperless cockpit solution for my airplane. I need to see charts in color. Yes, I know that a big part of the charm of the Kindle is the e-ink display, which enables long battery life...but I'll give some part of that up to get color. I really don't want to spend a couple of kilobucks on a tablet PC.
That blowed up real good!
Yeah. There's enough confusion between knots and MPH that I wanted to make sure which we were dealing with. I finally went to Terrafugia's site, where they said it cruises at 115 MPH (100 knots). That's kinda disappointing, though with as much frontal area as the Transition has, making it go faster on the Rotax 912S's 100 HP would be problematical at best. They're probably well into the range where more power would only marginally increase speed, too.
Actually, cropdusters don't have to follow the normal traffic pattern, per FAR 137.45. If they don't, however, they're required to give way to aircraft that do.
There's a cropdusting operation at my home airport, and they're quite good about staying out of everyone else's way.
This is because the FAA has a maximum VH of 87 knot limit (100 mph) for the current sports license.
This is not correct. The sport pilot license is good for any light sport aircraft, with at most an additional signoff required for those with a Vh of over 87 knots but less than 120 knots. My AMD Zodiac XLi is a light sport aircraft, with a Vh of 120 knots. See the definition of "light sport aircraft" in section 1.1 of the FAA's rules.
Yeah, I know...my Zodiac's useful load is only 470 pounds. I can carry me and a passenger and fuel, but I have to be careful about how much fuel - but that's still on the order of 20 gallons, which takes me as far as I want to go in one leg anyway.
BTW, is that 115 MPH, or 115 knots (about 135 MPH)? Most modern aircraft report speeds in knots.
Can you get a powered parachute with a Vh of 120 knots? I don't recall seeing any with cruise speeds faster than a car on a freeway.
Those who don't use their radios are indeed taking unjustified risks...but it's quite common for airplanes not to have radios at all. (Some airplanes don't even have electrical systems.) You can't assume that the pattern is empty just because nobody's talking. You have to look. Depending on the radio is just as foolish as depending solely on your own abilities to see and avoid.
You're assuming that "your typical civilian" would be flying one. This is not the case: it requires at least a sport pilot license. The requirements for that license are substantially the same, for those privileges that are common, to those for the private pilot license. (I've got the test standards right in front of me; I'm in the final phases of preparing for the CFI-Sport Pilot checkride.) Those standards most certainly include using checklists for all phases of flight. If they don't use them, they don't pass.
Not gonna happen. The 1320 pound/600 kg max gross weight limit is something the FAA is dead set on keeping. Yes, it excludes a large number of certificated aircraft - but it was intended to: the goal was to create a market for new airplanes.
Part of the pre-takeoff checklist for every aircraft I've ever seen is "FLIGHT CONTROLS: FREE AND CORRECT". You move the stick and make sure the control surfaces move in the proper direction. It's not just (or even primarily) for detecting sabotage; it's because mechanics have been known to hook cables up backwards during maintenance.
The video voice-over says that the Terrafugia's empty weight is 890 pounds. With a maximum gross weight of 1320 pounds set by the Light Sport AIrcraft rules, this leaves a useful load of just 430 pounds. Gasoline weighs 6 pounds per gallon. With two real people aboard, it won't have much range...
However, they don't have to talk to you, and may well refuse to do so if you're openly recording them. I was being scapegoated at one job, and brought in a recorder for my exit interview - and when I asked them to state the reason for their action, the HR guy reached over and turned off my recorder, and when I turned it back on, he said that he would not say anything further while being recorded. There wasn't much I could do but say that I felt the action was unfair and unjustified, and leave.
It may have been improved since we gave up a few years back...but at the time, it was extremely common for a program to break badly when a CPAN module it used was updated, and there was no way to prevent it from being updated if another program being installed called for it.
I don't use CPAN any more for the same kind of reason I don't deal with the Ford Motor Company any more, even though I unloaded my last Ford 13 years ago: they burned me so badly that I cannot afford another failure of that magnitude, and the alternatives did not have the same problems at all when I tried them.
The problem was that the program was written to work with one revision of the modules...and then when the admin put another package on the system, or upgraded another package, that used the same modules, they would get upgraded from CPAN without any way to control or isolate them. Since module authors don't give a fuzzy rat's ass about backward compatibility, things broke, badly.
There's no way to tell CPAN "don't upgrade this module unless it's compatible". There's also a total lack of concern for compatibility within the CPAN developer community. That's why the project I was involved with failed, and a large part of the reason I personally switched to Python.
Amen. This is why Hercules is distributed as a .pkg for OS X. I don't want to put Hercules users through the pain of dealing with Fink or MacPorts.
I refuse to use both Fink and MacPorts because they insist on bringing in huge amounts of other stuff whenever I try to install anything. I'll build for myself from source first.
CPAN is the closest thing to DLL hell on Unix systems. Modules are updated willy-nilly. No attempt is made to preserve compatibility between versions, or between modules and their dependencies. A company I used to work for had to totally abandon a large program because it was impossible to keep it working in the face of CPAN-driven upgrades, even if they did manage to get it installed the first time (by totally bypassing CPAN).
Indeed. I'd love to get Internet in my airplane, but whatever comes along to provide that service will be big, heavy, bulky, and very, very expensive for the first several years.
I don't expect ADS-B datalink weather to be practical for the small airplane owner with nationwide coverage for at least another decade.
I consider the XM weather essential for long-distance cross-country flights (more than one 300 nm leg), to the point I'd have to seriously reconsider a trip if it broke. Being able to have current weather along my route of flight quickly available and presented graphically, without having to get someone to read it to me, is a major enhancement to aviation safety.
I'm not that fond of the changes they made to XM 46 and XM 49 after the merger, but it's still mainly something to listen to in between ATC transmissions anyway, so I'm not going to argue that loudly. My favorite channel for a long car trip, Old Time Radio (XM 164/Sirius 118 after the merger), isn't practical for listening in the airplane, since ATC overrides the program audio, and they talk too much. :-)