[A]Improper W&B procedures - rant[/A]

Half Fast said:
One of my favorite slide rules, suitable for use by logarithmic infidels like @Sac Arrow :

Click to expand...
When I took the civil PE exam some fool showed up with a slide rule. I have no idea whether he passed or not.

Being a mechanical, I had no background in this survey crap, or seismic, for that matter and had to cram for it. I borrowed a buddy's HP48GX with the survey pack. That helped.
 
Sac Arrow said:
When I took the civil PE exam some fool showed up with a slide rule. I have no idea whether he passed or not.
Click to expand...

Doubtful, unless he also had a calculator. The things are hideously slow. Given the exam time limits, I don't see how it could be done with a slide rule.

Just for grins, I pulled out a slide rule when I was doing some electrical load calculations a few years ago and ran a couple of computations with it. Granted I hadn't used one in decades, so I'm sure someone in practice would be quicker, but it took an astounding amount of time to use it. I quickly switched back to my HP15C, which is itself a bit of an antique being from 1984.

The changeover from slide rules to calculators was extremely quick. In my sophomore year of high school, my chemistry teacher took orders for slide rules (circular ones) the first day of class, and by the time I was taking AP physics in my senior year I had a TI-58 programmable.
 
Half Fast said:
The changeover from slide rules to calculators was extremely quick. In my sophomore year of high school, my chemistry teacher took orders for slide rules (circular ones) the first day of class, and by the time I was taking AP physics in my senior year I had a TI-58 programmable.
Click to expand...
I was in the last 7th grade class to be taught slide rule (though Dad had already taught me), the teacher had a giant one hanging above the blackboard. When I returned for 8th grade, we were told, "buy a calculator."

In engineering school, I brought my slide rule to all important exams, just in case. Saved my butt once when my calculator batteries died.
 
Half Fast said:
Varies by state. Here in FL, only firearms have to be concealed, so you can carry your trebuchet (and longbow and broadsword and spear) openly.
Click to expand...
Try that up here in liberal New England... "But officer, a broadsword is hardly a concealed weapon!"
 
Oh, what have I learned on Youtube recently...

1. You can legally own a grenade launcher in some states.

2. The grenade ammunition however is substantially harder to obtain.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Oh, what have I learned on Youtube recently...

1. You can legally own a grenade launcher in some states.

2. The grenade ammunition however is substantially harder to obtain.
Click to expand...

That’s a surprise? My 1950s Yugoslavian SKS came with a grenade launcher installed on the muzzle. Pretty common.



Deactivated Yugoslavian SKS M59/66 Assault Rifle with Grenade ...
yugoSKS-044087.jpg
 
Half Fast said:
That’s a surprise? My 1950s Yugoslavian SKS came with a grenade launcher installed on the muzzle. Pretty common.



View attachment 124201
yugoSKS-044087.jpg
Click to expand...
The specific one referenced was an M203, which is classified as a 'destructive device.' But yes, muzzle brake launchers are pretty common and not restricted as far as I know.
 
I love a good thread drift, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around "weight and balance" to "grenade launchers".
 
Albany Tom said:
I love a good thread drift, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around "weight and balance" to "grenade launchers".
Click to expand...
A grenade launcher can help shift the balance back to your weight.
 
Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if there are any fighter planes that have a maximum zero ammo weight?
 
They sent men to the moon with a bunch of engineers using a slide rule. The computers on board were dwarfed by the Commodore 64. Boeing, can't get vnav to work reliably in the 737.
 
Mikey52 said:
They sent men to the moon with a bunch of engineers using a slide rule. The computers on board were dwarfed by the Commodore 64. Boeing, can't get vnav to work reliably in the 737.
Click to expand...

:) People can add 2 and 2 in their heads in a few milliseconds. In hardware, it can be done in nanoseconds. But with software, you can extend that to be a full minute or more. Never underestimate the ability of software to make things less reliable and slower. It sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not...most desktop apps are as slow or slower than they were fully 40 years ago, even though the hardware is more than 10,000 times faster.
 
Albany Tom said:
most desktop apps are as slow or slower than they were fully 40 years ago, even though the hardware is more than 10,000 times faster.
Click to expand...


In a previous life, I used to do a lot of servo simulation work. It seems my sims usually took 1.5 to 2 hours to run, despite getting faster and faster computers through the years. That was because 2 hours was about my tolerance limit to wait for a run, and faster hardware just meant I could add more details and create more elaborate models. I'd just keep adding refinements until run times got to a couple of hours. :)
 
Shepherd said:
Fly old airplanes. They don't have those silly charts.
Click to expand...
Back in the early 1980’s, crude moving maps were just starting to be seen.

I remember seeing a Citabria or Decathalon with a small round one filling an instrument cutout. Coolest thing ever!

Until I realized the owner had cut out a picture of one from a magazine and pasted it on his panel. It was close to another decade before these things started being feasible for the ordinary aircraft owner.
 
Sac Arrow said:
We do a lot of work in SE Asia and Australia. I'm comfortable with either. I know more cardinal values in English units, but the math is simpler in metric.
Click to expand...
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia specifies weights in kg and moments in mm for aircraft.
https://www.casa.gov.au/search-centre/manuals-and-handbooks/weight-control-aircraft#Download

ICAO has kg as a mass. They also specify kg for cargo capacity and fuel capacity. They talk about passenger mass in kg.
https://aerosavvy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/an05_cons.pdf

Then regulatory authorities such as CASA and EASA use the term passenger weight in kg
https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/newsr...nger-weights-2022-shows-no-significant-change

Being an engineer I use slugs for mass when working in Imperial units.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top