Metal Landing Calculator

This is one of those things I have never understood. What is it how does it work?

Also what about altitude reminder. What is it?
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I wonder if that could be adapted to track the dice calls in a bar top Liar's Dice game?
 
But really what is it for?

I think you use the dials to set an assigned altitude so you can remember it. Why it has hundred foot increments I don't know, I suppose if you're using to track a TPA or a field elevation.

I think I would be clumsy manipulating a loose device with four thumbwheels on it and I'd probably misplace it in the cockpit. It would probably take me at least ten times as long to set an altitude as it would be for me to write it down on my kneeboard pad.
 
I think you use the dials to set an assigned altitude so you can remember it. Why it has hundred foot increments I don't know,

It has hundred foot increments for the IFR folks who are giving altitudes on the approach that are not even thousands or 500's.
 
It has hundred foot increments for the IFR folks who are giving altitudes on the approach that are not even thousands or 500's.

Oh. Yeah, makes sense. I think I have enough work to do on an approach already though, screw trying to fiddle with one of those things.
 
geez. If people are forgetting assigned altitude, then where is the sporty's taxi instruction read back device?

I think the only thing I write down our radio frequencies and weather codes
 
Nah... It's just way of the internet. If you believe their own press everyone is nearly perfect on the internet. :D

As a noob, I figure out the headings using some hand waving, visualization, mental math, and if I'm really feeling confused I sketch a diagram on a piece of paper. Suddenly your old fashioned gadget doesn't sound so crazy. If it works for you, use it, just don't admit to it on an internet forum. :D

and people wonder why there are less pilots now...it ain't the gas prices.
 
Ever feel like you just ended up with the wrong CFI for your flight review?

"Okay Arrow. Let's see your logbook. Hmmm. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Ready for some ground instruction?"

"Bring it on."

"Let's do a weight and balance. I weigh 210 lbs, we have a couple 105 lb Filipinas in the back, one for each of us, and twenty pounds of Alize malt liquor in the baggage compartment."

Scratch scratch scratch "Okay there we go. Looks like we're loaded within the normal category."

"Okay good. So, do you know how to use a Landing Calculator?"

"Um, yeah, actually I do, I was involved in a fairly lengthy Internet discussion on those. Helps you visualize and determine the pattern at a remote airport."

"Huh? No.... no I mean a real Landing Calculator." He pulls out a hard plastic slide computer with a couple wheels.

"How does it work?"

"Well. I enter the loaded weight of my plane, its displaced volume, the altitude, temperature and humidity variables, and it will compare the airplane's buoyancy with the air density at the field elevation. See, here, watch... Okay, as long as we're on this side of the slanted line, we can land. If we're on the other side, we can't."

"Um... we're pretty far away from that line, it looks like. So... what variables could we change that might get us over the line."

"Hmm.... well, weight certainly."

"How much would we have to weigh to not be able to land?"

"Let me see. Four pounds."

"So, at our present weight, what volume would we have to have?"

"Roughly. Let's see. Mmm. 150,000 cubic feet... mmm. Like, about the size of an airship."

"So, you really think it's necessary to do this calculation for each flight?"

"Well, due diligence. I'm telling you. You'll probably get away with it, but if something goes wrong...."
 
dang tough crowd.

In case you're making a hit list OP ...

I'm sorry if I bullied you and acted like an asshat. I was wrong and I would really like to apologize for it. :)


crossing-billy-off-list-o.gif
 
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Here:

http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/9382

If some poor sucker can be fleeced for $4 for a 5 cent sheet of paper, Sporty's will sell it.

But, but, it's special pilot paper!

Actually at the very beginning of my private training I used one that another student had made to catch the ATIS and basic talking to the tower. Now I have no need (for VFR anyway) but it was a real help right at the start.

John


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
New slogan:

Sporty's

Convincing students and low time pilots to buy stupid chit that they don't need for over 50 years.
 
Here:

http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/9382

If some poor sucker can be fleeced for $4 for a 5 cent sheet of paper, Sporty's will sell it.

Sporty's???

What about Garmin, or Foreflight? How much have they squeezed out pilots for stuff that shows them what they already see out the window?

Or an app for weight and balance? (http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72688) O. M. G. really?

But something simple as an E6-B with a standard pattern printed on the back? Can't have that. No way. :rolleyes:
 
Well, ForeFlight is a bargain.

Garmin and Jepp on the other hand...
 
I feel like Garmin has an IV in one of my veins sucking the life force out of me ....
 
AND FOR JUST THE LOW PRICE OF $900.00! YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR EXISTING $3000.00 GARMIN SETUP TO SYNTHETIC WOW VISION!!!

ACT NOW! BEFORE WE UPGRADE AGAIN NEXT MONTH!

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[Yt]HYkjLUMx19I[/Yt]
 
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Not really, I'm just tired of every single forum I belong to for my chosen hobbies, I see stuff like this.

I have a "toy" that I use to confirm what my dg is telling me. In addition like all you superstar pilots I can look outside and know where to fly to get to hte right runway. None of you are better pilots than me. You haven't crashed less planes than me.

My original post is I "like" having this tool and it is wearing out. I would like some help finding it. I use it 20 miles out when I got nothing else to do. When I found it I even made a link to it in case you would like one also. When I ask I get the "old man avalanche" of idiots telling me how much better pilots they are cause they don't use this toy.

Literally more than half of posts I see get sidetracked with internet tough guys who can't wait to tell you how superior they are. I usually let it go unless the offenders do it consistently, then I let it rip.

It happens on aviation, hot rod, jet ski, even on my chess forums.

I try and be helpful if I think I know what I'm talking about.

Things like "Otherwise, in a real plane, you just look out the window..." ....that is no help Capt. Obvious.

And " (for those who can't figure out how to line up things on the 90 degree points of their DG or look out the window to see if they are parallel or perpendicular to the runway)." Not only is that no help but no one wants to see that, I hope you feel better trying to make me feel stupid.

I have super thick skin and I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't say that if I was in the room. If so well you're just a jackass anyway.

No response needed or asked for but feel free to do so anyway.

I just had this same problem on the Piper forum, gotta be honest it feels good to give some people the finger sometimes.

I got 5 PM's and multiple +1's from guys who can't stand it either. If you are offended by this post, I'm probably talking to you.:nono:

I've got a suggestion for you. :)

The Purple Board for Pilots

You have to register to access the forums but it's free and posts are not searchable on Google. Best of all, we're really friendly (literally -- many of us have made many friends on the PB!) and we rarely do drama.
 
*sigh*

This thread brings back such great memories! There I was, in 1998, taking my '75 Warrior in for its first annual inspection, as a new owner, at the same shop that did the prebuy inspection just a few months earlier, and getting totally ASS-RAPED for over $5000 in repairs, adjustments, and labor.

I came to the aviation groups to post my questions, and my outrage -- and got equal parts sympathy and a huge helping of absolute merciless abuse.

I was excoriated, called names, told I was stupid, made to feel like an idiot -- and given some truly great advice, by some really wonderful people.

To the OP: Put on your big girl panties, and suck it up. Sort through the good advice, and ignore the bad. This is the real world of aviation, and you had better be able to make your own judgments, quickly, or you'll be finding a new hobby soon.
 
But Garmin and Foreflight have electrons...and stuff.

AND FOR JUST THE LOW PRICE OF $900.00! YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR EXISTING $3000.00 GARMIN SETUP TO SYNTHETIC WOW VISION!!!

ACT NOW! BEFORE WE UPGRADE AGAIN NEXT MONTH!

post-3-0-17239900-1397486964.jpg

It's made in KANSAS CITY! You know that Kansas City makes good stuff.
 
and people wonder why there are less pilots now...it ain't the gas prices.

Do you think maybe the reason that threads such as this tend to go south is the same reason that Lance is going to struggle finding an engineer who is also a salesman? here

Engineers don't typically have people skills, engineers are geeks, pilots are geeks, engineer types tend to be pilots.

No people skills = terse responses on internet forums.

I really don't think much of it is truly meant to be personal or one-up-man-ship And, actually, I find that the ones who tend get personal quickest (purposely) are the non-engineering types. But that's still rare.
 
Why should I have to sort? Why can't we be grown men and contribute if we can help?

Some can and some can't. Basically, pilots are largely type A introverts. When you meet them in person, they are reasonably polite, mumble, darting eyes and short, one sentence responses. At home in a comfy chair, armed with a glass of bourbon and a keyboard and watch out!! The inner butt hole comes out to play. I haven't been a pilot forum yet where this isn't the case. Actually this is pretty much the case on any forum I've been on aviation or not.

There's also a lot of piling on too. Once the alphas in the group have decided how the thread will go, all the me toos start piling on so as to appear on the "winning" side of the argument. Sort of like tribal identification. Then there's the bromances and the creepy sexual innuendos. Pilot forums are socially stunted boy's clubs, but in there one can sometimes learn something, sometimes be entertained and sometimes share something without ridicule. Pretty much school yard all over again.

It is what it is.
 
Some can and some can't. Basically, pilots are largely type A introverts. When you meet them in person, they are reasonably polite, mumble, darting eyes and short, one sentence responses. At home in a comfy chair, armed with a glass of bourbon and a keyboard and watch out!! The inner butt hole comes out to play. I haven't been a pilot forum yet where this isn't the case. Actually this is pretty much the case on any forum I've been on aviation or not.

There's also a lot of piling on too. Once the alphas in the group have decided how the thread will go, all the me toos start piling on so as to appear on the "winning" side of the argument. Sort of like tribal identification. Then there's the bromances and the creepy sexual innuendos. Pilot forums are socially stunted boy's clubs, but in there one can sometimes learn something, sometimes be entertained and sometimes share something without ridicule. Pretty much school yard all over again.

It is what it is.

That is actually a pretty accurate psychological assessment of pilots as a whole.
 
Forums and facebook, all the talk boards are like a saloon and you're the new gunslinger that just walked in.
 
Why should I have to sort? Why can't we be grown men and contribute if we can help? If you don't like that I'm unhappy, check your own panties and deal with it.

I can and I am making my own choices, trust me a bunch of juveniles will not deter my hobby.
There you go! THAT is the only attitude that works here.
:)
 
Not having used one of those things in 30 years I would be willing to bet that you will not use it for long either. Just too cumbersome. Learn to visualize it just by looking at your DG. If you need a little more help and have Foreflight or Wing-x just turn runways extensions on so you can see your position relative to the runways and quickly visualize the pattern entry. Foreflight will even draw the pattern entry for you if you just want to follow the magenta line. With a little practice, however, you can do this all by visualizing the runway on your DG. It will become second nature in no time and you'll be able to do it quickly without having to put your head down to fiddle with that gadget.


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ALL I WANTED WAS A FLIPPING LINK TO A WEBSITE!


pa32-300...don't take anything personal on this site, some...OK, a LOT of people like to just stir s#!t up! I was recently crowned "most unskilled pilot ever" in a recent post by asking a question about a search function and it got personal fast but is honestly more fun to continue to rile people up more than get defensive.

Some folks here are legit and I value their opinion, critical or not.

Roll with the punches and do what I do...just laugh at the responses of the crazy old people!

...and for the love of God...DO NOT admit to flying with a GPS or ANYTHING other than a VOR and paper chart!

...on a side note, any PIREPS on the line of sight thingy?:lol:
 
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geez. If people are forgetting assigned altitude, then where is the sporty's taxi instruction read back device?

I think the only thing I write down our radio frequencies and weather codes

They have them, it's called a digital recorder.
 
If you read many threads on here, you'll notice that almost all of them start out on one topic, a simple question, a funny thing that happened on the way to the airport or a crash in the news. These threads either die after the 7th post of take off in another direction and runs for 7 pages! :D
Every "what airplane" thread becomes a ****ing contest trying to convince the world why "my" airplane is the perfect choice and why Dukes suck.;) I've been flying for 30 years and I find plenty of good information on here.
Don't take it personally, lots of good folks here, some a little more blunt, maybe too blunt, but only a couple real a-holes.;)
Oh, please stay out of the Spin Zone, you will not like the conversations over there. :eek:
 
To the OP, you caught them by surprise - like a new dog suddenly showing up in the neighborhood there is a lot of bristling and butt sniffing while getting acquainted.

Unlike the crowd I have seen a landing calculator before and somewhere in my boxes of junk from the late 50's or early 60's it still probably lurks (not looking for it)
It ranks up there with heading calculators for entering a holding pattern. I have a couple of them also - cheap plastic - that I have not seen for a few decades now.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with pre-planning the entry into the traffic pattern so ignore the loud sniffing noises. I don't have a clue as to who makes your planning tool in metal. If Sporty's doesn't list it, likely it doesn't exist any longer.

Oh, and if you have thin skin you are going to have a tough time with this crowd. When someone gets all aggressive and derisive just assume they are hiving their monthly :D

cheers
 
Forums do exist where people are nice to one another. Model-specific forums for cars and trucks are mostly that way, at least the one I've used.

I bet one could post something there, asking where to buy an uncommon old gadget, without being scolded and condemned for stupidity.
 
Forums do exist where people are nice to one another. Model-specific forums for cars and trucks are mostly that way, at least the one I've used.

I bet one could post something there, asking where to buy an uncommon old gadget, without being scolded and condemned for stupidity.

This is mostly true. Over at MooneySpace we are all pretty civil and low drama, but we do still have a couple of cranky guys that leave you scratching your head with their responses. Same thing with the couple of car forums I've been on.
 
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