I think I have a good idea

[prunehead]

There is some concern that PPRUNE is too much of a public forum to aire our dirty industry linnen on. To an end this concern is justified, and maybe there is a way to solve this dilema.

As PPRUNE is a forum for industry employed people and enthusiasts alike, it should be accessable to both, whilst the general public need not know aobut everything we do or think, to the industries detrement.

I suggest that some forums that pose these concerns could be not made available to anyone but approved users (as are some forums already). The clincher here is that a simple one off test could be employed to ascertain whether a person is industry based, thus allowing them access.

It would be simple to make up a short test that could differentiate even aviation novices from non aviation people, may need as few as five questions, and could simply be based on something dear to all our hearts....ACRONYMS!!!!!

This is just a thought, but it may well have some merit!!

[Anti Skid On]

Fair point, but what is there to stop someone goinging to rec.aviation.XXX newsroups (for example) and asking "What does TCAS mean", etc.

In fact most people on the web can use Ask Jeeves (just did TCAS and it knew the answer) - it also knew VFR, IFR, CVR, ATPL, CPL, NTSB, etc.

Enthusiasts have books too!

[Luftwaffle]

Then the other forums get: "What is ETOPS?" "Can anyone tell me what an EFIS is?" "WHAT IS EPR???" "I know ROTFL and LOL. Please explain EFATO, TAS, DME, VOR, FOD, CSD and FAF."

... hey, Anti-skid has faster fingers than me.



[This message has been edited by Luftwaffle (edited 04 April 2001).]

[prunehead]

Good call antiskid, but havn't people who go to that much trouble displayed their intrest in aviation by doing so?

I think it might limit the vast majority of stickybeak surfers without hurting people with intrest by precluding them from the site.

[CrashDive]

Groan - oh gawd here we go again......... the 'keep it private' and 'only for us professionals' argument.

Right then, so it's a quiz you want to sort the men from boy is it ?

Ok, pens at the ready you have 10 minutes to answer the following questions, and penalty marking applies…….

1). At what temperature in degrees Farenheight is the speed of sound 765 MPH ?

2). What is the tyre pressure of an aircraft wheel that aquaplanes at 114Kts ?

3). At 13:12, you're 300miles from land heading due east, with a groundspeed of 681Km/hr, at 10,670m AMSL. Assuming that you're heading directly at the coast at what time will your FMC start auto-tuning to a DME station located on a cliftop which rises 512' above the sea, and is there anything wrong with this picture ?

4). If, in the above, you'd been out of DME update range for 5 hours by how much would you expect your position to have drifted, in which direction, and what has caused it ?

5). In which JAR Ops manual set would you find the 'pavement loading' classifications ?

6). Define Vmcg & Vmca - what happens when they're coincident ?

7). What's the Performance 'A' engine failed screen height on a wet runway ?

8). Decode the following runway state group - 27459392 ?

9). What is commonly defined to be the fuel freeze-point of JetA1 ?

10). What important European airspace event will be on place by 24th Jan 2002 ?


So….. how'd do you think you did ?

Ps. I've gotta say that hell would be more like to freeze over, than Capt.PPRuNe decide to introduce restrictions w.r.t to the readership and / or contributor base of our (like it or not) glorioius site !

[Note: This message has been edited by CrashDive]

[Tinstaafl]

Why did you edit your post Crashdive? Did you get one of the questions wrong? :) :) :)

[redsnail]

Oh I dunno if acronyms is a good idea.....
Just ask a certain administrator what an EADI stands for..... :)

------------------
reddo...feral animal!

[titan]

Well done Prunehead, you have just tried to destroy everything that Pprune stands for.

It is because the aviation profession runs around with its hoary head in the air pretending to be above all others that the public is left in ignorance; and fear is born of ignorance. When you understand this, only then will you understand the public's paranoia and morbid curiosity of flying

The great airline strike in Australia got no sympathy or support from the public because of this exact attitude of the profession.

Instead, why not try and educate the yet-to-be-educated so that you don't feel like you are lowering yourself to their level, and they in turn are not raising themselves to yours.

"Goggles on, chocks away..... last one back's a homo"

[Rollingthunder]

Titan,

The general public thinks they are just getting on a bus. However they are really embarking on a complex flight in a dangerous environment.
The goal is to deliver them as if they had just been on a bus. Y/C anyway.

[lame]

Jist doent hav a speling teste, or ellse a lott whil mis ouut.....

[mr blue sky]

Well crashdive, you must feel better after that ! What a megalomaniac. What are you the teacher or something ? We all stand in awe at your display of feather preening !

[Old King Coal]

What's the matter Blue Sky - Crashies Q's too tough for you ?!

If so, this might suggest that perhaps you're not a professional aviator and that he should ban you from PPRuNe, in accordance with the theory propounded by pprunehead.

Ps. Bung us a tenner and I'll email you the answers ! ;)

[mr blue sky]

OKC I think you must be from the same mould as Crash Dive, you seem to think yourself able to ask the questions, answer them and give judgement all by yourself. What a star you must think you are. This forum is for open discussion not the imposition of your ideas on anyone else. Your sledgehammer approach is interesting when we consider that you imply some sort of vague connection with aviation.

This thread was started by an individual coming up with a couple of ideas, and sharing them with others. Maybe you would want to ban him too ?

No, I shan't be bunging you anything, not even free advice about your attitude.

[CrashDive]

Basically the originally proposed idea is not going to happen. We've been running PPRuNe for a long time and have heard this argument countless times before - indeed I'd go so far as to say that all it does is chew up valuable (and expensive) disk space and to be honest this thread has nothing to do with aviation R&N so I'm moving to another and more suitable forum (Questions) - please feel free, if you must, to carry it on over there.

Ps. Mr Blue Sky - might I ask that you get a dictionary and have a look at the definition(s) of the word sarcasm - i.e. it was in such jest that my above posting was made (though you too seem quite versed in it) - that said, perhaps you'd like to have a go and answer the questions so that we can indeed check out your bonafides ?! ;)

[vipero]

the right question for the right people:
"what a slot is?"

now, if you're a professional pilot the answer is:
"I don't know...ask Bruxelles for a better one..."

Ciao
Paolo

"Flight Dispatchers tell Pilots where to go"

[Honest Frank]

Crash D- Did all those questions come out of the JAA ATPL question bank????????
Wannabees scramble to your books now.

[hardonharry]

i think those were questions made up, crashdive is a classic example of if you can't do it, teach it.

PPrune forums should be available to everyone even the ones that are locked at present such as the airline ones. I wouldn't mind knowing what sort of peole work for my future employer and what the current issues are etc...

why is this limited access? its like an old boys club or something, very old fashioned and not constructive.



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Theres something in thoses trees, and it ain't no man.

[Sick Squid]

I think RollingThunder has best summed up why this forum should NOT be limited strictly to pilots, and pilots only; aviation IS being treated as little more than a bus ride these days, and if we in the aviation profession can deliver that feeling then, perversely, we have succeded. I'm not saying I like that, or that I think it should be like that, but that is how I feel it actually IS.

The fact that the feeling comes whilst being strapped into an aluminium tube at 600mph with a differential pressure of around 8psi maintaining a reasonable cabin altitude whilst dodging CB's, in maximum crosswinds, on Cat 1 limits is lost on the majority of our pax, and that is a good thing. As long as they have nothing more to complain about than "The food is always spicy on these flights; some of us don't like spicy food" as I had someone say on disembarkation the other day, then we are actually doing the job correctly.

And for those who complain that this forum is not professional enough, well, this is all done in off-duty time. Ever been for a beer with a bunch of doctors? Or lawyers? I have, and the banter is exactly the same, with the same irreverance thrown in. Only problem is we pilots have had a website grow up over the years into this many-headed hydra-thingy, and this standard irreverance and banter is, in our case, now public knowledge.

It doesn't change the way we do the day-to-day job for the worse; if anything I personally have learned many humbling lessons from the experiences posted on this very website. So to a certain extent our dirty linen is washed in public; well fine, but there are many, many other good points to balance that.

Finally, I always say to people who are interested in this site that it is excellent, but it does have a very high noise-to-signal ratio. I'd rather it was like it is today and open to all, than be a closed, elite forum. Let it be I say, let it be.

;)Right ,that's that then. All of the above is bullsh*t. On Alive, Off Alive; anything else is a bonus! That's this pilots definition of customer service for ya! Sick Squid's Mantra! ;)

£6

(The last paragraph was a joke, by the way! Just to make sure.... )



[This message has been edited by Sick Squid (edited 06 April 2001).]

[twistedenginestarter]

I think you are all treating this too trivially. :)

For a long time I have been concerned about the long term health benefits of allowing people onto this channel who haven't actually flown a...


...Trident ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

[mr blue sky]

Good on ye £6.
Crash dive , why do you feel you have to check anyone's bona fides ? I refer to my first post in this thread. As regards definitions of sarcasm, may I be so bold as to suggest that you wind your neck in ? This is a discussion forum, not one where you can crack the whip if anyone deigns to take issue with your contribitions, how dare they !

[glider insider]

perhaps the decider could be those who have a professional approach to aviation rather than just those who make a living from it...then this stupid bickering might stop and everybodies thoughts diverted to a more productive subject.....like beer, or women or this years holiday....or how fast have you been caught speeding.....

[CrashDive]

Blue sky you've seemingly agreed with the original basic premise that we should limit the access to PPRuNe by way of a quiz (Nb. the example I gave above was actually in jest - but you just don’t seem to geddit, do you ?! ), i.e. and in the above what I was aiming at was just where should we draw the line on the level of any such questions - ATPL / PPL / Jet Pilots only / JAA pilots only / etc ?

I've tried to explain this by way of humour, I've also mentioned to you that in all the years that we've been running PPRuNe this debate on who should have access has been raised numerous times - and guess what ? we still allow unfettered access, and on a daily basis daily the contributor pool increases by about 50 - 80 new identities - something which all of us here at PPRuNe HQ welcome.

You however have written that I that I am a megalomaniac, that I don't allow open discussion - but in the same sentence you then tell me to wind my neck in (i.e. am I too not allowed to have an opinion ? ), and that I want to check folks bona fides (hold on, it was not I who originally suggested such a test, i.e. one for precisely this purpose, w.r.t PPRuNe contributors ) - well, so which is it to be ?!

Do you know, the thought rather cruelly crossed my mind to give you 24 hours to 'put-up or shut-up' and answer the questions (yes they do indeed all have real answers - which certainly any UK trained, professional jet pilot, in accordance with the proposed new PPRuNe 'knowledge based' criteria for contributors, should be able to pass ) ; The pass mark I had in my mind was 100%, i.e. get one wrong and I'll have to ban you as not being able-enough to contribute to PPRuNe ;) .....now who was it who said that absolute power corrupts absolutely ?! ...... but I won’t taunt you any further, as I'm sure that you could indeed answer any such puerile test that might be set (even if set only in jest).

Ps. It must have been something pretty awful that I've done, in some previous life, to so rattle your cage ?

PPs. Mbs - just read your reply below - exactly, and no worries mate !



[This message has been edited by CrashDive (edited 07 April 2001).]

[mr blue sky]

Crash dive, I think we've taken enough of everybody's time on this don't you ? I feel that this forum should be open to all and sundry, even the folks not directly involved with or making a living in aviation. I have been accessing pprune for several years as well, and think you chaps do a good job. The nature of my cage rattling was however angled towards what I felt was a slightly high handed attitude towards the chap who first started this thread. Maybe it was too early in the morning when I read your questionaire ! ( jest ) too many dusty books would have to be opened !