An Invitation

[India Four Two]

An unusual title for a post on AH&N, but bear with me.

Today I had to do some PPRuNeing in my PM folder, since I had reached the magic 150 message limit. While choosing which messages to delete, I realized that I have communicated with quite a few PPRuNers over the past few years, but I've only met one "in the flesh" and a "near-miss" with another because of a communication breakdown.

This of course is mostly because of where I live. It's not easy to pop into a PPRuNe bash or attend a fly-in when you're half-a-world away.

So since most of the people I've communicated with are posters here, I thought this was an appropriate place to make this invitation.

If any PPRuNers (or friends you can vouch for ;) ) are coming to Saigon (SGN/VVTS), send me a PM and I would be delighted to meet you, buy you a cold beer in some very nice pubs and take you on a guided tour of the many corroding heaps of aluminium around town, ranging from small:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/U17P1010219.jpg


to large:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/B707IMG_1617-1.jpg

Simon

[Lightning Mate]

What a nice gesture. :ok:



...a guided tour of the many corroding heaps of aluminium around town

That Cessna U-17B doesn't look very corroded to me.

[India Four Two]

LM,

You're right. The U-17B (in the War Remembrances Museum, behind my apartment) is probably restoreable, unlike this A-37, which definitely needs a bit of bodge tape:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/A37IMG_1592.jpg

And especially for you, LM, there are a few of these knocking around (and of course, still operational in Hanoi):
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/M21IMG_1604.jpg

WIWOLs particularly welcome to join me on the tour/pub-crawl ;) since I have a soft-spot for the Lightning - the first fast-jet I ever sat in - a V(AC) Squadron F6 at Binbrook in 1967.

Three things still stand out in my memory - it was a long way to the ground, it looked like I would lose my kneecaps during an ejection and the ASI looked like it was stolen from a Morris 1300!

[Lightning Mate]

the ASI looked like it was stolen from a Morris 1300!

What? - with a Mach scale included.? :)

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu82/Lightning_29/OR946.jpg

[India Four Two]

with a Mach scale included.?

That must have been the BAC optional extra. BL probably didn't feel a 0-0.1 Mach scale would be very impressive.

Since we are on the subject, a serious question. Did you find it difficult to detect "rate-of-change" information on the tape ASI as opposed to a conventional needle and round-dial display?

[Lightning Mate]

Not really. There was a standby one, but "rate of change" in a Lightning was irrelevant - it all occured very quickly, especially when accelerating. :)

[India Four Two]

As soon as I clicked Reply, I knew that's what you would say! :ok:

[Lightning Mate]

I once took a certain F3 supersonic and passing M1.3 the Mach scale, moving right to left, became 'orribly mouldy. It obviously hadn't been supersonic for quite some time and the engineers at first didn't believe me when I snagged it. :\