GF:
Wow, great race!
Vettel continues his domination by winning his 7th race in '11. Weber manages 2nd and Button makes a great drive to take the 3rd podium position. Hamilton crashed out again. Alonso struggled for 4th while Shumie makes an incredible drive from starting dead last to finish 5th just ahead of Rosberg.
Now what were we discussing? Oh, right!
"Dysfunctional and criminal managements".
Well put. My first 135 job was with a somewhat "shady" outfit you might say. Our operating philosophy as pilots was to do the right thing in spite of the company. The owner was just smart enough to stay out of our way and we actually ran a pretty clean op from our end considering. But a year was enough. The next 7 years were thankfully spent somewhat less stressfully in more robust safety cultures with better training, maintenance and standards.
"Go off that edge, even at 15 knots, could be fatal."
Yeah, I saw that happen with my own eyes at KSMO once. They fried in the fire before we could get there. Idiot took off with the gust lock installed in his C-340 and unsuccessfully aborted from 100 plus knots. A drainage culvert at the end cleaned off the gear and opened the tanks. Exit speed was probably less than 40 kts. Really nice guy too, but dead all the same.
As to our friend of strong opinions, I don't know what to say. But you know what they say about opinions...
"For the life of me, I don't understand pilots who get casual with W&B and trim settings."
Yeah. Maybe a selection of NTSB reports should be required reading. Maybe you don't have to repeat the mistakes of the past to learn their lessons. Learning from your own experience is good. Adding the experience of those who came before is a learning multiplier. It bothers me that some pilots seem to think required training is enough learning. This aviation stuff encompasses allot more than any company will teach in a classroom or simulator. Put in a little extra work!
I got to ride up front in a Galaxy once. Just myself, one other space-A pax and the crew repositioning an empty C-5 from Travis AFB to MCAS El Toro on the last leg of my trip home from Germany on MAC flights. That big boy leaped off the runway like an empty Learjet! I'd guess the takeoff on their next leg from El Toro to Clark with a full load of Marines and all their stuff was pretty different. It still amazes me that these things actually fly! And I still don't quite understand how that one got piled up at Dover. I read the report years ago and think I understand the flight dynamics involved, but not the crew actions.
Best,