Another daft question....

[Grim Reaper 14]

Please forgive me, I know not what I am saying....... but

Following the sterling efforts of the sensational Mr. Linton, does it not make sense for aircraft to have a horn or klaxon fitted? In the event of a complete engine failure or forced shutdown, aiming for a beach strikes me as eminently sensible. But how do the poor sods down below know you're coming? Cars don't require electrical power for the horn to work, so I guess that's not a valid reason for aircraft not to have one. Could someone please give me a devilishly effective put down as to the obvious reason why not....or perhaps just wonder along with me.:)

[QDMQDMQDM]

Following the sterling efforts of the sensational Mr. Linton, does it not make sense for aircraft to have a horn or klaxon fitted?

There are some pilots for whom such a horn, sounding loudly to a radius of several miles, should be mandatory in all phases of flight.

;)

QDM

[ETOPS773]

Well..you could carry one of those ones that you take to a footy match in your flight bag,open up the door and let it rip!

But would I have one fitted to my plane- hell yeah!!,I could have alot fun with one of those,like a horn in your car,beeping at the guy doing his run up to move along a bit and stop being greedy,or taunt "skippy" about his bouncing landings.

Seriously though,what a marvellous idea!!!:)

[poetpilot]

....and since it is ALWAYS used whenever an aircraft is plummeting to its doom in any feature film you care to mention, the horn must do that yukky "Stuka Death Dive" sound... that way, Joe Public will know it is really going to crash...

[englishal]

Just add a speaker outside the aircraft connected to the mic, then you can yell at people too :D

[EI_Sparks]

No, what you really want is a redundant system, so we'd have the words "If you can read this, I'm going to crash" painted on the underside of the wings, a "Look out below" banner in a dragchute-style container on the tail, a big red flashing light underneath the plane (oh, hang on...) and a great big loudspeaker/claxon affair.
Mind you, that's so much drag that you'd probably never get out of ground effect, so viola! It works! You'll never get past the trees at the end of the field, so you'll never crash into Joe Public :D :D :p :D :D :rolleyes:

[Cat.S]

In these days of electronic gadgetry you could have one that sounds like machine gun fire- that would shift them!

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Apocalypse Now – ‘ride of the Valkyries’ at several megawatts, for me !

That should shift the dozy tw*ts who sit on the Barton pumps for hours doing pre-flight checks that wouldn’t shame a Space Shuttle while the whole world waits (im)patiently behind them.

SSD

[big.al]

Why not take a getto blaster and play the theme tune to 617 Squadron out of the windows whilst dive-bombing towards the ground?

Sorry, that wasn't mean't to sound sarcastic - it is an interesting thread. I just wonder if the sound of a horn blaring out might prove distracting to the pilot at an already stressful, not to mention busy, time of high concentration....

[Windy Militant]

I believe that Stukas were fitted with gadgets called Jericho horns to make them sound scarier!
Mind you a hooter might not be such a bad idea. A guy I know was trying to dead stick onto a golf course after an engine failure when a bunch of geezers In loud pullovers and "Rupert the Bear" trousers marched onto his chosen landing point. Despite shouting at them he could not get their attention. So he had swerve to avoid them and ended up nosing over in the crop along side the fairway.
:eek:

[treadigraph]

As a cyclist I am always being told I should carry a bell (twee) or a klaxon. Why? "Get out of the way you dozy ****wit" does marvels for my stress reduction programme and has been known to have a spectacular effect on the hard of thinking... One guy lobbed a styrofoam cup of Starbucks Ripoff Coffee clear over his shoulder (and the lees over his Times) after wandering out into the road in front of me...:D

Back to aeroplanes - marvellous idea; Shorts exhibited a Skyvan at Farnborough a couple of decades back with the "Skyshout" system on board... Can't recall what was said but you could hear it clearly over the whine of the Garretts and the wonderous words of the Master Commentator, John Blake.

Just hope none of us ever need to use it in earnest...

[Ludwig]

How about 2x 20mm cannon for clearing a path?:cool:

[Who has control?]

Perhaps we should ask the Glider Pilots amongst us how they manage?

;)

[Just an other number]

grim
Back to post number 1.
Er but cars DO need electrical power to sound their horns.

[AerBabe]

The problem with any kind of audio warning is that Joe Public are going to be so surprised to hear it they'll be standing there gawping wondering what the noise is all about rather than shifting out of the way. What you need is some physical warning. Coupla rockets ought to do the trick :)

[FWA NATCA]

Grim,

If you warn them that takes the surprise out of them turning around and seeing you in the flare, then trying to dash out of the way. That look of surprise on their faces is worth a lot of laughs afterward in the bar with them.

Seriously, unless your engine is poping and sputtering odds are they won't hear you until your tires touch the ground, so you can only do your best at avoiding anyone on the golf course or road.

Several people have mentioned small airhorns to warn those on the ground, but it is important to remember that you are going to be very busy using both hands trying to safely land the airplane. Think about it, you are trying to fly the airplane, scan for a landing spot, and scanning your instruments so you don't stall and calling out on the radio giving your position and broadcasting that you are going down, you don't need the added workload of trying to hold a horn out the window and blowing it.

Mike
FWA

[Skylark4]

Someone mentioned, earlier, the golf course incident. The same or similar was at Cranfield, PFA Rally a few years back. Kitfox with a dead engine. That incident made me think of an emergency horn too. An air powered one, as is used as a foghorn on light sailing craft would do nicely. Trouble is, it probably wouldn`t work. The `targets` would look all around them, under trees and bushes and probably down the hole but they would never dream of looking up.

Glider pilots land in fields etc all the time but these landings are pre-planned once the glider is down to about 1000`. That is several minutes in a glider but only a few tens of seconds in most unpowered powered aircraft.

Mike W