Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: republic on January 11, 2007, 08:49:44 AM
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I was visiting the local "city" to get some goodies from the mall. As was walking I heard a tuboprop above me, as usual my head goes on a swivel looking for the source of this pleasant sound. I see, for the first time ever, one of Burt Rutan's Starships.
I grabbed my wife and pointed up to it and told her how rare it was to see one, especially where we live. She smiled one of those smiles only a wife can give...more interested in seeing me excited than the actual plane.
On vacation I once stopped my car and pulled over to the side of the road because I thought saw a Lancaster flying overhead...I stared at it until I couldn't see it anymore...I just couldn't believe it because I knew I had read somewhere only 2 Lanc's in the world were in flying condition. Later found out it was a Lanc, on the way to an airshow nearby.
I have all this seemingly useles information swimming in my head. I spot a plane/ship and I recall all this information I've read through the years. A friend says they are going on a flight, instead of asking 'where to' I ask, "Ohhh what plane are you flying in?"
My favorite vacation so far has been to see the BB-35 USS Texas....and if ever asked I could tell the main gun size, armor thickness and layout, and brief history of the major naval combatants of WWII. :confused:
I'm not a geek am I?
:noid
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some might prefer to use the term "enthusiast".
;)
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The BB-35 Texas is excellent, I was just there a month and a half ago.
In polite company, we're enthusiasts. If I recall correctly, a geek was originally the person at the circus who would assist poultry in doffing their heads, usually with his teeth.
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there used to be one based at OPA, my house is west of the runway and it would fly over every sunday at about 1600. yup every time I hear a prop I look up.
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Originally posted by republic
I'm not a geek am I?
:noid
nah.. just slightly interested.. in a Rainman sorta way ;)
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Originally posted by Nilsen
nah.. just slightly interested.. in a Rainman sorta way ;)
Definitely definitely interested....ya. I'm a good pilot...ya...
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wopner.
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nerds.
thats what the missus calls us.
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I'm definitely not wearing my Batman underwear... definitely.
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Republic,
If you want an unbiased answer, this is not the best forum to ask ;)
PS Lancaster r t3h c00l!!!
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Originally posted by republic
I was visiting the local "city" to get some goodies from the mall. As was walking I heard a tuboprop above me, as usual my head goes on a swivel looking for the source of this pleasant sound. I see, for the first time ever, one of Burt Rutan's Starships.
I grabbed my wife and pointed up to it and told her how rare it was to see one, especially where we live. She smiled one of those smiles only a wife can give...more interested in seeing me excited than the actual plane.
On vacation I once stopped my car and pulled over to the side of the road because I thought saw a Lancaster flying overhead...I stared at it until I couldn't see it anymore...I just couldn't believe it because I knew I had read somewhere only 2 Lanc's in the world were in flying condition. Later found out it was a Lanc, on the way to an airshow nearby.
I have all this seemingly useles information swimming in my head. I spot a plane/ship and I recall all this information I've read through the years. A friend says they are going on a flight, instead of asking 'where to' I ask, "Ohhh what plane are you flying in?"
My favorite vacation so far has been to see the BB-35 USS Texas....and if ever asked I could tell the main gun size, armor thickness and layout, and brief history of the major naval combatants of WWII. :confused:
I'm not a geek am I?
:noid
I did the same thing when I saw the Collings foundation B-24.
I was on 880 north in the fast lane, glanced to the left saw a big 4 engine bomber.... saw it was a B-24. I got over 4 lanes hit the offramp and then the shoulder and watched as that B-24 and B-17 flew by.
It was awsome.
Their are all kinds of geeks, some can fit in with other "normal" people. Most of us are that type, though I am sure we have a few of the social misfit, magic card playing types here too.
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Originally posted by republic
I was visiting the local "city" to get some goodies from the mall. As was walking I heard a tuboprop above me, as usual my head goes on a swivel looking for the source of this pleasant sound. I see, for the first time ever, one of Burt Rutan's Starships.
I grabbed my wife and pointed up to it and told her how rare it was to see one, especially where we live. She smiled one of those smiles only a wife can give...more interested in seeing me excited than the actual plane.
On vacation I once stopped my car and pulled over to the side of the road because I thought saw a Lancaster flying overhead...I stared at it until I couldn't see it anymore...I just couldn't believe it because I knew I had read somewhere only 2 Lanc's in the world were in flying condition. Later found out it was a Lanc, on the way to an airshow nearby.
I have all this seemingly useles information swimming in my head. I spot a plane/ship and I recall all this information I've read through the years. A friend says they are going on a flight, instead of asking 'where to' I ask, "Ohhh what plane are you flying in?"
My favorite vacation so far has been to see the BB-35 USS Texas....and if ever asked I could tell the main gun size, armor thickness and layout, and brief history of the major naval combatants of WWII. :confused:
I'm not a geek am I?
:noid
You seem perfectly normal to me.
Frodo
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Wow, you really don't see Starships anymore, that is a catch...
My first flight instructor was a Starship pilot. He invited me on a flight from Vegas to Camarillo one time, I was all set to go, but then they pulled the Starship off the flight for some reason and he was going to make the flight in a Super KingAir... Probably would have been a cool ride to go on, but I told him I'd rather wait for a ride on the star ship... I figured there would be more opportunities..
Nope, he left that operation a couple months later and I never did get a ride.
Oh, almost forgot... Yeah, we're dweebs... DUUUH.
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I was mocked quite a bit both in high school and, more gently, in several jobs for my enthusiasm for aircraft. Somehow it's normal for men to obsess over cars, but not over aircraft which can do literally everything hundreds of times better than those cars, and which have another entire dimension?
This has been a source of frustration for me for many years. Men like automobiles because they represent power, freedom, and beauty. What really gets me is that aircraft possess all three of those attributes far in excess of any automobile. Let's do the mathematics.
The fastest land vehicle goes around 300 M.P.H. The fastest atmospheric aircraft (we'll be nice and not count spacecraft) goes around 3,000 M.P.H. That's a ten times increase in the power category. And a land vehicle operates only in two dimensions, but is usually limited to one dimension. An aircraft operates in all three dimensions. That's a two to three times increase in the freedom category. And while some say that beauty is relative, if you really consider a Lotus Exige more aesthetically pleasing than an Apache gunship, I feel sorry for you.
I believe that the reason "normal" men are into automobiles and not aircraft is the same reason that millions of people like Brittney Spears and Japanese cartoons. It's simply the "in" thing to do. I blame it on popular media; how many times do you see cars on television? And how many times do you see aircraft? I mean without looking for them.
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I work about 1 mile off the end of the runway at March AFB. I see planes go over every day, and I still stop and look every time.
The worst...best was about 7 years ago.
I was outside in the break area smoking and all by myself. I hear an engine sound that makes be move to a better viewing spot and here comes a lone P-38. It flew straight toward me then did a hard 180 over my head and flew back to the field.
I wanted to tell someone, then I realized... I'm probably the only person anywhere near here that gave a crap. ... was cool tho.
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You can always tell one of the old birds. Something about those ancient engines just calls to you! I'm certain I heard a Merlin over my house a few weeks ago. It sounded like a P-51, but I never saw it.
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A few years ago I was walking outside at work and heard the unmistakable sound of a warbird. I looked up in time to see a P-51 flying low and quite close to my building. But what still gives me chills to this day is that closely following it was a bf-109. I consider myself very lucky to have seen a 109 in the "wild" and know that chances are I will never see another.
I always look up when I hear a plane. You never know what you're going to see.
Oh, yeah. I pretty sure we're just enthusiasts. Yeah, almost positive.
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i thought all the beech starships were bunking at Pinal Air Park (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.509833%2C-111.325333&spn=0.0264,0.0264).
you're positive it wasnt a Piaggio Avanti?
(http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/piaggio/images/1-private-jet.jpg)
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Originally posted by Benny Moore
Somehow it's normal for men to obsess over cars, but not over aircraft which can do literally everything hundreds of times better than those cars, and which have another entire dimension?
I work on cars but my true love is airplanes. I like a car show but I'd prefer to be listening to the roar of a prop. I figure I can balance them out fairly well though.
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Originally posted by Debonair
i thought all the beech starships were bunking at Pinal Air Park (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.509833%2C-111.325333&spn=0.0264,0.0264).
you're positive it wasnt a Piaggio Avanti?
No the plane itself was larger with the engines in nacelles above the wing, it had the distinctive long 'thin' wings with the wingtip rudders, plus the canard was swept ever so slightly and much larger.
It was really a sight to see, that plane is so elegant.
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Collins Foundation brings the 17 and 24's into KBDR 2-3 times a year, and they always happen to fly over my house...It could be a seemlingly completely random day, and I hear those four engines and run outside! it rules!
I live a couple minutes from the Sikorsky Plant. Sure I get a lot of blackhawks, s-76's and 92's..............but when a -53 comes over head at 500 feet, there is nothing like it. Shakes the entire house!
woooooooooot
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Originally posted by cav58d
Collins Foundation brings the 17 and 24's into KBDR 2-3 times a year, and they always happen to fly over my house...It could be a seemlingly completely random day, and I hear those four engines and run outside! it rules!
I live a couple minutes from the Sikorsky Plant. Sure I get a lot of blackhawks, s-76's and 92's..............but when a -53 comes over head at 500 feet, there is nothing like it. Shakes the entire house!
woooooooooot
You lucky dog! I get to see the B-52's regularly at Tinker, that's about the only regular sight I have...but I don't get to OKC that often.
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Originally posted by republic
No the plane itself was larger with the engines in nacelles above the wing, it had the distinctive long 'thin' wings with the wingtip rudders, plus the canard was swept ever so slightly and much larger.
It was really a sight to see, that plane is so elegant.
You know your stuff, looks like beech only scrapped all the ones they could, but there are still some flying, including N45FL based in Tulsa.
45FL opted out of tracking at flightaware.com:noid:noid:noid:noid:noid:noid
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Avanti's also have that god awful engine/prop noise, there is one that goes in and out of KVNY quite regularly (I'm right about under the FAF for 16R) and I hate that damn thing.
The Piaggio also isn't a true canard design in that it still has a horizontal stab (t-tail) at the rear... The Beech had the main wing at the rear.
There was one based at VNY up until about 4 years ago... This is not that one though...
(http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/SpaceShipOne2004/StarshipVictoryPass.jpg)
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Originally posted by Kurt
...I'm right about under the FAF for 16R and I hate that damn thing...[/IMG]
The Romance of Flying lol
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Republic,
We are geeks. And most of us fairly anti-social geeks. So say the facts.
Regards,
hap
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I remember when I was in high school at my mothers house in Santa Clarita, it was a summer day and I was upstairs doing something near the 2nd floor balcony. In the distance I heard the odd sound of an engine that got louder and louder until it made the whole house shake. I bolted out to the balcony and just as I looked up a P-51 with yellow/white and black checkering on the engine compartment zoomed out headed east/northeast to the desert.
Had one of those I should tell someone! moments, but pretty sure my parents would know what I was talking about.
About a month later I read in the paper about the plane and its pilot was issued a citation for flying below to residential ceiling during his flight out of Van Nuys to the aerobatic zone near edwards I think. I thoguht it was pretty awesome. Had a T-6 circle above my house too a few months later, not sure why though.
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Originally posted by Debonair
The Romance of Flying lol
Its only that stinking avanti that bugs me, comes in every day or so... I don't know what its so noisy, there are lots of jets and turboprops going over all the time and none of them are that abrasive.
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Originally posted by VermGhost
I remember when I was in high school at my mothers house in Santa Clarita... Had a T-6 circle above my house too a few months later, not sure why though.
There are a lot of T-6's and Van Nuys that come over Santa Clarita.. 'Condor Squadron'. There is also the Conferederate Airforce Museum at Camarillo which has a really nice one as well as a A6M, F6F, F8 Bearcat, P28, Spit14 etc etc.. So sometimes you'll see those in the Santa Clarita valley also.
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Enthusiasts are some of the most interested, interesting, and knowledgeable people on the planet. That kind of motivation is more born than taught.
Geeks tend to be more compulsive to the exclusion of balance.
Just my amateur differentiation.
I think most Aces whose posts I've seen seem much more enthusiast than geek. But it's hard to tell unless you know the posters in their overall environments. :confused: