NY Times GA feature

Larry Dighera writes:

It sure paints personal aviation pilots as elites who clog the NAS to
feed their whims ...

It's mostly correct. That's how the demographics look. That's also why
private GA is withering.

I doubt the piece will garner admiration of GA from airline passengers
suffering through delays.

I don't even think GA is on the radar for airline passengers. The article
portrays GA as a hobby for quirky, rich geeks, and they just don't make a dent
in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing 737s on grass strips.

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Larry Dighera writes:

It sure paints personal aviation pilots as elites who clog the NAS to
feed their whims ...

It's mostly correct. That's how the demographics look. That's also
why private GA is withering.

no, it isn't.



I doubt the piece will garner admiration of GA from airline
passengers suffering through delays.

I don't even think GA is on the radar for airline passengers. The
article portrays GA as a hobby for quirky, rich geeks, and they just
don't make a dent in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing 737s
on grass strips.


Yes, they are.

I've done it.


Bertie

On Oct 27, 6:33 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don't make a dent in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing 737s
on grass strips.

Yes, they are.

I've done it.

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?

James Sleeman wrote in
oups.com:

On Oct 27, 6:33 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don't make a dent in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing 737s
on grass strips.

Yes, they are.

I've done it.

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?



Yeah, it was. The airplane had low floatation tires, a gravel shield around
the nosewheel and vortex killers under the engines. It was a -15 powered
200.


I won't say where, but there is a lot of oil there...

Bertie

"James Sleeman" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 27, 6:33 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don't make a dent in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing 737s
on grass strips.

Yes, they are.

I've done it.

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?


Many years ago, the AP ran a story on a 737 dead stick landing in the south.
Perhaps Mississippi, Louisiana? It think the pilot put it down on a levee or
something if I recall. The photo showed the main gear buried to the top of
the tires, without folding the gear. That pilot was both very lucky, and
very good. It think all souls walked away. I still can't imagine it.

"Maxwell" wrote in
:


"James Sleeman" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 27, 6:33 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don't make a dent in the nation's air traffic. Nobody is landing
737s on grass strips.

Yes, they are.

I've done it.

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?


Many years ago, the AP ran a story on a 737 dead stick landing in the
south. Perhaps Mississippi, Louisiana? It think the pilot put it down
on a levee or something if I recall. The photo showed the main gear
buried to the top of the tires, without folding the gear. That pilot
was both very lucky, and very good. It think all souls walked away. I
still can't imagine it.



We do it in the sim farily frequently, though at the time that happened
deadstick landings weren't usually on the list of things to do.
If the ground is anyway soft, they will sink, and badly. Quite a few pilots
have made a corner too sloppily and put a gear leg off the taxiway and got
stuck. not surprising with tire pressures as high as 270 psi (the 737's is
considerbly, less, though I can't remember the number)
Hard packed earth will support one though.

Bertie

James Sleeman writes:

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?

There's a kit for unpaved strips, but I rather doubt that most grassy surfaces
would be hard enough to resist the weight of the aircraft.

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

James Sleeman writes:

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?

There's a kit for unpaved strips, but I rather doubt that most grassy
surfaces would be hard enough to resist the weight of the aircraft.



We'll you'll never find out, because you'll nev er fly.


Ever


I, OTOH, have done it.



Bertie

On Oct 28, 8:10 am, Richard Riley wrote:


Now that's not fair, Bertie. I'm sure he's flown.

Bought a ticket and everything.

ROTFL

Richard Riley wrote in
:

On Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:02:25 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote in
m:

James Sleeman writes:

Do tell. It'd have to be a pretty hard packed grass strip I'd have
thought?

There's a kit for unpaved strips, but I rather doubt that most grassy
surfaces would be hard enough to resist the weight of the aircraft.



We'll you'll never find out, because you'll nev er fly.


Ever


I, OTOH, have done it.

Now that's not fair, Bertie. I'm sure he's flown.

Bought a ticket and everything.

Wouldn't he have to leave his bedroom for that?


Bertie