Would you ride with this guy?

F

fgcason

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Display name:
Frank Cason
15G20kt quartering tailwind on a very short field runway.

Any takers?


Here's what I saw about 5 minutes ago:
IFR conditions. Rain turned to snow. Indefinite ceiling, 400ft visibility. Wind is a varying quartering tailwind pretty much down the runway at 15G20 kts. Snow is sticking on the runway. The plane is a little high winger with no deicing equipment, no avionics, no instruments and blatant scud running VFR. When I say short field, I'm not talking DIA, I'm talking a postage stamp kind of runway.
No one else was flying and this guy comes in really really low out of nowhere just above stall speed, full flaps, wing low and crabbing to counter the crosswind and is literally down between the trees. The flight control surfaces are wiggling all over the place to keep stable and in the air. He's so close to the tree that he's got his head turned and is looking out the side to make sure he doesn't hit his wing on anything. I'm thinking you gotta be kidding me while considering grabbing my first aid kit. The guy then sets down on a dime and gives $3 in change, maximum braking, dumps the flaps and looks around like no big deal.

This guy is seriously my hero. Everyone else is a bungling incompetent by comparison.







Before the flaming starts, the pilot and plane was a bird. He came in between the branches below the desired touchdown point, flared upward and landed on a snow and ice coated twig and stood there like like it was nothing. Then to add insult to injury, he took off downwind between more branches that were even closer together. Not a bad set of skills for someone with no training beyond mommy tossing his tailfeathers out of the nest as a child to either figure out how to fly or crash into the ground.

Birds are absolutely amazing.
 
:rofl:

Nice one, Frank.
 
Watching nature will make anyone sit up and nod in amazement....

When I grow up I want to be an eagle, hawk or any other feathered thing that can pull that off consistantly..:yesnod::yesnod:
 
N801BH said:
Watching nature will make anyone sit up and nod in amazement....

When I grow up I want to be an eagle, hawk or any other feathered thing that can pull that off consistantly..:yesnod::yesnod:
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I always thought that if reincarnation was true, I'd want to come back as a hawk or eagle... except for the eating rodents part. Of course, if I was a hawk or an eagle, I probably wouldn't care.
 
Then again, if any one of us started flying at about the same time we started walking, and did it our every waking moment for our entire lives, in say, a J-3, I think we would be almost as awe inspiring ourselves.

There is a guy at KMYF who flies a Cub like it is part of him. He rarely leaves the pattern, but is up almost every day doing his thing. Everyone stops what they are doing for at least for a few minutes to watch this guy perform. I know he has not been flying as much as a bird, but I would be reluctant to put money on that.

Cross winds, gusting winds, it does not seem to even interest the guy. His plane goes exactly where he tells it to go.

John
 
Didn't get me. I don't read start to finish. I jump around by reading a little of the start, a little of the end, and then fill the rest in if I think it's worth reading.
 
When you have the equipment and skills, its amazing what can be accomplished!
Right now we are watching the return of many birds, especially the vultures. Their soaring - I think they do it for the fun, the social aspect. Reminds me of teens cruising the strip!
 
Birds are some of the best pilots :) Last weekend I was landing at 06C with gusty direct crosswinds. The wind conditions were below my personal minimums but I had my CFI with me so it turned into some excellent crosswind landing practice. Anyhow, after landing and taxiing back we saw a bird at the end of the runway flying into the crosswind and he wasn't going anywhere. He was just hovering in that wind. I suspect this is more common than I think, but that was the first time I'd seen that.
 
Birds are highly evolved and adapted to function in their environment. From hollow bones for weight reduction to a countercurrent system for respiratory efficiency and more. About the only things more amazing than birds are bats, which do everything birds can do but in the dark.
 
steingar said:
Birds are highly evolved and adapted to function in their environment. From hollow bones for weight reduction to a countercurrent system for respiratory efficiency and more. About the only things more amazing than birds are bats, which do everything birds can do but in the dark.
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And what would the transitional animal be? This "not quite a bird but working towards it"?
 
There are a number of fossilized animals that appear to be transitional forms between dinosaurs and birds, and the number is growing. Indeed, evidence is mounting that many dinosaurs were feathered to begin with. A simple internet search will yield a surfeit of literature on the subject.
 
steingar said:
There are a number of fossilized animals that appear to be transitional forms between dinosaurs and birds, and the number is growing. Indeed, evidence is mounting that many dinosaurs were feathered to begin with. A simple internet search will yield a surfeit of literature on the subject.
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The "Dinosaurs were more bird than reptile" thesis is interesting -- and not universally accepted --and offers no unequivocal transitional types.

When I was 10, I flapped my arms when I jumped off the garage roof -- no feathers. :mad:
 
dmccormack said:
When I was 10, I flapped my arms when I jumped off the garage roof -- no feathers. :mad:
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Had that roof been high enough, that would have resulted in Darwinism at work. ;)

The human body is not designed to fly, it's designed to walk. However people with jump suits are able to fly pretty darn well, not a lot of changes. See here:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21240738.html

I saw video of this. I think those people are out of their minds, but it illustrates. It wouldn't take much to make an animal that was designed to fly from a human. Add some more upper body muscle, make the arms longer, a bit of weight reduction (most of us would benefit from that anyway) you get the idea.

Airplanes don't have feathers, so that doesn't seem to be a requirement for flight per se.
 
dmccormack said:
The "Dinosaurs were more bird than reptile" thesis is interesting -- and not universally accepted --and offers no unequivocal transitional types.
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Archaeopteryx is a good example of a transitional dinosaur to bird fossil to all but the staunchest creationists, and there are now others. Interesting that you would argue about evolution to this degree. Do you similarly debate the theories of gravitation or electromagnetism?
 
steingar said:
Archaeopteryx is a good example of a transitional dinosaur to bird fossil to all but the staunchest creationists, and there are now others. Interesting that you would argue about evolution to this degree. Do you similarly debate the theories of gravitation or electromagnetism?
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Evolutionary theory is repeatable and observable (such as gravity and electromagnetism)?
 
dmccormack said:
Evolutionary theory is repeatable and observable (such as gravity and electromagnetism)?
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Evolutionary theory has been challenged and tested for over 100 years, really since its introduction by Darwin. So far no one has been able to come up with any data that contravenes it in any substantive way, while using evolutionary theory in the course of scientific discovery has allowed us to create medical miracles.
 
steingar said:
Evolutionary theory has been challenged and tested for over 100 years, really since its introduction by Darwin. So far no one has been able to come up with any data that contravenes it in any substantive way, while using evolutionary theory in the course of scientific discovery has allowed us to create medical miracles.
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With all due respect, this seems to be a stretch. Is there an example where "evolutionary theory" directly contributed to a "medical miracle?"
 
steingar said:
Evolutionary theory has been challenged and tested for over 100 years, really since its introduction by Darwin. So far no one has been able to come up with any data that contravenes it in any substantive way, while using evolutionary theory in the course of scientific discovery has allowed us to create medical miracles.
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Well, those on the creationist side would argue that no one has been able to come up with any data that contravenes it in over 5000 years.

(not saying I agree, just making the point)
 
dmccormack said:
With all due respect, this seems to be a stretch. Is there an example where "evolutionary theory" directly contributed to a "medical miracle?"
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Absolutely. Originally, a retrovirus carried a particular gene called a tyrosine kinase, and caused cancer in animals. In humans, a similar gene was found at a chromosomal translocation in leukaemias. The functions of such genes had been worked out in fungi and lower metazoans, so it was understood how this gene fit into the cell growth machinery, and which part was important. Without evolutionary theory, there would be no reason to relate proteins in yeast or fruit flies with those in humans. With evolutionary theory one can do so, and make positive predictions, like the part that is important for the survival of the flies will be important for the transformation of cancer cells. this part was crystalized, and its structure determined. The data from fruit flies showed how it worked, and this data helped chemists synthesize a small molecule that would function as an inhibitor of this kinase. The molecule is called by chemists imatinib mesylate, although it is more popularly known as Gleevec. It changed Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia from a nearly untreatable and often fatal illness to one that could be treated with a pill.
 
dmccormack said:
With all due respect, this seems to be a stretch. Is there an example where "evolutionary theory" directly contributed to a "medical miracle?"
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Isn't evolution behind the theory of resistant bacteria? They evolve at a rate that is more observable.
 
steingar said:
Absolutely. Originally, a retrovirus carried a particular gene called a tyrosine kinase, and caused cancer in animals. In humans, a similar gene was found at a chromosomal translocation in leukaemias. The functions of such genes had been worked out in fungi and lower metazoans, so it was understood how this gene fit into the cell growth machinery, and which part was important. Without evolutionary theory, there would be no reason to relate proteins in yeast or fruit flies with those in humans. With evolutionary theory one can do so, and make positive predictions, like the part that is important for the survival of the flies will be important for the transformation of cancer cells. this part was crystalized, and its structure determined. The data from fruit flies showed how it worked, and this data helped chemists synthesize a small molecule that would function as an inhibitor of this kinase. The molecule is called by chemists imatinib mesylate, although it is more popularly known as Gleevec. It changed Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia from a nearly untreatable and often fatal illness to one that could be treated with a pill.
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I don't see how "evolutionary theory" is required to make this connection, given the significant similarities among carbon-based organisms.

:dunno:
 
dmccormack said:
I don't see how "evolutionary theory" is required to make this connection, given the significant similarities among carbon-based organisms.

:dunno:
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There would be no reason to correlate a developmental regulator in a fruit fly with an oncogene unless you think they're somehow related, and there would be no predictive value unless you invoke evolutionary theory.
 
steingar said:
There would be no reason to correlate a developmental regulator in a fruit fly with an oncogene unless you think they're somehow related, and there would be no predictive value unless you invoke evolutionary theory.
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Actually, you could make an argument based on creationist theory as well.

My Ford has a 6.8L V10. My boss's Ford has a 5.4L V8. They probably share some similarities, they're both made by the same place (Ford). Turns out they do have similarities.

If you believe that all beings were created by one higher power, why would you necessarily believe said higher power started from scratch each and every time?

Devil's advocate here... (pun intended :devil:)
 
If one wants to claim that evolution is guided by some sort of intelligence, claim away. If I were the hyperintelligent creative deity it is how I would do it. To be honest, the only people who really argue with Evolution are staunch creationists, who reject the vast majority of modern scientific thinking in so doing.
 
Everskyward said:
Isn't evolution behind the theory of resistant bacteria? They evolve at a rate that is more observable.
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Actually, not really. Many antibiotic resistance genes can move from bacteria to bacteria via DNA elements called plasmids. One can think of it as a microevolutionary development, since only those bacteria with the resistance genes survive the antibiotic onslaught. This is a major medical problem due to the rise of multiply resistant strains and the lack of novel therapeutics.
 
Lets see now, from a clever and highly skilled bird to Darwinism, God, medical miracles, Dinosaurs, J-3 Cubs, what's going to be next? This is a great thread, I love it. It has everything. Jets, sombody do jets. :)

John
 
steingar said:
Actually, not really. Many antibiotic resistance genes can move from bacteria to bacteria via DNA elements called plasmids. One can think of it as a microevolutionary development, since only those bacteria with the resistance genes survive the antibiotic onslaught. This is a major medical problem due to the rise of multiply resistant strains and the lack of novel therapeutics.
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Interesting. How about selective animal breeding then, where humans select the positive characteristics rather than nature doing the selecting?
 
John Baker said:
Lets see now, from a clever and highly skilled bird to Darwinism, God, medical miracles, Dinosaurs, J-3 Cubs, what's going to be next? This is a great thread, I love it. It has everything. Jets, sombody do jets. :)

John
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Maybe jets on a treadmill ?????:lol::lol::lol::yikes:
 
steingar said:
If one wants to claim that evolution is guided by some sort of intelligence, claim away. If I were the hyperintelligent creative deity it is how I would do it. To be honest, the only people who really argue with Evolution are staunch creationists, who reject the vast majority of modern scientific thinking in so doing.
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And what does this overarching, universally accepted theory do with the complexity discovered in what Darwin thought were "simple" organisms?
 
steingar said:
If one wants to claim that evolution is guided by some sort of intelligence, claim away. If I were the hyperintelligent creative deity it is how I would do it. To be honest, the only people who really argue with Evolution are staunch creationists, who reject the vast majority of modern scientific thinking in so doing.
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If you were pointing at me there I wasn't arguing with you on evolution, just being devil's advocate and enjoying the discussion.
 
steingar said:
If one wants to claim that evolution is guided by some sort of intelligence, claim away. If I were the hyperintelligent creative deity it is how I would do it. To be honest, the only people who really argue with Evolution are staunch creationists, who reject the vast majority of modern scientific thinking in so doing.
Click to expand...
So Jesus could have rode a dinosaur? :devil::devil:
 
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