Fear of Flying

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2002-11-06 02:41am

it's funny, i seem to have an inherant ability for inertial navigation, granted using LOS navigation skills is worthless when driving... but i always find my way, it just takes a while. i'd love to joing the Air Force, but only if i could fly fighters, however my eyesight while not bad enough for glasses is bad enough that they'd never let me near a fighter. though they'd love my reaction time, i'm also a VERY observant guy, not much escapes my attention. the other problem is that i've also been on some heavy meds recently, zoloft for "depression" and the history of suicide attempts would probably not help either, even though i'm definately over it.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2002-11-06 02:42am

knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 02:45am

Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?

No, and I can't remember the actual desination for it though SEA Skimmer probably does. Its a multi purpose vehicle that is used more or less like a tractor trailor. It has an engine that can run off of just about any type of fuel and has a cab forward design. It almost looks futuristic in that way.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-11-06 02:47am

Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?

AC-130 became known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" when they began doing night missions. The constant stream of tracers and muzzle flash looked like fire, so they became known as dragons, which became "Puff the Magic Dragon." This was actually taken literally by some Vietnamese soldiers, who issued statements saying to not fire on the dragons, for it would have no effect and only make them angry. Another story from the war involves a psychological weapon known as the "Bullshit Bomber." It was an airplane equipped with loudspeakers that would fly with an AC-130. It would circle areas known to be enemy occupied with the -130 following half a circle behind. It would then broadcast "don't shoot at me, don't shoot at me" in Vietnamese. Inevitably, the Vietnamese would open fire, the -130 would find the densest concentration, and they would return fire. The BB would then leave, saying "told you not to shoot at me." Best idea they ever came up with.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 02:50am

The Dark wrote:
Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?
AC-130 became known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" when they began doing night missions. The constant stream of tracers and muzzle flash looked like fire, so they became known as dragons, which became "Puff the Magic Dragon." This was actually taken literally by some Vietnamese soldiers, who issued statements saying to not fire on the dragons, for it would have no effect and only make them angry. Another story from the war involves a psychological weapon known as the "Bullshit Bomber." It was an airplane equipped with loudspeakers that would fly with an AC-130. It would circle areas known to be enemy occupied with the -130 following half a circle behind. It would then broadcast "don't shoot at me, don't shoot at me" in Vietnamese. Inevitably, the Vietnamese would open fire, the -130 would find the densest concentration, and they would return fire. The BB would then leave, saying "told you not to shoot at me." Best idea they ever came up with.

Gunships like the AC 130 go back even further, in the Korean war they used B25 and B25's as gunships.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2002-11-06 02:53am

The Dark wrote:
Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?
AC-130 became known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" when they began doing night missions. The constant stream of tracers and muzzle flash looked like fire, so they became known as dragons, which became "Puff the Magic Dragon." This was actually taken literally by some Vietnamese soldiers, who issued statements saying to not fire on the dragons, for it would have no effect and only make them angry. Another story from the war involves a psychological weapon known as the "Bullshit Bomber." It was an airplane equipped with loudspeakers that would fly with an AC-130. It would circle areas known to be enemy occupied with the -130 following half a circle behind. It would then broadcast "don't shoot at me, don't shoot at me" in Vietnamese. Inevitably, the Vietnamese would open fire, the -130 would find the densest concentration, and they would return fire. The BB would then leave, saying "told you not to shoot at me." Best idea they ever came up with.

oh nice, i like it!!! i swear that's right up there with something i'd come up with on a late night after one too many pots of coffee and about 20 hours of no sleep.

that is cool though!

knife: sounds like an interesting setup, i'm assuming by the fuel capabilities that the vehicle was powered by a turbojet engine, those things can run off jetfuel, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and even vegetable oils. impressive engines, extremely high power-to-mass ratios too. had one integrated into the designs for a high performance VTOL craft i designed a few months back but it wasn't cost effective at $30k for the engine for use in the prototype... i got like 20mb of data on the craft too, it never got built, and yes it was determined that it would fly, and probably even outperform the design specs by a decent margin.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 03:02am

Hyperion wrote:
The Dark wrote:
Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?
AC-130 became known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" when they began doing night missions. The constant stream of tracers and muzzle flash looked like fire, so they became known as dragons, which became "Puff the Magic Dragon." This was actually taken literally by some Vietnamese soldiers, who issued statements saying to not fire on the dragons, for it would have no effect and only make them angry. Another story from the war involves a psychological weapon known as the "Bullshit Bomber." It was an airplane equipped with loudspeakers that would fly with an AC-130. It would circle areas known to be enemy occupied with the -130 following half a circle behind. It would then broadcast "don't shoot at me, don't shoot at me" in Vietnamese. Inevitably, the Vietnamese would open fire, the -130 would find the densest concentration, and they would return fire. The BB would then leave, saying "told you not to shoot at me." Best idea they ever came up with.
oh nice, i like it!!! i swear that's right up there with something i'd come up with on a late night after one too many pots of coffee and about 20 hours of no sleep. that is cool though!

knife: sounds like an interesting setup, i'm assuming by the fuel capabilities that the vehicle was powered by a turbojet engine, those things can run off jetfuel, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and even vegetable oils. impressive engines, extremely high power-to-mass ratios too. had one integrated into the designs for a high performance VTOL craft i designed a few months back but it wasn't cost effective at $30k for the engine for use in the prototype... i got like 20mb of data on the craft too, it never got built, and yes it was determined that it would fly, and probably even outperform the design specs by a decent margin.

I'm no mechanic so I don't know what kind of engine it was but I know it would run off of gas, diesel, and kerosene. They had their own specialized trailor too for hualing everything from troops to cargo with a small crane on the end. When I was in Okinawa, we took a trip to the Northern Training Area. Anyway the dragonwagon I was in went around a blind curve and a Japanesse national who we later learned was drunk came around the other side on the wrong side of the road in a little tiny tiny car. Any way we had to literaly tear the car apart to get him out of it and to the ambulance while the dragon wagon had a splash of paint on it and a bent sturap on the passenger side.

Anyway back to the topic, might as well sleep or look around since even if there is a problem there is nothing you can do about it anyway. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain.....UMMMM......Light them up cuz, we're going down!"

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2002-11-06 03:07am

Anyway back to the topic, might as well sleep or look around since even if there is a problem there is nothing you can do about it anyway. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain.....UMMMM......Light them up cuz, we're going down!"

no kidding, i'd probably even smoke a *G'aH* marlboro...

i'd still like to get more data on the "dragonwagon" sounds like an interesting vehicle.

btw, i am a bit of a gearhead.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 03:18am

Its called an LVS or more specificaly a MK 48 front power unit.

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/mil ... k48-16.htm

I hope that comes out right.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-11-06 03:26am

Knife wrote:
Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?
No, and I can't remember the actual desination for it though SEA Skimmer probably does. Its a multi purpose vehicle that is used more or less like a tractor trailor. It has an engine that can run off of just about any type of fuel and has a cab forward design. It almost looks futuristic in that way.

You mean a HMETT? Big 8x8 trailer truck. Cab is standerdized but the trailer options can haul anything from MRE's to fuel.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 03:28am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Knife wrote:
Hyperion wrote:knife: what the heck is a "dragon wagon" i've heard the slang term "puff the magic dragon" used for AC-130's is this the same craft?
No, and I can't remember the actual desination for it though SEA Skimmer probably does. Its a multi purpose vehicle that is used more or less like a tractor trailor. It has an engine that can run off of just about any type of fuel and has a cab forward design. It almost looks futuristic in that way.
You mean a HMETT? Big 8x8 trailer truck. Cab is standerdized but the trailer options can haul anything from MRE's to fuel.

Sorry no, at least I think. I already looked it up for him, please note the link above.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-11-06 03:35am

Knife wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:
Knife wrote: No, and I can't remember the actual desination for it though SEA Skimmer probably does. Its a multi purpose vehicle that is used more or less like a tractor trailor. It has an engine that can run off of just about any type of fuel and has a cab forward design. It almost looks futuristic in that way.
You mean a HMETT? Big 8x8 trailer truck. Cab is standerdized but the trailer options can haul anything from MRE's to fuel.
Sorry no, at least I think. I already looked it up for him, please note the link above.

They're the same vehicle family. The Corps and Army just don’t call them the same thing. That pictures is of the M983 tractor variant. There are also four other variants. Two are for cargo, one for fuel and another is a recover vehicle.

The two cargo vehicles are near identical so I'm not posting a photo of both.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2002-11-06 03:37am

Yes sir, that would be a dragon wagon. Neat little thing, ain't they?

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-11-06 03:45am

Knife wrote:Yes sir, that would be a dragon wagon. Neat little thing, ain't they?

Not what I'd call little. I'd like to buy one, rip out the cargo area to put in a gas turbine with 8 wheel drive and then add a reniforced snowplow to the front. Then i go for a little drive down a busy near grid locked street.

The thing is the worlds best military logistics truck. Massively more mobility then the old five-ton trucks they replaced. There's a lot fewer places Tanks or SP artillery can go that the HEMTT can't compare to a normal five toner. Still not as good as tracks, but a vast improvement.

The Russians have a similar design, but it normally only gets used as a weapons carrier. I don’t think they ever bought the logistics variant. Now that I think about it, they have at least two different 8x8 logistics trucks, but I'm still pretty sure never entered service.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2002-11-06 04:06am

Not what I'd call little. I'd like to buy one, rip out the cargo area to put in a gas turbine with 8 wheel drive and then add a reniforced snowplow to the front. Then i go for a little drive down a busy near grid locked street.

don't tempt me.. i've gotta commute over the narrows...really tries the patience of even one such as myself who can't be bothered by such assinine annoyances as traffic (crank up the stereo to where everyone in a 10 car radius gets to listen to the same music as me at a nice high volume, put the car in neutral and wait till i can move for about 2 seconds, THEN move at 5mph)

and yes, i'm a sadistic bastard.

that vehicle actually looks pretty friggin' cool, that's what i *thought* you were talking about. it's a really kickass piece of machinery, seen'em on the freeway out here a couple times.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2002-11-06 10:50am

Statistically speaking, the chances of being killed in a car accident is roughly 1 in 5000, and dying in a plane crash is 1 in 70,000 or so. Seeing that I drive a hell of a lot more than I fly, and then looking at the odds, it's really quite stupid for me to worry about dying in a plane crash. Thousands of people die every year in North America from car accidents, and even counting the 9/11 crashes more people still died in cars than planes that year. I've flown several times in the last couple years, and I felt perfectly safe every time except for the psycho driving that goes on around the airports.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2002-11-06 02:49pm

neoolong wrote:
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:I once sat next to someone who almost started hyperventilating when the plane landed. I had to talk her through it and tell her to take deep breaths and exhale slowly.
What? When the plane landed? What did she think the plane was going to fall 15 ft. and explode?

That's basically what I said when she warned me she had a big problem with landings. I think it had more to do with the air pressure and the way the plane drops like a rollercoaster near the end. Anyway, she was grateful that I helped prevent her from hyperventilating, and I'm always happy to help out a beautiful woman

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2002-11-06 06:31pm

I've flown a lot. I'm not scared when in the air, though. What worries me are the takeoffs and landings. But, on a trip to New Mexico, I tansfered twice both ways, making a total of 6 takeoffs and 6 landings. They were all fine. I'm not worried at all.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-11-06 09:14pm

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:
neoolong wrote:
Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:I once sat next to someone who almost started hyperventilating when the plane landed. I had to talk her through it and tell her to take deep breaths and exhale slowly.
What? When the plane landed? What did she think the plane was going to fall 15 ft. and explode?
That's basically what I said when she warned me she had a big problem with landings. I think it had more to do with the air pressure and the way the plane drops like a rollercoaster near the end. Anyway, she was grateful that I helped prevent her from hyperventilating, and I'm always happy to help out a beautiful woman

Well, my first joke was going to be: What? Was she giving you a blow job? But I felt that was a bit much.