Politics

Altitude sickness said:
It’s actually amazing more Helicopters don’t crash. It’s like riding in the agitator of a washing machine, the sickle bar of a haybine, a rock crusher all rolled into something that should not stay in the air.

I’ve had pilots purposefully Auto Rotate to scare us. It felt like every rivet was coming out of that thing.

Junk.

I think the Stealth copter in beautiful downtown Abbottabad had dirty air from the walls, heat and additional weight. They lost their air and the tail rotor hit the wall.

Junk. But it beats walking I guess.
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Back where I come from a friend won't get in one....3 of his friends died in separate helicopter crashes.....in my previous life...my best trip in them was from nice airport to St tropez ....was a friends significant bday...quite a few years ago.....now 2 options...taxi or air taxi ....Road with traffic at that time of year...hours....so there were around 9 or 10 of us....I knew the air taxi companies were just outside the gate from arrivals....so I said follow me....confused looks....went up to the desk and said OK how much for us to St tropez....they said you need 4 helicopters cos of the luggage...said OK....had a bit of dissent in the ranks :E Rofl: I said OK split this is the price each....or you can spend hours in taxi stuck in traffic which will still cost you a shit load.....conference...then OK...so gave my card and off we went....was pretty amazing flight...low following the coast...I was in lead one....and looked back at one stage and all following...in line....my first through was opening of apocalypse now....:A Thumbs Up::D Beers:....maybe 10 mins and there ...
 
When I was in college I had a professor who was retired from Bell Helicopter. He said he would never ride in one. He said it was just a huge rubber band holding on the blades and rubber breaks.

One of his assignments was to figure out why pilots in Vietnam were having Kidney problems. It was the angle of the blades, they were creating the natural frequency of human kidneys. They had to make a slight pitch adjustment to correct the problem.
 
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Foxi said:
Why are helicopters so unreliable?
Carter/Iran
Bin Laden/Pakistan
You lost one there too, and I believe it was also without enemy action.
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Tubby’s Canteen said:
I know next to nothing about helicopters but I highly doubt you can compare a Carter era helicopter to an Obama era helicopter.
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I've posted several YouTube links here on AH of Ward Carroll's YouTube Channel. I am a Patreon member ($5/month) to his channel, which gets me an invite to his Friday happy hour, via Zoom. Usually 30-40 people are online, about half are former or current military. Several are former military and current airline pilots. During yesterday's happy hour, there was a discussion about the failed rescue attempt in 1980 in Iran, known as Operation Eagle Claw. Several of the guys talking yesterday were active duty in 1980 and a few had peripheral roles in the operation. One guy was a pilot aboard one of the supporting aircraft carriers, one was a Marine aviator and another was an Army guy. Joint operations and joint special forces didn't really exist in 1980, or was in its infancy. With all the advances in technology, training and organization, these guys concluded that an Eagle Claw type mission in Iran would still not work.
 
I hate helicopters. I am pretty sure that I have hated every minute of every flight I have ever taken on one.

In training, I have air assaulted from helicopters, fast roped from helicopters, rappelled from helicopters, and even jumped from CH-47's (now there is a "brilliant" idea). I have flown to conferences, briefings, and meetings in them all over this country, Germany, South Korea and the Middle East. I even flew the gunner's seat in an IDF Apache, so they could demonstrate their targeting and handoff to a shooter capability to the visiting American GO. I have watched my WO pilot land so he could read a road sign so we could figure out how to get home before darkness fell (bad thing in a UH1D with no NVGs). I had another fly into an Alpine valley only to find the planed exit socked in. On turning around we discovered the entrance had vanished as well. I had a Saudi pilot run out of fuel a brutally toasty hour's hike to our destination.

I hate helicopters.
 
Never fly Airbus helicopters.. After this accident they were ousted from offshore use in Norway..

We now use Sikorsky S-92. I have flown Sikorsky helicopters as a passenger regularly for more than 30 years..always felt safe.. Never felt safe in Airbus helis..


 
Tubby’s Canteen said:
I know next to nothing about helicopters but I highly doubt you can compare a Carter era helicopter to an Obama era helicopter.
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I was all the more surprised that it didn't work completely for Obama either.
And when I compare that to your cars today, there isn't much difference from back then.
At least as far as combustion engines are concerned.
:A Outta:
 
And if the good General hasn’t convinced everyone that Helo’s are an evil necessity.

This picture shows the result of a common bad landing in a helo. The drawing shows me that he was wearing his seatbelt. Impact sent the torso forward and the lower portion stayed put. Which is common. You may recognize the name.

IMG_1394.jpeg
 
Trump just simply needs to let go of the Greenland idea. It's gone too far.
Greenlanders don't want us there, and he needs to respect that. Can't have everything he wants.
If anything, make some kind of treaty, and, or, lease deal,for a small portion for military use with restrictions against use by China or Russia, if that's truly the concern..
 
Tanks said:
My girlfriend most adamantly is against me buying or piloting one. Every time I bring the subject up, she shuts it down. I even put her through an auto rotation to prove they were safe.
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Yup had a few of those done to me on another trip ....RAF search and rescue crew ...bit of a long story....but I was their rescue dummy for the day...then thought it would fun to do a few auto rotation while I was sat in co pilot seat in a westland whirlwind...yeah was in the 70s and I don't like heights....and the pilot took the piss by banking to my side to make sure nothing below....doors open and me hanging in the seat straps looking straight down.....had to pretend it was fun :X3::ROFLMAO:
 
Foxi said:
It's unbelievable.
But that's how it looked for us on New Year's Eve in Berlin (a shithole town) also and Leipzig city.
It's a mystery to me why Trump keeps taking on more and more foreign policy problems.
He has enough to do cleaning up domestically.

p.s.

no Danish troops will shoot on US soldiers.
Don't eat every bone that is thrown at you.
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Because he's a grandstanding moron. I mean what should we expect from some guy who couldn't make grades in eighth grade public school? Too much of a coward to answer his country's call but has to have a big military parade on his birthday. Bet that doesn't happen again! This ICE mess just gets worse every day. But of course it's all the fault of dog-eating bandits from Somalia. Someone please pour Trump a shot of Lysol and save the world. He's stupid enough to drink it.

The Danes would have been delighted to have the US open up all the military bases it wanted in Greenland. Would have helped the local economy immensely. So why not ask to do that? Or strike up some new treaty with Danes and Greenland? The US could catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar. But of course that wouldn't even make page ten in the news. No, the bully-boy bullshit is Trump's style. Gotta show everyone what a tough guy he is. But how tough was Donny Bonespurs during the Vietnam War?

The gawdam Supreme Court needs to get off its ass and bury this tariff crap. It's not within the president's power to use it as a weapon even in time of war. That Act never even mentions the word tariff. And this is certainly no war situation. The Court needs to show the world that checks and balances still works in America. Democracy is not dead ... yet.
 
Spanberger sworn in as Governor of Virginia.
Congratulations Virginians, you get exactly what you deserve.
 
Ontario Hunter said:
Because he's a grandstanding moron. I mean what should we expect from some guy who couldn't make grades in eighth grade public school? Too much of a coward to answer his country's call but has to have a big military parade on his birthday. Bet that doesn't happen again! This ICE mess just gets worse every day. But of course it's all the fault of dog-eating bandits from Somalia. Someone please pour Trump a shot of Lysol and save the world. He's stupid enough to drink it.

The Danes would have been delighted to have the US open up all the military bases it wanted in Greenland. Would have helped the local economy immensely. So why not ask to do that? Or strike up some new treaty with Danes and Greenland? The US could catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar. But of course that wouldn't even make page ten in the news. No, the bully-boy bullshit is Trump's style. Gotta show everyone what a tough guy he is. But how tough was Donny Bonespurs during the Vietnam War?

The gawdam Supreme Court needs to get off its ass and bury this tariff crap. It's not within the president's power to use it as a weapon even in time of war. That Act never even mentions the word tariff. And this is certainly no war situation. The Court needs to show the world that checks and balances still works in America. Democracy is not dead ... yet.
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Yeah, o.k.....professor.

I thought you were going to Greenland to strap on the uniform, and dig fox holes and trenches to help repel those evil Americans?......LOL
s-l1200 (2).webp
 
Ontario Hunter said:
Because he's a grandstanding moron. I mean what should we expect from some guy who couldn't make grades in eighth grade public school? Too much of a coward to answer his country's call but has to have a big military parade on his birthday. Bet that doesn't happen again! This ICE mess just gets worse every day. But of course it's all the fault of dog-eating bandits from Somalia. Someone please pour Trump a shot of Lysol and save the world. He's stupid enough to drink it.

The Danes would have been delighted to have the US open up all the military bases it wanted in Greenland. Would have helped the local economy immensely. So why not ask to do that? Or strike up some new treaty with Danes and Greenland? The US could catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar. But of course that wouldn't even make page ten in the news. No, the bully-boy bullshit is Trump's style. Gotta show everyone what a tough guy he is. But how tough was Donny Bonespurs during the Vietnam War?

The gawdam Supreme Court needs to get off its ass and bury this tariff crap. It's not within the president's power to use it as a weapon even in time of war. That Act never even mentions the word tariff. And this is certainly no war situation. The Court needs to show the world that checks and balances still works in America. Democracy is not dead ... yet.
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As a well read historian with a doctorate, I assume you know the parade was timed for the US Army's 250th birthday which dates to 14 June 1775 when the Continental Army was established by the Second Continental Congress (making it a year older than the US itself). The Army recognizes it every year with a ball in Washington and major headquarters locations. A parade had been in the planning stages well before Trump's election, though I am certain patriotic dems would have held a far more modest one - perhaps with some drag troops to add color.
 
Alistair said:
I'd agree that the craft scene got too crowded, and that's a factor.

On the immigration thing, maybe... but if that was the root cause, why is 2024 and 2025 the timeframe? You'd think 2021, 2022 would demonstrate the same thing?

I tend to agree on the fed.

The Mag 7, yeah, everyone is in presently, which is why they're doing so well, let's hope they continue to do well. But that's the risk you take with an increasingly concentrated stock market, only a couple companies need to stumble, and everything goes wrong. I don't think they'll go under any time soon, but if this AI thing doesn't play out how they're hoping, a 20-30% correction at some point in the next 1-5 years wouldn't be unreasonable. If 3 of 'em do that, the US economy is officially in correction territory...

Additionally, the fact that every other company doesn't seem to be doing especially hot is not good for job security, wage growth, or even federal tax income.
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As interest rates come down, construction, real estate, auto sales, etc… will be heating up. In addition, the effects of the Big Beautiful Bill will start to take hold and additional sectors of the economy will start to improve. You’ll see. You’re too bearish I believe. Biden’s only been out of office for a year. Give it a minute.

As for alcohol consumption, I do believe it’s down overall in younger people. My four kids, their spouses and friends only drink occasionally. I also agree with @Altitude sickness that marijuana use has to be supplanting alcohol because there’s no reason to do both at the same time. The cultivated marijuana is so potent now days.
 
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Scott CWO said:
As interest rates come down, construction, real estate, auto sales, etc… will be heating up. In addition, the effects of the Big Beautiful Bill will start to take hold and additional sectors of the economy will start to improve. You’ll see. You’re too bearish I believe.
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Assuming those happen, it will not be in time for the 2026 midterms.
 
Tanks said:
I just don't get him. I wonder if he is On The Spectrum.

View attachment 739741
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Spectrum. Huh... had never considered that. I just think he's the biggest narcissist to ever hold the office.

I know I have said several times that he reminds me of a 5 year old. I actually taught Kindergarten once upon a time. There is far less exaggeration to that than you might think.
 
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