08 August 2006

Trip #18

No, I never tire of it.
The plan is to arrive LAX Thursday, late afternoon. A beloved friend, one of my Crew Chiefs from Viet Nam will come with his wife and provide wheels to dine at a great Mexican restaurant. It'll be nice to catch up on what has transpired since our last meeting, then rehash old lies we have told one another a dozen times.

Up bright and early Friday morning, if all goes well, we hope to spend Friday night with Mr. and Mrs. Ole Prairie Dog again. That is feasible, given the fact that we'll be flying an R44 this time, cruising at 120 knots. Please pray for a bit of a tailwind for the entire day on Friday!
Weather will be a factor...... there have been fires at Big Bear, and rain all along our route over the past couple weeks. Prayers/thoughts will be appreciated.

Again, I'll have my laptop along for the ride and will post about anything out of the ordinary that happens along the way.

I spoke earlier about the physics of flying and how now and then learning to fly will cause a "light bulb moment". Maybe I can give you one of those now?

Imagine you are riding a bicycle or motorcycle. You are cruising at an easy, comfortable pace. You take your hands off the handlebars and steer the machine momentarily by shifting your weight. Now, reach down with your right hand and pull the handlebar back towards you......... what happens to the machine? Why?
Do you have access to a bike? Go try!
(Again, helicopter pilots are excluded from this discussion!)

I'll have your answer, and an explanation, later.
C'mon smarties, show me your stuff!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not sure about the "shifting weight first" part, but I learned that when you want to turn a motorcycle (at speeds greater than a walking pace) you PUSH on the handlebar on the side you want to turn to. This causes the bike to naturally lean on that side to keep balanced and puts the front tire on its sidewall. This makes it turn like a cup rolling on its side.

Hmm, or something like that. :)
Am I totally off topic yet? :)