COULD’VE BEEN WORSE !

Dear Friends, I often tell my student pilots that it is wise to hold on before taking off when another aircraft has just taken off. Even two minutes is not enough sometimes because the wake turbulence may move in an unpredictable way – rather sideways – depending on the wind but not only. You can watch a previous post in which a spectacular uncontrolled roll happened: https://airforces.fr/2016/03/06/must-see-weird-takeoff-explained/ I have repeated that over and over – waiting is as wise as safe:

We cannot see clearly what really made the seaplane – assumed to be a French Canadair CL-415 Superscooper water bomber – veer off but it was definitely too close to the previous aircraft. Maybe the pilot wanted to do the right thing by saving time to save more lives. Was it because of the bow wake of the flying boat? Because of the air wake turbulence? A human error? A control failure? Or a combination of several factors? Anyway when you see an aircraft of this size taking off, please wait for two minutes before entering the same path. Fortunately, a pole was clipped, the Canadair was damaged, but it could have been worse.

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PILOT ESCAPING THROUGH UNDERWATER EJECTION

Do you remember that some fighter pilots could safely eject from underwater back in 1965? Could it be survived? One may wonder but a few ejections were reported. The transcript is below the video. Look at that canopy, it looks like it came from an F-8 Crusader:

TRANSCRIPT:

If your aircraft has provision for underwater ejection, you have a ready-made, secondary escape route. Succesful underwater ejections can be made from any aircraft attitude – nose down, tail down, and inverted.

Escape by this method requires no preparation other than that recommended for normal seat ejection. There should be at least ten feet of water above you before you can safely eject. Never eject from the surface. With present systems, the chute cannot open with a zero-zero situation (which means at a height of 0 and at a speed of 0). The effect of free-falling 80 feet to water is little different than falling 80 feet to concrete. True, some lucky ones have lived to tell about it. But it is one hell of a gamble.

When you eject through the canopy underwater, the seat breaks through clearing the way for your body. Because water resistance imposes terrific forces on your head and neck, it is vital to hold the face curtain tight against your head for support. The forces of ejection might cause a momentary blackout. Immediately upon collecting your wits, disconnect yourself from the seat by pulling the emergency release handle breaking your restraints. Now, separate yourself from the seat. This is difficult. You will have to kick and swim violently even though you are disconnected.

If your chute gets hung up on the seat, do not waste time trying to clear it. Release your riser fittings and swim clear off the chute. Do not inflate flotation equipment until clear of the seat. Remember, surface slowly, exhaling as you go. Remove your oxygen mask.

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FIRE EXTINGUISHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Watch, and read the transcript below:

 

 


Transcript:

 

In this tutorial, we will explore the foremost common classifications of fire extinguishers.

The first, and most common type of extinguisher is used for a Class A fire. These are fires fueled by ordinary combustible materials such as paper, wood, carbon, most plastics. The Class A fire extinguisher uses the water to smother the fire.

Class B fires are fueled by flammable liquids such as gasoline, kerosene, grease, and oil. Remember this classification extinguisher – think « B » for Boil, or oil. Class B extinguishers typically use liquid foam agent to smother the fire. You never want to use water on a Class B fire, as the water can cause the flammable liquids to spread like we accidentally drip water on a frying pan, and the grease pops, and in boiling liquid into the air.

Class C fires are fueled by electrical current traveling to wires, circuits, and outlets. Class C extinguishers most commonly use a dry chemical powder to smother the fire. In more sensitive environments such as a recording studio, a Class C extinguisher may use a halon gas that does not leave a residue. These are often referred to as clean agents. You would also never want to use water on a Class C fire for obvious reasons.

Most household extinguishers are a combination of Class A, B, and C ratings. These extinguishers can be used on ordinary combustible fires, liquid fires, and electrical fires.

The last of the four common classifications of fire is the Class D fire. The Class D fires fueled by combustible metals such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium. Class D fire extinguishers are used exclusively for Class D fires, and use materials such as sand, and dry chemical powders to smother the fire.

 

Special thanks to RVTCDEN who shared this video on Youtube.

 

And… Thank you Vince for your help! 😉

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HURRICANE Irene to reach NEW-YORK

A pilot risking his life onboard a 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J Weatherbird weather reconnaissance aircraft, observed the hurricane in the eye of the storm and reported winds at around 100mph today:

New-York braces for what could be the most destructive hurricane since 1938 maybe 1821. South and North Carolina are beginning to feel the effects of Irene. As showed in the videos hereafter, Irene might cause widespread damage particularly by flooding well beyond the coastal cities such as Virginia Beach; Norfolk; Atlantic City, as well as Kill Devil Hills, the site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial close to Kitty Hawk:

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Air Force SERE – Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape

SERE stands for Survival-Evasion-Resistance-Escape for the US Air Force, and Survive-Evade-Resist-Extract for the Royal Air Force. Watch the video shot at the USAF Survival School, Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), Fairchild AFB, Washington:

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