jjbaker

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Everything posted by jjbaker

  1. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    I prefer my lead paint chips with a glass of Clorox or a cup of Avgas. Milk is for people who sit on the lowest bench in the sauna.
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  2. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    Whats wrong with eating lead paint chips?
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  3. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

     
    Then again, you were first married when rubber boots were still made out of wood.
     
     
    Has Lenny ever chastised a member here? Honest question, I've never seen him bitch at someone...
     
    Derailed topics are a sign for a healthy group of people.
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  4. jjbaker added a post in a topic Barefoot Flying   

    Spent a lot of time flying in FL (Everglades) and in Maine (Woods). Only once flew with a female CFI who flew barefoot.
    I think having a barefoot person on board will prove beneficial in a survival situation.
     
    They say you don't have to run faster than the alligator or the bear, just a tiny bit faster than the person with no shoes.
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  5. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    The list of active topics is growing again.
    Let Facehook and its mindless slaves be what it wants to be.
     
    Youtube is a BITCH to have to promote a forum. Its even more counterproductive and ineffective than Facebook.
     
     
    Never forget how "real" all of these social media outlets are...
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  6. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    Ed, a handful of members posting is like the glue that keeps a site ticking when you could otherwise not get the crickets to chirp.
    I agree wholeheartedly that the short oneliners are often detrimental, much worse is no response at all. Ask Lenny what walls of text I've produced.  
     
    On my Aerobaticsforum.com I recently questioned my members as to why they think there is so little activity.
    I've had the site back open since June 1 and there have barely been 10 Posts. Answer: If nobody starts a topic, nobody can answer it.
    To my question why not to start a new topic the answer is: I'd rather respond than initiate. That's the equivalent of institutionalized insanity.
     
    One member started sharing the site on FB. Result: Facebook Likes went from 53 to 215+ in a week. Twitter Followers went from 0 - nearly 50. There is nothing beeing tweeted at all and I can't even share anything on FB since there is complete silence. Still people like the crap out of stuff. 2 new members, none of whom is active. A ton of senseless talk on the Email lists, tons of short memory stuff on FB - and the rest goes to the dogs.
     
    I am a split character on FB. It has gained me some members and it has been useful with advocacy issues.
    Beyond that its added work and responsibility.
     

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  7. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    Maybe we should set a trial date and see if/ how many new members sign up.
     
    If, lets say after a month, there's 9,754 "Fans" and no new members here, we'll post a picture of a flying pig and kiss them goodbye.
    I am already noticing lots of notifications but actual sharing of the site is limited. There's some 20 Likers.
     
    I enjoyed reading the article dholly hotlinked. I also appreciate the "value glide path of a brick" analogy used to describe its effectiveness.
    This isn't a new issue. Its just the not so fluffy part of a huge and well executed totalitarian world domination game that is about to be won.
     
    Over here where the Teutons lived, we have a smart phone commercial that shows a baby.
    The announcer says: "Meet Sarah. Sarah will not need a computer or laptop, she won't even need a smart phone.
    She will touch the internet with her hands and live in it."
     
    Yeah, she'll be some wacked up emo with a social anxiety complex and suicidal tendencies when someone actually speaks a word with her......
    Her vocabulary will consist of Tool Time Tim's grunting noises and ROFL, LOL, FML and whatever else is in use.
     
    Sometimes one must wonder when exactly Facebook will be renamed to what it really is. A dumb version of "Surrogates".
     
    "Oh look, I'm so cool but so excstaticly sad. FML! My Facebook was down for a minute and my BFF unfriended me!"
     

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  8. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

     
    I still hope that Sugarmountain and his criminals will someday all go to jail or get sold to Iran for Camels.
     
    If Facebook went POOF tomorrow, I'd drink until the cows start mooing. Unfortunately - if you're not on it with a page you seek to promote, you stand the chance of a icecube in hell. So, before I complain about Facebook I always look around myself first. Its the people who prefer these short, meaningless, senseless statements who make Facebook so much more popular than forums.
     

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  9. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook   

    Would you guys say there is a lot of dizzying activity on this forum?
     
    Guess that's a "no". So, how many of the new members post? Guess that's a "just a few".
    How many dedicated and actively promoting members do we have here?
     
    I hate Facebook and Sugarassmountain as much as anyone. But, at least the site gets out there. Short of a 500 dollar ad in a magazine, its the only way to advertise a site that DEPENDS on active members. Ask someone who's forum was ignored, hacked, silenced, legally threatened and stonewalled for nearly 6 years. I am here all week to answer questions. Its really just an attempt to get more members in here.
     
    The competition is doing enough to protect this website from growth and success.
     

     
    Cheerio from the DPNG
     
    jjb
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  10. jjbaker added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Avidfoxflyers.com On Facebook
    Avidfoxflyers.com has a Facebook Page Now!
     
    Check it out, Like It, Share It.
     
    Maybe this will help recruit some new and active members, who will then in turn post here.
     

     
    Cheerio,
     
    Jason
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  11. jjbaker added a post in a topic Avid Catalina N157AB's first flight out of KRNT, well over 2 years after I first said, "two weeks!"   

    Oh Woooohooo!
     
    Call it theft or call it bliss, but this guy is sharing this...
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  12. jjbaker added a post in a topic Close Call groundloop   

    Ag pilots are a completely different class of pilot. Watch them work at night or in extremely confined areas.
    Talk about crazy stuff, still done safely compared to your average timebuilder meatbomber.
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96NHi-J2Ao
     
     
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  13. jjbaker added a post in a topic Airventure 2015   

    Instantly thought of Snaps when seeing the hand under the blouse... only one guy who can do this and live to see another day.
     
    Nice pics!
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  14. jjbaker added a post in a topic What if this happened to you?   

    Amazing to see people trying to force birds in the trees to shit and then manage to blame Rotax for their own stupidity...
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  15. jjbaker added a post in a topic new   

    Whoohoo!
     
    Neat plane, perfect condition.
     
    Welcome to the forum!
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  16. jjbaker added a post in a topic Airventure 2015   

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-JK6HPAuU
     
    Must be pretty neat to be on site. Enjoy guys and post tons of pictures.
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  17. jjbaker added a post in a topic My Catalina Project   

    Very neat airplane and nice pictures!
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  18. jjbaker added a post in a topic Close Call groundloop   

    EdMO, I guess the guy with the backpack strapped to his back was wondering the same thing...
     
    "What kind of idiot is hiking around down there with my chute? Oh dang! Nice! A ham sandwich and a Capri Sun!!!"
     
    My intention wasn't to derail the thread by sharing another two stories on "Close Calls".
    Neither was my goal to generalize any critique against our nice, caring and professional parachuting friends.
     
    Never ground-looped a plane myself (yet).
     
    I guess guys flying C5 Galaxys, Globemasters and KC135's have enough tact and class to push TOGA when there is a slower plane in the way. Of course their mission isn't nearly as important as it is to get on the ground before the jumpers arrive.
     
      
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  19. jjbaker added a post in a topic WHO WAS LOOKING FOR BELLY TANKS?   

    That was this thread IIRC:
     
    http://www.avidfoxflyers.com/index.php?/topic/3503-longer-legs/page-2?hl=+belly%20+tanks
     
    Here's a link to "Fuel Tanks" on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.Xfuel+tanks.TRS0&_nkw=fuel+tanks&_sacat=0
     
    Here's the link to the Ebay ad pictured above: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fuel-tanks-/221825087849?hash=item33a5ce3969&vxp=mtr
     
    Maybe someone can merge the threads. I am "endorsed" but not type rated for such action on this forum.
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  20. jjbaker added a post in a topic Close Call groundloop   

    I'll post my longer response to this, hoping that long responses aren't frowned upon? I suck at writing one-liners.
    Kind of like two examples of my own Close Calls & Dumb Stunts, just to give an idea that flight time or "experience" is of no meaning.
    I had written it last night, but wasn't sure if I wanted to post it...
     
    Once upon a time.... (when rubber boots were still made of wood, but less than 42.6 years ago, which is when a pilot really becomes experienced), I declined a drop due to heavy TS activity in the vicinity of the airport. But, the tandems had been sold, giving refunds was not an option. So, the smartest of all men, the DZ owner, parked his bum in the Porter and decided to take the risk. 20 minutes later he was back in the pattern, plane full of jumpers (all the TM's had declined the jump). In beginning rain and heavy turbulence he came landing into our heavily sloped airport (2000 feet RWY). Not only was he slow, he was also carrying lots of weight. He had actually never landed the Porter at MaxGW... What had to happen, happened. The plane was trash. 2 people escaped with light injuries, 1+ MM of airplane was written off and guess everyone got a refund and then some. Two other drop pilots quit that day - some pressure is usual, standing up 3 pilots to prove that you can crash a plane all by your lonesome deserves punishment. The guy later killed himself doing crazy stunts on the chute. Saying "NO" takes less than two seconds. Being dead takes the rest of your life. Call me a chicken if you want, but please give me credit for being one that is still laying eggs...
     
    Yeeeears later, I find my own bum in a Twin Cessna approaching our home airport on a deadhead corporate flight. Two pilots, empty plane, my leg. Heavy TS activity in the area, with the Radar painting a bleak picture for our intended place of arrival. An unfortunate decision to descent from the FL's early placed us in heavy turbulence, ice and getting tired of it, quickly. The guy to my left finally got sick and used a sick bag. Getting out of the soup high enough to see the airport, it was clear that we would race the storm. At the time we were both "committed" not to keep flying. The last 5 miles were pure terror. Turbulence so bad that I really worried about the planes well-being. Sounds I had never heard before from that plane. Wing flex on a little twin is somewhat limited, but hell, those wing-lets were in motion and things where being smacked around in the plane. I have never paid that much attention to my shoulder harness and seat-belts before, nor did I ever after. This time I pulled the belts tight enough to hurt.
     
    The following landing was a constant struggle with the plane from a mile out until we sat on the runway. 3000+ takeoffs and landings and never once worked that hard. By the time we got stopped, the storm was right on top of the airport. Unable to taxi safely. Lightning so bright it was impressive. Rain and sleet, too. Gusts that moved the airplane just like a toy. After it had calmed a little, we decided to taxi back to our hangar. I had been pushing my luck. For nothing. A chunk of ice fell off the plane when we pushed her inside the hangar. I thought: "Can you spell DUMBASS?"
     
    We later talked about the flight and approach. The first option to dodge the issue would have been to stay high and above the worst longer, thereby reducing our time in icy IMC and turbulence. This would have given us time to evaluate and judge the weather and would have reduced our exposure to the ice. Chances are, this was our first exit door, we elected not to open. When we later discovered that it would be close with the storm, we had the chance to divert. We didn't. Second strike. The third strike was accepting the guy on the left seat basically becoming severely sick and more or less useless as a crew member. For me that was the last warning to divert and get out of the crap. I didn't because the idea of having this kind of turbulence on the plane didn't appeal to me, at all. Getdownitis, got the better of me. I was more afraid of a inflight breakup, than I was about bending the airplane on a shitty landing.
     
    There's many highly experienced pilots on this discussion board and my lousy TT doesn't stink up against theirs. Like the saying: There's those who have ground-looped and those who still have to". You usually get two out of three strikes for free and without the NTSB showing up. When you collect all three and still walk - you were lucky. The time we have really plays no role in how any particular flight turns out. There you are writing safety articles for pilots and a minute later you're the DUMBEST DONKEY on the farm. 3000+ takeoffs and landings, and the only one that really matters is this very next one.
     
    So, we take the beatings until morale improves, we aim to do better next time and not let others (or ourselves) rush us.
    Naturally, the number of go-arounds decrease as we gain more experience - or get complacent - but that doesn't mean crap about our skill. The only thing you can really learn, is to say NO earlier, which many of us don't do until we are reminded of just how quickly we can fudge up.
     
    One check-mark in the "Close Call" column of our logbook is always a good reason to put one in the "Opportunities To Learn" column, too. We should appreciate opportunities when they present themselves. Talking about them isn't nearly as bad as the press coverage will be after the smoking pile of wreckage comes to a stop.
     
    Thanks for reading.
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  21. jjbaker added a post in a topic Close Call groundloop   

     
    8 hours from solo in a new to you plane, you are completely within your rights to get nervous when you are feeling rushed. The only way to counter that is to discontinue the approach early and try again with different settings. Change the third E as in Environment. Its exactly this kind of stuff that can kill you in a hurry and it leaves people behind who wonder what for. Unless the airport exists solely for jumpers and their planes, avoiding the airport is simply the same as accepting the new, self-declared Kings. I am not saying they don't have a right to be there and rig the game in their favor when possible, but never at the expense of others. That includes local residents, but also other airplanes. The FAA may be well aware of the issues. Sometimes a solid DING can fix stupid.
     
    Good on you for talking about it and good on you for acknowledging that even the smallest flying contraption you could fly, can probably just barely kill you.
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  22. jjbaker added a post in a topic Close Call groundloop   

    Having dropped jumpers out of a Porter and 182 I can attest to the "asshole factor" often on display when you're spending many bucks a minute and hot-loading the plane to get more jumps done. That doesn't warrant taking the right of way or pushing people, though. Not in any way, shape or form. Unless you are military or Lifeflight with a dying body inside, you'll obey the same rules as anyone else.
     
    What happened to you is not a shame for you, its a shame for whoever allows those monkeys to run the show the way they do. I'd approach the FBO and if no corrective action is taken immediately and noticeably I'd not hesitate one second to call the FSDO. I have filed formal complaints, even though one of them became a subject only after "Mr. I'mbetterthananyoneandinahurry" had destroyed our Porter. The world needs idiots, otherwise it will go sane on us.
     
    You fly the slower plane and you follow published procedure and you fly that plane ANY DAMN WAY you see fit, to keep it safe. You keep your plane and yourself safe and sound, Guess what... too freaking bad for the meatbomber. I'd not argue a single minute with any of the clowns who think they can rush people or take the right of way. Let an inspector deal with it.
     
    Lesson learned (I hope): If you groundloop and crash your plane due to feeling rushed, it's your loss. You are PIC.
    If the conditions are dangerous enough where a ground-loop becomes the preferred choice over having a midair with someone dumb - its time for the Artillery.
     
    No Mercy. Sorry.
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  23. jjbaker added a post in a topic Today's science lesson   

    I still don't get it. I've watched this 209 times and the concept of gravity is becoming more and more foreign to me.
    Gotta watch it again.
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  24. jjbaker added a post in a topic She's got an N number   

    Very neat color!
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  25. jjbaker added a post in a topic New Project   

     
    No kidding. Lightly wiggle that exhaust during pre-flight. Just too many things can burn or get damaged + carbon-monoxide poisoning is no fun.
    We had a cracked turbo melt his surroundings including part of the wing spar on a twin. No fun, either.
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