Youth's lack of judgment
#21
One of the wickets we had to get around in design school was public reaction to sound pressure levels- designs had to show they were not loud enough to bust adverse reaction standards. You would be impressed how much the government knows about this. A large amount of data was compiled on this in the 40s-60s before the NIMBY crowd became active.
I always wondered why GA aircraft are still so loud. How hard would it be to put on a better muffler (maybe with a manual bypass to get all your power back for emergencies or operations in remote areas ) and a quieter prop? I'll bet the PR value would outweigh the cost in the long run...
The latest airliners seem quieter than an old 172, at least in that annoying piston/prop buzz range.
#22
I believe any half intelligent person would know how to gage height based on a reference... How many aircraft heights would you estimate it was off the ground?.... they could get a pretty accurate number very easily, from just about anyone.
#23
Banned
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: Pilot
Posts: 2,625
#24
Most people don't even have a concept of how high a ceiling is. My last roommate (who was a huge jacka**) was a paratrooper in the army and you'd think would know heights pretty well... He thought our ceiling was 30ft. It was more like 16.
#25
Interesting military reference here dealing with misinterpretation of distance/height.
I was watching a series called 'Ultimate Warfare' It featured the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The destroyer USS Johnston was the closest to the enemy. On his own initiative, Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans steered his hopelessly outclassed ship into the foe at flank speed. The Johnston fired its torpedoes at the heavy cruiser Kumano, damaging her and forcing her out of line. Seeing this, Sprague gave the order "small boys attack", sending the rest of Taffy 3's screening ships into the fray. Taffy 3's two other destroyers, Hoel and Heermann, and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, attacked with suicidal determination, drawing fire and disrupting the Japanese formation as ships turned to avoid their torpedoes. However, the Hoel and the Roberts were destroyed by the slowly advancing fleet.
Last edited by USMCFLYR; 06-13-2013 at 06:31 AM.
#26
Line Holder
Joined APC: Mar 2012
Posts: 72
People judging altitudes is no different than a witness to an airplane crash saying "it was on fire" as it went down. There are numerous crashes that witnesses said aircraft was on fire when no evidence of per-crash fire is ever found.
Saw a vid with a school official who said he "revved the engine, then went straight up and turned the engine off."
#27
The aircraft is a reference, you missed that. They don't need to know numbers, just an estimate of how many, whatever is used for reference, distance. The actual numbers can be determined later. Granted, the higher, and further away the aircraft was, the less accurate the estimate, vantage point matters too, but we're talking about a supposedly low altitude pass at fairly close proximity. I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't make a 50/500 error when estimating how many aircraft heights it was off the ground, you could use wing span. I see a 747 on approach in the distance, I can quickly estimate how many wing spans it is off the ground. I don't have to know the actual wing span at the moment.
#28
The aircraft is a reference, you missed that. They don't need to know numbers, just an estimate of how many, whatever is used for reference, distance. The actual numbers can be determined later. Granted, the higher, and further away the aircraft was, the less accurate the estimate, vantage point matters too, but we're talking about a supposedly low altitude pass at fairly close proximity. I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't make a 50/500 error when estimating how many aircraft heights it was off the ground, you could use wing span. I see a 747 on approach in the distance, I can quickly estimate how many wing spans it is off the ground. I don't have to know the actual wing span at the moment.
Of course these are the same people who reported (a school official mind you) that the small Cessna ""revved the engine, then went straight up and turned the engine off."
I probably wouldn't be thinking that myself but would rather stick with making terrible height estimations like I seem to do every time I step outside and try to guess the bases!
No - - unless the pilot was flying below some other reference, like the high school stadium lights or something else in the immediate vicinity, I wouldn't put much validity to eyewitness statements.
#29
I always wondered why GA aircraft are still so loud. How hard would it be to put on a better muffler (maybe with a manual bypass to get all your power back for emergencies or operations in remote areas ) and a quieter prop? I'll bet the PR value would outweigh the cost in the long run...
The latest airliners seem quieter than an old 172, at least in that annoying piston/prop buzz range.
The latest airliners seem quieter than an old 172, at least in that annoying piston/prop buzz range.
#30
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2008
Position: C-172
Posts: 111
I can vouch that half of the people really are exaggerating how low the individual actually was. The rumor is he was below 500'. His actions were excessive, (maybe one pass would've been a little more acceptable but 8-10 passes is ridiculous).
Peoples reaction (especially the ones at this school -- hoity toity rich folk who are always in other peoples business) was priceless though. One woman was sitting next to an employee of the DOD and someone with his pilots license -- which immediately gave her the expert opinion on the subject.
Either way, theres no debate whether or not he was wrong. He shouldn't of done it.
Peoples reaction (especially the ones at this school -- hoity toity rich folk who are always in other peoples business) was priceless though. One woman was sitting next to an employee of the DOD and someone with his pilots license -- which immediately gave her the expert opinion on the subject.
Either way, theres no debate whether or not he was wrong. He shouldn't of done it.
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