While cleaning out my newsletter file, I ran across the following opinion provided by CAF Col Dick Christiansen, of Lincoln, NE. \u00a0Somehow I never had room for it in the regular newsletter, so I am reproducing it for you now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“We gotta get rid of turbines; they are ruining aviation. \u00a0We need to go back to big round engines.<\/p>\n
“Anybody can start a turbine; you just need to move a switch from ‘Off’ to ‘Start’ and move it back to ‘On’ after a while. \u00a0My PC is harder to start. \u00a0Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. \u00a0On some planes, the pilots are not even allowed to do it.<\/p>\n
“Turbines start by whining for a while, and then give a small lady-like poot and start whining louder. \u00a0Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click BANG, more rattles, another BANG or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke and, finally, a serious, low-pitched roar.<\/p>\n
“We like that. \u00a0It’s a guy thing. \u00a0When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. \u00a0Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: \u00a0useful, but hardly exciting.<\/p>\n
“Turbines don’t break often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency, and inattention. \u00a0A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it’s going to blow at any minute.<\/p>\n
“Turbines don’t have enough control levers to keep a pilot’s attention. \u00a0There’s nothing to field with during the flight.<\/p>\n
“Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman lanterns. \u00a0Round engines smell like God intended flying machines to smell.<\/p>\n
“I think I hear the nurse coming down the hall. \u00a0I gotta go.”<\/p>\n
Click on the link and then double click on the video.<\/span><\/p>\n DSCN0088<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While cleaning out my newsletter file, I ran across the following opinion provided by CAF Col Dick Christiansen, of Lincoln, NE. \u00a0Somehow I never had room for it in the regular newsletter, so I am reproducing it for you now. … Continue reading