The state of our (dying) sport 2022

[BJC]

I haven’t exactly had a great experience with the aviation community. I know there are some great people out there.

There are jerks, a-holes and crooks in aviation, just like everywhere else. Part of growing up, is learning to recognize, deal with, or avoid them. I can point to multiple examples of each of those categories, and I can introduce you to some of the finest people on the earth who are fully engaged in all aspects of aviation.

Tell us about your design project, and be fully prepared for candid critiquing, which you should appreciate. Of course, you need to learn to separate the BS from the valid comments.


BJC

 

[Yellowhammer]

I prefer one or more M-80's. I like the noise and the splash.

My father owned a Cherokee 180 in the 60's. I could fly it and often intended to get my PPL but life intervened and I never did.

But I also flew RC models and still do. And with those I have flown WWI and II fighters of all types. Cubs, Stearmans and others. And while I keep trying, I doubt I've spent 100k. Yet!

I'd love to have a RV-10 or something similar. And I can afford it. But when I look at the numbers I get sticker shock. And like someone said earlier. a Porsche costs less. And I ache for another one of those too!

Porsche is my favorite sports car ever created. I have never been a car guy but would drive a 911 in a heart beat. For some reason, the old 944 appealed to me. The classic red with tan or black interior. My brothers high school girlfriend had one and would let me drive it. A 944 is no 911 but it is still a Porsche.

As for getting a plane, you should look for a Pulsar XP or a Super Pulsar 100. Great airplanes and very affordable. The Pulsar 100 is in a league of its own. In fact, the Pulsar 100 is what the entire Pulsar line should have been designed as. The 100 has a very wide cockpit and is made from the honey comb composite material. I have a friend that just built one and it is a gorgeous and capable aircraft.

Speaking of M-80's, I come from a farming family and sadly, my brother is the only one still farming. He is a sod farmer in Central Alabama where we are from.
He has a license to purchase Dynamite. We use it to blow beaver dam's through out the property because if we don't the beavers will flood an entire 500 acre field in short order. Dynamite is powerful stuff.

They say that the older M-80's were just a small section of a stick of Dynamite. Not sure if that is true or not.

One thing that always intrigued me about Dynamite was that it will sweat in the warm weather and bead up condensation like a cold soda can will when left outside. You can actually take your finger and collect the "dew" and then flick your finger and it will make a loud pop like those things kids buy that you throw on the ground and they explode.

Good times.

-Yellowhammer

 

[BJC]

They say that the older M-80's were just a small section of a stick of Dynamite. Not sure if that is true or not.

One thing that always intrigued me about Dynamite was that it will sweat in the warm weather and bead up condensation like a cold soda can will when left outside.

The M-80’s that we played with didn’t sweat. We much preferred M-80’s to Cherry Bombs because they could be thrown at the enemy further and more accurately.


BJC

 

[Pops]

I have a story about my "brother" 3.5 year older than me and his buddy ( distant cousin) blasting a water cistern is solid rock with dynamite. I was 12 years old. Carbide fishing is a little better than dynamite fishin, more like a quarter stick of dynamite. Don't kill as many fish.
Dynamite license
About 25 years ago, I found a stick of dynamite left over from the case when making the cistern in the old smoke house in a box. All sweaty, very gently put it in a small box, went down in the deep woods and dug a deep hole and buried it . Been in the box since 1952.

 

[Toobuilder]

Better yet, get 2 horses!

My Rocket formation buddy has 2 horses in addition to the Rocket, and also is into custom guns.

Now all he needs is a sailboat and a golf membership.

 

[Dana]

For some reason, the old 944 appealed to me. The classic red with tan or black interior. My brothers high school girlfriend had one and would let me drive it. A 944 is no 911 but it is still a Porsche.

Hah! Guy I worked with had a 944, at the same time I had a 280Z. We'd often hit the traffic circle just outside the base at the same time on the way to work. 2 lanes around the circle, I always managed to blow past him.

Good times, I miss that car. My wife (then girlfriend) hated it, I got lots of speeding tickets in it, it was faster than my T-Craft's Vne.

 

[Hawk81A]

I remember it being said that an M-80 was equivalent to a quarter of a stick of dynamite. I don't recall M-80s as being THAT powerful. I could tell stories of "doctoring" certain fireworks, but that's called "a destructive device" now. 7.62 does a number on fish as well, but I don't know how I know that.

 

[Tiger Tim]

There are jerks, a-holes and crooks in aviation, just like everywhere else.

The a-holes of aviation are just different somehow. I can shrug them off and live my life just fine but I’ve noticed in other hobbies those guys don’t actively hunt down people who are enjoying themselves. I think there’s a jealousy component that fuels it.

 

[Dan Thomas]

One thing that always intrigued me about Dynamite was that it will sweat in the warm weather and bead up condensation like a cold soda can will when left outside. You can actually take your finger and collect the "dew" and then flick your finger and it will make a loud pop like those things kids buy that you throw on the ground and they explode.

Nitroglycerin.

I have a book here written by a fellow who grew up on one the the islands in the Georgia Strait, between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island. His father was a logger. They used dynamite to blast rock out of the way for logging roads. He tells a hilarious story about a cow that belonged to an elderly couple that lived on the island. One day someone found it eating ancient, weeping dynamite from an old shed at a logging site. The cow had broken down the door---probably smelled the sweetness of the nitro---and had stomped a few cases open and had gorged herself on the stuff. They had to very gently drive the cow off into the hills for few days, and warned everyone not to shoot her.

Eventually the old couple butchered the cow, but its meat was inedible. Cows will eat just about anything. Lots of stuff in the forest that will taint the meat.

 

[Appowner]

If you want a really expensive hobby, get a horse.


BJC

Ha! Ha! Had one for some 10-11 years. Yeah, that was another 100k or so of education and life getting in the way.

Getting a horse is easy and relatively inexpensive. Keeping a horse, especially in Northern Virginia is expensive. $600 plus a month for a 10x10 stall and a daily 25 pound bale of hay.

Still, I miss that ornery beast.

 

[BJC]

Getting a horse is easy and relatively inexpensive. Keeping a horse, especially in Northern Virginia is expensive.

Years ago, I turned down two free Thoroughbreds, offered buy a friend / six aircraft homebuilder. Several years ago I turned down another free horse that was offered to my granddaughter.

I love horses. As a child, I rode quite a bit at my uncle’s farm, but twice I made good decisions.


BJC

 

[Pops]

Including eating the fabric off your airplane.

 

[Pops]

Grandfather farmed 100 acres with horses. They earned there keep. I was big for my age as a kid and was plowing with a turn plow and a team of horses when I was 12 years old . Usually raised about 20 acres of corn. Went to a one room school and hated when school ended in the spring. That was plowing and planting time. I feel sorry for a horse that is kept in a stall most of the time. Horse should run wild as much as possible.
Just like me.
l also love horses. Several people that lives close to the airport have riding horses. One friend of my daughters has owned a mule for 18 years . Says that mule has out lived 3 husbands. When she goes by my house on the mule and the mule sees me, it wants to stop and get rubbed. Just a big baby.

 

[Hot Wings]

warned everyone not to shoot her.

Amusing story but hard to believe.

My one personal experience with nitroglycerin was quite different. I disposed of a half dozen sticks of old Mine Gel II by spreading it around the garden. I had the most incredible headache I've ever had after that, from the nitro being absorbed thru my un-gloved hands.

The radishes grown in that area were some of the hottest I've ever grown - to the point of being inedible for several years.

I'm quite allergic to horses so lots of money saved. Probably would have died if I was born 100 years earlier and had to depend on them .................But there were no planes to build then so no big deal.

 

[BJC]

I disposed of a half dozen sticks of old Mine Gel II by spreading it around the garden. ....
The radishes grown in that area were some of the hottest I've ever grown - to the point of being inedible for several years.

Did they explode when you bit into them?


BJC

 

[Hot Wings]

Did they explode when you bit into them?


BJC

If they had I'd have grown more. I miss the little balls of lead azide we could buy as kids that exploded when you tossed then against a hard surface.

 

[radfordc]

I have a story about my "brother" 3.5 year older than me and his buddy ( distant cousin) blasting a water cistern is solid rock with dynamite.

My only experience being around dynamite was similar....watching my neighbor blast out a storm cellar in limestone right next to his house. He put up lots of plywood to protect the house and I guess it did. Pretty neat watching through a peep hole in the plywood at an explosion a few yards away.

 

[radfordc]

If they had I'd have grown more. I miss the little balls of lead azide we could buy as kids that exploded when you tossed then against a hard surface.

My freshman chemistry prof would mix up something like that....a compound that was safe when damp but extremely sensitive once it dried to a solid. He put little dabs of the stuff on the floor and as he lectured he would step on one causing a loud bang to emphasize a teaching point.

 

[Hot Wings]

a compound that was safe when damp

Good probability it was Iodine and ammonia*. I 'discovered' this when I was about 8 and liked to play chemist with things in the family medicine cabinet. It wasn't until highschool that I knew what I'd made.
The meth trade made iodine hard to get...........but it doesn't take much to make a demonstrable amount.

Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - one of the first books I ever bought. Lent it out - never returned. I'm probably on some watch list somewhere..........

* or could have been any number of Perchlorates. Untraceable by conventional explosive scanners, but only a really desperate terrorist would use them.

 

[Pops]

Good probability it was Iodine and ammonia*. I 'discovered' this when I was about 8 and liked to play chemist with things in the family medicine cabinet. It wasn't until highschool that I knew what I'd made.
The meth trade made iodine hard to get...........but it doesn't take much to make a demonstrable amount.

Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - one of the first books I ever bought. Lent it out - never returned. I'm probably on some watch list somewhere..........

* or could have been any number of Perchlorates. Untraceable by conventional explosive scanners, but only a really desperate terrorist would use them.

When I was a kid I did the same thing. Used everything I could get my hands on.
Ever cut the white tips off a lot of matches and ***************************