[Racer X 69]

Indeed, that's quite thick. I suppose things have evolved since these things went aloft...

Fabric skin over a wood frame.


With dope.


Why do ya think they call it dope, anyway?

A bit of a digression (yes, I know, in this thread of all places!), now with all the newfangled materials, do planes behave differently when hit by lightning than they did with metal skin?

(Just to further calm the nerves of the elevationally challenged...)

First, there are only two commercial airliners in production today that are (mostly) composite. The Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787. Soon the Boeing 777-9X will have composite wings.


Soon.


All of the other planes are mostly aluminum and titanium.


Highly specialized metal alloys, to be sure.




As for lightning strikes, well, adverse weather has always presented a threat to aircraft. But it wasn't until just before the Jet Age that the engineers developed methods to deal with lightning strikes in flight. There were a number of planes lost or severely damaged by lightning before measures to deal with strikes were developed.


Today's aircraft are built with systems to bond and ground the exterior and channel the enormous energy of lightning.

[Parallax]

Thanks, Racer. That was very



wait for it







en-lightening









sorry.....................

[Racer X 69]

I think I've watched every Red Green show ever.

Me too!

Many more times than my favorite movie The Good Bad & Ugly.

Well, I wouldn't go that far.


Then there is The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean. An epic story about Judge Roy Bean, Bad Bob, the Vinnegaroon, and the Yellow Rose of Texas Miss Lily Langtree.

[stevebrot]

Jim, what the heck is that in your hands?


You didn't give up the K-1 too, did you?

It bears the mark of "The F"


Steve

[Racer X 69]

Thanks, Racer. That was very



wait for it







en-lightening









sorry.....................

Imagine exiting the plane after a bumpy flight through stormy weather and seeing this.

[savoche]

Imagine exiting the plane after a bumpy flight through stormy weather and seeing this.

I think they might have noticed when it happened...

I don't have any dramatic stories - the closest I get was a flight from London to LA when one of our engines cut somewhere over the vast emptiness of Canadia. The pilot made several attempts at restarting it, each time with a loud bang, then a trail of black smoke as it stopped again. After a while the captain came on the radio telling us that we would be just fine with three engines, but if he couldn't get the fourth one going again he would land in Seattle.

And, I suppose in attempt to calm the passengers, he told us that he had never in his 25 year long career encountered anything like this. Just what you want to hear, isn't it?

He got the engine running again so we avoided any unscheduled stops.

[robtcorl]

And, I suppose in attempt to calm the passengers, he told us that he had never in his 25 year long career encountered anything like this

[robtcorl]

What does your brain see?

Guess I'm brain dead, had to google around to find the answer.
I do see it now, and I can un-see it too, so there's that going for me.

[Rupert]

Guess I'm brain dead, had to google around to find the answer.
I do see it now, and I can un-see it too, so there's that going for me.

You should have slept on it to see if your brain figured it out overnight.....like mine did. Of course, you don't have a squirrel brain, like I have.

I think I know that Captain....looks just like a local plumber here......has he got a butt crack showing?

[clackers]

After a while the captain came on the radio telling us that we would be just fine with three engines.

We have obtained the cabin CCTV footage of your crew, Savoche ...

[Parallax]

"Welcome to the first completely automated commercial flight."
"We have reached our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet."
"There is no flight crew in the cockpit, and this is a recording, but we assure you that absolutely nothing can go wrong"
Go wrong
Go wrong
Go wrong
Go wrong

[Racer X 69]

Back to cabover tractors. Here is a K100 I saw up in Winnipeg, December 2009. Big walk in stand up sleeper.

It was 40 below when I shot this photo.

Not counting the wind chill.

[Racer X 69]

My first trip in Monstro, to a place called Growers Ice in Salinas, California.

It was about 75 or so.

Nice.

Monstro keeping an Uncle company.


Another of Growers Ice fleet.

[Racer X 69]

I spent an entire day in Calexico waiting on a load of aircraft insulating blankets to come across the border. While there I saw what happens to old cabover tractors. They don't get scrapped, they get a new life running drayage from Mexicali to Calexico.

[Racer X 69]

Somewhere in the frozen Midwest an old Freightliner cabover sneaking past me.