Bashers

[Chuck_Ellsworth]

" basher, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source bash (bsh) Pronunciation Key
v. bashed, bash·ing, bash·es
v. tr.
To strike with a heavy, crushing blow: The thug bashed the hood of the car with a sledgehammer.
To beat or assault severely: The police arrested the men who bashed an immigrant in the park.
Informal. To criticize (another) harshly, accusatorially, and threateningly: “He bashed the... government unmercifully over the... spy affair” (Lally Weymouth).

v. intr. Informa.
To engage in harsh, accusatory, threatening criticism.

n.
Informal. A heavy, crushing blow.
Slang. A celebration; a party. "

I see this word used over and over to describe people who point out that there are deadly faults in the designs of some gyroplanes.

I am curious just what a " basher " really is in the minds of some posters here in this forum.

Here is a short list of people who post most frequently to point out that poor unstable designs kill people.

C. Beaty..... D. Riley......Udi.... P. Bruty...Raghu.... Greg G. J. Mayfield....C. Ellsworth.

Am I to believe that we all are just "bashers" is it not possible that we are correct and thus being reasonable in trying to save lives?

Chuck E.

[Doug Riley]

Chuck, of the eight people in your list, only Greg and Paul sell a competing brand. The rest have no ax to grind other than stopping the carnage that has all but ruined gyro flying.

I grew up building and flying gyros from age 14 on. At age 51, it breaks my heart to see an activity that's been such a central part of my life become a source of agony for widows and friends of the deceased.

[Ga6riel]

i insist i be added to this list of bashers
or i will bash the hell out the place...

[Ralph]

The fact is, the movement has run out of excuses and rationalizations. We have the highest per capita death rate in aviation, and that includes hang glider pilots who run off cliffs in high winds! We are not making the world save for democracy or exploring outer space - its supposed to be recreation.

I am well aware the flying is dangerous, but it is not unreasonable to ask why our kind of flying needs to be so much more dangerous than what other pilots do. These aren't just statistics - they are people we knew who went flying and never came home to their family and friends! When the list gets long enough, you stop being nice and start being blunt. If some "tough love" bashing will save one pilot, I, for one, don't care how many people get their feelings hurt or their egos bruised!

Ralph

[j bird]

To whom it may concern,
I ran across this little tid-bit written about Jimmy Doolittle.

Doolittle was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, the first instrument pilot,first Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering, and the only person to win the Schneider, Bendix and Thompson Trophy races.
Doolittle's title was "The Master of Calculated Risk." He took risks, but he did not take foolish or unnecessary risks. There is a big difference. He examined all of his risks in detail, understood them, and did everything to minimize them. He never left anything to chance that he could control or influence. This is how you approach risk taking in aviation.

[PW_Plack]

To strike with a heavy, crushing blow...

To engage in harsh, accusatory, threatening criticism....

Think back to the factual descriptions of the accidents, and what happened to Carl Schneider at Oshkosh this summer. "Basher" may more accurately describe the sellers of the kits than the critics of the kits.

[Chuck_Ellsworth]

What happened to Carl Schneider?

[Timchick]

Here's the thread on what happened to Carl at Oshkosh 2005

http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7669

[Steve McGowan]

Carl woulda put a foot in someones ass.....

Let us go with Ya next year Carl...

Jon Stevens loves a good fight... Awad, Ray and I will bring up dragg..

Heron can go too..:party:

steve

[dragonflyerthom]

Now that is what I call a bunch a hormonal juvenile reactions. You guys are worst than my teenage boys.

Gloom and doom. You guys really need a hobby.

[Chuck_Ellsworth]

I read the thread about Carl S. at Oshkosh.

Makes for very iteresting reading, especially the discussions relating to the RAF Stabilator.

The most important fact in my mind was this short paragraph by Doug Riley.


" Zero G can be preciptated by a downdraft, with no causitive control input by the pilot. The vane will be useless in such a situation. No rotor thrust, no control. The tilt of the rotor head is irrelevant during zero G. That in itself isn't necessarily deadly, of course, unless it unleashes a PPO caused by high thrustline. "

I can't even estimate the number of times I have flown into turbulence that resulted in being thrown up against the seat belt / shoulder harness over the years.

Some of these events were in conditions that showed visual warnings of heavy to extreem turbulence such as flight through active cold fronts and in the vicinity of and a few times in thunder storms.

Other times the turbulence took me by complete suprise such as flying in mountainous terrain....and the odd time when I inadvertantly flew into wake turbulence in airport traffic areas. Suffice to say if you fly enough you will eventually encounter a sudden down draft that will put you into negative G.

So what will the Stabaiator do to prevent a PPO in your RAF when you hit one of these events at cruise power?

Maybe the ex FAA instructor could explain to us how the stabilator works under sudden negative G due to turbulence?

[StanFoster]

Chuck: You just stated that

"If you fly long enough....you will eventually encounter a sudden downdraft that will put you into negative g"


I do not have that much flight experience...but back in my fixed wing days riding with my dad in a Cessna Skylark 175...we were out flying on a nice clear day and all of a sudden we hit a downdraft that had us pointed straight down and almost on our backs. Maps,,headphones...puke bags..etc, came flying over our heads from the back seat.

I have always wondered about encountering that scenario in a gyro....even my SparrowHawk. That "what if" was always on my mind as you never will forget something like that. My dad is 85 and he still talks about this that happened 40 years ago. He recalls just letting go of the controls and we both can remember sounds like someone slapping the sides of the Cessna with flat boards.

I do know that I do not have to worry about a high thrustline to be fighting me should this happen in my gyro.

Stan