EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, September 2023, Incursion and Deviations

[WaspAir]

Six rules to live by:

1. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate
2. Always leave yourself an "out."
3. Nothing flies without fuel
4. Takeoff is optional
5. Stay out of the clouds - an IFR rating gives the pilot the ability to know when to stay on the ground.
6. Never let an aircraft take you to a location that your brain hasn't arrived 15 min previously.

Very valid rules outside aviation too.

Wayne

I feel compelled to take issue with #3 in a nit picky way. After 0.1 hrs behind a tow plane using fuel, the next few hours of my typical glider flight don't require any fuel at all, nor is any even available. And gas balloons don't even use fuel for launch. No disagreement with the others!

 

[okikuma]

I feel compelled to take issue with #3 in a nit picky way. After 0.1 hrs behind a tow plane using fuel, the next few hours of my typical glider flight don't require any fuel at all, nor is any even available. And gas balloons don't even use fuel for launch. No disagreement with the others!

JR,

Since you want to nitpick...

Gliders still need fuel to fly. Gliders are the original solar powered aircraft. They are able to obtain sustained flight due to the unequal heating of the Earth. Since the sun's energy is provided by continuous combustion of hydrogen (a fuel), the statement "nothing flies without fuel" is factual and correct.

As for gas balloons, it takes energy (fuel) to extract helium from natural gas. It takes energy (fuel) to extract hydrogen from natural gas, oil, coal, and electrolysis of water. Rule #3 still applies.

So there ... LOL

Wayne

 

[WaspAir]

Since the sun's energy is provided by continuous combustion of hydrogen (a fuel), the statement "nothing flies without fuel" is factual and correct.

Ahh - but it's not combustion - it is proton-proton chain fusion - okay, more than enough nits for me for one day.

One of the great joys of soaring is that the nuclear fuel is not carried onboard!

 

[okikuma]

Ahh - but it's not combustion - it is proton-proton chain fusion - okay, more than enough nits for me for one day.

One of the great joys of soaring is that the nuclear fuel is not carried onboard!

JR,

With proton-proton chain fusion, the hydrogen being used up is still a "fuel."

Then there's the argument that the human on board uses ingested, water, carbohydrate, fat, protein and oxygen that is converted into glycogen, glucose, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and Creatine phosphate (CP) (and many other compounds) used as fuel to provide the cognitive and control input to fly the glider.

Wayne