Thanks, Dano

Posted By: Greg CM26 Seattle CLM005771173
Date: 12/29/07 6:51a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: CLIPPER MARINE OWNERS MANUAL (Dano Superior Pleasure CM30 Rainy Lake ON)

Thanks for the kudos. Fact is, I've been an unemployed engineer for the last year and a half, which meant I had the time to devote to that kind of thing (collecting HINs). If I were to continue to have time on my hands, your suggestion to improve the manual would have appeal for me: unfortunately (depending on your point of view), it looks like I'm going back to work full time in a few days. I might be able to toss in a few contributions, but probably not a lot more than that, at least at first. Now for something totally off-topic (hey, everybody else has been doing it): Dano, you're probably the only person I've come across who could provide a thoughtful look at something that has bothered me for a long time. You mentioned the DC-10 at Souix City. While I guess it's true that those pilots did a hell of a job getting that crate to a runway (more or less), it seems to me that they failed to use a significant control tool that was available, that being pitch control by center of gravity. Once they got the plane essentially straight and level, they should have asked the front 15 passengers to go stand in the back of the cabin. I'm a pilot, too, although nowhere as experienced as you are, but we both know that what I just suggested should have produced a slight nose-up pitch change. If it was inperceptable, have the next 15 move. If it was too much, have seven come back. By this kind of experimenting, they would have been able to estimate how many passengers moving would produce a decent flare, and maybe even practice one in the time they had left. Now, I realize that there are rules that say all passengers need to be belted in for takeoffs and landings. I say were I a passenger on that flight, I'd much rather risk injury or death by discarding that rule, and maybe save the whole plane by doing it, than to just blindly rule that option out. What say ye? Greg