One of the guilty pleasures I enjoy from time to time is the exploration of human stupidity.
Not that I can’t be as dense as the next guy. I can be, believe me.
For instance, I couldn’t explain in any detail how the Large Hadron Collider works. Sure, I can read up on the topic, but it’s beyond me for the most part.
Similarly, I don’t really understand what my wife is thinking most of the time. Not even if she explains herself. I’m just lost.
No, I’m not talking about the great mysteries of the universe. My interest is drawn more to the areas of study that are more or less settled. Topics that are well understood, yet still disputed by folks who are adamant that well established science and commonly available technologies are wrong.
Flat Earthers are a personal favorite. You might find this hard to believe, but there is a percentage of our population who believe to their core that the Earth is flat. What I and most of the human race sees as a globe, they see as a pancake under glass. There are no satellites in space. Men haven’t been to the moon. Antarctica is a looming wall of ice that prevents us from falling off the world’s edge. The Earth doesn’t rotate around the sun. Rather, the sun flies in a circular orbit above our heads, somehow bringing day and night to the flat, flat Earth.
Nonsense, right? There are a wide assortment of simple experiments that can prove the Earth is round.
Two equal length sticks placed in the ground in two different cities located a couple hundred miles apart along the same north-south line will produce shadows. If both shadows are measured at the same time, they’ll be found to be of different lengths. A bit of math will show the curvature of the earth between the two spots. A bit more will reveal the circumference of the Earth itself.
Even easier, you could simply watch a ship sail into port from way off in the distance. As the ship comes over the horizon, it will initially appear as just the upper structure. The closer it comes to us, the more of the ship the observer will be able to see, until the entire ship comes into view, from the tip of the tallest antenna down to the waterline.
It’s not magic. It’s science. Relatively simple science, at that. Information that has been understood for thousands of years is now being disputed by people who hold these truths in such disregard they try intently to disprove reality.
Apparently, photographic proof of a spherical earth doesn’t cut any ice with these folks.
In the aviation world this same human tendency to discard accepted, proven knowledge in favor of a deeply held but poorly understood personal belief can lead to disaster.
With winter coming, frost advisories deserve our attention. It is a firmly held belief for many that frost is so light and thin that it barely covers the surface of a wing. Therefore, the additional weight of the frost is minimal and will not have a noticeable effect on the ability of the aircraft to fly.
They’re partly correct. The frost is light. It is thin. It very well may barely cover the surface of the wing. But the weight of the frost isn’t the factor that will prevent the aircraft from flying as it should.
Frost presents a rough surface that impedes airflow. Even a thin layer of frost can reduce the available lift by a significant percentage, increase drag, and reduce the critical angle of attack — resulting in a higher than anticipated stall speed.
Add to this the potential for asymmetric stalls (one wing stalling sooner and deeper than the other) and it becomes clear that just a little frost on one’s wing can result in a far shorter and much more exciting flight than the pilot intended.
Six months from now, when summer rolls around, a very different but equally devious threat awaits the pilot afflicted with ignorance or hubris. Density altitude can bite hard, especially if it is misunderstood or disavowed.
The airplane does not fly because of our remarkably skillful manipulation of the controls. It flies because sufficient airflow over the airfoils has the potential to provide lift and directional control.
It is imperative for pilots to understand — not to just regurgitate the correct answer back on a test — but to truly understand the importance of changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure. Those changes result in considerable increases or decreases in the density of the air we fly in — to our benefit or our peril, depending on which direction the density goes.
Because many general aviation aircraft are so forgiving in their flight characteristics, we can easily be lulled into a false sense of security after a multitude of safe, enjoyable flights. Then one day, at an airport with a field elevation higher than that of our home drome, on a particularly hot summer day, when the inches of mercury measure lower than normal, there may be an unpleasant surprise in store for those attempting a mid-afternoon departure.
Sure, the airplane took off and flew just fine on the inbound leg. But the air was cooler then, the home airport was 3,000 feet lower than the departure airport, and the atmospheric pressure was just a smidge higher. Now, at the higher altitude airport, with higher temperatures, and lower barometric pressure, we may find ourselves attempting a takeoff at or near the aircraft’s absolute ceiling. In other words, we’re not going to fly.
If we’re really unlucky we’ll get into ground effect, which may inspire us to will the airplane higher. That doesn’t work. The better move is to abort the takeoff. The best move would be to recognize the conditions wouldn’t allow for a safe takeoff and never have walked out onto the ramp with the intention of taking off at all.
We all have misconceptions in life. And some of us lie to ourselves rather than accept the truth for what it is.
From here on out, let’s at least consider that maybe, just maybe, we could learn a thing of two from those who came before us.
Yes. This does bring me back to my training for my private pilot’s license. We were all taught this but some people forget and for that, they will be reminded the hard way. It is unfortunate.
What does science say about gods?
Try this misconception! The earth started warming with the beginning of fossil fuel use by humans.
Science says that the last, not the only, global warming started about 18,000 years ago.
If not for global warming we would be under ice in most of the USA and all of Canada. Try farming in that weather.
Inquiring minds want to know when the climate of the earth never change 😉
I used to work (in airspace no doubt!) With a young man (38 yrs. Old) who was a “flat Earther”. He was as adamant about the earth being flat as anyone could try to convince him otherwise. He also believed in “lizard people” and gave examples of who they were and how to spot them (ie; Dick Cheryl was his most used example). Yes, there are those types of people who hold, what we believe to be, false ideologies to what is real. Oh yeah, this guy also consumed his fair amount of “medicinal canabis” on the weekends. It a curious world we live in…
Have you every heard the arguments Trekies will get into and they know its make believe 😉
The Earth is hollow. Admiral Byrd said so. 🙄✈
You need a licence to fly. ✈
It is OK to defer maintenance.
It’s a brand new airplane. What% could go wrong?
Ahhh…N.E.W…..Never Ever Worked….🙄
The people who say “You can’t return to the field if you lose an engine on takeoff unless you have 1000 feet AGL, nope, nope, no way–you gotta land straight ahead or make only shallow turns.”
Riiiight, geniuses.
In a Cessna 172? Go out and try a “return to field” maneuver, safely, at altitude. Pretend you’re taking off, climb up to 500 feet “AGL,” and pull the throttle to idle, and try to “return to field.” In other words, end up facing some simulated runway point you simulated took off from.
You won’t even need 500 feet.
Then again, maybe the world IS flat.
Oops; I meant to say “I like the people who say….” etc.
A172 at idle power setting provides sufficient energy to move the plane forward on the ground. The same aircraft in flight with the engine stopped and the prop windmilling will both lose all that energy (thrust) and will experience significant drag. It is important to keep this in mind when practicing the engine out maneuver at altitude. There are other variables to consider, including wind direction/velocity on departure, that can affect the turn back decision altitude and direction.
Joe;
I’m not inclined to point fingers at individuals or troll them online, but you can rest assured there is such a movement as the Flat Earthers. In fact, they hold conventions just like insurance agents, medical sales people, and political party diehards do. I’ll include the link so you can go to a future event if you wish. Perhaps you’ll meet some folks who can share their unique views with you.
https://flatearthconference.com/
Over the last decade or so, I hear the term “Flat Earthers” used to assert that humans still exists on this planet who hearken to the Dark Ages belief the earth physically flat; I am nearing seventy as I write, and this is “something new” for me.
Like this article, those using the term seriously assert that that Dark Age belief is still alive and well in the living in the twenty-first century, None of these proponents claim a neighbor, a co-worker, or a “friend who knows a friend” holding such a belief.
Name names, sir, because I doubt greatly you personally know of someone or even “of someone who knows someone” who believes the Earth is flat and by association, the stars are just points of lights affixed to the firmament.
I’m not inclined to troll individuals online, I will gladly share the pertinent info you seek, Joe. Perhaps a visit to an upcoming Flat Earth Convention would enlighten you (or not).
https://flatearthconference.com/
https://www.tfes.org/