Fanclub X-wing Series Fan Club: Home of the Dancing Gamorrean

(As a flight engineer, I was directly in the middle between the navigator and the pilot. Maybe that's why they issued me a kevlar vest.)

 

But can the navigator fly the plane?

 

Most navs have enough training that they could likely get the plane home and put it on the ground, probably not smoothly, but good enough to walk away when it stops. I could have done that, and engineers usually get less pilot training than navs.

And, almost totally unrelated, if there's anyone who hasn't seen this in all the other threads where I've posted it, I'm trying to milk my 15 minutes of fame for all its worth.
I got my picture and an article about me on the front page of the local newspaper. Here's a link to the online version: Prayers, planes go hand in hand | The Bridgton News

 

Hrm actually, you've got those single-seat planes where obviously the pilot has to do all the navigating himself. So having a navigator isn't strictly a necessity, right? I guess he's just there to reduce the pilot's workload?

While we're at it...these days we're talking about unmanned bombers. So does that mean we can just dispense with the entire crew?

 

Drones are getting better, but nobody in their right mind is willing to turn an AI loose with lethal weaponry and no human in the loop. We'd need either an AI that was absolutely trustworthy, or a human operated remote control system with zero possibility of being hacked. I don't foresee either of those in the immediate future.

I remember one day in Iraq, we were returning to base after a mission and traffic control suddenly put everybody in holding patterns, nobody was allowed near the base. We assumed it was another mortar attack from insurgents on the ground, we got those pretty often. Eventually we were cleared in and allowed to land, and we asked the people on the ground about the attack, but there hadn't been anything like that. It turned out that somebody had lost contact with a drone and it was lost, roaming free somewhere near the base with a Hellfire missile on board. An F-16 finally found it and shot it down.

So, I don't have much trust in drones.

 

I don't trust SkyNet one bit! Neither should you! By the way great article @Sarge!

 

I read a few accounts of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan war which stated that drones were decisive...so I imagine we'll be getting a lot more Skynet.

 

Yeah, that's how I feel about self-driving cars. I don't trust them at all. OTOH, there are a lot of drivers on the road that are even more dangerous. We'd all be so much safer if everyone was as good a driver as I am.

 

Fixed that for you. We've all seen what you drive and there's nothing slow about it

 

A good friend of mine is waiting for them! She wants to be able to program the car and then sit back & read a book. Hates driving. I don't trust them either, because the best self-driving car can only do so much in re: other idiots on the road.

Yeah...soundtracks I don't let myself listen to in the car...Top Gun, James Bond, Death Star trench run from ANH...

 

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit how much I laughed at this.


Sinre EDIT

 

Apologies, I did not mean to offend.

 

LOL! I've been cleaning & clearing and have found all sorts of stuff I forgot I owned. None of it Star Wars, though. Congrats!

 

Bryan with a 'y' of Just Plane Silly, funniest pilot on youtube, has sold his 'tiny little Grumman.' Let us all pause for a moment of silence. OK, that was long enough.

 

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