* Posts by Michael Segall

4 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Jan 2008

UK air-traffic offers flying-car-style safety gizmo

Michael Segall
Black Helicopters

Good Idea

Flying is totally different to driving. I was allowed to handle a £30 000 aircraft after 3 days and 10 hours of instruction solo but took a further 32 hours and 4 weeks to get my license.

In a car one seconds lack of concentration or a blowout can leave you in a ditch generally a mistake or a vehicle fault in an aircraft and you have a few minutes to find a field or correct your error.

Airspace infringements are easy though, I know that radar is not 100% accurate, one of my instructors was a radar operator at Upper Heyford and was giving me a practise route to our airfiield. When he said that I should be over the clubhouse I was in fact about a mile from the field so accuracy was not perfect but at least he could see that I was not near any other aircraft. That said I had returned to an airfield once to recieve a call from the tower to be told that I had infinged a no go zone by being 100 feet the wrong side of a railway line, said sorry and that it would not happen again.

In the South East of England most areas are fly able but have height limits and if your altimeter is set to the airfield at 400 feet an indicated 2400 fett could be 2800 feet infringing some 2500 feet restrictions. GPS gives a sea level reading so this device would be useful especially if you set a limit on total no go areas.

At a cost of less than 2 hours average flying I would be tempted especially if it has a moving map as most of these devices are many times more for aviation. My wifes Tom Tom gets very confused when I go off road!

Black helicopter, at least I won't be infringing their airspace

So what's the easiest box to hack - Vista, Ubuntu or OS X?

Michael Segall

Seems a bit odd

Shouldn't the prize be the 2 computers that resisted hacking?

Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

Michael Segall

Of time and Stars

This is the book that got me reading and into 'real' Science Fiction at the age of 7. It included the Sentinal and other short stories including the Nine Billion Names of God. Will miss his writing.

RIP

FCC unveils NudeTube

Michael Segall

Thank God for the BBC

How much would Autie Beeb been fined for Denise Van Outens buttocks last week in the Empress's new clothes.