Weight & Balance
There was an old saying I saw once hanging on a bulletin board in a base ops once. It said "when the weight of the paper work equals the takeoff weight of your aircraft you are ready to go"
In 2007, it doesn't seem to me like there is that much more paperwork than when I was flying regularly. Maybe less, what with hand held computers, hand held GPS, on line flight planning and blueberry's or blackberries to help with the trip. This might be a good thing. Less really is more. Especially when it comes to regulations and rules.
If all the rules and regulations concerning airplanes, pilots, controllers and airports were loaded aboard a 747 cargo it would not get off the ground.
When Uncle Sam decided to regulate aviation back in 1920 a set of regulations was published and distributed to all the pilots in the country. It was 1 page. Type written (on both sides of course) and it listed all of the regulations the intrepid pilots were to abide by. There were 25 of them. They were thumb tacked on bulletin boards and put under glass on some back office desk.
Then, like now, the regulations didn't seem like they were written by fliers, or anybody connected to aviation. For example:
Rule #21. Pilots will not wear spurs while flying.
Pilots back in the 20's did wear riding boots, riding pants, leather jackets and silk scarfs. But honest...they took their spurs off before getting into their ship. Some bureaucrat probably saw one pilot before he took off his spurs and decided to make it a rule. I am sure that one of these days a bureaucrat will spot a young pilot getting into his Cessna with his ball cap on backwards and he will come up with a rule by which all pilots must wear their ball caps with the visor forward. Of course it will become rule #FAR 91.500025.667 paragraph 821 and will add 4 pages to the existing manual.
Well...I have vented enough for one evening. To anybody reading this post who loves flying and being around airplanes, remember Rule #1, (January 1920)
"Don't take the machine into the air unless you are satisfied it will fly" Duh.
p.s. Stay tuned while I examine all 25 of "Regulations for operation of aircraft" first published in January 1920.
In 2007, it doesn't seem to me like there is that much more paperwork than when I was flying regularly. Maybe less, what with hand held computers, hand held GPS, on line flight planning and blueberry's or blackberries to help with the trip. This might be a good thing. Less really is more. Especially when it comes to regulations and rules.
If all the rules and regulations concerning airplanes, pilots, controllers and airports were loaded aboard a 747 cargo it would not get off the ground.
When Uncle Sam decided to regulate aviation back in 1920 a set of regulations was published and distributed to all the pilots in the country. It was 1 page. Type written (on both sides of course) and it listed all of the regulations the intrepid pilots were to abide by. There were 25 of them. They were thumb tacked on bulletin boards and put under glass on some back office desk.
Then, like now, the regulations didn't seem like they were written by fliers, or anybody connected to aviation. For example:
Rule #21. Pilots will not wear spurs while flying.
Pilots back in the 20's did wear riding boots, riding pants, leather jackets and silk scarfs. But honest...they took their spurs off before getting into their ship. Some bureaucrat probably saw one pilot before he took off his spurs and decided to make it a rule. I am sure that one of these days a bureaucrat will spot a young pilot getting into his Cessna with his ball cap on backwards and he will come up with a rule by which all pilots must wear their ball caps with the visor forward. Of course it will become rule #FAR 91.500025.667 paragraph 821 and will add 4 pages to the existing manual.
Well...I have vented enough for one evening. To anybody reading this post who loves flying and being around airplanes, remember Rule #1, (January 1920)
"Don't take the machine into the air unless you are satisfied it will fly" Duh.
p.s. Stay tuned while I examine all 25 of "Regulations for operation of aircraft" first published in January 1920.
posted by Rob | 5:42 PM
3 Comments:
Too, too funny.
Kelli, you should see the other regulations they had on 1920. No wonder they were stuck on a bulletin board and ingnored.
I would love to take a look at a list of those regulations. Sounds to me like they'd be pretty hard to take seriously!
If you really want people to follow the rules, you need to make, like 3, people can remember what they are.
They should have elementary school teachers write regulations - we have it down to an artform!
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