On Mon, 12 May 2008 11:06:12 -0700 (PDT), Snidely
<Snidely.too@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On May 9, 7:54 pm, "Don K" <dk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > "Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)" <reunite.gondw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote in messagenews:6kq9241si45gd7hh1aorqdnh947nr7k4ce@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > > Of course, every one here has some experience with technology and
its
> > > foibles; flight research is a wonderful career for someone who wants
> > > to go bare knuckle with technology. I often referred to myself, not
> > > entirely joking, as thra****ng in the underbrush of knowledge. The
> > > classic advice to cycle power to fix a balky component, for example,
> > > is how we fixed flight computer problems on the F-8 DFBW. Sometimes
> > > we'd have to do it more than once, but it worked every time.
> >
> > That sounds like my work laptop. Once or twice a month I have to
reboot
> > multiple times to get everything working right. Sometimes the mouse
isn't
> > there, sometimes the network doesn't connect, but most often the
display
> > driver goes missing. My record of 14 boots to get it going one morning
> > still holds.
> >
> > I don't call the help desk because I don't want them to mess up the
computer.
> > I've developed a routine. I can usually get 'er started in about 4
tries while
> > sipping my first cup of coffee, cycling up in VGA mode, and then
resetting
> > the display if its driver kicks in.
> >
>
> Do you do this at Mach 2, or when flying inches from your wingman?
>
> /dps
>
> (Yeah, I know, Mary was talking about a ground procedure, but I think
> the environment gives her story trumps over yours)
No, I wasn't. We did that in flight, mostly. I don't remember the
computers having problems on the ground all that often.
It wasn't as dangerous as it might sound. We had three computers that
voted two out of three, so pulling the circuit breaker on one computer
that wasn't working anyway didn't compromise anything. It was only
when one of the two remaining computers got odd that we really
worried.
Besides, the F-8C couldn't go much faster than Mach 1.4, going
downhill, with the wind at its back. And safety chase was farther
away than a few feet. Don't let the movie "Top Gun" fool you; wing
men don't really fly that close, but they did in the movie to keep
them in the frame. Having wing a mile away wouldn't make such great
footage.
Mary "One of very few errors in the flying scenes."
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote re****ts about it.
reunite.gondwana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or miliff@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
my blog at http://thedigitalknitter.blogspot.com/
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