A very unusual poll

[asra]

You make some good points Nick, but I would say this forum is owned by the members of ASRA, and administered under on their behalf by the Board. We are the ones who have to take responsibility for everything, Barry has been appointed by us to actually run it.It's hard to see why Chuck should be blacklisted, his remarks may have been irritating to some, but free speech [ short of libel ] is a very precious thing. That's one of the things my nephew is in Iraq fighting for right now.Freedom of speech and association are something we must all safeguard, even to the point of tolerating some of the 'conspiracy theories' that abound. I was fascinated by a recent SBS programme on them, it seems 71% of Germans, and many French, not to mention the Arab world, believe the one about the US administration putting a missile into the pentagon on Sept 11. Apparently they also claim that Mossad did the World Trade Centre!Anyway for a bloke who's pretty inoffensive face to face you've put the cat amoung the pigeons a bit, haven't you Nick? However the outcome must always be the stimulation of constructive discussion, I think that has been achieved.Oh while I think of it, Chuck, was one of your forbears involved in the the 'Ellsworth Polar Expedition'? If so what can you tell us about it?John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

John, I see you are a retired GP, is that as in physician ?Chuck E.

[NiqueNaque]

I thank you John.If Chuck is an owner of the rorcraft forum by association then such a petition could be deemed a suppression of his 'minority rights', where the majority of people are not to suppress the minority just because they have a different view of things, as Chuck appears to have.It would be interesting to see what proportion of the US population agree with the Germans, Arabs, et al, ditto Australians. From my point of view it would come as no surprise to discover both 'conspiracy theories' were real, there are so many dirty deeds of oppression done under the veil of 'democracy and the fight for it'.Cheers,Nick.

[asra]

Come on Nick, you must have been smoking something with the fairies at the bottom of your garden! I know it's trendy to knock the poor old yanks, and yes a lot of interesting things happen in the murky world of 'security'. Machiavelli had a lot to say about the necessity for this in 'The Prince'.Just ask yourself where we would be without our gum chewing 'friends'.I'm not naive enough to believe everything on the 'News', but we do live in a society where your right to espouse dissident views is guarenteed by those bearing arms in your defence. If you don't wish to ackowlege this try migrating to some of these wonderfull places.Yes Chuck, I'm mainly retired, I just do Medicals for pilots and racing drivers, it's a bit less demanding than flat out General Practice!John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

Chuck, you haven't responded to my question. I have in front of me a picture of a Northrop Gamma called 'Polar Star', other signwriting says 'Ellsworth Trans-Antarctic Flight'. I don't know many Ellsworths. Can you give us some history?John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

John :The name Ellsworth is British and one of the Ellsworth's was an explorer that was famous in Antartica.As to my connection to flying in the Antarctic the closest I got was southern Chile.However I did fly in Canadas high Arctic for many years in Piper Super Cub / D.H. Twin Otter / DC3 / DC6, in fact the woman who has been my owner for many years was a school teacher I met as a pilot flying in Canadas High Arctic.[^]Oh... I did fly a trans South Atlantic ferry flight in 1998 from Dakar Africa to Natal Brazil.....a very long day, but at least there was no map reading to do.[]Chuck E.

[asra]

It's unfortunate you've had to put up with such a boring life Chuck! Perhaps as you get to spend more time in gyros it will get more interestng. It's great to see cross pollination between the various flying disciplines, although as you have found we do have some strange people who resent this sort of thing. It's good to have you contributing. I hope we meet one day!John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

Thanks John:Some people are born with incurable impulses that drive them to certain occupations, some unidentifiable early association triggers some of us to choose different career paths and we can't really remember what exactly caused us to be so attracted to the careers we choose.For me it was never anything but flying that held my rapt attention and became the only thing I ever considered doing, I used to skip school to go the airport and stare at airplanes when I was still in about grade four or so...I spent so much time at the airport that one day an airline Captain came over to the fence and invited me to have a look at his airliner, a big beautiful American Airlines DC3, I'll never forget the thrill of that momeht, it far , far surpasses my first piece of tail in importance and excitement.....so you see flying has been a life long passion, I have done everything possible to experience every flying contraption that I could get my hands on, I'm sort of an aircraft nynphomaniac that is incurable.I did not experience gyro's until 1991 when I went for my first ride in a RAF 2000 and once I experienced the simplicity and manouravibility of these little machines they replaced helicopters as my favourite flying machine.I have been planning on retiring for years, but people keep asking me to teach them to fly their warbird toys and they offer that incentive called money, and as everyone knows there is no ***** like an old ***** so I'm off to Holland again in March for another season of airshows and training and all that stuff.......but someday I will retire and then I will just own a gyro and play with that...Anyhow I shall try and add some useful stuff to this group as long as you can put up with me.Oh, by the way how many years do you think that my body will put up with the high G loads and quick situational changes doing unlimited aerobatics? **** I'll be 70 in Oct. and I honestly can't see any difference in my physical reactions than fifty years ago...what in hell is wrong with me, most of my friends are so out of shape they can hardly get the top off their beer bottles..[]Chuck E.

[Tim]

quote:Originally posted by Chuck Ellsworthmost of my friends are so out of shape they can hardly get the top off their beer bottles..[]Chuck E.Now thats what I call out of shape.Chuck, you sound like a pretty young 70. Most of us can only dream of such a life doing what you love doing, and still be doing it at a high level. I would consider you a very lucky man. How does age affect a pilots licence in USA? I heard that Bob Hoover's licence wasn't renewed due to age even though he could fly the pants off 99% of pilots - was this true?Tim McClure

[asra]

Tim :Im a Canadian, but medicals for pilots are the same the world over as long as you are medically fit you can fly at the age of 170..... John is it true that part of the pilot medical is you take the client outside during a storm and if he can see lightening and hear thunder he is fit? [].....the Bob Hoover thing was a missuse of power on the part of a couple of FAA inspectors, Bob went to Australia and had no problem passing the medical, fortunately some good lawyers and some political pressure resulted in the FAA reversing their license suspension and Bob went back to flying airshows in the U.S.A.Chuck E.

[asra]

You're obviously a hopeless case Chuck! Totally addicted. There is no hope of rehabilitation to a normal lifestyle.You have opened up a very intresting area. I know a retired missionary pilot -7000 hours in Papua New Guinea who still flies an ultralight in his mid 80s. He has a pacemaker, but if he still needed medicals I think he would probably pass. He would probably attribute all this to a healthy lifestyle, and he's probably right, but I think your choice of genes seems to play a significant part.It was a tragedy that Rob Liddel, the then Director of Aviation Medicine departed from CASA. He was a breath of fresh air, he held an ATPL as well, so his insight was exceptional, I understand he was involved in assessing Bob Hoover.Unfortunately we do lose some of our capabilities as we age, often we are the last to know, so it's a good idea to be pretty self critical and listen to the opinions of our peers. We make up for these losses by our familiarity with the task - experience.Perhaps your friends are exhausted from opening beer bottles[] Mind you it fascinates me how the smokers and heavy drinkers think they're somehow different from all the silly buggers who've stuffed themselves up before! I gues they just look at the odd exceptions and think that's them.I must confess my criteria for assessing fitness to fly are a little more stringent than what you suggest, but I do like to see people continue wherever possible. Unfortunately in the Oz gyro world completely unfounded allegations have been made to the contrary. I do not like to see irresponsible people putting others at risk.John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

John :Several of your observations are very important for anyone here to read..In order of importance.(1) Find the most thorough doctor you can get and then you will be fairly certain that nothing gets missed...my doctor is so intent on making sure that nothing is going wrong that many pilots here will not go to him...stupid, stupid on their part because early identification of a medical condition can lead to control of or fixing the problem.(2) The next most important item is self assesement of any change, no matter how small a problem may be if it seems to be worth worrying about I call Vern ( my Dr.) (3)Genes, definately seperate individuals from each other as far as health goes, my weight never varies more than a few pounds ( I weigh 115 lbs ) also I very seldom ever get sick and have never been hospitalized ( I've been jailed a few times though ) except for tonsils and getting my nuts neturalized for my wifes sake. Smoking and excessive alcohol use will shorten your flying career.I quit smoknig around 25 years ago and had to quit drinking 20 years ago.(4) And last but not least good health is also a state of mind...Chuck

[asra]

except for tonsils and getting my nuts neturalized for my wifes sake. Chuck no wonder you got kicked off the yank site, i doubt they would see the funny side of this comment, but i was chuckling..Mark

[asra]

Jeees Bones, I thought that was PC wording for a vasectomy, I had no idea it may be offensive.........I sure hope I don't get kicked off this forum, cause there ain't many gyro forums to go to.[]I'll wait and see if Birdy was offended...[}]Chuck.E.

[birdy]

Offended????why don't ya speak ya mind ,ya forgien soft c*ck.[!]PC is banned from this forum.[}]BTW Chuck,we is in the same boat,in the knacker department.[]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.