Chili is fully licensed to ply the highways and byways according to Texas law. Much to his chagrin, he will be somewhat limited in his solo excursions for a while. Traffic around here is nuts and a good 40% of our drivers think that there is a 20 mph grace margin over the posted speed. Hi Mom, and the rest of us, are not to anxious to just kick him out of the nest.
Hunter drove pretty regularly for a year prior to getting his ticket, for a variety of reasons Chandler didn't get that much stick time in. Sheila and I would just like to have them Ubered everywhere by a pro driver ...Show more →
The level of angst must be palpable - it's a tough gig being someone who cares. Trouble with we humans is that the safer we make stuff the more we use up the margins! It might help if Master C manages to internalise risk layering. By that I mean that a lightly trafficked highway in daylight is about as low risk as it gets. Add nigh time, or rain, or rush hour, or fog, or ice, or ..... and risk escalates alarmingly. Then there is the statistics - the risk of collision per vehicle mile or whatever is small - tiny fractions of a percentage point. What that glosses over is that whoever has the very unlikely collision has 100% of that collision.
Modern vehicles are way better protected than those of 20 years ago .... but we still miss our SAAB.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Actually, at the rate this autonomous stuff is coming on, his driving time might be limited anyway. I was in a major investors meeting a few weeks ago, literally billions sitting at the table and the consensus was that it is right around the corner.
On that note did you see where Boeing is testing the first components of an autonomous airliner? Call me old fashioned, I'm out on that! A computer may not have made the choices that Sully did!
Since I'm in full luddite mode this evening..... Autonomous! They are joking - right. There is a growing body of evidence that the automation we already have is deskilling the humans that have to catch the aeroplane that's thrown back at them when the automation can't cope with a situation. So if the aeroplane is autonomous who catches it when the automation punches out? Lets not kid ourselves, the objective here is to remove the cost of the pilots. So no pilots = smoking hole - right? Good luck with getting affordable insurance on that!
My Dad bought a '67 VW Bug when I was in high school. He drove a silver Buick Riviera and I got to use the VW. I was pretty happy to have anything with wheels and that I didn't have to pedal at that point. Looking back I think he had several things that motivated the VW purchase, it was relatively cheap/cheap to run (although mileage really wasn't stupendous as I recall), certainly wasn't likely to be involved in any drag racing, and you had to be a contortionist to go parking (the good kind of parking) in one. I think he underestimated my level of motivation on that last area, but all in all he was right.
I ripped a fender off at one point, you just went and got a new one, got it painted and bolted it back on. They were pretty indestructible. My buddies were driving 4-4-2's, GTO's, Stingray's and one even got (here's a memory test) a Holman and Moody tuned 427 Cobra for his 16th birthday. That Cobra was 6 grand at the time, would easily be worth a half a mil today. I didn't spend a lot of time hanging out in the parking lot before school.............
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Actually, at the rate this autonomous stuff is coming on, his driving time might be limited anyway. I was in a major investors meeting a few weeks ago, literally billions sitting at the table and the consensus was that it is right around the corner.
On that note did you see where Boeing is testing the first components of an autonomous airliner? Call me old fashioned, I'm out on that! A computer may not have made the choices that Sully did!
However, one of the problems with autonomous vehicles is what happens in an accident. When asked what would happen if a computer controlled car came across an obstruction it couldn't avoid, an executive of (I think Toyota) replied that it would pick the option likely to do least damage to the vehicle and its occupants. i.e. if the choice was a broken down truck or a hedge it would pick the hedge. He was then asked what would happen if the choice was between a broken-down truck and a child crossing the road - he declined to answer!!
JWilsonphoto wrote:
My Dad bought a '67 VW Bug when I was in high school. He drove a silver Buick Riviera and I got to use the VW. I was pretty happy to have anything with wheels and that I didn't have to pedal at that point. Looking back I think he had several things that motivated the VW purchase, it was relatively cheap/cheap to run (although mileage really wasn't stupendous as I recall), certainly wasn't likely to be involved in any drag racing, and you had to be a contortionist to go parking (the good kind of parking) in one. I think he underestimated my level of motivation on that last area, but all in all he was right.
I ripped a fender off at one point, you just went and got a new one, got it painted and bolted it back on. They were pretty indestructible. My buddies were driving 4-4-2's, GTO's, Stingray's and one even got (here's a memory test) a Holman and Moody tuned 427 Cobra for his 16th birthday. That Cobra was 6 grand at the time, would easily be worth a half a mil today. I didn't spend a lot of time hanging out in the parking lot before school................Show more →
Wow, an H&M 427 ..... at 16? ..... that is deeply scary
It's been confirmed that the Tiger Painted Rafale-M will be at Yeovilton (which I'm going to) as well as a specially painted Lynx helicopter. So I'm super excited about that.
Specially painted Tornado, and a couple other specially painted fighters at RIAT.
I drove a 77 Oldsmobile, a Chevy Luv, a 75 Trans Am and a 1980 Rabbit for the my first 5-6 years of driving. Guess what car I had the most fun in and which one I got in the most trouble with.
Most fun would have been a tie between the Trans Am and the Rabbit.
Trouble...that would have been the Chevy Luv....( or was that fun gone wrong? )
Driving is a scary thing to let our young do all by themselves, but I think that the freedom and responsibility that comes with driving is of major importance to the independence and future success of a young adult.
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I love driving, I average 100 miles a day for work and then go driving on the weekends! They only time I don't enjoy driving is in stop and go traffic....other those conditions...I'd rather drive my self.
Autonomous vehicles sound like boredom and brain death to me.
And like Nick says...who's going to take over when the computer goes tango uniform? We already seem to be breeding too many brain dead people that cannot even think about doing without their connected technology for a week on vacation...if everything is done for them what can they ever hope to accomplish on their own?
Here's a shot of a Cessna 206 that I photographed yesterday. Way different size aircraft than what I normally do, and my client loves it, and that is the most important part of it, to me.
Who in our group is considering the Tucson ISAP Symposium in the Spring? We're still adding speakers and outings, but it really looks like it will be a great event, in a beautiful spot, at a perfect time of the year. If you aren't a current ISAP member, you might want to consider joining. We have been working behind the scenes developing relationships with bases and organizations that should provide some very unique access, and really fun gatherings. The dues are pretty inexpensive and, as you can see from ISnAP, the talent and knowledge base is pretty amazing.
Learned to drive in a 1970 Buick LeSabre that belonged to my grandparents, then after moving to Alamogordo, NM and walking everywhere for the first nine months, we got a 1974 Chevy Vega... then bought a 72 Dodge Van with the full 3 foot extension on the back. That eventually got traded in for the 1979 VW Bus, and I picked up a repossessed 1976 VW Bug. PCS'ed with the VW Bus. Picked up a cheap second hand car, a 1972 Toyota Corona that cost us $50 because the guy said it had no heat. Fixed two wires, and there was heat. Before moving again, we traded both in for a 1984 Dodge Ram 250 Van with four on the floor and air horns Lots of fun on Mass rotaries!!!
That van took us from South Carolina to Massachusetts to Edwards to Ohio, but it finally started giving us problems. My brother gave me his 1986 Crown Vic that had been a State Trooper car only driving on the Mass Pike, and from there, another Crown Vic (92) appeared, and then a 99, which became the Crispy Critter, to the 2005, which protected me so well when I got hit. The Taurus is about to take another trip east next week and is still going strong, 218,000+ plus on it. Cape Cod for a couple nights, possibly Cape Ann for a night or two, then heading back.
!!!!!!
