It may not look it, but here is a link to a YouTube video where they clock it on radar: http://youtu.be/biCs3OM5-ns

This particular video I linked to was shot in North Kingston, RI where the Acela runs at it's max of 150mph. I posted this because I just read a news article yesterday that they were running some tests over the next few evenings at 165mph: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-09-24/news/bs-bz-amtrak-high-speed-test-20120924_1_acela-trains-acela-express-northeast-corridor

You can read more about the speed that they go through stations here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/32743-how-fast-are-acela-trains-allowed-to-go-when-passing-through-stations/

>> ^charliem:

There is NO way in the world they are running at full speed.....the deuce are you talking about? Unless these things are bloody slow trains, the ones in melbourne race through stations on express services faster than that, and they only have max speed of about 130kph....AND they slow down for the stations!!

I did a little amateur investigation, a bit of reading and some numbers but you can skip to the bottom for a summary.

The plane is a Stinson 108-3, 16500 foot service ceiling, 2400 pound gross weight limit (1300 empty weight), 50 gallon fuel capacity. Thats about 1100 of useful weight (2400-1300), with full fuel that lowers it to 800 (6lbs per gallon*50 gallons=300lbs), I saw 3 men in there the 4th passenger I'm gonna assume male, so lets say 180lbs for each (200 for the pilot) that comes to 740lbs for passenger weight. That leaves 60lbs for cargo. Although I couldn't see the cargo, they were still close to the weight limit but still could have been within normal limits.

The airport Bruce Meadows (U63) has a field elevation of 6370 feet. I couldnt find the airport temperature for that day but I did find nearby Stanley Airport 23 Miles southeast of Bruce Meadows. Their METAR history shows a high of 27 Celsius/81 Fahrenheit for June 30, 2012. Definitely a hot day but was it too hot? The closest I could find on performance data shows a 675 Feet per Minute climb at 75 Fahrenheit at sea level. Thats pretty close to what many small planes of that nature can do, so I took those numbers and transposed them over what a Cessna 172N could do. The 172N has a slighty higher climb performance about 750 for sea level and 75 Fahrenheit, a difference of 75 feet ill subtract out. At 6000 feet at 27C/81F the 172N climbs at 420FPM. Taking out the 75 feet brings it to 345 FPM, now I know this isn't perfect but I'm going with what I have. The plane began its climb out at 1:13 and crashed at 2:55, that leaves 1 minute and 42 seconds in between or 1.7 minutes. 1.7*345 means about 590 feet possible gain. But the plane isn't climbing at its best the entire video, at 2:35 it is apparent something is giving it trouble, that brings it down to about 1.58 minutes climb time which is 545 feet. Theres still another factor to consider and thats how consistent the altitude at the ground was.

The runway at Bruce meadows faces at 05/23 (Northeast/Southwest) but most likely he took runway 23 (Southwest) as immediately to the north east theres a wildlife preserve (Gotta fly at least 2000 feet over it) and he flew straight for quite some time. Although the ground increases in the direction he flew, by how much is difficult using the sectional charts. That means that although he may have been able to climb to about 545 feet higher than his original ground altitude, the ground rose with him and his absolute altitude over the ground would be less than that maximum possible 545. The passenger in the rear reported the plane could only climb to about 60-70 feet above the trees. The trees looked to be around 75-100 but thats still difficult to tell. That would mean according to the passenger they might have only been about 170 feet off the ground. It could still be wildly off as we cant exactly see the altimeter.

Finally theres that disturbance at 2:35 described as a downdraft. It could have been windshear, or a wind effect from the mountains. I don't have too much hands on knowledge of mountain flying so I cant say. If it was windshear he might have suddenly lost a headwind and got a tailwind, screwing up his performance. It could have been a downdraft effect. The actual effect on the aircraft may not have been much (lets say 50 feet) but near obstacles it was definitely enough to have a negative impact.



Summary:

Yes he was flying pretty heavy but he may not have been over the weight limit

The temperature in the area was definitely hotter than standard and the altitude was high, but he still had climbing capabilities within service limits. However he didn't give himself much of a safety threshold.

He might have been able to climb about 545 feet higher than the runway elevation, but the terrain altitude rose in the direction he flew, so his actual altitude over the ground was probably smaller than that.

The disturbance at 2:35 might have been some form of windshear which has the capacity to reduce airplane performance, and with his margins of safety so low already, that could have been the final factor.

Basically he may very well have been flying within the service limits of the aircraft, but the margins of safety he left himself were very low and the decision to fly over obstacles like those trees in that mountain enviroment could be the reason this would be declared pilot error.

Other notes:

The takeoff looks pretty rough but he trying to get off the ground as quickly as he can and ride ground effect until he gets up to speed.

I cant find anything resembling a proper PoH for this aircraft but I did find some data that looks pretty close to it. However this aircraft was a model from the late 40s, so the standards of performance may not be the same as now, and the transcribing I did to the 172N could be thrown off more.

On that note, I do realize that a 172 would have different aerobatic effects with altutude and temperature than a Stinson 108, but its the closest data I could use.

I also couldnt not find balance information to get a rough idea of how the plane was balanced. The type of balance on a plane does have effects on performance.

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N773C.html (The aircraft)

http://www.aopa.org/airports/U63 (The airport)

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20120701X65804&key=1 (The NTSB link posted earlier)

http://personalpages.tdstelme.net/~westin/avtext/stn-108.txt (Closest thing I could find to performance data, the actual numbers are at the bottom)

http://vortex.plymouth.edu/cgi-bin/gen_statlog-u.cgi?ident=KSNT&pl=none2&yy=12&mm=06&dd=30 (Weather data at nearby Stanley)

http://skyvector.com (sectional chart data, type U63 into the search at the upper left, then make sure that "Salt Lake City" is selected in the upper right for the sectional chart)

Belarus: officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.

But if you insist on the russia channel, fine

I remember that blackout, I was in 1st grade in 1965 and we thought it was just our neighborhood that was affected in upstate NY. Went into school the next day and found out it was the entire northeast.

Hey, buddy. I don't know whether you'll be checking your profile much now that you've been sent on the CircleLine cruise, but I wanted to tell you that I for one am rather disgusted by the way this played out. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Northeast Irish-Catholic (now non-superstitious) liberal, and I don't give a flying fick about your politics.

You've been a QUALITY submitter & commenter here, and were probably one of the main reasons I came out of lurkdom and became a Sifter. When I saw your banination, I spent about two hours reading comments and looking at your submissions to try to rationalize your dismissal, but there just wasn't enough. I may be only a GoldStar, but I've been here longer than I'd like to recount. In all my days, I've seen few Sifters as committed to the QUALITY this site intends to promote. I suppose there is much to your banination that I'm not privy to, and I'm very sorry for that. Even though it seems you have trolled quite a few members in the recent past, I think this decision should have been opened to investigation and consultation with the community at large.

Over the last years, we've had a disappointing diaspora of QUALITY members, but yet you stuck around. As the years have progressed, the QUALITY of submitters and high-level, long-term members has dwindled. I came here for people like you, like @Farhad2000, like @eric3579, @djsunkid, @mlx, @silvercord, @dystopianfuturetoday, @NetRunner, @kronosposeidon, @dag, @MarineGunrock and even like Choggie. You are among these names.

A (seemingly) long time ago, this site celebrated its diversity of both style and opinion. We've banned, and supported the banination of conservative trolls in the last few years, but only because of EXCESSIVE violations (eg. CaptainPlanet, and (to his unfortunate discredit) Choggie; this is NOT an exhaustive list). I've watched the progression, and while I agree with the socio-political principles of those in support of the exclusions, I cannot but think how the actual QUALITY of the site has suffered.

This was a place I came to enlighten myself, with submissions like this, this, this, this, this, this, and this (which is truly just a smattering of the QUALITY you've brought here). I used to hit the VideoSift link and expect to see submissions that I wouldn't have seen elsewhere. Unique submissions, with a higher intellectual quotient than the rest of the horse-apple internet digest sites. But now it's a site nearly indistinguishable from this one, and this one, or this one. Certainly (and obviously) I like and frequent those sites, but this is VideoSift, and I have always expected more bang for my buck.

I'm sure you've realized by this point that this comment is not just for you to read, as it both is public, and draws the attention of many other QUALITY members of the community. But I assure you that whatever the reaction, I want you particularly to know that you've affected my understanding of the world-at-large in a most positive way over the last four years. It was a privilege to have had your influence, and I will miss it.

That's not racism. That's pointing out cultural differences between countries. You don't honestly believe American culture is the same as Irish or German culture, do you?

With that said, I don't like his analysis. He points to the idea of the Euro not being able to work because various European countries have different cultures. OK, and different geographic sections of the United States have the same culture?! We don't. Culture is different between the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest. I just think that's horsecrap.

Yep, I am from Maine.
>> ^dag:

It was pretty good - just a hint of fruit without being sweet. I'll take you up on that offer. Maine, right?>> ^critical_d:
How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It was pretty good - just a hint of fruit without being sweet. I'll take you up on that offer. Maine, right?>> ^critical_d:

How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.

How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.

>> ^critical_d:

Has there ever been a Sift-Up for the northeast region?


Like where? In Boston? Boo to Celtics! Go Lakers!

>> ^critical_d:

Has there ever been a Sift-Up for the northeast region?


Yes, our old comrade James Roe held a Portland Sift Up a couple years back. Also, dag and deathcow got together in Alaska, but that's way northeast. Not sure if there were any others. Search Sift Talk for "SiftUp" and you should find more info.

Has there ever been a Sift-Up for the northeast region?

This is cool, but I would like to see it in the 12" of snow we just got on the NorthEast. Also, this thing is going to rust rather fast.

This guy's accent confuses me. Sometimes he sounds like he's from the Northeast and sometimes he sounds Australian.

EDIT: Nevermind. Got to the part where he said something about his parents from Australia.

>> ^packo:

>> ^marinara:
that guys wife was held on 911

held?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Olson#Death

For those of you who don't know Barbara Olson was on American Airlines Flight 77.

Olson was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 on her way to a taping of Politically Incorrect in Los Angeles, when it was flown into the Pentagon in the September 11 attacks.

Flight 77 was hijacked at 8:54. At some point between 9:16 and 9:26, Olson called her husband. She reported that the flight had been hijacked, and the hijackers had knives and boxcutters.[3] She further indicated that the hijackers were not aware of her phone call, and that they had put all the passengers in the rear of the plane.[3] About a minute into the conversation, the call was cut off.[3]

Shortly after, Barbara reached her husband again. She reported that the "pilot" had announced that the flight had been hijacked, and asked her husband what she should tell the captain to do. Ted Olson asked for her location and she replied that the aircraft was then flying over houses. Another passenger told her they were traveling northeast. Ted Olson informed Barbara of the two previous hijackings and crashes. She did not display signs of panic at the time. At that point, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

Politically Incorrect host Bill Maher left a panel seat vacant for a week following her death.