Rambler 1-1

Nyehhh... I forget how to do this! It took me three tries and two Phantoms run out of fuel to get this, my first kill in three months.

Now to work my way back up from having the enemy AI on "Easy"...

rash or crash???

"Road Rash" is when you sort of get skinned from sliding along the ground, or specifically, the road. I think the technical name is "Skin Abrasions".

Fortunately, my jeans were tough enough to take all the damage, saving my legs. If I had been wearing anything less, it would have been ugly.

I just put this together, seeing as I got Gamecam going again.

Had a blast flying the Tomcat through the Grand Canyon, pretending to be in Area 88 or something. Immature, but fun.

Damn good jeans u got man!!!!!!!!

I owe my butt to blue jeans and ridin' boots. Three times they've saved me from road rash.

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, the skid mark washed away last night, so I can't show that off. I do have a pic of The Prototype, though.

For the record, I was back at work today and I rode the thing again, without crashing, to redeem myself.

I really liked the Eureka 7 animé, same with most of the Gundam stuff, but I don't read much manga. My favorite animé is easily Area 88 though.

Oh, and despite my age, I still watch Pokémon. It's just so corny and entertaining, I can't resist!

Hey guys, I know I haven't posted around here much, but I'm still an avid lurker. Anyways, today something interesting happened to me, which I think is worth sharing.

I have been fortunate enough to land a job at a local motorcycle shop, and I've been working there all summer. One of the liberties I am allowed to take comes at the end of the day, when I help bring the bikes back in to the shop. Needless to say, this is the best part of the day.

Anyways, one of the bikes in the shop over the last month has been a '97 Kawasaki KDX 220, a strange animal in that it has a lot of internal components which do the same jobs, but look much different then their counterparts in a '98 KDX 220. Thus, we dubbed the bike The Prototype.

The Prototype was bought by my boss for $80 because the top end was toast, and it was missing a gas tank and some panels. Today marked the day it was completed, and it fired up second kick, on the new components and everything. After we were finished in the shop, It was my job to bring it in.

Being who I am, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to ride The Prototype, so I hopped on, gave it some choke, and it fired up first kick. Awesome! I took it around the front of the shop, and across the parking lot, gave it the beans to see how it ran. It responded with very quick acceleration and a surprisingly low-end biased power curve, for a 2-stroke. I came to a stop at the end of the parking lot, looking to turn left onto a small residential street to go around the other side of the shop building. I gave it a rev and slipped the clutch, completely neglecting the low-end power.

In a snap, the front wheel jumped up. I instantly leaned forward to keep it on the ground, and then the back end kicked out. I just barely had time to countersteer, but it was futile. The back was gone, and in another flash, I was on the left side of my ass, sliding down the street, looking at the front of The Prototype. My arm bent weird and I felt my shoulder pop out, but all I could think of was "SAVE THE BIKE! SAVE THE BIKE!" I hopped up and pushed The Prototype off to the side of the street, then pushed up against the pole I leaned it against and popped my shoulder back in.

Long story short, there was no damage to The Prototype, no damage to my ass, thanks to my jeans, and my boss and I had a good laugh over it. He called it a "Learning Experience". In retrospect, I was just happy that I didn't high-side the thing and do more damage to it and myself. Needless to say, I rode home a lot slower then usual!

Happy Birthday!

I heard an old spanish phantom pilot, that, in the event of stall-spin, the last choice before ejection was to deploy the tail chute to stabilize the aircraft. He didn´t say it was ever used this way, however.

Yeah, I have heard of the drag 'chute being used in emergencies like that. The idea is that it pulls the tail up in a flat spin, pointing the nose down so the spin becomes recoverable. If I remember right, there were problems with the 'chutes not deploying properly and getting tangled up in the tail, though.

Apparently it's illegal for the Lions to put both feet down, take one step, land on their butt, and score .....while in Illinois.

heh, this thread has been on my other frequent forum for a while.

Nesher, I'd give your sig a solid 8. The only thing missing is a Tomcat.

True. A boy can dream, can't he? Although I'd much rather go through the trouble of getting in the real thing.

The person below me was born a Ramblin' Man.

For some reason, I think I would have more fun breaking the law in a game then enforcing it.

...that reason is probably immaturity

OMG! HE SAID THE "G" WORD! BANHAMMER!

Congratulations!

Jane's ATF on Windows 95. I used to love the intro video!

Before that, I played Buck Rogers, but I can't even remember what console it was on.

Aha! I figured out how to use the glideslope indicator on the artificial horizon, just like in the real 727! Good thing, too, because the IFR approach into Eureka, California was hairy to say the least.

It's a neat thrill, coming down through clouds, mountains all around you, and not a mile of visibility in front of you. You follow the instruments as best you can, then you break out at 700 feet AGL and poof! The runway is right there, all lined up perfectly.

I'm also thankful for the reverse thrust on the big 501-Ds. Eureka does not have a long runway, and there's just water at the end! Actually, the Convair always surprises me at the tight spots it can fit into. Boy, this is fun!

Wow, I don't even know how to use autoland... I just tune into the glideslope on the VOR and hope I see the runway before overshoot. That's why I like the Convair... Nice and slowww...

I usually just VFR around in prop-bangers anyway. I always run out of time for the cross-countries.

Yeah, that works. Takes a bit of field, but it works. As for the wind, I found that at about half throttle, the J4N will windvane pretty well right into the wind, so if there's no ATIS, I do that. Unfortunately there are none of the usual clues to indicate wind direction (flags, smoke, trees, grass, cows, etc.), so it can become a guessing game.

I just finished a nice two-hour IFR hop over some mountains in a Convair 580 (Thanks, CalClassic Propliners!), my first full IFR flight. It's fun, a sort of addictive fun. The plane is awesome too, I love the high-aspect wing and those big Allisons. It's even better because my Dad used to do the wiring in CV 5800s, the stretched version of the 580. Anyways, It's a good first airliner, seeing as I can't stand flying 737s.

[shameless plug] http://www.calclassic.com/ [/shameless plug]

Well, seeing as there are a few of us here who play MS Flight Sim, I figured we should start a general topic about it. Rather then having a bunch of separate threads, that is. I don't think there are enough of us to justify that.

Anyways, I run Flight Sim 2004, bone stock aside from a few add-on planes. I really enjoy it, but I always wondered about a few things. First, there was the stability of the Piper Cub, but that was addressed in another topic. The other plane I was wondering about was the Curtiss Jenny. I have a full-size joystick, rudder pedals and a throttle quadrant, but I still find it next to impossible to keep the J4N straight on takeoff roll. Once in the air with some speed, things even themselves out, but does anybody know any tricks for getting off the ground gracefully?

Okay you guys are making me feel sad... the only bike I have ridden so far this year for a few days was a Super Tenere...

There's nothing wrong with enduros!

now THAT is what I call "Water Injection".

HAHAHAHA

Dude, that's one serious hotrod. I've seen one similar to that motoring around my town, making much noise and smoke and not going very fast.

Oh, and just for the record, my Bandit is back on one piece again, and running awesome. I'm gonna try to get a video up on youtube soon.

Needless to say, I'm beyond ecstatic. =D

I always have a blast with Flight Sim, though I only run FS9 and never do the missions. I just love the whole kit; from taxi and takeoff to navigation to landing, I love every minute of it.

A big part of that is probably the excellent 3rd party planes available.