[dsn_klr650] nklr laying it down

[Chris Krok]

I just got this from a friend of mine, and it's remarkably applicable to motorcycles if you change the right words. Some of them work as is! #16 is especially applicable to our recent crash threads. C

>RULES OF THE AIR > >1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory. > >2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull >the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling >the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again. > >3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous. > >4. It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than >up there wishing you were down here. > >5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire. > >6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to >keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot >start sweating. > >7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided >with the sky. > >8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great' >landing is one after which they can use the plane again. > >9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to >make all of them yourself. > >10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power >to taxi to the ramp. > >11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the >angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of >survival and vice versa. > >12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get >to five minutes earlier. > >13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking >about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. >Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide >out in clouds. > >14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the >number of take offs you've made. > >15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. >Unfortunately no one knows what they are. > >16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of >experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you >empty the bag of luck. > >17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels >them. > >18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going >round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the >passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be. > >19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going >hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, >the ground has yet to lose. > >20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the >experience usually comes from bad judgment. > >21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as >much as possible. > >22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed. > >23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And >it's not subject to repeal. > >24. The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above >you, runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago >

-- Dr. J. Christopher Krok Project Engineer, Adaptive Wall Wind Tunnel Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology MS 205-45 Phone: 626.395.4794 Pasadena, CA 91125 Fax: 626.449.2677

[Skip Faulkner]

> There's Hollywood stuntmen that do it all the time. I reckon you could > practice controlling your body sliding on the pavement by going barefoot > skiing out on the lake. Personally, I'll hold off and just keep

practicing

> my emergency counter-steers and panic stops, thankyouverymuch. Barefoot > skiing can really hurt. > > Hey Skip, sounds like you could have made it in Hollywood! > > Jeff

Yeah, until I got some common sense. That was what you impulsiveness, compounded with a lack of thinking about it first. Skip