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January 2017
The Fate of Humanity
While this may have been true from the perspective of yesteryear when mechanization and automation were perceived as a threat to both jobs and the social development of humanity, in the high-speed, high-altitude and high-cost world of modern jet travel, it’s a valuable tool that best serves safety and efficiency. Modern airline and business jet systems lighten crew workload and not only increase consistency and safety, but they improve efficiency. And this puts dollar signs in the twinkling eyes of our CFOs.
My piloting career has come full circle as I begin to fly another HUD-equipped airplane. Of course, the F-16 has a HUD, but the purpose and functions of the 737-800 NG Head Up Display are vastly different. For all the maneuvers in the previous paragraph, the HUD is simply great. I’ve found every function of the HUD in the 737 to be simple to interpret and extremely accurate. From engine failures before and after V1, to low-visibility departures and landings, to tail strike prevention and detection, to landing rollout guidance, it’s a great tool (despite its detriment to the social development of humanity.)
Did You Say Old?
Changes are inevitable as the old year departs and the new one begins. The 737-800 NG is a fine, modern airliner that I
will thoroughly enjoy, once I learn the new and forget the old. All professions must endure this type of constant, often uncomfortable, change in order to embrace opportunities for wisdom and happiness, with or without climbing steps in China. And this includes your Twin & Turbine writers. Like learning a new airplane, associating new editorial limitations with the previous will be the first step as our writers learn the preferences of a new editor. Please flood his email (cookleroy@juno.com) with letters thanking LeRoy for his writing and editing skills over the last several years as he departs the fix. And give a hardy welcome-back to our new, old editor Dianne who reached her EFC and is cleared present position direct, back to her old post at Twin & Turbine. Oh boy, I didn’t mean that she is old, I meant she’s our new, but old, previous editor. I mean, you know, it’s a change for the sake o f , w e l l , w i s d o m , h a p p i n e s s a n d ... d i d I m e n t i o•n t h a t i t ’ s a n e w year and the 737 has a HUD? There’s just no backpedaling out of this guillotine. I hope I can keep my head but there goes my New Year’s Day bonus and prop overhaul T&T
Mechanization best serves mediocrity. – Frank Lloyd Wright
Kevin Dingman has been flying for over 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 22,000 hours. A retired Air Force Major, he flew the F-16 then per- formed as a USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organization Wings of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke. Contact Kevin at Dinger10d@gmail.com