Distracted drivi… Look! An airplane!
next time you want to rant about people driving distracted, think hard about this.
yes. That’s a J-37 bug, purpose made to clip to your thigh. (I think the designation became a J-45 once it was attached to the leg clamp)
I know some of you have spent some serious cockpit time. Think of all the shit going on in the cockpit of a WWII vintage plane, and now, in addition to that, and the E6b, and the notes on the kneeboard, add a telegraph key. And not an iambic paddle, either, a real j37 that you have to make the dits and dahs yourself, pay attention to the receive, make notes, fly the aircraft.
Some people can do more than one thing at a time. Some people can fly a fighter aircraft, keep track of their fuel and speed and distance travelled, watch their ammunition, and keep an eye open for bogeys while communicating via telegraph, and others cannot. If you’re one of the ones that cannot, don’t. Don’t break bad on the ones that can.
19 comments Og | Uncategorized
A man’s got to know his limitations, huh?
I was once first in a long line of cars backed up in a parking lot by someone attempting to back a humongous SUV out of a parking spot while talking on a cell phone AND eating an ice cream cone at the same time. Some tasks can’t be multi-ed, no matter how hard you try.
The whole distracted-driving thing could be avoided if cops gave out tickets for things like drifting out of lanes, driving 20 mph below the limit when conditions don’t warrant, etc. I don’t really care WHY you’re doing such things, I care that you just drifted into my (expletive deleted) lane.
Truer words are rarely spoken, Mark.
That was WW II Og, when mankind was so much more primitive. Had they known that such things were the distraction we KNOW that they are today, no exceptions, that device would not have been permitted. [is a /s really necessary?]
Beyond the distraction issue, what I’d like to know is how parachutists used them? Given stories of how large a segment of airborne troops were dropped off their target, did this little device actually help them regroup?
My Jr. High School geometry teacher had one of those on his leg flying over the Pacific. Damn Marines.
I suspect there was a lot of “butt” dialing back then, but very few coherent messages.
I suspect most radio traffic was voice as far a pilots were concerned. Those messages to be coded, as in reconnaissance planes probably had their own radio operator.
Also, you can take your eyes off the road for a bit when you are 20,000 ft above it without hitting a tree.
“I suspect most radio traffic was voice as far a pilots were concerned”
yep, all those years when CW was the only communication available, they just used their Cobra CB radios.
Giraffe: The reason they used the keys was there existed no voice at the time.
Also: “Also, you can take your eyes off the road for a bit when you are 20,000 ft above it without hitting a tree.”
yeah. because hitting a tree was the biggest thing to be concerned about when you were being strafed by ME’s or Zeroes. hell, diving out from under a zero’s line of fire was far less difficult than travelling 65 down a perfectly straight expressway with the cruise control on. What color is the sky on your planet?
There are three basic rules that every pilot must follow:
1) Aviate. Fly the f-ing airplane.
2) Navigate. Know where you are and where you’re going.
3) Communicate. Tell others what you’re doing and going to do.
IN THAT ORDER.
I’d wager those pilots weren’t fapping about with their telegraph keys when there were enemy aircraft about.
But the real caveat to this is that the pilots received extensive training that included “division of attention” maneuvers.
…unlike driver training today.
Incompetence is incapable of evaluating its own lack of ability–most of the people who drive and use their smartphones and apply makeup and change the station on the radio and-and-and are merely getting away with it because of how the probabilities stack up. Sooner or later the dice roll snake-eyes, though.
People who haven’t had serious driving courses or other kinds of training–and who probably can’t find their own asses with both hands and specialized equipment–simply should not be using such devices while driving…and sadly these folks are in the majority. Hence the law, as restrictive as it may be for people who are more capable.
I’m really of two minds on this issue. Yeah, some folks can handle the responsiblity; most can’t.
Maybe limit it to folks over 30 or something….
nah. Just let the morons kill themselves, and confiscate everything their family owns if they harm someome while driving distracted.
Ed beat me to the ‘basics’ of aviating… And multitasking IS a function of aviating safely :-) Of course you ARE trained to do it, unlike the idjits on the roads today!
In 1957 I was at a Sea Scout Rendezvous with my Ship at Sand Point Naval Air Station Seattle. Some of us were in the Radio Shack watching a CPO with so many damn hasmarks he nearly had to sew ’em on his pantsleg doing air traffic control with a J-37, he was also smoking a cigarette, drinking a cup of coffee, typing a log, and taking written notes. During a break in the festivities I asked why he wasn’t using the microphone that was shoved to the back of his desk. He said, with infinte patience. that the Naval Aviators needed to retain their code skills for when, not if the voice communications failed again. This was in 1957. All of us on my ship began practicing Morse Code, several of us got our HAM licenses, I could send and rec 14WPM when I got my Novice License. I think the requirement was 8. And it had to be with a manual key like the J-37. My old war surplus J-37 sits in an honored place on my book case. If memory serves, it set me back about 75 cents in ’57.
Gerry N.
I don’t mind capable people dividing their attention mainly because they don’t come to MY attention.
I learned Morse code from a WWII Marine aviator who told us how interesting it could be doing hot turnarounds off a carrier and staying in communication while getting back into the fight.
He had the patience of a saint with us Boy Scouts.
I want to take the same training course that teaches those good looking State Police officers the ability to drive 20 over the speed limit while wearing dark sunglasses on cloudy days, all while typing into a full blown computer system bolted to their console.
I’ll believe anybody is serious about sanctioning bad driving when dangerous or deadly drivers face serious sanctions. As it is, it’s a joke.
Drive drunk? Plead diminished capacity. Or have your lawyer challenge the validity of the breathalyzer test. Kill somebody driving drunk? (See “diminished capacity” above) Well, you need your car to get back and forth to work — and your job is all that keeps you a productive citizen, so the judge carves out an exception you could drive a whole camel train through, let alone the nose of the leader.
When was the last time you heard of a serial drunk driver getting the chair for killing somebody with their car? Yeah, I’m guessing it happens. But, if the problem is anywhere near epidemic as people claim, then Death Row ought to be at least as crowded with drunk murderers as axe murderers.
M
Mark Alger,
Good point, provided the BAC limits are reasonable. I’m near 6′ and well over 200 pounds, and in some places I’d show drunk an hour after having two glasses of wine with dinner.
That is ne way to keep the drunks off the road. Taking away their license doesn’t work.
I should point out that a well-trained op sends code with exactly as much effort as he talks. –It’s the newbie piolt who just learned the code who flies into the ground.
Morse is a language, not a “code.”
Leg-clip straight keys were most often used by radio operators in very cramped and/or field conditions. Still popular for some of the backpack low-power crowd.
Prof Hale:
One of the Scandinavian countries has a way to make an impact.
If stopped for DUI, you are transported directly to prison where a judge does the paperwork, and you stay there for ONE YEAR. They make NO exceptions. a few years back, they locked up their equivalent of our VP!
No idea what they do fro repeat offenders.