Random Thoughts Off-Topic

Mark The Droner

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I'm on another site and on that site we have a Random Thoughts thread in the off topic forum which is intended for members to post off topic thoughts that don't necessarily require a new thread. So I thought I would try it here.

For example: French Open Semi-finals - today @ 11 AM EDT on NBC!
 
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snowman2.gif
 
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Watching the exciting 2016 Summer Olympics sports competitions, often makes me feel like a lard ***... Hahaha
Ah, jiggle jiggle jiggle...
Yeah, I like eating a big bowl of jello and watching the splendid events... Ha

RedHotPoker
 
Davis Airport is the airport I contact before every UAS flight:

One Dead After A Small Plane Crash in Montgomery County

LAYTONSVILLE, Md. (WJZ)– The feds are investigating after one person died in a small plane crash in Montgomery County Tuesday.

The plane crashed less than a mile from a small local airport. Both the NTSB and the FAA were on the scene in Laytonsville leading the investigation.

“It was a single engine, small plane, was on fire. It crash landed,”said Pete Piringer of the Montgomery County Fire Department.

Firefighters from both Montgomery and Howard Counties battled back flames as they searched for any survivors. Assemble crews came to do a systematic search in case someone was ejected from the plane on impact. No survivors were found.

The plane crashed into a field on the property of a landscaping company a mile from the Davis airport.

The pilot inside the plane did not survive the wreck. Davis airport is a public use airport with one runway, typically seeing about a dozen planes a day according to records.

“It’s popular among the local community, but it is relatively small,” said Piringer.

Now federal investigators will try to figure out what went wrong. The person in the plane who died has not yet been identified. Investigators believe the plane crashed shortly after it took off from Davis Airfield.

...

Edit: From Greater Olney News (Facebook):

Pilot of plane that crashed into cornfield identified as Gaithersburg man

by Terri Hogan
Senior Staff Writer

Montgomery County police have identified the pilot killed in Tuesday’s plane crash in Laytonsville as William Hughes, 78, of Gaithersburg.

His identity was confirmed this afternoon by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Hughes was the pilot and sole occupant of the 1980 Cessna 172P fixed-wing, single-engine plane that crashed in a cornfield on the property of Ruppert Landscape, off Laytonsville Road (Route 108).
Representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a news conference at Davis Airport in Laytonsville this afternoon to provide information on the investigation.

Brian Rayner, an NTSB senior safety investigator, said a flying club at the nearby Montgomery County Airpark owns the airplane.

Prior to the crash, the plane was at Davis Airport for routine scheduled maintenance and some brake work, Rayner reported.

Hughes, the mechanic/pilot who performed the service and maintenance on the airplane, departed Davis Airport to deliver the airplane to the flying club at the airpark, approximately four miles away, he said.

Rayner said the crash occurred about three-quarters of a mile from Davis Airport “as the crow flies.”
Witnesses described normal engine sounds coming from the airplane as it took off and climbed, he said.

“We have a collection of witness statements that varied in describing the altitude above the ground between 500 and 1,000 feet,” Rayner said. “There was also in the local flying area a Civil Air Patrol airplane doing a training mission. The Civil Air Patrol members actually witnessed the airplane departing control flight and descending to ground contact.”

Rayner said it has been preliminarily stated that the pilot reported a loss of engine power.

He said several investigators are on the scene. They will look at aerial photography, air traffic information, the pilot’s medical history, weather, communication, the airplane’s service records and more as part of the investigation.

“Right now we are casting a large net and we’re gathering facts,” he said. “We’re not adding any weight or value to those facts — we simply want to gather them all up and then with the entire team enrolled in the process we’ll parse these items and decide what adds value and what is not pertinent to this particular investigation.”

Rayner said investigators have recovered the plane’s maintenance records and the pilot’s logbook.
He reported that the pilot had approximately 1,100 hours of total flight experience.

“We are going to get a pretty good understanding of the man, the machine and the environment,” Rayner said.

Rayner said investigators would present a preliminary report with evidence to the NTSB, which will review it and make a determination on the probable cause of the crash.

Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department Chief Michael Kelley said the time of dispatch was 6:21 p.m.

Kelley reported the plane was on fire when firefighters and rescuers arrived, making it difficult to reach.

The fire was contained to the plane and did not extend into the cornfield. There were no ground injuries or property damage.

Fire and rescue units from Laytonsville, Sandy Spring, Gaithersburg and Howard County responded.


The Greater Olney News - Timeline | Facebook
 
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Sometime in the future, someone will say your name for the last time.
 
Win 8.1 users, be advised:

I just went to reboot my desktop running win 8.1 and it wanted to restart and update. Fine. Next thing I know it's stuck in "Updating 5 of 7" and "Don't turn computer off until done" and this was stuck on the screen for 15-20 minutes. I was getting worried it had crashed or was in a loop or something, but the HD light seemed to say otherwise so I waited. Then it FINALLY moved on, restarted, hung on the opening screen for about 5 minutes (which is a ridiculous long time), then restarted again, and finally gave me the sign on screen. Entire process was about 25 minutes.
 
Wow, that's wild...........I just updated my win 8.1 and it only took about 5 minutes. I was ready for the 'wait' as you experienced, but it went right through the update and restarted normally. I wonder if maybe you had something running in the background, like anti-virus or anti-malware software or other program that was slowing it down? Anytime I run an update I make sure all other programs are not running. I've had some tense moments myself updating my home pc in the past. Kinda' reminds me of firmware updates for my Phantom that get hung up before completing. That's why I don't update firmware anymore. It flies just fine now.....why screw it up? But, thanks for the tip on the update issue.
 
Well, I had just made a vid with dashware and whenever I do that, the static ram seems to get used up and the machine is sluggish, which is why I like to reboot. So maybe that is what slowed it down... thanks for the reply
 
Well, I had just made a vid with dashware and whenever I do that, the static ram seems to get used up and the machine is sluggish, which is why I like to reboot. So maybe that is what slowed it down... thanks for the reply

Yep. Another thing I do before a P/C update is create a restore point. Just in case the update goes sideways, I have a good point to return to...which has been the case a few times.

Now if only DJI would allow a restore point on their firmware updates. Maybe set up in the GoApp or SD card. Then if the firmware is too buggy or has updates we don't like, it would be easy to restore the bird to earlier firmware. I know a downgrade is possible now, but somehow the words "DJI" and "Easy" just don't go very well together.


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