Scudrunners

Ya know I get the feeling you'd been a fun guy to hang around with in Vegas for a weekend but I'm not sure I'd get out alive.

I prefer the 9mm - .45 ACP is okay but I've always had trouble with it. The .44 is fun but I agree you can't hit anything with it unless you're Clint Eastwood wounding the Scorpio killer in Kezar Stadium. I've never fired the .50. I need to put that on my bucket list.

Often discounted when it comes to hearing protection is the passive aspects. More sound and vibration gets by the anr being transmitted directly through your skull. A helmet is always your best protection, but if that isn't practical, headsets that cover your ears as opposed to on ear ones generally protect you better, and I find the good gel type ear seals also damp a lot of the extra noise. Unfortunately the older heavier headsets made of higher density materials generally have better passive protection. My old DCs protect better than the new ones - though are quite a bit heavier. The weight doesn't bother me, but I get that is a factor for most.

Also don't be a mouth breather. Lots of sound gets in there, and not like one needs a reason to talk less on the radio.

That all said, one thing to remember is a lot of hearing damage is front loaded, so put your headset on before you start the engine. If you are terrified of not being able to hear yourself talk, then be quicker getting to the point where the avionics or intercom is turned on.

All my life, people have told me that everyone is the same, and your
hearing loss is solely a function of exposure to loud noise.

What complete and total bullshit. I have spent decade after decade
riding motorcycles and flying extremely loud airplanes and shooting
guns and operating VERY loud power equipment and listening to insanely
loud music, and I have far better hearing than many other people that
have not done ANY of the above - let alone all of them. I should be
completely fucking deaf - but I'm not.

Like cavities in your teeth - weirdly I have none - I suspect that hearing
loss has a much larger genetic component than people are willing to
admit, because they allow their politics (eg egalitarianism) to influence
their critical examination of data. You know. Warped, bad science.

So many meta-lessons.

you'd been a fun guy to hang around with in Vegas for a weekend but I'm not sure I'd get out alive

Nah. When I was younger, I perhaps had an edge - ask the people that
were at Hanover 20 years ago - but I'm old and harmless now.

I've never fired the .50. I need to put that on my bucket list.

Next time you stop by Norcal, give me a holler. You're going to love the .50 - we'll go to the range.



From left to right is the .50, the Desert Eagle, and the Glock 17. Most people
think the Desert Eagle is a large, heavy pistol. No. It's puny compared to the
S&W 500, which has amazingly good sights for stock, and the most amazing
light, short trigger pull in single action. The .50 Magnum is an incredibly
accurate pistol, if you don't worry about the recoil and don't flinch during the
trigger squeeze.

I know people don't think I'm very bright, but I take safety very seriously, and
I might recommend that you only load ONE round in the .50 the first time you
fire it. Oddly, some people have difficulty with the recoil:



I love my .50 Magnum, but I'm not very bright and have no virtue to signal.

It reminds me of my favorite Pitts, which tried to kill me - the stick jammed
in a vertical downline - the first time I flew it. Of course, I fell in love with it
and had to have it, even if the first landing I did in it was a novel experience,
with no pitch control. It killed the previous owner, and it was rebuilt with
a hilariously short, one page logbook entry: p/n's such and such replaced
after "hard landing". People think I'm an egotistical @sshole, but unlike
every arrogant fucking asshole pilot in the world, I didn't put my name
on the aircraft - I put it's name on the side of it:



Because if you ever read the bible, you will know that Death rides a Pale Horse.

No one gets it. Pearls to the swine. No one will get that, either, and that's ok.

Anyways, that's why I'm such a shitty pilot, compared to a Canadian - I didn't
think that landing a Pitts with no elevator was a big deal. POH even talks
about it, for Christ's sake, but as we all know, that's a great place to hide
information from pilots, because they never, ever look there.

Next time you stop by Norcal, give me a holler. You're going to love the .50 - we'll go to the range.

I may take you up on that. I'll cover the cocktails.

Like cavities in your teeth - weirdly I have none - I suspect that hearing
loss has a much larger genetic component than people are willing to
admit,

Oh it does, and you're right many people don't like to admit it. That said, there is a lot of environmental factors as well. Loud noises aren't the only thing that can cause hearing loss. One of friends is suffering a lot of hearing loss from they suspect his too many concussions - among other issues that he has cropping up. You still got to protect what you got. I mean even if you don't get cavities, I wouldn't stop brushing your teeth. Lucky you in rolling well in the teeth department. I'm certain I wouldn't have made it to adulthood if it wasn't for modern dentistry, which incidentally caused deafness as a child. Long story. Lets just say I think there's a whole chapter dedicated to me in the Big Book of British Smiles.

When it comes to sound induced hearing loss, while damage is front loaded on exposure, repeated prolonged exposure is what causes damaging loss. Your ears can recover from some loud noises, but if you expose them every day, all day, well I know a lot of deaf guys who thought the ear protection was uncomfortable. Dad was one of those guys until the specialist told him to wise up. Damage was already done though, now you can hear the tv from outside his house.

I'm certain I wouldn't have made it to adulthood if it wasn't for modern dentistry

Like many other pilots, I never, ever see any kind of medical professional
or seek any kind of medical treatment because you have to list it on your
next aviation medical, which creates a bureaucratic attack surface.

This was especially true in Canada, when Jim Pfaff didn't try to hide it that
he was gunning for me, after I grilled him at the Tribunal and made him look
like an idiot - he stated that Canadian pilot hearts were weaker and different
from American pilot hearts, and the data the FAA had collected was inapplicable
in Canada. Uh huh.

Now that I don't try to maintain a Canadian medical any more, it probably
doesn't matter as much. TC can send me letters every day that they have
suspended/revoked my ATP and class 1 medical. Over and over and over
again. Whatever makes Arlo and Rotten Ronnie and Dirty Jim happy.

Gee, the last two decades of constant attacks sure have been fun.

I wonder if TC ever gives a shit, that their effect of attacking pilots that see
medical professionals actually decreases the health of pilots?

Nah. TC doesn't give a shit if pilots are healthy or not, as long as they have
control. I wonder if sometime they will ever critically look at Lt Col Theresa
Long's affadavit? Or Peter Chambers? Nah. Military flight surgeons don't
know shit, do they?

Andrew, Don't count all of us Canadians as not liking you. I like you. Once someone gets under Transports skin it often becomes difficult for them. I dont live far from Hanover, and recall the weekend. I did not get out to party with you... maybe the weather was a bit iffy? I seem to recall something like that.
I wish you were still up here. I could use a few lessons...