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Each morning I look forward to opening the site in order to enjoy the erudite aeronautical material found within. This, combined with a mug of weak cocoa and a digestive bikkie, comprise one of the high points of my day.
But Ye-Gods, this morning my senses reeled and my brain turned into jelly as it slowly took on-board the staggering sight of g**ls clad only in b***ni swimming costumes! What is happening, my befuddled mind attempted to comprehend? Am I on the wrong site? Is my "Geriatric Protection" computer system going berserk? Mrs. dakota67 must have heard my cry of horror from the kitchen where she was on her knees scrubbing the floor with the delight that she exhibits when I set her character-building tasks. "Are you alright my dear kind considerate husband...not having a stroke are we dear?" I heard her mutter with a merrie chuckle. I hastily clicked everything in sight to rid my fevered sight of the images that were becoming engraved into my synapses. Anyway, I have been reading "Flight" and Son-of-Flight since 1952 and never can I recall any photograph (as we used to call them) of the female gender showing so much l*g. In my airline flying years I was not even aware that our 'hosties had such limbs...I mean in the sense that my entire being was solely focused on the task of keeping the strange flying machines we used under some semblance of control. Bizarre machines that few of you would ever have heard of; Vickers Viscounts et al. So I am in somewhat of a dilemma. As a Moderator and a one-time Editor and journo, should I attempt to somehow tunnel into our Editor's blog and eradicate this astounding material? I mean to say chaps.....we don't want the young pilots out there in the great blue yonder getting any funny ideas about their Airline's management's marketing practices do we? And Ryanair of all people!!! (Did I mention that I have a very large % of Irish DNA within this ancient airframe?). May I ask you my kind Editor; is this the way of the next 100 years? If so, I shall delay my journey to the Great Hangar in the Sky for as long as possible.........
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Greetings to Flightglobal members and visitors from dakota67.
I am acting as an advisor/consultant to a projected "start-up" part 121 airline that intends to operate in an equatorial nation that has several quite high density altitude airstrips. So was wondering if there might be some engineers and pilots who have "hands-on" experience with the Xian MA-60?? Of course we know a great deal about the An-24 and An-26 which have a very long history. Whilst the MA-60 is already operating in several African and SE Asian states, it would be a first-of-type in the country(s) we are dealing with. I and my associate team leader have had considerable experience with the Fokker F-27-200 which worked very well in the equatorial environment; albeit with some manageable take-off weight restrictions at hot-and-high locations. We are of course interested in the realistic values of single-engine service ceiling and drift-down rates of descent with one feathered. As you will know, there is nothing quite as valuable as listening to people who have flown or maintained an aircraft type in the field to garner a picture of a machine's good or not-so-good characteristics....thank you should you be able to comment.