[Rolebama]

Bucket Lists weren't a 'thing' when I was younger, but over the years I have done a few things which people younger than me have put on theirs. Did you, or have you got one? How are you getting on with it?

[Mark07]

I'm hoping that I'm a little too young to worry about my bucket list - I'm 37.

I don't fancy jumping out of an aeroplane or bungee jumping etc - it does look like a huge rush though. I do have a list of places that I'd like to visit/experience.

If you don't mind sharing, what are the 'bucket list' things that you've recently done?

[Drivingforfun]

My situation is perhaps atypical (though what is "normal"?), but I've missed out on some things most take for granted, but then have also been lucky to do things that perhaps are "bucket list" material for most people... So most of the stuff on my list would be things I couldn't do in my childhood/teens/20s which most people don't think twice about, but as my health is improving are becoming attainable 😆

I'm with Mark on the travel though, especially when it comes to the less visited, less touristy places!

[Rolebama]

Recently I haven't done anything which I would consider bucket list worthy. I did most of it in my teens to mid-30s. In terms of motorcycling I used to race including IoM TT. Took one to the top of Snowdon. Rode one all over Europe. 'Played' with a helicopter. I have jumped out of an aeroplane from 2,500ft. Met numerous Heads of State, (one of whom insisted I be the liaison between him and the company I worked for at the time, because, as he explained it, nobody had ever called him 'mate' before), some now deposed. Met a few rock stars and the like. Visited East Berlin at the height of the Cold War. (Scariest thing I ever did.) Climbed a few European mountains and all mountains in Wales over 3000ft. These are a sample.

[Mark07]

@Rolebama all of that sounds absolutely fascinating!

[Drivingforfun]

A helicopter appeals to me more than a plane in some ways. Is it true that a helicopter is more difficult to fly than a plane, though? Someone explained to me by saying that if you let go of a plane controls it keeps going forward, but if you did the same with a helicopter it'd just fall out of the sky, is that true?

Berlin sounds interesting. I was reading from somebody who found themselves in the middle of a terrorist attack, with AK47s and bombs and all. I remember feeling a lot of respect for their way of recounting it, because he just said he hid under a car and pooed his pants, which I believe is what myself and most other people would do

[Rolebama]

I think helicopters are more difficult to fly because they can move in any direction. The pilot I was with had me trying to do figure 8s, keeping it pointing in the direction we were flying without a change in altitude. I gained a lot of respect for air/sea rescue pilots over those two days.
They don't actually plummet, they tend to go more into a steep glide as long as the rotors are turning.

I have never had the misfortune to be involved in a terrorist attack, but have been involved in clean-up. That is nightmare territory.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

I think helicopters are more difficult to fly because they can move in any direction. The pilot I was with had me trying to do figure 8s, keeping it pointing in the direction we were flying without a change in altitude. I gained a lot of respect for air/sea rescue pilots over those two days.
They don't actually plummet, they tend to go more into a steep glide as long as the rotors are turning.

I have never had the misfortune to be involved in a terrorist attack, but have been involved in clean-up. That is nightmare territory.

I don’t (can’t) fly either, but I know people who can. The answer seems to be that helicopters are considerably more difficult.
I believe the stats show they are also much less safe.

[olduser]

An old school friend, who went into the RAF flying helicopters, described helicopters as 10's of 1,000 of parts that never wanted to fly being made to fly, and they were all out for revenge.

Modern machines will auto hover, and their auto pilots will fly from A to B making life simpler, and the control systems have been improved but they tend to fly in the lower turbulent air, which makes life very difficult.

After leaving the RAF, he worked as an airline pilot until retirement.
He told me someone showed him a video of an airliner landing in a crosswind, it scared him to death.
Whilst it is common for airliners to have to land in cross winds, he had only seen it from the flight deck.

It is ironical, modern fighter aircraft are designed not to fly, to make them more manoeuvrable. (the more stable an aircraft is the harder it is to make it change direction on any axis)
They are kept flying by the computer control system making constant small scale adjustments, sheer power helps as well.

[Mark07]

Originally Posted by olduser

It is ironical, modern fighter aircraft are designed not to fly, to make them more manoeuvrable. (the more stable an aircraft is the harder it is to make it change direction on any axis)
They are kept flying by the computer control system making constant small scale adjustments, sheer power helps as well.

I remember seeing something about the Eurofighter which said that it was unflyable without the computer. I just googled the horsepower on it, 150,000!!!

I imagine some will go higher than that.