Helpful Google Tricks
I love how Google just quietly introduces new features that (to borrow a phrase from somewhere in my past I can't put my finger on) "surprise and delight" the user. Here's the latest batch of fun things you can do, just in time for the holiday season:
- UPS tracking numbers
example search: "1Z9999W999999999" - FedEx tracking numbers
example search: "fedex 999999999999" - Patent numbers
example search: "patent 6543046" - FAA airplane registration numbers
example search: "n199ua" - FCC equipment IDs
example search: "fcc B4Z-34009-PIR"
Check out the rest of the page Google Web Search Features for other tips you might not have seen before.
Comments
The airplane registration number search is a farily specialized choice, but it's pretty cool. i've learned that a few of the planes i've rented are actually owned by organizations of uncertain repute (try N734JL; who the hell is "SHANNIKKI"?).
talk about discovery -- i didn't even think to consider that such a database would be online. of _course_ it is, you dolt.
Posted by: matt shobe | December 17, 2003 12:09 PM
Matt--
Any good pilot would interest themself in the log books for that particular aircraft. If the logs are up to date and correct, the company is obviously meeting the FAA requirements.
If you really want to know who Shannikki is, that is very easy to find out.
Posted by: Kevin Gordon | October 21, 2004 11:08 PM
Yeah, yeah, A.R.O.W. and all that. Was trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. 734JL was an everyday trainer at my flight school and i think i knew its logbooks entirely too well. The persistent, unkillable nosewheel shimmy was something to behold.
In more disturbing developments, another aircraft I've rented on occasion out of Gary/Chicago, N2355E, recently came up on the short end of a student pilot encounter: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040917X01450&key=1.
Posted by: matt shobe | October 22, 2004 09:13 AM
Thanks for the link Matt. Student says she "believes all three gear touched down at the same time" and "the landing was not the smoothest one she has made."
Tri-cycle gear wasn't designed for hard pancake landings.
Matt, why do you blame N2355E for this?
Also, N734JL probably has long range tanks--usually full at take-off? Since your not burning 6 hours of fuel on a short flight training flight, your landing weight is going to be a bit heavier than a 172 with regular tanks. To stop a shimmy, ease back on the yoke.
Again, not the planes fault.
Posted by: Kevin Gordon | October 23, 2004 09:35 PM