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USAF Test Pilot School

USAF Test Pilot School

right The U.S. Air Force Flight Test School is located on Edwards Air Force Base in California. Its mission is to produce test pilots and flight test engineers capable of testing new and experimental aircraft. The job is dangerous, and several test pilots have died as a result of the nature of experimental aircraft. While deaths due to hardware malfuctions are unavoidable, pilot errors ultimately are. This is why the test pilot school was established: to train already experienced pilots and engineers to eliminate as much human error as possible. The fundamental key to success in aerospace flight test and evaluation is the individual member of the flight test team: the flight test pilot, of course, but nowadays the trained flight test engineer and navigator as well. Without him – and increasingly, her – the fundamental work of testing and flying experimental aircraft would be significantly more challenging. Bravery and flying skills of the highest order have always been requirements for the flight test mission, but much more is demanded of today’s flight test professionals: scientific and engineering knowledge, critical and reasoned judgment, and managerial skills of the first order. A well-devised flight test program, skillfully carried out, calls forth the absolute performance of the aircraft and its associated systems. Finding the people who are capable of planning and flying such a program is not easy, nor is the process automatic.

What Students Learn

Nearly any given time of the year will find two separate classes undergoing the present 48-week curriculum of classroom academic, simulator training and flight exercises. No matter the primary flying experience of each incoming candidate, be it fighter, bomber or heavy transport, each student who successfully completes the demanding course will be fully capable of testing any type of aircraft and aircraft system likely to be encountered after graduation. Course work is taught in four main phases: Performance, Flying Qualities, Systems, and Test Management. The test pilot will be taught to follow carefully-crafted flight profiles, not daring aerial maneuvers. He must be taught to handle his airplane with extraordinary precision: to control his airspeed to the nearest knot, and his altitude virtually to the foot--every time. Beyond this, the neophyte test pilot must have a natural affinity for mechanical systems, an ability to "feel" the airplane and have a well-honed sense of what is happening at any given time. Mature and reasoned judgment is also vital – human lives, and millions of dollars, depend upon how carefully a test mission is planned and flown. But all of these skills would be useless without knowledge and training – systematic training in gathering flight data, and then interpreting it. Minutes spent in precision flying must be matched by hours of painstaking effort at computers, in the library, and around the conference table.

Who They Are

Contrary to the romanticized view of old Hollywood films, test pilots are not "born" to their talents – they are painstakingly made. Natural ability in the air is necessary, of course, but a delicate touch on the controls and absolute precision on the air are needed – not slapdash bravado. The class sizes vary somewhat, but are kept small, each student benefiting from intensive personal attention from the TPS faculty. There is often a sprinkling of other uniforms among the Air Force blue--Navy, U.S. Marines, NATO and other foreign students admitted under the Foreign Military Sales program. Female students are no longer a rarity; since the first one appeared in 1974 more than 25 have graduated to date. Three of the women, so far, have become astronauts, including Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. Many of today’s students are not pilots; some 40 percent of them are student flight test engineers and navigators. Space Shuttle

What They Do

The students often labor side by side with professionals, working test pilots from several flight test squadrons housed in nearby hangars. Visiting experts frequently are called upon to share their knowledge. Inevitably, all of this forges a strong camaraderie among each class, and close personal and professional bonds develop between them and their instructors as they are gradually initiated into the tightly-knit and highly selective world of the professional test airmen. The demands of the work level are legendary throughout the aviation community; TPS students holding medical degrees have compared its intensity to medical school, and late nights are common. There is occasional play as well as work: time snatched with family, impromptu parties and the formal graduation dinner. But work, of course, is the byword: math-filled lectures as the intricacies of aerodynamics are explored in the classroom; new computer techniques to absorb; and best of all, the hours spent in the cockpit mastering the precise flying techniques and building up the detailed knowledge of the aircraft and its systems which are hallmarks of the test professional. The accelerating pace of technical development in today’s aerospace environment guarantees that the curriculum of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School remain in a continual state of evolution. New systems continually require the development of new testing methods, which in turn demand up-to-date training for test personnel. Systems management provides the trainees with the managerial skills and professional versatility necessary to cope with the ever more complex test programs required by the Flight Test Center’s customers. Today’s TPS graduates seldom work on basic performance and stability testing of new aircraft nor, in fact, is the U.S. Air Force their only customer. Other branches of the armed services, other government agencies, foreign nations and aerospace contractors are also served by the Air Force Flight Test Center and its TPS graduates. A Flight Test Engineer course was installed in February, 1973, allowing non-pilot student engineers to follow their own curriculum paralleling the work of the pilot students. A year later, similar provisions were made for student navigators. This approach allows a team approach to test program planning, data collection, analysis and final reporting. See Also:
- Test Pilot School This article contains information that came from a public domain government website

External links

- [http://www.edwards.af.mil/tps/ US Air Force Test Pilot School] Test Pilot School

California

California is a state located on the west coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous state in the U.S., as well as the most physically diverse, with the highest and the lowest points in the lower 48 states located within 150 miles of each other. If California were an independent nation, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world (after the rest of the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain and France; see economy of California). The state's official nickname is "The Golden State" in reference to California's 1849 Gold Rush. California's U.S. postal abbreviation is CA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Calif. As one of the most demographically diverse states in the nation, California is a dominant force in American culture as well as the nation's economy. It has some of the nation's largest cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, and is responsible for many legal and technological innovations. The entire region originally known as California was composed of the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja California and much of the land in the current states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, known as Alta California. In these early times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The name comes from Las sergas de Esplandián (Adventures of Splandian), a 16th century novel, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, where there is an island paradise called California. (For further discussion, see: Origin of the name California.)

History

:Main articles: History of California, History of California (20th century) The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in 1542. The first to explore the entire coast and claim possession of it was Francis Drake in 1579. Beginning in the late 1700s, Spanish missionaries set up tiny settlements on enormous grants of land in the vast territory north of Baja California. The missions played a dominant role in the decimation of California's indigenous population. Upon Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government, and they were quickly dissolved and abandoned. In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War, the California Republic was founded and the Bear Flag was flown, which featured a golden bear and a star. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States. Following the war, the region was divided between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican portion, Baja (lower) California was later divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The western part of the U.S. portion, Alta (upper) California, was to become the state of California. In 1848, the Spanish-speaking population of distant upper California numbered around 4,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with Americans and a few Europeans in the great California gold rush. In 1850, the state was admitted to the Union of the USA. During the American Civil War, popular support in California was divided 70% for the South and 30% for the North, and although California officially entered on the side of the North, many troops went east to fight for the Confederacy CSA. At first, travel between the far Pacific West to the eastern population centers was time-consuming and dangerous, requiring either long ocean voyages, or difficult transcontinental passages. A more direct connection came in 1869 with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. After this rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of Americans came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Citrus, oranges in particular, was widely grown, and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production of today. During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965 the population grew from fewer than one million to become the most populous state in the Union. From 1965 to the present, the population demographic changed radically and became one of the most diverse in the world. The state is generally liberal-leaning, technologically and culturally savvy, and a world center of engineering businesses, the film and television industry and, as mentioned above, American agricultural production.

Law and government

California is governed as a republic, with three branches of government, the executive branch consisting of the Governor of California and the other independently elected constitutional officers, the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate, and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by referendum, recall, and ratification. The Governor of California and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The California State Legislature consists of a 40 member Senate and 80 member Assembly. Senators serve four year terms and Assembly members two. The terms of the Senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The Senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four, i.e., presidential election years. The Senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years, in the gubernatorial election cycle. California's legislature is organized in such a way that the party caucus leaders wield great power and can usually speak on behalf of their caucuses. Many important legislative decisions are thus not made on the floor of the legislature but in back-room deals by the "Big Five", which comprises the governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders of each chamber. For the 2005–2006 session, there are 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans in the Assembly. In the Senate, there are 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. The current Governor is the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose current term lasts through January 2007. Schwarzenegger was only the second person in the history of the United States to be put into office by a recall of a sitting governor (the first was the 1921 recall of North Dakota Governor Lynn J. Frazier). Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis (1999–2003), who was removed from office by the October 2003 California recall election. The state's capital is Sacramento. During California's early history under European control, the capital was successively located in Monterey (1775–1849), San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1852–1853), Benicia (1853–1854), and San Francisco (1862). The capital moved to Sacramento temporarily in 1852 when construction on a State House could not be completed in time in Vallejo. The capital's final move to Sacramento was on February 25, 1854 where it has been permanently, except for a four-month temporary move in 1862 to San Francisco, due to severe flooding in Sacramento. California's giant judiciary is the largest in the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges, while the federal system has only about 840). It is supervised by the seven Justices of the Supreme Court of California. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the Governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years. Judges of the trial courts, the Superior Courts in each county, may be appointed by the Governor or elected directly by the voters, depending on when the vacancy occurs. Superior Court judges serve six-year terms, after which they may run for re-election. Unlike the retention elections for Supreme Court and Court of Appeal justices, Superior Court judges run for re-election in open races, in which other qualified candidates may run as challengers. California's legal system is explicitly based on English common law but carries a few features from Spanish civil law. Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country. At the national level, California is represented by two senators and 53 representatives, as of 2005. It has 55 electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College. (As California is the most populous state in the Union, its counts of Congressmen and Presidential Electors are, of course, also the largest.) The two U.S. Senators from California are Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. While California is among the most Democratic and liberal states in the nation because of the large concentration of voters in populous areas, much of California is politically very conservative, notably the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange and San Diego counties, and most inland, eastern, and rural areas. Democratic bastions are mostly coastal and include the entire San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Salinas, Santa Barbara, and Imperial County. The state has supported Democrats in the last four presidential elections. In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush received a majority of votes in more than half the state's 58 counties, but still lost California's 55 electoral votes to John Kerry, who won 54.3% of the popular vote, by a margin of 10 percentage points. See also: List of California Governors, U.S. Congressional Delegations from California, List of California counties, List of California ballot propositions

Geography

California borders the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the Mexican state of Baja California. The state has strikingly beautiful natural features, including an expansive central valley, tall mountains, hot deserts, and hundreds of miles of scenic coastline. With an area of 411,000 km² it is the third largest state in the U.S and larger than Germany in size. Most major cities cling to the cool seacoast along the Pacific, notably Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana/Orange County, and San Diego. However, the capital, Sacramento is in the Central Valley. California has extremely varied geography. In the center of the state lies the Central Valley, a huge, fertile valley bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the granite Sierra Nevada to the east, the volcanic Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. Mountain-fed rivers, dams, and canals provide water to irrigate the Central Valley. With dredging, several of these rivers have become sufficiently large and deep that several inland cities, notably Stockton, California, are seaports. The hot, fertile Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of America's food, yet near freezing temperatures are not uncommon during winter which sometimes wipe out portions of crops. The bottom part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San Joaquin Valley while the upper half is known as the Sacramento Valley. In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning Snowy Range in Spanish), containing the highest peak in the contiguous lower 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4421 m). Also located in the Sierra are the world famous Yosemite National Park and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential seabird habitat. To the west is Clear Lake, California's largest freshwater lake by area. The Sierra Nevada receives arctic temperatures in the winter and holds several dozen small glaciers, including the most southern glacier in the United States (Palisade Glacier). California has about 35% of its total surface area covered by forests. California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. Though other states have a higher percentage of their land area covered by forests, in terms of total area, California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Most of the forest is found in 2 places. First, in the northwestern part of the state and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller forests, mainly consisting of oaks, can be found along the coast ranges of California closer to the coast, and also in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller areas of pine forests can be found in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains of Southern California and also in the mountain areas of Central San Diego Country. Deserts in California make up about 25% of the total surface area. In the south lie the Transverse Ranges and a large salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave. To the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest, hottest point in North America. The lowest point of Death Valley and the peak of Mount Whitney are less than 200 miles apart. The hiking trek between the two points has been attempted, several times, most notably by Lee Bergthold. Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with the Coachella Valley routinely experiencing extreme high temperatures during the summer. Finally, along the densely-populated but long California coast lie a number of major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Climates near the Pacific Ocean are remarkably moderate compared with inland climates. Winter temperatures never reach freezing (snow is unheard of) and summer temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (27 °C). California is famous for its earthquakes, due partly to the presence of the San Andreas Fault. While more powerful earthquakes in the United States have occurred in Alaska and along the Mississippi River, California earthquakes are notable in their frequency and location in highly populated areas. Some people believe, eventually, a huge earthquake will result in the splitting of coastal California from the continent, either to sink into the ocean or form a new landmass. The fact that this scenario is completely implausible from a geologic standpoint does not lessen its acceptance in public conventional wisdom, or its exploitation by the producers of science fiction and fantasy media. Notable movies in which the possible destruction of much of California by an earthquake includes the titles Earthquake, A View to a Kill, Escape from L.A. and Superman. California is also home to several volcanoes, some active such as Mammoth Mountain. Other volcanoes include Lassen Peak, which erupted from 1914 and 1921, and Mount Shasta.

Climate

Different regions of California have very different climates, depending on their latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast. Most of the state has a Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. The influence of the ocean generally moderates temperature extremes, creating warmer winters and substantially cooler summers, and the cold oceanic California Current offshore often creates summer fog near the coast. As one moves away from the coast, the climate becomes more continental, with colder winters and markedly hotter summers. The temperature gradient between immediate coast and low-lying inland valleys in the north is about 7 °F (4 °C) in winter, coast being warmer, and in summer roughly 25 °F (14 °C) but opposite. In the south, the figures are approximately 4 and 23 °F (2 °C and 13 °C), respectively; however 4 °F and 35 °F (2 °C and 20 °C) between Santa Barbara and Death Valley. Westerly winds from the ocean also bring moisture, and the northern parts of the state generally receive higher rainfall than the south. California's mountain ranges influence the climate as well: moisture-laden air from the west cools as it ascends the mountains, dropping moisture; some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Northwestern California has a temperate climate with rainfall of 15–40 inches (400–1000 mm) per year. The Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate, but with greater temperature extremes than the coastal areas; parts of the valley are often filled with thick fog, similar to that found in the coastal valleys. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, have a mountain climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer. On the east side of the mountains is a drier "rain shadow." California's desert climate regions lie east of the high Sierra Nevada and southern California's Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges. The low deserts east of the southern California mountains, including the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower Colorado River, are part of the Sonoran Desert, with hot summers and mild winters; the higher elevation deserts of eastern California, including the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and the Modoc Plateau, are part of the Great Basin region, with hot summers and cold winters. Death Valley, in the northern portion of the Mojave Desert on the east side of the state, is the hottest spot on the Western Hemisphere, with high temperatures over 120 °F common in the summer. The highest temperature in the Western Hemisphere, 134 °F (56.6 °C), was recorded in Death Valley on July 10, 1913. Temperatures of 130 °F or higher have been recorded as recently as 2005. The 24-hour average July temperature in Death Valley is 101 °F (38 °C) (1961--1990 standard).

Ecology

Ecologically, California is one of the richest and most diverse parts of the world, and includes some of the most endangered ecological communities. California's diverse geography, geology, soils and climate have generated a tremendous diversity of plant and animal life. The State of California is part of the Nearctic ecozone, and spans a number of terrestrial ecoregions, and is perhaps the most ecologically diverse state in the United States. California has a rather high percentage of endemic species. California endemics include relict species that have died out elsewhere, including the redwoods and the Catalina Ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus). Many other endemics originated through differentiation or adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions. California's great abundance of species of California lilac (Ceanothus) is an example of adaptive radiation. Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat. Furthermore, California is home to the largest trees in the world, the Giant Sequoias. California's native grasses were perennials, which stayed green year-round in most of the state's subclimates. After European contact, these were generally replaced by invasive species of European annual grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a characteristic golden brown in summer and fall. California's nickname The Golden State is in reference to the California Gold Rush, and not to the golden brown summer hillsides as is sometimes stated.

Economy

California Gold Rush California Gold Rush] California has the fifth largest economy in the world. It is responsible for 14% of the United States' gross domestic product (GDP). The gross state product (GSP) is about $1.5 trillion ($1,500,000,000,000, as of 2004), making it greater than that of every other U.S. state, and most countries in the world (by Purchasing Power Parity). The predominant industry, more than twice as large as the next, is agriculture, (including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and wine). This is followed by aerospace; entertainment, primarily television by dollar volume, although many movies are still made in California; and light manufacturing including computer hardware and software, and the mining of borax. Per capita personal income was $33,403 as of 2003, ranking 12^th in the nation. Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and profession. The Central Valley has the most extreme contrasts of income, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. While some coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the U.S., notably San Francisco and Marin County, the non-agricultural central counties have some of the highest poverty rates in the U.S. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, are currently emerging from economic downturn caused by the dot.com bust, which caused the loss of over 250,000 jobs in Northern California alone. Recent (Spring 2005) [http://uclaforecast.com economic data] indicates that economic growth has resumed in California, although still slightly below the national annualized forecast of 3.9%. The international boom in housing prices has been most pronounced in California, with the median property price in the state rising to about the half-million dollar mark in April 2005.

Demographics

Population

As of 2004 California had a population of 35,893,799. The state had 9,400,000 foreign-born residents (26.5% of the population), of which an estimated 2,209,000 were illegal aliens (illegal aliens accounted for nearly one-fourth of the foreign-born population and 6.2% of the total state population). California is the most populous state—more than 12 percent of Americans live in the state. California's population is larger than all but 33 countries; more populated than Canada.

Racial and Ancestral Makeup

The Census Bureau considers race and Hispanic origin to be two separate categories. Hispanics must not only select "Hispanic"; they must also select a race such as White or Asian, or, simply "some other race." This makes interpreting Census data difficult. Thus, for the sake of simplicity, the data below does consider Hispanic origin to be its own category. It therefore shows only non-Hispanic members of each group: non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Eskimos, non-Hispanic people of two or more races, etc. For more information on race and the Census, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28U.S._Census%29 here].


	2000 Census [http://www.census.gov/popest/states/asrh/tables/SC-EST2003-03/SC-EST2003-03-28.pdf]	2003 Estimate [http://www.census.gov/popest/states/asrh/tables/SC-EST2003-03/SC-EST2003-03-28.pdf]
White	47.4%	45.2%
Hispanic/Latino	32.4%	34.3%
Asian	11.0%	11.4%
Black	6.5%	6.3%
Two or More Races	1.9%	1.9%
Native American and Inuit	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.3%

California lacks a majority ethnic group. It is the third minority-majority state, after Hawaii and New Mexico. Non-Hispanic Whites are still the largest group, but are no longer a majority of the population due to high levels of immigration in recent years. Hispanics make up over one-third of the population; in order, other groups are Asians, Blacks, and Native Americans. Because of high levels of immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico, and higher birth rates among the Hispanic population, Hispanics are predicted to become a majority in the state around 2040. California has the second-largest Asian population (percentage-wise) of any state, Hawaii having the largest. The largest ancestries in California are Mexican (25%), Filipino, German, Irish, and Asian. Mexicans and Chicanos predominate in Southern California, the Central Valley, Salinas, and parts of the San Francisco Bay area. Irish and German ancestries are dominant in the eastern Sierra Nevada, the far north, and the North Coast. San Francisco has the greatest concentration of Asians in the continental United States, with Chinese numerous in San Francisco, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties and Filipinos particularly numerous in San Mateo county.

Languages

As of 2000, 60.5% of California residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 25.8% speak Spanish. Chinese is the third most spoken language at 2.6%, followed by Tagalog at 2.5% and Vietnamese at 1.3%. The indigenous languages of California number more than one hundred, but most are in danger of language death, despite revitalization efforts. Since 1986, the California Constitution has specified English as the common and official language of the state. The politics of language, particularly concerning language policy regarding the teaching and official use of immigrant languages is a major political issue in the state.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of California:
- Christian – 75%
- Protestant – 38%
- Baptist – 8%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Methodist – 2%
- Lutheran – 2%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 23%
- Roman Catholic – 34%
- Other Christian – 3%
- Jewish – 2%
- Other Religions – 3%
- Non-Religious – 20% As with many other western states, the percentage of California's population identifying themselves as "non-religious" is comparatively high in relation to the rest of the U.S.

Important cities and towns

Image:Sacramento from Riverwalk.jpg|Sacramento Image:DowntownLosAngeles.jpg|Los Angeles Image:Sandiego.arp.750pix.jpg|San Diego Image:Lightmatter sanfrancisco.jpg|San Francisco Image:SanJoseDowntownIMG016elf wb.jpg|San Jose Image:Long Beach, CA at night.jpg|Long Beach Image:La2-oakland.jpg|Oakland Image:Anaheimdland.jpg|Anaheim The state of California has 478 cities, the majority of which are within one of the large metropolitan areas. 68% of California's population lives in its two largest metropolitan areas, Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Population greater than 10,000,000 (urbanized area)
- Los Angeles/Long Beach (Greater Los Angeles)
- Population greater than 5,000,000 (urbanized area)
- San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose/Santa Rosa (San Francisco Bay Area)
- Population greater than 2,500,000 (urbanized area)
- San Diego
- Orange County
- Inland Empire (Riverside/San Bernardino)
- Population greater than 1,000,000 (urbanized area)
- Fresno
- Sacramento
- Population greater than 500,000 (urbanized area)
- Bakersfield
- Stockton
- Oxnard/Ventura (Ventura County)
- Population greater than 250,000 (urbanized area)
- Visalia/Tulare/Porterville (Tulare County)
- Modesto
- Salinas/Monterey (Monterey County)
- Santa Barbara/Goleta/Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County)
- Palmdale/Lancaster (Antelope Valley)
- Indio/Palm Springs (Coachella Valley) For a list of important suburbs within the above areas, see List of urbanized areas in California (by population).

25 wealthiest places in California

Thanks to the state's powerful economy, certain California cities are among the wealthiest on the planet. The following list is ranked by per capita income: 1 Belvedere, California - Marin County - $113,595
2 Rancho Santa Fe, California - San Diego County - $113,132
3 Atherton, California - San Mateo County - $112,408
4 Rolling Hills, California - Los Angeles County - $111,031
5 Woodside, California - San Mateo County - $104,667
6 Portola Valley, California - San Mateo County - $99,621
7 Newport Coast, California - Orange County - $98,770
8 Hillsborough, California - San Mateo County - $98,643
9 Diablo, California - Contra Costa County - $95,419
10 Fairbanks Ranch, California - San Diego County - $94,150
11 Hidden Hills, California - Los Angeles County - $94,096
12 Los Altos Hills, California - Santa Clara County - $92,840
13 Tiburon, California - Marin County - $85,966
14 Sausalito, California - Marin County - $81,040
15 Monte Sereno, California - Santa Clara County - $76,577
16 Indian Wells, California - Riverside County $76,187
17 Malibu, California - Los Angeles County - $74,336
18 Del Monte Forest, California - Monterey County - $70,609
19 Piedmont, California - Alameda County - $70,539
20 Montecito, California - Santa Barbara County - $70,077
21 Palos Verdes Estates, California - Los Angeles County - $69,040
22 Emerald Lake Hills, California - San Mateo County - $68,966
23 Loyola, California - Santa Clara County - $68,730
24 Blackhawk-Camino Tassajara, California - Contra Costa County - $66,972
25 Los Altos, California - Santa Clara County - $66,776
Note: Marin County ranks as the wealthiest county in the United States based on per capita personal income.

Education

Image:Berkeley glade afternoon.jpg|UC Berkeley Image:Stanford campus aerial photo.jpg|Stanford Image:USC Bovard Auditorium enh.jpg|USC Image:RHall.JPG|UCLA Image:Tower Hall and MDA.JPG|San Jose State Image:UCSD_lib1024.jpg|UC San Diego Image:Millikan Library.jpg|Caltech Image:Csulb pyramid.jpg|CSU Long Beach California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires 40% of state revenues to be spent on education. The preeminent state university is the University of California, which employs more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution in the world and is considered one of the finest public higher-education systems in the country. The nine general UC campuses are in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside, and Merced. The University of California, San Francisco, teaches only graduate health-sciences students, and the Hastings College of Law, also in San Francisco, is one of UC's four law schools. The UC system is intended to accept students from the top 12.5% of college-bound students, and provide most graduate studies and research. The University of California also administers federal laboratories for the Federal Department of Energy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The California State University system provides education for teachers, the trades, agriculture and industry. With over 400,000 students, the CSU system is the largest university system in the United States. It is intended to accept most college-bound high-school students, while carrying out some research, especially in applied sciences. Lower-division course credits are frequently transferable to the University of California. The California Community Colleges system provides vocational education, remedial education, and continuing education programs. It awards certificates and associate degrees. It also provides lower division general-education courses, whose credit units are transferable to the CSU and UC systems. It is composed of 109 colleges organized into 72 districts. The system serves a student population of over 2.9 million. Notable private universities include Stanford University, the University of Southern California (USC), and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (which administers the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA). California has hundreds more private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. This leads to many unique entertainment and educational opportunities for residents. For example, Southern California, with one of the highest densities of post-secondary institutions in the world, has a very large base of classically trained vocalists that compete in large choir festivals. Near Los Angeles, there are numerous art and film institutes, including the CalArts Institute. Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. They accept students from roughly age 14 to 18, with mandatory education ceasing at age 16. In many districts, junior high schools or middle schools teach electives with a strong skills-based curriculum, for ages from 11 to 13. Elementary schools teach pure skills, history and social studies, with optional half-day kindergartens beginning at age 5. Mandatory full-time instruction begins at age 6. The primary schools are of varying effectiveness. The quality of the local schools depends strongly on the local tax base, and the size of the local administration. In some regions, administrative costs divert a significant amount of educational monies from instructional purposes. In poor regions, literacy rates may fall below 70%. One thing they all have in common is a state mandate to teach fourth grade students about the history of California, including the role of the early missions; most schools implement this by requiring students complete a multiple medium project.

Sports

California's large population has helped to make it home to many professional sports teams, including fifteen major professional sports league franchises, far more than any other state. However, since the re-location of the Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Rams in the 1990s, it could be argued that no one city is able to lay claim to a "Grand Slam" (i.e. having a team in each of the four leagues) unless Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose are counted as being in a single metropolitan area.

Major league teams

Major League Baseball
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Oakland Athletics
- San Diego Padres
- San Francisco Giants National Basketball Association
- Golden State Warriors
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Sacramento Kings National Football League
- Oakland Raiders
- San Diego Chargers
- San Francisco 49ers National Hockey League
- Anaheim Mighty Ducks
- Los Angeles Kings
- San Jose Sharks

Other teams

Arena Football League
- San Jose Sabercats
- Los Angeles Avengers Major League Soccer
- Club Deportivo Chivas USA
- Los Angeles Galaxy
- San Jose Earthquakes Women's National Basketball Association
- Los Angeles Sparks
- Sacramento Monarchs

Transportation

Sacramento MonarchsCalifornia's vast terrain is connected by an extensive system of freeways, expressways, and highways, all maintained by Caltrans and patrolled by the California Highway Patrol, except for the numbered expressways in Santa Clara County which were built and maintained by the county itself. Californians typically take to the roads for their commutes, errands, and vacations, giving California's cities a reputation for severe traffic congestion. Almost all California highways are non-toll roads. Notable exceptions are any major bridges. As for air travel, Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport are major hubs for trans-Pacific and transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen important commercial airports and many more general aviation airports throughout the state's 58 counties. California also has several important seaports. The giant seaport complex formed by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California is the largest in the country and responsible for handling about a fourth of all container cargo traffic in the United States. The Port of Oakland handles most of the ocean containers passing through Northern California. Port of Oakland ]] Intercity rail travel is provided by Amtrak. Los Angeles and San Francisco both have subway networks, in addition to

Test Pilot

Test Pilot is a 1938 film that tells the story of a test pilot and his wife, who try unsuccessfully to keep their best friend, another test pilot, from drinking. It stars Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore. The film was written by Howard Hawks, Vincent Lawrence, John Lee Mahin, Frank Wead and Waldemar Young, and directed by Victor Fleming. Based on a story written by Frank Wead. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Category:1938 films Category:Drama films Category:Best Picture Oscar Nominee Category:Films directed by Victor Fleming

Experimental aircraft

An experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad.

Civilian certification

In the eyes of the United States Federal Aviation Administration, an Experimental Aircraft is not constructed by a licensed aircraft manufacturer. Instead, at least 51% of the airframe is constructed by a private individual; the remaining percentage is often purchased as a "quick-build" kit consisting of prefabricated components. This category of aircraft can be built and flown by any licensed pilot, although an FAA examiner must certify the aircraft for flight. Most nations' aviation regulations require new designs and amateur-built aircraft to be physically marked as experimental, and extra flight testing is usually required before passengers (who are not pilots themselves) can be carried. At least 25,000 of these homebuilt aircraft exist in the U.S. alone, though many are based on conventional designs and experimental only by name. Homebuilt aircraft are built from materials in one of four categories: rag and tube, metal, wood, or composite materials (fiberglass, carbon fiber, etc.). The first category, describes a building method where the aircraft's superstructure is built using welded steel or bolted aluminum tube covered with Dacron fabric. This fabric can be painted to stiffen it. The second category, metal, describes the common all aluminum aircraft. Examples of this kind of aircraft include the Vans RV series of 1 & 2 place kits. Finally, the most recent addition to the fleet is made from composites. This category is notable for its designs employing body curvature and light weight which would be impossible with the other materials. Instead of building experimental aircraft from kits, it's also possible to build from plans. The builder needs to procure all raw material him/herself. An example of a plans built aircraft is this [http://ibis.experimentals.de IBIS experimental aircraft project.]

Experimental aircraft culture

In the United States, the FAA's Experimental Aircraft designation is supported by the Experimental Aircraft Association. The largest airshow in the world is the EAA's annual AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which takes place in late July and early August. Other annual events are the Sun N' Fun Fly-In, which occurs in the early spring in Lakeland, Florida, and the Northwest EAA Fly-In in Arlington, Washington. These events are called a "Fly-In" as many people fly their homebuilts and other aircraft into the airport hosting the show, often camping there for the duration. Both events last a week. Takeoffs and landings at these shows number in the thousands.

External links

- [http://www.eaa.org/ Experimental Aircraft Association] Category:Experimental aircraft

Navigator

A navigator is the person onboard a ship responsible for the navigation of the vessel. On aircraft, the position may also be referred to as a flight officer. The navigator's responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the captain (or pilot) while en route, and ensuring that hazards or obstacles are avoided. In the United States Air Force, the Navigator Badge is earned by officers so qualified. Depending on the aircraft and job responsibilities, navigators in the Air Force may also be referred to as Weapon System Officers (WSO) or Electronic Warfare Officers (EWO). In the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the equivalent position is known as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO). Shipborne Navigators in the U.S. Navy must be Surface Warfare qualified. In the Royal Air Force, the term navigator is always used for the holder of this position in aircraft, including the backseat crew member in two-seater aircraft. Like pilots, navigators are always commissioned officers. They wear the single-wing aircrew brevet, with a capital 'N' in the centre.

Simulator

A simulation is an imitation of some real device or state of affairs. Simulation attempts to represent certain features of the behavior of a physical or abstract system by the behavior of another system. Simulation is used in many contexts, including the modeling of natural systems, and human systems to gain insight into the operation of those systems; and simulation in technology and safety engineering where the goal is to test some real-world practical scenario. Simulation, using a simulator or otherwise experimenting with a fictitious situation can show the eventual real effects of some possible conditions.

Physical and interactive simulation

Physical simulation refers to simulation in which physical objects are substituted for the real thing, these physical objects are often chosen because they are smaller or cheaper, than the actual object or system. Interactive simulation, which is a special kind of physical simulation, and often referred to as human in the loop simulations, are physical simulations that include humans, such as the model used in a flight simulator.

Simulation in training

Simulation is often used in the training of civilian and military personnel. This usually occurs when it is prohibitively expensive or simply too dangerous to allow trainees to use the real equipment in the real world. In such situations they will spend time learning valuable lessons in a "safe" virtual environment. Often the convenience is to permit mistakes during training for a safety-critical system. Training simulations typically come in one of four categories:
- "live" simulation (where real people use simulated (or "dummy") equipment in the real world);
- "virtual" simulation (where real people use simulated equipment in a simulated world (or "virtual environment")), or
- "constructive" simulation (where simulated people use simulated equipment in a simulated environment). Constructive simulation is often referred to as "wargaming" since it bears some resemblance to table-top war games in which players command armies of soldiers and equipment which move around a board.
- Role play simulation (where real people take on the persona of a virtual work)

Medical Simulators

Medical simulators are increasingly being developed and deployed to teach therapeutic and diagnostic procedures as well as medical concepts and decision making to personnel in the health professions. Simulators have been developed for training procedures ranging from the basics such as blood draw, to laparoscopic surgery and trauma care. Many medical simulators involve a computer connected to a plastic simulation of the relevant anatomy. In others, computer graphics reproduces all visual components and tool handles reproduce haptic aspects of the task. Some contain computer graphics simulations of imagery such as X-ray or other medical images. Some patient simulators employ a life size mannequin which responds to injected drugs and can be programmed to create simulations of life-threatening emergencies. Some medical simulations are disseminated via the web and can be interacted with using standard web browsers They are currently limited to screenbased simulations where users interact with the simulation via standard pointing devices.

City Simulators

A City Simulator is a simulation game of a city.

Flight simulators

Main article: Flight simulator A flight simulator is used to train pilots on the ground. It permits a pilot to crash his simulated "aircraft" without being hurt. Flight simulators are often used to train pilots to operate aircraft in extremely hazardous situations, such as landings with no engines, or complete electrical or hydraulic failures. The most advanced simulators have high-fidelity visual systems and hydraulic motion systems. The simulator is normally cheaper to operate than a real trainer aircraft.

Simulation and games

Main article: Simulation game Many video games are also simulators, implemented inexpensively. These are sometimes called "sim games". Such games can simulate various aspects of reality, from economics to piloting vehicles, such as flight simulators (described above).

Engineering simulation

Simulation is an important feature when engineering systems. For example in electrical engineering, delay lines may be used to simulate propagation delay and phase shift caused by an actual transmission line. Similarly, dummy loads may be used to simulate impedance without simulating propagation, and is used in situations where propagation is unwanted. A simulator may imitate only a few of the operations and functions of the unit it simulates. Contrast with: emulate. (Source: Federal Standard 1037C) Most engineering simulations entail mathematical modeling and computer assisted investigation. There are many cases, however, where mathematical modeling is not reliable. Simulation of fluid dynamics problems often require both mathematical and physical simulations. In these cases the physical models require dynamic similitude.

Computer simulation

Main article: Computer simulation
Related article: Model Computer simulation, has become a useful part of modeling many natural systems in physics, chemistry and biology, and human systems in economics and social science (the computational sociology) as well as in engineering to gain insight into the operation of those systems. A good example of the usefulness of using computers to simulate can be found in the field of network traffic simulation. In such simulations the model behaviour will change each simulation according to the set of initial parameters assumed for the environment. Computer simulations are often considered to be human out of the loop simulations. Traditionally, the formal modeling of systems has been via a mathematical model, which attempts to find analytical solutions to problems which enables the prediction of the behaviour of the system from a set of parameters and initial conditions. Computer simulation is often used as an adjunct to, or substitution for, modeling systems for which simple closed form analytic solutions are not possible. There are many different types of computer simulation, the common feature they all share is the attempt to generate a sample of representative scenarios for a model in which a complete enumeration of all possible states of the model would be prohibitive or impossible. It is increasingly common to hear simulations of many kinds referred to as "synthetic environments". This label has been adopted to broaden the definition of "simulation" to encompass virtually any computer-based representation.

Simulation in computer science

In computer science, simulation has an even more a specialized meaning: Alan Turing uses the term "simulation" to refer to what happens when a digital computer runs a state transition table (runs a program) that describes the state transitions, inputs and outputs of a subject discrete-state machine. The computer simulates the subject machine. In computer programming, a simulator is often used to execute a program that has to run on some inconvenient type of computer. For example, simulators are usually used to debug a microprogram. Since the operation of the computer is simulated, all of the information about the computer's operation is directly available to the programmer, and the speed and execution of the simulation can be varied at will. Simulators may also be used to interpret fault trees, or test VLSI logic designs before they are constructed. In theoretical computer science the term simulation represents a relation between state transition systems. This is useful in the study of operational semantics.

Simulation in education

Simulations in education are somewhat like training simulations. They focus on specific tasks. In the past,video has been used for teachers and education students to observe, problem solve and role play; however, a more recent use of simulations in education include animated narrative vignettes (ANV). ANVs are cartoon-like video narratives of hypothetical and reality based stories involving classroom teaching and learning. ANVs have been used to assess knowledge, problem solving skills and dispositions of children, pre-service and in-service teachers. Another form of simulation has been finding favour in business education in recent years. Business simulations that incorporate a dynamic model enables experimentation with business strategies in a risk free environment and provide a useful extension to case study discussions.

References

- Roger D. Smith: [http://www.modelbenders.com/encyclopedia/encyclopedia.html Simulation Article], Encyclopedia of Computer Science, Nature Publishing Group, ISBN 0-333-77879-0.
- Roger D. Smith: [http://www.modelbenders.com/Bookshop/techpapers.html "Simulation: The Engine Behind the Virtual World"], eMatter, December, 1999.

External links

- [http://www.icctp.net The IntraCultural and Cross Cultural Teaching Portal]
- [http://www.ist.ucf.edu Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida]
- [http://www.modelbenders.com/mastersim.html Mastering Simulation: Online Course]
- [http://www.sisostds.org/ Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization]
- [https://www.dmso.mil/ United States Defense Modeling and Simulation Office]
- [http://wiki.enst.fr/bin/view/Main/FlorianDeVuyst Bookmarks of Open Source Scientific Codes]
- [http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/articles/christie-apr1999/christie-apr1999.html Simulation-An Enabling Technology in Software Engineering]
- [http://www.imtek.uni-freiburg.de/simulation/mathematica/IMSweb/ Imtek Mathematica Supplement (IMS)] for open source simulation lectures and packages. Category:Operations research Category:Scientific modeling ja:シミュレーション

Airplane!

covers.]] Airplane! is an American comedy film, first released on July 2, 1980, produced and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, and starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It is the second of a number of movies produced and directed by the trio (the first being The Kentucky Fried Movie). In some foreign releases (including Australia), Airplane! was entitled Flying High as in those countries airplanes are called aeroplanes. The film is regularly shown on television, with many devotees repeatedly rewatching the film, in the process catching other gags that they did not notice earlier due to the sheer number of often overlapping sight, sound, and dialogue gags. Airplane II: The Sequel, first released on December 10, 1982, attempted to tackle the science fiction film genre. Although most of the cast reunited for the sequel, the two films have no writers in common. Several actors were cast in order to spoof their established images: Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges had played many adventurous, no-nonsense tough-guys, including Stack as the captain in one of the earliest airline "disaster" films, The High and the Mighty. Nielsen had played "more cops, doctors, and attorneys than you could shake a nightstick/stethoscope/law book at." [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/bio]

Plot synopsis

The plot of Airplane! is a well-travelled one. The story of an in-flight medical emergency, caused by food poisoning, started as the CBC TV movie Flight into Danger, then became the 1957 Paramount Pictures movie Zero Hour! Thus Airplane! is the fourth remake of the Arthur Hailey novel Runway Zero-Eight. Airplane! is very close to Zero Hour!, following it virtually scene for scene, and lifting its major characters and most of its story line. Indeed, many of the best known lines are repeated verbatim, for example, "Can you face some unpleasant facts?" and "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking," which becomes a running gag. As the plot escalates, so does the potency of the drug ("I guess I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.") Even the odd sports cameo remains intact. In Zero Hour!, the cameo is by Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch. In Airplane!, it is basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Airplane! also has elements based on films in the Airport series, specifically Airport '75, which was also based on novels written by Arthur Hailey. The elements that the film lifted from Airport '75 included the guitar song (a flight attendant played by Lorna Patterson in Airplane! and a nun played by Helen Reddy in Airport '75) and the sick little girl that the guitar song is played for (played by Linda Blair in Airport '75 and Jill Whelan in Airplane!). When the pilots of a commercial airliner get sick, an ex-fighter pilot, Ted Striker (Robert Hays) must conquer his fear of flying and fly the plane to its destination. Striker's ex-girlfriend (Julie Hagerty) is a flight attendant. Nielsen portrays a doctor on board. His catchphrase in the film became famous worldwide. In response to the question from a passenger "Surely you can't be serious?" Nielsen's character would respond: "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley". ...and don't call me Shirley has entered the language as an all-purpose, nonplussed response. He gives a similar response to Ted later in the movie. Ted says, "Surely there must be something you can do." Nielsen's character responds, "I'm doing everything I can. And stop calling me Shirley." Nielsen's career would forever be changed due to this film; his deadpan, serious brand of comedy not only altered the subtext of his earlier, serious roles, but he'd become almost exclusively typecast in gag comedies, including the Naked Gun films by the Airplane! directors Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker. Stephen Stucker became known for the scene-stealing flamboyantly gay character Johnny Hinshaw, inspiring many catch-phrases like "And Leon's getting laaaaaarger!", "The tower, the tower, Rapunzel!" and describing the airplane as "Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows, wheels, and it looks like a big Tylenol!" Lloyd Bridges portrays the chief air traffic controller, and Robert Stack plays Hays' former commander, who is brought in to aid him in landing the airplane. Bridges' role was a direct spoof on his San Francisco International Airport television role of Jim Conrad. Howard Jarvis, the author of California's property tax initiative Proposition 13, plays a man who patiently waits in the back of Striker's cab throughout the movie. Some critics have claimed that the movie's most important achievement was in bringing to an end the Airport series of movies, which could no longer be taken seriously.

Gag-based comedies

Airplane! is one of the most famous and acclaimed examples of a genre of similar gag-based comedies that defy logic, reason, and the "fourth wall" to produce laughter in any way possible, with comic references to other famous 'straight' disaster films such as Airport. When this type of comedy works, it is exceptional (the animated cartoons of Tex Avery were a great influence), though it can be difficult for filmmakers to achieve success when working on a movie that often denies characterization and even plot development. Other successful movies of this type include Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles and the "Road movies" of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. More recent movies of this sort include Hot Shots!, The Naked Gun trilogy, the Austin Powers series, and the Scary Movie series. (A number of other films in this genre were less successful, including Loaded Weapon, The Big Bus, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, and Spy Hard.)

Gags in this motion picture

- When Robert Stack is driving to the airport to talk Stryker down, the movie spoofs rear-projection behind an automobile mockup, with a road scene that speeds up even as it curves repeatedly, then switches to Indians chasing the car along a forest trail. Stack's character also runs down -- or more accurately upends over his car -- a bicyclist in a sweatsuit, who immediately arises from the pavement and angirly pumps his fist, yelling "asshole!".
- When Rex Kramer (Robert Stack) arrives at the airport, he takes off his clip-on sunglasses and he's wearing regular sunglasses underneath.
- At the front entrance to the airport, a pair of voices - one male, one female - announce not to stop in the red zone, and not to park in the white zone. They are assumed to be recordings, until the man gets mixed up as to which zone is which and they begin arguing. In a later scene at the entrance, they are discussing her pregnancy and his advice of the best place to get an abortion. Yet, not one person on the ground pays any mind to this personal conversation.
- When Ted gets his ticket for the flight, he's asked, "Smoking or non-smoking?"; he answers intently, "smoking, please," and is handed a ticket that is smoldering, and it is still giving off smoke when he is outside ready to climb aboard the aircraft.
- The last person to board is warned by a train conductor that it's time to get aboard, and as the plane "chugs" out of the terminal apron, the door of the plane is still open as his girlfriend runs along beside the plane. Oveur started the plane moving by moving a control similar to a train being put into motion. However, the airplane's engines resemble jets, while starting up like old prop-jobs and the plane sounding in flight like a bomber.
- When the plane is losing altitude, Elaine yells, "The mountains, Ted, the mountains!" He says, "What mountains? We're over Iowa." So, in the same scared voice, she yells, "The cornfields, Ted, the cornfields!"
- As Leslie Nielsen rattles off a list of the food poisoning's gradual effects, one of the poison's victims, Captain Oveur, begins experiencing the effects as they are verbally listed.
- The "automatic pilot" is nothing more than an inflatable doll, named "Otto", that inflates in the co-pilot's seat when activated. If it loses inflation during use, its control of the airplane slackens, but unfortunately, the manual inflation nozzle is in a... compromising location.
- A mechanic lifts the plane's hood to check the dipstick, but falls off the ladder while trying to leap onto the hood to get it shut.
- Two pieces of luggage being pulled with leashes start growling and snapping at each other, resisting the efforts to keep pulling them along.
- In a wartime flashback, Ted gives all kinds of classified information to Elaine, where and when they're going to be bombing, but when Elaine asks Ted when he'll be back, he says, "I can't tell you that. It's classified."
- Barbara Billingsley, the archetypal suburban mother on Leave It to Beaver, has an especially funny appearance when she offers to translate for a pair of hip African American passengers whose jive talking is incomprehensible to stewardesses: "Stewardess? I speak jive."
- A female passenger is putting on red lipstick when the plane hits turbulence and she gets a long lipstick streak across her cheek. Later the plane hits more turbulence and the same passenger is seen still applying makeup. Now she has green eyeshadow smudged on her face as well.
- McCroskey tells a group of reporters, "Okay boys, let's get some pictures." The reporters respond by grabbing framed pictures off the wall.
- Ethel Merman has a memorable cameo as a shell-shocked fighter pilot who thinks he's Ethel Merman.
- bilingual notices in normal English and phonetically-spelt "jive."
- Elaine, while serving with Ted in the Peace Corps in an isolated village in Africa or the East Indies, attempts to sell the natives "Supperware", a movie version of Tupperware.
- Ted develops a "drinking problem." (He brings the glass to his forehead instead of his mouth.)
- In a flashback sequence that shows how Ted and Elaine first met, a fist fight erupts between two girl scouts over a disputed poker hand.
- Ted is flying the plane. Elaine is operating the radio and relaying the messages between him and Kramer. Ted says, "It's a damn good thing he doesn't know how much I hate his guts." Elaine says to Kramer, "It's a good thing you don't know how much he hates your guts."
- At the beginning of the movie, Ted tells the passenger in his taxi that he'll be right back and goes to find Elaine. The passenger waits for him. At the end of the closing credits, the passenger is still in the taxi waiting for Ted and he says, "Well, I'll give him another twenty minutes, but that's it!"
- Whenever someone asks "What is it?" meaning "What's wrong?", another character interprets this as "Describe the object". For example "We must get this man to a hospital!" "A hospital? What is it?" "It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now".
- Passengers pay no attention to Elaine while she tells them everything that's wrong with the plane but panic when she announces they just run out of coffee.

Response

- Airplane! was a major hit: The budget was about US$3.5 Million, and the film earned over US$80 Million at the box office, and another US$40 Million in rentals.
- Leslie Nielsen saw a major boost to his career, and since Airplane! has specialized in playing clueless deadpan bumblers. Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack saw similar shifts in their public image, though to lesser degrees.
- In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Airplane! as #10 on its list of the 100 funniest American films. In the same year, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 2nd greatest comedy film of all time.
- It is interesting to note that, according to the directors, the only airline to ever buy the rights to, and show the movie on its aircraft is Aeromexico.

External link

- Category:1980 films Category:Comedy films

Altitude

For other uses see Altitude (disambiguation) Altitude is the elevation of an object from a known level or datum, called zero level. Most often this level is defined as the absolute sea level, but it can vary. In aviation, the term altitude is used to describe elevation above mean sea level, the term height refers to elevation above a ground reference point and the term flight level is the elevation according to a standard pressure altimeter setting. Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude. In North America and the UK altitude is usually measured in feet. Everywhere else in the world the altitude is measured in metres.
- High altitude = 1500m – 3500m
- Very High altitude = 3500m – 5500m
- Extreme altitude = 5500m – above
- Troposphere — 8 km (above poles) – 18 km (above equator).
- Tropopause
- Stratosphere — 10km (above poles) 50 km (above equator),contains the Ozone layer
- Mesosphere — 50 km – 80 km
- Thermosphere — 100–200 km (1000°–1500° K)
- Exosphere — 500 km – 10,000km (outer space)

Altitude records

- 19 September, 1783 — 500m (1,700ft) animal carrying Montgolfier hot-air balloon.
- 15 October, 1783 — 26m (84ft) Pilâtre de Rozier in a Montgolfier tethered balloon.
- 1 December, 1783 — 2.7km Professor Charles and assistant Robert in Charliere, his hydrogen-filled balloon.
- 1784 — 4km Pilâtre de Rozier and the chemist Proust in a Montgolfier.
- 18 July, 1803 — 7.28km Etienne Gaspar Robertson and Lhoest in a balloon.
- 1839 — 7.9km Charles Green and Spencer Rush in a free balloon.
- 5 September, 1862 — 9km Coxwell and English physicist Glaisher in a balloon.
- 4 December, 1894 — 9.155km German meteorologist Berson in an airship.
- 31 July, 1901 — 10.8km German meteorologist Berson and Süring in a free balloon.

Foot (unit of length)

:For other uses, see Foot (disambiguation). A foot (plural: feet) is a non-SI unit of distance or length, measuring around a third of a metre. There are twelve inches in one foot and three feet in one yard. The international standard symbol for feet is ft (see ISO 31-1, Annex A). The standardization of weights and measures has left several different standard foot measures. The most commonly used foot today is the English foot, used in the United Kingdom and the United States and elsewhere, which is defined to be exactly 0.3048 metre. This unit is sometimes denoted with a prime (e.g. 30′ means 30 feet), often approximated by an apostrophe. Similarly, inches can be denoted by a double prime (often approximated by a quotation mark), so 6′ 2″ means 6 feet 2 inches. In addition to the current standard international foot, there is also a slightly different U.S. survey foot, used only in connection with surveys by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, it is defined as exactly 1200/3937 m (610 nm greater than 0.3048 m).[http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/FedRegister/FRdoc59-5442.pdf] The foot as a measure was used in almost all cultures. The first known standard foot measure was from Sumeria, where a definition is given in a statue of Gudea of Lagash from around 2575 BC. The imperial foot was adapted from an Egyptian measure by the Greeks, with a subsequent larger foot being adopted by the Romans.

Etymology

The popular belief is that original standard was the length of a man's foot. The original measurement was from King Henry I, who had a foot 12 inches long; he wished to standardise the unit of measurement in England. The average foot length is about 9.4 inches (240 mm) for current Europeans. Approximately 996 out of 1000 British men have a foot that is less than 12 inches long. A plausible explanation for the missing inches is that the measure did not refer to a naked foot, but to the length of footwear. This is consistent with the measure being convenient for practical purposes such as on building sites etc. People almost always pace out lengths whilst wearing shoes or boots, rather than removing them and pacing barefoot.

External link

- http://www.onlineconversion.com/ from feet to international system
- http://www.knowledgedoor.com/1/Library_of_Units_and_Constants/Group_Index/foot_group.htm Foot Foot Foot Category:Human-based units of measure ja:フィート

HollywooD

:For the American film industry, see Cinema of the United States. Cinema of the United States Hollywood is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., situated northwest of Downtown. Due to its fame and identity as the historical center of movie studios and stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used colloquially to refer to the American film industry. Today much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as Burbank and the Westside, but significant ancillary industries (such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies) remain in Hollywood. Several historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues to premiere major theatrical releases, and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism, and home to the Walk of Fame. There is currently no official boundary of Hollywood (Los Angeles does not have official districts), but the [http://www.laalmanac.com/geography/ge30secession_hollywood.htm 2002 secession movement] and the current [http://www.allncs.org/hollywoodmap.htm Neighborhood Council boundaries] can serve as guides. Generally, Hollywood's southern border follows Melrose Avenue from Vermont Avenue west to La Brea Avenue. From there the boundary continues north on La Brea, wrapping west around the city of West Hollywood along Fountain Avenue before turning north again on Laurel Canyon Boulevard into the Hollywood Hills. The eastern boundary follows Vermont Avenue north from Melrose past Hollywood Boulevard to Franklin Avenue. From there the border goes west along Franklin to Western Avenue, and then north on Western into Griffith Park. Most of the hills between Laurel Canyon and Griffith Park are part of Hollywood. The commercial, cultural, and transportation center of Hollywood is the area where La Brea Avenue, Highla