Do you “still” enjoy driving?

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Well after riding not driving around 150 miles on my ridiciously powerful Ducati Multistrada. In the rain today. I did not really enjoy it & started to ask myself if it is time to pack in riding motorcycles. Maybe i should being an old fart with much less brain activity as i used to have , if any.

I think i should stick to driving my old Jaguar 5.0 R F-type. At least that has four huge wheels & a heater.

Steve.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

In the 60s, Dad was a commercial traveler and he considered himself as a "professional" driver. At one time he did a course run by the Police about safety driving. One thing he was told that was heard by the instructor which may upset someone, "….there's NO such thing as an accident, they are all the fault of somebody"

cheers

Bill

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Bill, all one can say is the definition of accident is; 1, "an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury"

2, "an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause"

It also needs to be remembered that there is no one who is infallible.

This of course excludes those that are reckless and have no regard for others.

But you can have your vehicle maintained to the highest degree and a fault can still occur with it at any time through no ones fault, that can cause a collision, i.e. an accident.

Regards Nick.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 24/07/2022 20:42:07:

Posted by duncan webster on 24/07/2022 18:01:45:

If I had a car old enough to be able to understand the electrics I'd fit a push button to activate the brake lights without actually touching the brakes.

.

A very old trick, used a lot in in club Rallying

Of course, if you’re comfortable with the pedals, it’s easy enough to left-foot brake just sufficiently to activate the lights and accelerate away from the #### for good measure

MichaelG

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 24/07/2022 20:43:02

My father just flicked the sidelights on and off, if you are following too close then there is no time to decide whether it is a brake light or side light, a gap soon developed.

Mike

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

I had a relative that was a State Patrol Man. He always said every accident was due to carelessness, speeding, etc, always someone's fault. One night coming home a pheasant committed suicide by dive bombing His patrol car windshield. He could not see out of it and managed to safely stop. He told Me He would have to rethink His view on accidents.

His boy lost control of a car (teenager) and went airborn and the car flipped over crushing the roof down to the seats.The kid was thrown clear,not wearing the seat belt. Would have been killed wearing it. Got a ticket for no seat belt, Dad was a professional accident investigator for many years with the State Patrol. He tried to fight the ticket in court and the Judge would not have any of it.

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

I did a speed awareness course a few years ago, and I have to say I came away from it having learned a few things. One of the most useful things was when they talked about road rage, or even just dealing with tailgaters and aggressive drivers.

Someone elses aggressive or thoughtless driving can often be made worse by continuing the cycle. For example, if you are doing 60 in a 60 and someone tailgates you, the temptation might be to slow to 55. All that does is complete the circle of mutual provocation which can only escalate. Same with flashing your brake lights etc. It's down to us as the "grown-up" of the situation to not rise to the bait; don't be the one to allow the situation to escalate. It's been useful advice generally in conflict. I've found with heated work arguments just refusing to enter the cycle of continued escalation has been very beneficial; even if it means we both walk away for a while the conversation can resume a bit later with clearer heads and lower blood pressure.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Jon Lawes on 16/08/2022 06:20:32:

I did a speed awareness course a few years ago, and I have to say I came away from it having learned a few things. One of the most useful things was when they talked about road rage, or even just dealing with tailgaters and aggressive drivers.

Someone elses aggressive or thoughtless driving can often be made worse by continuing the cycle. For example, if you are doing 60 in a 60 and someone tailgates you, the temptation might be to slow to 55. All that does is complete the circle of mutual provocation which can only escalate. Same with flashing your brake lights etc. It's down to us as the "grown-up" of the situation to not rise to the bait; don't be the one to allow the situation to escalate. It's been useful advice generally in conflict. I've found with heated work arguments just refusing to enter the cycle of continued escalation has been very beneficial; even if it means we both walk away for a while the conversation can resume a bit later with clearer heads and lower blood pressure.

On the other hand, it is dangerous to me to have a tailgater on my tail without a safe distance appropriate for the speed we are doing. So the choices are maintain speed and continue in a dangerous situation, or I very very gradually slow down, so that the short distance between us is more appropriate to the speed, and thus safer for me. Invariably they run out of patience and either change lanes to get around me, or on a single-lane they drop back. At which I very slowly increase speed to the speed limit. Seems to achieve the result desired without the agro-raising of flashing the brake lights at them, which just makes them worse.

But I do generally travel at about 10km indicated on the speedo over the posted limit, which is as fast as you can get away with on our speed cameras, due to inbuilt speedo bias and a small allowance on the speed camera settings they use. So the vast majority of drivers are happy with that speed and don't tailgate. It is sort of the unofficially agreed speed. Anyone who wants to go more than that in this over-policed day and age is on their own. (And there is always a few of them, mostly young bucks in large utility trucks and 4WDs and young ladies in little hatchbacks these days.)

Totally agree with you on work arguments. (Would be appropriate advice for certain threads on this forum right now too!). Another thing at work is never reply to an angry email with another email. Phone the person or talk to them face to face. Most people are closet keyboard warriors and will not go off in person the way they will in an email. This approach defused many a situation for me when dealing with both staff and the public.

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Posted by Bill Pudney on 25/07/2022 00:02:54:

In the 60s, Dad was a commercial traveler and he considered himself as a "professional" driver. At one time he did a course run by the Police about safety driving. One thing he was told that was heard by the instructor which may upset someone, "….there's NO such thing as an accident, they are all the fault of somebody"

cheers

Bill

A few years ago vehicle accidents were called RTA's by the emergency services, RTA meaning road traffic accidents.

That has changed and they are now callled RTC's, road trafic collisions.

I believe this was because insurance companies were saying that their clients were not liable for 'accidents'.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Carol & I did a 170-mile roundtrip yesterday – I drove there, Carol back.

There was about 10 minutes slow moving on the M6 due to a stranded vehicle in the fast lane, and we came back via A-roads as recommended by Google maps, 'cos of slow traffic on M40 and alleged crash on M6 Toll.

But it was actually quite enjoyable. No silly-bu993rs nonsense that we came across. I used to find that when I was on the road for work – during the working day, by and large, people are intent on getting where they're going as simply and practically as possible, without getting into unnecessary squabbles.

In that kind of atmosphere, driving's still fine.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

I love driving, but I hate driving in today's traffic.

Nobody seems interested in making progress these days. They all trundle along at 38-44 mph on A roads, where the limit is 60mph, unless otherwise posted. One has to add 15-30 minutes to most SatNav time predictions these days. Some will say that I don't gain much by overtaking and often see the car I overtook pulling up behind mine at the next set of traffic lights. Not the point at all, I like spirited driving – safely and within the law – and swooping along a curvy A road in glorious scenery is a real joy. What gives me this confidence?, well landing airliners at around 140mph in the dark and pouring rain, while keeping straight on the runway – even with a cross-wind – gave me plenty of practice of hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes one's motor responses !

Cars also drive too close to one another, so coming up behind 6 or 7 cars, driving slowly and too close together makes it impossible for one to get past them. If one tries, some seem to get cross that you are 'jumping the queue', even though it is perfectly legal to do so. As far as I am concerned, if someone wants to overtake me, that is fine, and I don't hog the middle or outside lane – I stay in lane one unless I am overtaking.

Another problem is trucks on an A road – where they are limited to 40 or 50mph even in a 60 limit – with a queue of cars following behind but not trying to overtake. That is fine, it is totally their prerogative not to, but they don't leave a big enough gap behind the truck for those who do want to overtake.

As far as undertaking is concerned, I simply cannot be bothered any more to go out across three lanes to pass someone and three lanes back. I just undertake – carefully and paying very close attention – but they rarely get the hint. There are still far too many drivers who think that lane one is "only for trucks", or is the "slow lane", or that it is "safer" to be in the centre lane of the motorway "in case of accidents".

Other annoyances are people not looking and thinking ahead. Not using indicators, not checking their blind spot. I did my motorbike licence some years ago – which was great revision for driving generally – and driving a bike shows you how little attention some drivers give to the road around them.

…….sorry, this thread has set me off now, time to walk away and have a cup of tea !!

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Well, I see my original thread has effectively been resurrected, so a few more comments for discussion. Perhaps!!!

Let's start with caravans. I have one. I have had one for 32 years now. And before that I had a camping trailer and before that, well, courtesy of a very kind farmer who taught me to drive his tractor aged 13. And which usually had a trailer attached. So, I've been towing for 66 years. Doesn't make me perfect, but I do claim a lot of experience.

Anyway, I notice a trend to complain about caravans clogging up the highways. So, let's suppose I'm on a fairly level single carriage way in England and assuming I'm travelling at my legal speed limit, which is ??? Now suppose I'm a hgv driver on the exact same road travelling at his legal limit. Or a coach/bus driver. All three types of vehicles actually have the same maximum speed limit of 50mph, so why the opprobium leveled at caravans? Would people complain about the hgv or the bus?

Moving on swiftly…

Yesterday we travelled from Gargrave to Cockermouth via the A65, M6 and A66. Now the A65 apart from being a very busy road, is understandably a motorcyclist's dream. Indeed, it's quite an interesting road to drive and I quite like it – plenty to concentrate on whilst making progress. The M6. For the first time in my experience, there was a traffic jam at Junction 36, or rather on the approach roads/roundabouts from the A65 to the M6. I've seen delays before, but I've never had to start queueing before the first roundabout before.

After that, we had an uneventual trip up the M6, uneventful apart from the driver displaying "CLOG" tendencies, along with fixed speed of 70mph. Nothing wrong with the speed, but a tad frustrating when the nearside lane is empty and the driver is still in the centre lane!

Finally, the A66, Penrith to Cockermouth. Not a bad road, usually fast (ish), single carriageway, 60mph (or 50mph with a caravan (which we weren't by the way)) but we caught up with someone doing exactly 40 mph. No more, and no less And the traffic density is such that overtaking is somewhat fraught due to oncoming traffic. We were unable to overtake until we hit the short dual carraiageway section at Keswick. There really is no need for that sort of behaviour. That road is arguably the main feeder road into the northern Lakes and the West Coast industrial towns and therefore is not really a touristy type road. Why on earth these people cannot see the queue behind, and then pull over into a layby, I cannot understand. Sorry, rant over.

Hmm,

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Until my wife became unable to climb into our caravan we used to use it regularly travelling to Vintage rally's etc, I now rely on a nice inflatable tent on the back of my estate but I can appreciate what Peter says regarding motorists and caravans, I had to go to Warwick a few weeks ago to swap over a delivery vehicle for another and travelled up the M1 to the M45, I was passing a stream of traffic in the middle lane when I was flashed by a large 4 x 4 pickup to move over but when I looked again in my mirror he was towing a very large four wheeled caravan and I was spot on 70mph, its them that also give us (ex) caravaners a bad name, I passed a vehicle I was catching and left the pickup to annoy the next vehicle. I tow a trailer with my hobby on board and its not unusual to see cars and trailers in the outside lane these days either.

Re John Doe 2s comment regarding cars travelling along at 38 – 44 mph on a 60mph max road, there is no legal requirement to travel at 60mph and I for one travel at 40 – 45mph particularly when driving my Renault Kango modified to carry wheelchair/mobility scooter that my wife uses, it has a 1.2 petrol engine which is happy at said speed and even though the load is fastened down in the back I don't wish to find myself with the possibility of wearing a scooter because I've had to brake hard or take evasive action.

Regarding the rest of his post all I can say is its a shame there's never a policeman available when he is undertaking regardless of how careful he is.

Martin P

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by John Doe 2 on 16/08/2022 10:41:04:…

…

I did my motorbike licence some years ago – which was great revision for driving generally – and driving a bike shows you how little attention some drivers give to the road around them.

Yep. When you drive a car you have to assume every other driver is an idiot. When you ride a motorcycle you have to assume that every one of them is a homicidal maniac determined to kill you.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by Peter G. Shaw on 16/08/2022 11:16:52:

Well, I see my original thread has effectively been resurrected, so a few more comments for discussion. Perhaps!!!

Anyway, I notice a trend to complain about caravans clogging up the highways. So, let's suppose I'm on a fairly level single carriage way in England and assuming I'm travelling at my legal speed limit, which is ??? Now suppose I'm a hgv driver on the exact same road travelling at his legal limit. Or a coach/bus driver. All three types of vehicles actually have the same maximum speed limit of 50mph, so why the opprobium leveled at caravans? Would people complain about the hgv or the bus?

• Is this true most coaches/HGV's I see are doing at least 70 MPH?

Moving on swiftly…

Finally, the A66, Penrith to Cockermouth. Not a bad road, usually fast (ish), single carriageway, 60mph (or 50mph with a caravan (which we weren't by the way)) but we caught up with someone doing exactly 40 mph. No more, and no less And the traffic density is such that overtaking is somewhat fraught due to oncoming traffic. We were unable to overtake until we hit the short dual carraiageway section at Keswick. There really is no need for that sort of behaviour. That road is arguably the main feeder road into the northern Lakes and the West Coast industrial towns and therefore is not really a touristy type road. Why on earth these people cannot see the queue behind, and then pull over into a layby, I cannot understand. Sorry, rant over.

• If you follow these 40 MPH clowns for any distance you will soon realise they are crap drivers in all respects.
• Then again we are all getting older & even the fighter pilots amongst us will slow down.

Tony

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by John Doe 2 on 16/08/2022 10:41:04:

… I like spirited driving – safely and within the law – and swooping along a curvy A road in glorious scenery is a real joy. What gives me this confidence?, well landing airliners at around 140mph in the dark and pouring rain, while keeping straight on the runway – even with a cross-wind – gave me plenty of practice of hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes one's motor responses !

…

Is that wise Captain Mainwaring? When an airliner lands on a runway, enormous care has been taken by Uncle Tom Cobley and All to make sure the pilot doesn't meet anything untoward like an airliner coming the other way!

Public roads are far more hazardous than runways. Airline pilots don't have to deal with common motoring misadventures such as merging traffic, obstacles, wandering pedestrians, oncoming traffic, incompetent drivers in addition to self, diversions, congestion and roadworks. These are best dealt with by slowing down.

Do I detect a misunderstanding? Public roads aren't provided for motorists to have fun on and being a good pilot doesn't make one a good driver.

En-route to Tesco's, I don't want to share the road with drivers who believe in their hand-eye coordination and fine tuned motor responses! Those skills are fine in their place – on a race-track.

Dave

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Tony,

Have a look at https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits. This will confirm what I am saying.

Martin P,

Yes, I have noticed the same phenomenon. Doesn't make it right. And it is illegal – see above reference.

In respect of slow driving on that road, it is surely good manners to pull over and let people behind get ahead, after all, my grandsons, both of whom have passed a tractor driving test, tell me that they are supposed to do just that – and some of those tractors are capable of 40mph even when towing a full load.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

Posted by John Doe 2 on 16/08/2022 10:41:04:

….What gives me this confidence?, well landing airliners at around 140mph in the dark and pouring rain, while keeping straight on the runway – even with a cross-wind – gave me plenty of practice of hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes one's motor responses !…

Spoken like a true pilot.

Jon

(ground crew)

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

One of the worrying things is that I believe there are tail-gaters who are blissfully unaware of what they are doing wrong. They are not aggressive – just unseeing and unthinking. A friend once gave me a lift home. Very pleasant intelligent lady, no sense of urgency, no desire to overtake the car in front – but never less than a car"s length from it at 40-50mph. Could only be lack of awareness of what was going on. What about the Nissan Micra you see a couple of lengths behind a lorry on the motorway, completely blind to what's happening in front and at the mercy of the lorry-driver's braking? There's no cure for stupid!

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 16/08/2022 14:03:08:

Posted by John Doe 2 on 16/08/2022 10:41:04:

… I like spirited driving – safely and within the law – and swooping along a curvy A road in glorious scenery is a real joy. What gives me this confidence?, well landing airliners at around 140mph in the dark and pouring rain, while keeping straight on the runway – even with a cross-wind – gave me plenty of practice of hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes one's motor responses !

…

Is that wise Captain Mainwaring? When an airliner lands on a runway, enormous care has been taken by Uncle Tom Cobley and All to make sure the pilot doesn't meet anything untoward like an airliner coming the other way!

Public roads are far more hazardous than runways. Airline pilots don't have to deal with common motoring misadventures such as merging traffic, obstacles, wandering pedestrians, oncoming traffic, incompetent drivers in addition to self, diversions, congestion and roadworks. These are best dealt with by slowing down.

Do I detect a misunderstanding? Public roads aren't provided for motorists to have fun on and being a good pilot doesn't make one a good driver.

En-route to Tesco's, I don't want to share the road with drivers who believe in their hand-eye coordination and fine tuned motor responses! Those skills are fine in their place – on a race-track.

Dave

As a passenger coming into land at Heathrow I was surprised to suddenly be under full power and climbing away from the airport, the pilot explained an aircraft had not cleared the runway and he had to abort the landing. I don’t doubt this is a well rehearsed situation but he sounded as though it was a worrying moment.

Mike

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

Posted by Nealeb on 16/08/2022 22:02:22:

One of the worrying things is that I believe there are tail-gaters who are blissfully unaware of what they are doing wrong….

I find myself doing it now and then. Like the frog in the saucepan of boiling water…. the danger creeps up on me gently. I only really improved this habit when teaching my wife to drive. I'm still guilty of it now and then (as I suspect more people are than would admit), but as soon as I notice I get a proper distance between myself and the car in front. I could make excuses about the other drivers maybe being inconsistent or whatever, but as I was telling my wife the best way to mitigate the inconsistency of the car in front's speed is to increase your buffer zone.

On the whole my calmness on the road has increased with my age.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

There is no law stating that drivers must travel at the posted speed limit, but slow drivers should be aware of others, and allow them to safely pass if they want to. Highway code rule 168 applies.

Pilots shouldn't normally meet traffic coming the other way, but it does happen. There have been instances of aircraft 'meeting' runway inspection vehicles when landing !! We once had to take avoiding action on seeing a glider in the airway south of Aberdeen, (gliders should be nowhere near any airways). Another time I had to take avoiding action on the approach to Alicante; on seeing a banner towing aircraft who strayed into the airway right across our path. Other hazards include birds and I have "ducked under" crossing birds a few times on take-off. (Crossing geese were what brought down flight 1549 that ended up landing on the Hudson river).

The go-around at Heathrow mentioned above is something practised every 6 months in the simulator, (along with many other manoeuvres). Air traffic control at busy airports place approaching aircraft quite close together, so if a landing aircraft misses their runway exit, the aircraft behind might have to go around, because you cannot land if another aircraft is still on the runway.

Pilots also need to be able to respond quickly and accurately to the failure of an engine on take-off, which requires rapid and accurate application of flight controls to keep going straight, and safely continue the take-off, (it can be too late to stop by then). Pilots also need to be able to accurately control aircraft on approach to landing when the wind is very turbulent and blowing across the direction of travel.

So pilots do need, and are selected for, having good control skills. All of which does translate to good control and situational awareness in a wheeled vehicle. Driving hazards such as poor conditions or merging traffic etc, are not a safe situation and full caution is exercised !

Regarding tail-gating, simply apply the 2 second rule: Note when the back of the leading car passes a certain cat's eye or other feature and start counting "a thousand and one, a thousand and two". If you reach the same feature before you have finished your 2 second count, you are driving too close. Simple, and it works for any speed. Increase the gap in poor conditions.

The police were supposed to be cracking down on the middle-lane brigade, but I see little evidence of that happening.

 

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 17/08/2022 09:33:04

[NR67Participant @nr67]

I still enjoy driving and embrace the new tech my car has. Adaptive cruise control for instance reduces the possibility of running into the car in front which is a comfort because the radar applies a distance set by me and if they slow so do I. As a PPL I relied heavily on the mark one eyeball and its saved my bacon more than once. In the workshop the eyeball and its ability to line up and make good decisions is still working as well as ever. I trained for IMC but never used it in anger because I never practiced enough. Driving, flying or machining the eye is still the best tool in the box.

Edited By NR67 on 17/08/2022 09:31:35

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by NR67 on 17/08/2022 09:30:52:

I still enjoy driving and embrace the new tech my car has. Adaptive cruise control for instance reduces the possibility of running into the car in front which is a comfort because the radar applies a distance set by me and if they slow so do I. As a PPL I relied heavily on the mark one eyeball and its saved my bacon more than once. In the workshop the eyeball and its ability to line up and make good decisions is still working as well as ever. I trained for IMC but never used it in anger because I never practiced enough. Driving, flying or machining the eye is still the best tool in the box.

Edited By NR67 on 17/08/2022 09:31:35

GH Thomas in one of his books maintained that tests at his "works" found that tools could be lined up by eye to within 2 thou quite consistently.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 16/08/2022 14:03:08:

Posted by John Doe 2 on 16/08/2022 10:41:04:

… I like spirited driving – safely and within the law – and swooping along a curvy A road in glorious scenery is a real joy. What gives me this confidence?, well landing airliners at around 140mph in the dark and pouring rain, while keeping straight on the runway – even with a cross-wind – gave me plenty of practice of hand-eye coordination, and fine tunes one's motor responses !

…

Is that wise Captain Mainwaring? When an airliner lands on a runway, enormous care has been taken by Uncle Tom Cobley and All to make sure the pilot doesn't meet anything untoward like an airliner coming the other way!

Public roads are far more hazardous than runways. Airline pilots don't have to deal with common motoring misadventures such as merging traffic, obstacles, wandering pedestrians, oncoming traffic, incompetent drivers in addition to self, diversions, congestion and roadworks. These are best dealt with by slowing down.

Do I detect a misunderstanding? Public roads aren't provided for motorists to have fun on and being a good pilot doesn't make one a good driver.

En-route to Tesco's, I don't want to share the road with drivers who believe in their hand-eye coordination and fine tuned motor responses! Those skills are fine in their place – on a race-track.

Dave

This ^

Dave has put it more tidily than I could have, and more tolerantly than I would have.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by John Doe 2 on 17/08/2022 09:16:56:

…

Pilots also need to be able to respond quickly and accurately to the failure of an engine on take-off, which requires rapid and accurate application of flight controls to keep going straight, and safely continue the take-off,

…

Regarding tail-gating, simply apply the 2 second rule: …

The police were supposed to be cracking down on the middle-lane brigade, but I see little evidence of that happening.

I've been watching a TV programme called 'Plane Crash Recreated' in which 3 experienced pilots sit at a simulator and are put into situations that caused real crashes.

Although the simulator is hobby-end, it's claimed to be realistic: unlike Microsoft Flight Simulator and others, the software calculates behaviour by applying physical laws to the aircraft's parameters, and also recreates the plane's controls and instrument panel. Looks very good to amateur me except the cabin isn't bounced about by hydraulic rams.

The way pilots deal with emergencies is fascinating. Planes crash because pilots get it wrong, and don't crash because pilots somehow manage to do exactly the right thing. In 2008 a British Airways Boeing 777 flew from China to Heathrow across Siberia. On the approach, a few miles from the runway, with the engines throttled back to land slowly, the automatic control applied more throttle to avoid a stall, but neither engine responded. Alarms sounded, but despite the chaos the pilot noticed that the throttle was open and that both engines were out, cause unknown. He immediately took action to increase lift and reduce drag in hope that the aircraft would reach Heathrow before crashing, and succeeded in getting over the fence before hitting the ground a few hundred yards in front of the tarmac. With less than 30 seconds before impact, he realised he couldn't land properly, but managed to avoid house and crash conveniently placed for the fire and rescue services. Plane written off, didn't catch fire, no serious injuries.

Interesting thing to me was that even though two of the simulator pilots recognised the scenario and knew what to expect, none of them did better than the actual pilot despite being able to try several times with different tactics. I was doubly impressed because simulators remove most of the fear making it much easier for the pilot to concentrate and not panic due to imminent death!

Both engines failing together without any warning is unusual. The cause was ice. Fuel always contains some water, and flying over an unusually cold Siberia caused it to freeze in the fuel tanks. When the engines were cruising, the heated fuel filters warmed incoming cold fuel enough to melt any ice, but at low power during landing, ice built up enough to choke them. Sufficient fuel got through to idle both engines as if all was normal, but the throttle didn't work.

Some of the other episodes also showed extraordinary levels of skill and judgement. And a few terrible blunders! Not recommended for nervous fliers.

Back to driving, I was taught to leave a 4 second gap and wonder if the guidance changed? 4 seconds creates a generous space and probably made sense when everyone relied on drum brakes. The advantage of 2 seconds is it increases the capacity of the road, but it feel a bit close to me. If the road is quiet, I allow 4 seconds, and if anyone wants to overtake there's space for them to get back in. When the road is busy, I close up to 3 seconds or closer. Although I don't race about, I try to keep up with the traffic, and not become a rolling road-block. (My mother-in-law always had several cars stuck behind her! Plenty like her – same speed whatever the road condition.)

My poor old dad turned into a middle-lane hog. Nothing I said changed his mind. He was nervous on motorways, and the middle lane felt safe. Changing lane was a manoeuvrer that he might get wrong. I suggested he shouldn't be using motorways at all if he felt like that. Didn't go down well!

Dave

[Author]

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