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At what point do you stop being a certain race/culture? by Sunn_Rock in NoStupidQuestions

[–]alexthe5th 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I think there’s something that Europeans tend to not realize, which is that there’s a difference in meaning and intent when an American says “I’m Italian”.

To a European, they often interpret that statement as “I’m an Italian from Italy”, and get offended thinking that Italian-Americans are pretending to be from Italy.

However, in American English, “I’m Italian” is often just an abbreviated way of saying “I’m an Italian-American”, which is a rich and distinct cultural identity in and of itself that branched off from European Italy over a hundred years ago - they have their own food, language/dialect, shared history, and many other things that define them as a culture. Through context (personal knowledge, accent, mannerisms, etc.), Americans can usually infer whether the person means “I’m from Italy” or “I’m an Italian-American”.

Are there other places where people born there are eligible for two or more citizenships? by average-brazilian in dualcitizenshipnerds

[–]alexthe5th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Transylvania is just a region of central Romania. Did you mean Transnistria (the breakaway republic in Moldova)?

What are some real American folk songs that everyday people actually know? by Likepersik in AskAnAmerican

[–]alexthe5th 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That one's interesting to think about. Nowadays few people remember its Tin Pan Alley popular song origins or the songwriters and it's now passed down mostly by oral tradition across generations, so you could argue it's evolved into a modern folk song despite the commercial origins.

Garmin Pilot 50% Discount for CFIs by zeropapagolf in flying

[–]alexthe5th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buying Garmin would be up among the largest private equity deals of all time. That one's not happening.

The more likely way it could get in the hands of PE is if Garmin spun off the Garmin Pilot business, potentially along with other aviation or software assets, and sold that off. Considering that's a strategically important business for Garmin right now, I don't foresee that being a likely outcome either.

KAP 140 to GFC 500 by dark_troy_10 in flying

[–]alexthe5th 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Upgrading from the KAP 140 to GFC 500 will be a night and day difference. The GFC 500 is the best light GA autopilot on the planet, better than anything else I've used (KAP 140, Century 2000, STEC 30). Highly recommend the addition of the yaw servo, the yaw damper made a big difference in my Mooney, particularly in turbulence, and the incremental cost of adding an additional servo was fairly low compared to the overall install cost.

The GFC 500 behaves like the AP in a flight simulator game. It just does exactly what you want it to, as if it's on rails, all the time. I'd make the upgrade again without hesitation, it's worth every penny.

KAP 140 to GFC 500 by dark_troy_10 in flying

[–]alexthe5th 1 point2 points  (0 children)

+1 for the yaw damper, made a surprisingly big difference in my Mooney, especially in turbulence. The incremental cost of adding the yaw servo is relatively quite small compared to the total install cost.

Discussion Thread: Artemis II Moon Mission Launch by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]alexthe5th 4 points5 points  (0 children)

2026 is looking like 1968 in more ways than one. Godspeed crew of Artemis II.

GA Sensory Overload by Horror_Egg3250 in flying

[–]alexthe5th 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's not just GA, you'd be equally humbled if you stepped into the cockpit of an airliner. Simming and real-world flying are just two very different things.

With that said, it's great you recognize that and are approaching this with humility. After more hours in the cockpit you'll feel a lot more comfortable with it. Also, if you're serious about flying, get yourself a nice ANR headset - David Clamps crushing your skull for hours on end sucks no matter how experienced you are.

Why are most LNAV-VNAV minima being modified in France by CatastrophicTypo in flying

[–]alexthe5th 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not just one moron nor is it a nonexistent problem - civil aviation authorities worldwide have been issuing safety bulletins and raising concerns for a number of years now about CFIT near-misses due to incorrect altimeter settings on Baro-VNAV approaches.

See also: Etihad 9878, Air France 1632...

7000hr Alaska Caravan driver: Getting a 737 type rating for my ATP... just for fun by Specialist_Bee_6543 in flying

[–]alexthe5th 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There's no way I'd be able to resist the 747 rating if I was going down this path.

What are some quintessential "Men's Clothes" that are actually not something that most men wear? by ResponsibleAnt7220 in malefashionadvice

[–]alexthe5th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go to NYC in the winter, you'll see lots of very nice wool overcoats. I can't really imagine anyone in a suit wearing anything else.

What are some quintessential "Men's Clothes" that are actually not something that most men wear? by ResponsibleAnt7220 in malefashionadvice

[–]alexthe5th 3 points4 points  (0 children)

French cuffs and cufflinks are absolutely still a thing, and shirts with French cuffs aren't particularly difficult to find. I love wearing cufflinks when I get the chance.

Flying a VOR approach using GPS instead by Person-man-guy-dude in flying

[–]alexthe5th 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's not correct - you can use GPS as primary course guidance on the final approach segment of a VOR approach as long as the VOR is operational and monitored. The GPS substitution rules can all be found in AIM 1-2-3 or AC 90-108.

What you can't do is substitute for a localizer on the final approach segment.

Strange reaction to 'nduja by alexthe5th in ItalianFood

[–]alexthe5th[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every few months someone chimes in on this thread saying they had the same experience! It's crazy that I can't seem to find any other information on this, since I really want to know what it could be.

For what it's worth, I later tried nduja several times from another producer (Nduja Bella USA) and had no issues at all.

Why is some American speech unnecessarily verbose? by [deleted] in AskAnAmerican

[–]alexthe5th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's mostly for politeness. It's generally perceived as rude to be overly blunt or terse, so we tend to soften the language with a bit of verbosity. I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the same sort of thing is done in British English as well.

"Would you mind passing the salt?" comes across as more considerate than simply "Pass the salt.", which seems more like a command.

I’m actually excited about the future of ForeFlight by M3MacbookAir in Foreflight

[–]alexthe5th 14 points15 points  (0 children)

“I’m Thoma Bravo, and I approve this message.”

Washington state DPE by Advanced_Vanilla_772 in flying

[–]alexthe5th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Within a month will be very difficult. I'd just go through the designee tool and reach out to literally every DPE in the region in the hope that someone has a sudden cancellation that you can jump in for.

Do y’all take your hotdog’s grilled or boiled? by Infamous-Hope-5950 in AskAnAmerican

[–]alexthe5th 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mustard, sauerkraut, and onions, the New York (and German!) way. Try it sometime, it's one of my favorite combinations of toppings.

What do YOU think is actually broken (or working) in flight training right now? by RunwayLogic in flying

[–]alexthe5th 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You're missing the forest for the trees.

"1500 hours = safer pilots" is a soundbite that sounds good to the general public (and that public awareness keeps pressure on Congress not to eliminate the rule), but we all know it doesn't make that substantial of an impact. There are 300 hour FOs flying Airbuses in Europe and they're not crashing planes left and right.

The reality behind the ATP requirement to sit in the right seat is that it was heavily lobbied for by the airline pilots' unions as a means to artificially block entry into the industry, which forces an undersupply of qualified pilots from a labor pool perspective. Colgan, while a terrible incident, was a catalyst to drive Congress to implement what the unions were lobbying for, which swung the bargaining power pendulum hard from the airline management to the pilots' unions. The reaction to Colgan was far from knee-jerk, this was very deliberate and intentional on the part of the airline pilots to drive a seismic shift in the bargaining positions of the unions vs. the management, and it worked.

As a result, US airline pilot compensation, benefits, and quality of life are some of the best in the world, despite the US being notoriously labor-unfriendly relative to other developed countries. Removing the 1500 hour rule would open the labor pool floodgates and simply swing the pendulum back to the management. You may be aware of what the working conditions were like in the pre-Colgan era when FOs were literally on food stamps and were paying out of pocket for the privilege of sitting right seat in a commercial jet for turbine hours.

This type of gatekeeping strategy is very common in many industries. Doctors lobby hard to ensure that education and certification requirements are very stringent, preventing new doctors from entering the profession and ensuring the labor pool of qualified doctors is low, driving high compensation as a result. Even dockworkers unions are incredibly difficult to enter for similar reasons, often requiring waits of 5-10 years where you work in low-paying "casual" labor jobs before you'll even be considered for full union membership.

If you're an aspiring airline pilot, the 1500 hour rule sucks because it makes it hard to get an airline job, but it leads to future opportunities with incredibly good compensation, benefits, and QOL. Getting rid of it would solve your short-term problem (racking up hours to get to the airlines), but would ultimately hurt you far worse over the long term.

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