Fuel Resources

[Matt]

How's Wichita, I go out there every year for recurrent flight training at Flight Safety. My brother used to be an Aeronautical engeneer at Boing in the 80's

I like Wichita. It's a great city, great size, has more to offer than most cities of the size, especially in the midwest. However, I can't say I'm too fond of most of my fellow Wichitans. Another symptom of the midwest. I live in Jesusland.

[gow589]

I like Wichita. It's a great city, great size, has more to offer than most cities of the size, especially in the midwest. However, I can't say I'm too fond of most of my fellow Wichitans. Another symptom of the midwest. I live in Jesusland.

Wichita is a unique mix of the highly educated and the not. I like being out there though.

[Matt]

Wichita is a unique mix of the highly educated and the not. I like being out there though.

Where do you spend most of your time?

[gow589]

Where do you spend most of your time?

I do my recurent training in September. I have stayed at hotels near Kellog and the mall. I stayed at one of the suites, (can't remember the name) east of FS and Raytheon torward the theater. I saw the Boeing Radio Controled airplane field was gone this year.

[Matt]

I do my recurent training in September. I have stayed at hotels near Kellog and the mall. I stayed at one of the suites, (can't remember the name) east of FS and Raytheon torward the theater. I saw the Boeing Radio Controled airplane field was gone this year.

Yeah, they sold that and they have built a new shopping center with some nice new restaurants. Still working on it. Supposed to have the only all-male salon/spa in town. I plan on taking advantage of that. The city is trying to keep more people here to shop instead of going to Kansas City.

And what I actually meant was, "where do you live?"

[gow589]

Indiana, I fly a small corporate turboprop. When I am not flying I maintain about 60 computers and 3 networks. Don't really know what I am doing but I have phone numbers! Flew for the airlines for a while but needed to be home more.

[Matra et Alpine]

Actually, I disagree. I just have a much more "comfortable view" up there in my jeep than I do in her car. On an open road. If you get used to it you like it.

'comfortable' is an individual preference and opinion.

But in terms of the practicality as taught in police pursuit and high speed safe riding and driving it makes NO difference to the skills and safety.

[gow589]

'comfortable' is an individual preference and opinion.

But in terms of the practicality as taught in police pursuit and high speed safe riding and driving it makes NO difference to the skills and safety.

So? What does this mean?

[deffenbaugh03]

My parents have an SUV, a Honda Pilot, and i have to say its a very nice car and i like to ride in it, it makes me feel safe. But i agree SUV's are bad and should not have been built as a "people mover", the reason why my parents, and i think most other americans have bought them is because there scared to drive little cars now.

[Matra et Alpine]

So? What does this mean?

some people are 'comfortable' when they don't have to think about driving.
Some folks are 'comfortable' when they know they are driving safely and can respond to any potential danger.
some folks are 'comfortable' feeling superior on the roads.

2 of those are NOT safety orientated and one is.

Training for the 'professionals' on our roads has them concetrate on SAFETY and from that they build 'comfortable'.

So the right skills -> safety -> 'comfortable'

Visibility with wrong skills is all luck for the safety angle.

Just passing on training I was given that observation is about HOW you use what you see, not just about what you see.

So height in a vehicle adds a small extra dimension to safety and feeling 'comfortable' ( assuming that by 'comfortable' you mean feeling at little risk and 'safe' ). But the LARGEST part of it is abotu appropriate observation of the potential dangers ahead. It's actually a fairly simple process and various on-line sites repeat the UK motorcycle training aids.

[gow589]

some people are 'comfortable' when they don't have to think about driving.
Some folks are 'comfortable' when they know they are driving safely and can respond to any potential danger.
some folks are 'comfortable' feeling superior on the roads.

2 of those are NOT safety orientated and one is.

Training for the 'professionals' on our roads has them concetrate on SAFETY and from that they build 'comfortable'.

So the right skills -> safety -> 'comfortable'

Visibility with wrong skills is all luck for the safety angle.

Just passing on training I was given that observation is about HOW you use what you see, not just about what you see.

So height in a vehicle adds a small extra dimension to safety and feeling 'comfortable' ( assuming that by 'comfortable' you mean feeling at little risk and 'safe' ). But the LARGEST part of it is abotu appropriate observation of the potential dangers ahead. It's actually a fairly simple process and various on-line sites repeat the UK motorcycle training aids.

Honestly sounds more like canned info. I know a motor cycle is incredibly dangerouse if driven like a car, but who drives a motorcycle like a car? Does this mean we should ban cycles? My point had nothing to do with safety anyway. It had to do with what their desires were. I think. Honestly I can't remember anymore.

[Quiggs]

SUVs are the largest expanding market of vehicles.
The Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado and Ford F series are the top 3 best selling vehicles in the USA, with a combined total of 979,485 units sold in the first half of 2004, compared with 1,151,135 cars that make up the rest of the top 10.

Add in the Ford Explorer at 6th palce and 54% of the top 10 selling vehicles in the USA are huge SUVs.
Compared with the number of thirsty sports cars which is what? A few tens of thousands per year.

The trend is for SUV sales to increase as evidenced by the ever increasing number of manufacturers entering the market.

Why else would Porsche and Volvo want SUVs?

Keep in mind, a large portion of the full size pick up sales are for fleet vehicles. They're used to convert into dump trucks, stake bodies, box trucks, tow trucks, ambulances, recreational vehicles. The numbers can be misleading.

[crisis]

On the sportscar argument, well their is a goal in having and driving a sportscar. It's about performance. So you are 'gaining' something desirable in terms of TRANSPORT> But for all those SUVs that are *IMAGE* then it's not really a trasnport thing is it, it's vanity. THAT was the point about soccer-moms !!

So there are 52 folks in the UK driving Alpien A610s.
We get 30mpg when we're drvign point to point and 15-20 mpg when we're playing on tracks.
Compared to the 4 million cars commuting each morning do our 52 cars doing 30 rather than 50mpg make a difference ? yes, but small.

If you took all the two seat sports cars, hot rods and "toys" they would make a reasonable impact on fuel usage. The vanity of driving a SUV is as justifiable as the kick you get from driving a sports car. To each his own. I have bleated about my Landcruiser enough so you know where I am coming from but I would no more want sports cars banned either. More and more of the SUVs are becoming more economical nowadays anyhow. The eschew ladder chassis, heavy suspension, they are sizing down and the feature new high tech motors that are increasingly fuel efficient.

Another point as a classic car enthusiast that is relevant especially as so much of our power is coming from gas and oil fired stations. It takes LOTS of energy to build a new car. MUCH more than all the pollutants and energy inefficiency of an older car. So keeping a car doing 40mpg instead of buying a new one doing 50mpg is actually BETTER for the environment. Just you won't find any government or manufacturer supporting or pushing that viewpoint as it loses revenue

Not all powers stations are fueled that way (oil and gas). New cars use less fuel, and are lead free in many places. From a pure fuel efficiency point of view you may save some resouces by hanging onto older cars (no 20 year old 350 V8 would get near the economy of an LS1) but the picture is surely bigger. New car safety , including newer SUVs, is many times better than cars pre air bag, crumple zone, intrusion bars etc. Service intervals for new cars are also much longer (so we use less oil in changes, less parts etc). Peoples images of SUVs inevitably brings up images of Hummers and Dodge Rams but in Oz anyway you see more Prados (mid size Toyotas), Xtrails, Hondas etc. I have a personal opinion on them that I dont actually see any point in cars like this but thats no reason to ban them.

[Matra et Alpine]

Honestly sounds more like canned info.

WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN ???

I know a motor cycle is incredibly dangerouse if driven like a car, but who drives a motorcycle like a car?

nothing to do with driving bike liek car.
It's to do with driving a VEHICLE safely.
On a bike the consequences of poor observation and ending up in 'unsafe' territorry is sever bodily harm and death.
THAT is why professional motorbike riders ( police and paramedics ) are THE best trained on any road in the world.

Does this mean we should ban cycles? My point had nothing to do with safety anyway. It had to do with what their desires were.

Well describe your 'comfortable' feeling ? I had given the route to the term that I think most drivers/riders exhibit.
Please explain or it's all irrelevant as we're all trying to double-guess wtf you meant .........

I think. Honestly I can't remember anymore.

...... or not - whateva !!

[crisis]

I'm an American driver and I'd have to agree with him. The VAST majority of drivers here don't know how to drive safely.

I think that could go for a lot of places. Oz for example.