The Aviation Thread [Contains Lots of Awesome Pictures]

Indeed Dobrindt seems to be exceptionally good at being bad at his job. It's almost as if he asks his advisors what the best decision would be, and then he does the polar opposite of that.

And don't even get me started on the toll system. As soon as I read that the administrative costs for short-term vignettes would outweigh their benefits, I was like "nope, nope and nope". What the hell is wrong in doing it like other countries? In Switzerland you just buy a damn sticker for 40 CHF (or 40 ?), everybody has to do it, nobody gets any money back, end of story. But no no no much too easy for German B?rokratie, so of course the cost of the German vignette must depend on the kind of car you drive, and then at first everybody has to pay for it, but then some people can deduct that cost from their car tax, but for some cars you end up paying more on the vignette than you pay car tax, so you don't really get the money back, and... oh boy.

I don't even mind paying for the freedom that is the Autobahn, but for god's sake just hand out a damn sticker at the border into Germany for a fixed price and be done with it. As soon as I have to register somewhere, probably scan and send a couple of car-related documents that then have to be processed by somebody who in return has to send me a custom sticker for my car, well as soon as that happens I'm out. Sorry but too complicated.
 
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What the hell is wrong in doing it like other countries?
In other countries, it is supposed to provide money. In Germany Bavaria, it is supposed to be an extended middle finger to Austrians and the Swiss.

Sorry, I'll stop the off-topic stuff. :blush:
 
Hang on, are you saying that if I want to take my car to Ringmeet I'm going to have to apply for a vignette online, in advance and pay money?

And does this only apply to the Autobahn (in which case I will be doing back roads from the border) or does it apply to all roads?
 
Autobahn only. I don't even know when it is supposed to start.

Enough off-topic, we can discuss this in a separate thread if need be. :)
 
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Not sure if this should go in here or in "things that annoy me", but good grief, British Airways has come down in the world. I suppose it's the only thing you can expect when they make the CEO of Vueling (low-cost carrier in the same airline group) their new head honcho, but why does he have to trash one of the world's best-known airline brands? No free food or anything (including water) on short and medium-haul flights, the seat pitch is terrible, the food on long-haul flights is a joke and so on... I used to like that company, but now "BA" once again stands for "bloody awful".
 
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Went to pick up my girlfriend at DTW this afternoon and saw a Delta 747 taxiing really close to the road. I know those have been around since the stone ages, but man is it still majestic to close.
 
Well, this is certainly not going to help bring the drone and RC plane communities closer together:

https://www.computerbase.de/2017-01/verordnung-flug-drohnen/

Rough translation: Germany implements harder regulations, for instance that drones must stay below 100 m at all times, and depending on the weight of the drone you need a permit to fly it at all. Oh and they also extend these regulations to RC planes, even though those weren't causing any trouble.

So right after drones (and RC planes) have been banned from flying above 100 m, someone steered their drone onto the Autobahn around Munich, where it collided with a car. The owner claims that the drone either suffered from a technical defect or operating error. The next restriction is probably going to exclude drones from flying over *anything* and also flying at least XX meters high to not collide with random shit.
 
So right after drones (and RC planes) have been banned from flying above 100 m, someone steered their drone onto the Autobahn around Munich, where it collided with a car. The owner claims that the drone either suffered from a technical defect or operating error. The next restriction is probably going to exclude drones from flying over *anything* and also flying at least XX meters high to not collide with random shit.

Get ready for something similar to what we have here:

No flying within 9km of an airport.
No flying above 300'.
No flying within 500' (vertically or horizontally) to a person or building.
 
228e861a79cf35d1f20ae6c3259fd46f.jpg


Seen at PDX airport.
 
228e861a79cf35d1f20ae6c3259fd46f.jpg


Seen at PDX airport.

Saw one land at SDF a few years ago, those things are nuts. Looked like it was unloading some giant metal stamping dies, so I assume it was for one of Ford's Louisville area plants. I know Ford has chartered those in the past to move manufacturing equipment.
 
[video=youtube;IJ-hZv6Fomk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-hZv6Fomk[/video]
 
Someone needs to make a Deal With It gif out of that.

Also he handbraked an airliner - cabin crew will be moist.
 
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