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Comments on: Boeing: Black's the new black for black-helicopter projects

ROTM 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 13:23 GMT

Pirate

When they come gunning for us, you just know it'll be one of these that dices you and everyone living thing on your street into tiny pieces in 3 seconds flat.

Unless MS did the flight control OS, and given it looks like it's already suffered a "blue screen moment" that looks likely - I don't think we've got much to worry about at the moment.

Skull and crossbones because we're all doomed.

aesthetics dialemma 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 13:27 GMT

Black Helicopters

...in the words of the great bard; "It's the crazy colour scheme that get's me. Every time I press one of these black buttons on a black background a black light lights up black to tell me I've done it"

Groundbreaking? 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 13:31 GMT

Joke

They seem to have tried to break the ground, and found that the ground broke their aircraft.

Below the belt? 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 13:39 GMT

I am amazed Moller has not forwarded a pilotless version of their successful Skycar for trials :-)

Black is more visible in a daytime sky than white 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 14:09 GMT

Boffin

For years the RAF have tried a number of different colour schemes for their training aircraft in an effort to prevent novice pilots colliding in mid air. White with yellow or orange highlights was the favourite for a number of years and throughout the nineties.

Then they finally realised that white really wasn't all that visible in a daytime sky after all and didn't really help at night when the aircraft would have it's lights on anyway. Common sense and some more trials proved that black was the best colour, whatever the light conditions black was the easiest to distinguish in daytime. RAF trainers are now painted black with a single yellow stripe down the side, the stripe presumably is there to prevent ground crew walking into the side of the aircraft at night on an unlit tarmac.

New TSA toy 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 14:10 GMT

Coat

With all those lovely sensors and ultra quiet operation I am sure the TSA will put them all to great use by hovering outside some womans flat while she undresses.

AC just incase the helicopters are out

Units of measurement 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 14:56 GMT

"It seems that the A160T is "roughly four times quieter" than comparable conventional choppers..."

What units, exactly, measure quietness? Antidecibels?

I guess it also uses "four times less energy", whatever the hell that means.

ratiometric measure 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 16:18 GMT

Boffin

Units are not really required when the report uses a ratio to express the relationship.

deciBels are ratiomeric and work both up and down, the article could have geekily stated:

"roughly 12dB quieter than conventional" or even:

"-12dB quieter than ~"

but given that the indicated reduction is only an estimate, a resort to deciBels seems ludicrous.

Stealth car... 

Posted Tuesday 1st April 2008 20:24 GMT

Alert

Well, my Toyota is metallic gold and I've had quite a few people run into it parked in the street. Maybe this is the colour that makes solid objects invisible!!!!

Aluminimum/Tin foil does NOT shield one from the thought police 

Posted Wednesday 2nd April 2008 00:20 GMT

Black Helicopters

Come on, this has been debunked repeatedly. In fact, when one university study seems to imply that instead of grounding/shielding ones brain from the ravages of electrical eavesdropping, it makes it easier by creating gain, by amplifying the signal as it bounces around the cranial cavity.

Re: Joey, Stealth car... 

Posted Wednesday 2nd April 2008 04:17 GMT

Boffin

Joey, I think you'll find that metallic gold actually distorts the gravity well of an object: Those cars didn't run into your car because it was invisible - they were sucked in by it's gravitational field.

This is where the so-called 'dark matter' of the universe is hidden.

Black 

Posted Wednesday 2nd April 2008 19:10 GMT

RAF trainers with a yellow stripe? Cool, are they as good as Nike and where can I get a pair?

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