Aviation brain teasers

[3WE]

3WE.
You don't seem to have grasped how this thread works. Petertenthije was the last person to get the brain teaser correct. It is therefore his turn to pose the next teaser.
Another thing. I will not allow this thread to descend into yet another morass of accusation and smartarse comments. There's enough of that going on elsewhere. Let's keep it light hearted please. This should be a fun thread.

Brain teasers do not involve the need to solve complex mathematical equations. They are essentially a play on words. A deep knowledge of flight rules should not be required to solve them. My float plane example illustrates this.

Another simple for-instance......

A plane crashes exactly on the border of two countries namely Oneland and Twoland. The plane is registered on the Oneland civil register. Forty people die and thirty people live.
Which country do the survivors get buried in ?

The answer here is of course simple. You don't bury survivors !

Oh, I'm having nothing but fun here...and don't pretend that you are not sarcastic yourself. So, set your sarcasm filter at 25% and read on.

I previously invited you to ban me from the thread- and maybe you'll have to. Yeah, I'm having fun with the banter, and if this place can't take it, then I can leave. Also, I don't really care about "the goofy rules".

I stand behind my airspeed comment- it truly IS a brain teaser and in fact is also a genuine airmanship and safety issue too- that's what makes it interesting. Not dumb jokes about where do you bury the survivors.

If I'm truly poisoning folks participating- that's one thing- but I'm not backing down on bringing up a sublte but important tendency for a 172 to SLOW DOWN when you add power that's in fact, sigificantly counterintuitive- AND a safety issue...and which the CEO of our flight school is apparently unaware of since he flies T-tailed aircraft.

So there!

[brianw999]

3WE,
Let me get this right then.

1. The rules are goofy when you don't like them.
2. You feel that you can do what you like, when you feel like it even if it goes against the spirit of the thread.
3. You want to bring in issues that are complex aviation mathematics which most of us who want a nice fun, lighthearted thread don't understand, and are better resolved in the aviation safety forum anyway.
4. When we talk about brain teasers this is the kind of thing we mean.... http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com/Bra...inTeasers.html
OK, those are very simplistic but that's the kind of thing I believe Gabriel had in mind when he started this thread.

Have I got that about right ?

[Gabriel]

Ok, let's seperate the wannabe's from the freight forwarders:

You've got two packages, both flying KLM (got to support the home team!):

1) A heavy piece of machinery with a volume of 0,48 Cu-M (1,20*0,80*0,50) and a weight of 400 KGs.
2) A paper-mache giraffe with a volume of 4,22 Cu-M (2,40*1,60*1,10) and a weight of 100 KGs.

Which is the more expensive shipment.

Assume following rates:
Airfreight: 2,50 EUR
Fuel surcharge: 1,20 EUR
Security surcharge: 1,00 EUR

I'll risk an answer:
The piece of machinery is the most expensive shipment.

The shipment can refer to the freight service or to the goods themselves:

shipment /ˈʃɪpmənt/
n
goods shipped together as part of the same lot: a shipment of grain
(as modifier): a shipment schedule
the act of shipping cargo

So I'll take the definition of "goods shipped" and say that a 400kg piece of machinery will be a more expensive good than a 100kg paper-mache giraffe (unless it's the work of some very renowned artist).

[brianw999]

You say that "I" have two packages. If they are both mine then they together form one "shipment". Therefore the shipping charges relate to two packages so it is a joint cost. Therefore neither package can be seen as being an individual shipment.

[Petertenthije]

You don't mention any per kg or physical size costs for freight so I have to assume that they both cost the same to freight.

Airfreight: 2,50 EUR
Fuel surcharge: 1,20 EUR
Security surcharge: 1,00 EUR

for a total cost of euro4.70 each.

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct. It's not what I intended the answer to be but fair is fair, I misphrased the question.

The intended answer was that the giraffe is more expensive. Airfreight is always calculated at chargeable KG (C-KG). This is either the real weigt, or the volume multiplied by 166,66 KGs, depending which is higher. Actually, there are a few more ways to further inflate C-KG that where beyond the scope of this puzzle, such as charging by loadmeter or charging by ULD, envirotainer or other special equipment.

Surcharges typically are calculated against actual weight or flat rate. That said, a few months ago some airlines started invoicing those at C-KG as well. Coincidentially, 3 or 4 major cargo movers started the policy, all at the same time... are you reading this anti-trust authority?

Anyway, I had intended the answer to be:

Machine
Actual KG = 400 KG
Calculated C-KG = 1,20 * 0,80 * 0,50 * (1.000 / 6) = 80,00 KG
Applicable C-KG = MAX of 400 & 80 = 400 KG

Airfreight spend = 400 C-KG * 2,50 = 1.000 EURO
Fuel surcharge = 400 A-KG * 1,20 = 480 EURO
Security surcharge = 400 A-KG * 1,00 = 400 EURO
Total spend = 1.880 EURO


Giraffe
Actual KG = 100 KG
Calculated C-KG = 2,40 * 1,60 * 1,10 * (1.000 / 6) = 704,00 KG
Applicable C-KG = MAX of 100 & 704 = 704 KG

Airfreight spend = 704 C-KG * 2,50 = 1.760 EURO
Fuel surcharge = 100 A-KG * 1,20 = 120 EURO
Security surcharge = 100 A-KG * 1,00 = 100 EURO
Total spend = 1.980 EURO

[brianw999]

An air traffic controller works on the 30th floor of the control tower. When he goes home from work he gets into the lift, goes to the ground floor, goes to the car park, gets in his car and leaves.

When he comes to work the next day he parks his car in the car park, goes to the ground floor, gets into the lift, gets out on the 20th floor and climbs the stairs to the 30th floor.

Why ?

[Gabriel]

An air traffic controller works on the 30th floor of the control tower. When he goes home from work he gets into the lift, goes to the ground floor, goes to the car park, gets in his car and leaves.

When he comes to work the next day he parks his car in the car park, goes to the ground floor, gets into the lift, gets out on the 20th floor and climbs the stairs to the 30th floor.

Why ?

He/she is short. She/he can reach the gorund floor button and the 20th floor button but not the 30th floor button of the... ehem... elevator.

[brianw999]

That's the one Gabriel.

And as it's a British control tower.......it's a lift.........so there! .....and when he went to and from his car he walked on the pavement, not the sidewalk....and he wore braces to hold his trousers up. His wife wears suspenders...which are much more interesting on her !

[TeeVee]

hope he doesn't work at any airports i fly into...not enough common sense to bring a small stick or something to hit the higher buttons...

[Gabriel]

That's the one Gabriel.

And as it's a British control tower.......it's a lift.........so there! .....and when he went to and from his car he walked on the pavement, not the sidewalk....and he wore braces to hold his trousers up. His wife wears suspenders...which are much more interesting on her !

So, you have two aeroplanes with beautiful colours

A super Piper Tomahawk is flying at 90 KTS and 5000ft outbound on the radial 315 and 5 NM out of the Wreck VOR with 5000ft. A super Cessna 172 is flying at 80 KTS, same altitude on the same radial of same VOR, but is 39 NM out and flying inbound.

At that precise time, a super African swallow hits the Tomahawk, rebounds and flies in a straight line at 300 MPH directly to the 172, which it hits, rebounds and flies back direct to the Tomahawk at 300 MPH, and it keeps rebounding between the planes until both planes crash head-on and the swallow dies burnt in the subsequent explosion.

Question:
What colour is the swallow? Nah, just joking. Now for real:

What is the total distance flown by the swallow? I mean, adding all the legs that it was coming and going bouncing between the two planes.

[brianw999]

This means converting knots to MPH and calculating distance over time and................... I .....................HATE.................maths. So the only sure thing right now is that I won't be getting this one right.



...provided of course that the swallow isn't still inside the 747....because if it is...there 'aint gonna be a lot of bouncing going on !

[Gabriel]

This means converting knots to MPH and calculating distance over time and................... I .....................HATE.................maths. So the only sure thing right now is that I won't be getting this one right.

Just give it a try. I would love to see at least your approach to the problem.

[Petertenthije]

What colour is the swallow?

Post crash the bird will be a nice crisp black.

[Gabriel]

Post crash the bird will be a nice crisp black.

Burned outside and raw inside

[brianw999]

OK. So far I've worked out that the Piper is travelling at 103.57 mph and the Cessna is travelling at 92.06 mph. The aircraft are 39.13 miles apart and the swallow just copped one hell of a headache !

...and now I'm lost ! Told you I hated maths.

Unless .......... The swallow dies on first impact which means it's not flying, it's just doing an impression of a feathered high speed table tennis ball. Also, swallows can't fly that fast and if it's not flying where did it get the energy to do 300 mph from hitting something that's only doing 103.57 mph ?

So, my answer is..... It's not physically possible. The only place the swallow is going is straight down 5000 feet.