FILTHIE TRANSITIONS
I remember a 100 years ago that awful country song about some chicken headed woman is on the road with her baby-on-board, and she spins out or something - and as the car is doing 360's down the highway, and Cherlene is praying to the baby Jesus to take the wheel and save them.
Not to rag on Christians - I fancy myself as one of sorts - but that song was so damned stupid it made me want to scream. If it happened to you - would you just throw your hands up and tell God to do the driving and save ya? For me - I will keep driving until either I splatter on the guard rails or I regain control of the vehicle. But hell's bells - that is one dumb country song.
This morn was a deadly serious patrol out at Stubfart Airfield. I decided to transition from my gentle trainer plane to something a little more aggressive - a low wing, tail-dragger aerobat.
I am not a seasoned RC pilot. I had visions of my airplane doing something stupid, and panicking and gobbling in fright as my fast little fighter plane turned into a lawn dart... my own horrifying "Jesus take the wheel" moment, I suppose. The winds picked up and the sock was straight out... but I went up anyway.
The tail dragger is an absolute sow on the ground - but in the air it rolls with a snap. It's much faster than Super Dave the trainer plane, and has to land a little faster.. This one moves. At least for me. I went up several times and and now I am running low on delicious cool green nitromethane fuel, HAR HAR HAR! I needn't have worried. I magically didn't lose my chit and have to beg God to save my little airplane. Now I have to start practicing aerobatics.
Everything went fine, of course. I'd put my time in on the simulator, I was comfortable with the trainer plane, and there were no catastrophic surprises. My landings were even better than the old boy's with his Chipmunk. I am by no means the new Red Baron... but I can control my airplane, and now can start delving into the complexities of pattern flying. Unless something stupid happens like a mechanical failure... I will fly "three mistakes high" as I learn and I should be alright. Good training pays off.
***
Which brings me round to a foolish poast I did the other day when I was beaking off about that kid that greased an active mass murderer at the food court and put him away It appears I have to make some clarifications because sometimes I don't speak my mind well. First - I am not trying to denigrate the kid or his shooting. What he did there maybe wasn't basic pistolcraft. Maybe it would be better to call it advanced pistolcraft? Skill is relative. I forget that I am now pushing 60, my eyes and nerves and concentration are not what they were... Could I still make a 40 yard shot? I think I could, but I'd have to get serious about my training. Back when I was shooting at my best, I was in my 30's, I had memberships in three gun clubs, and I was on the range three or four times a week. I had to by a progressive Dillon reloader because I was consuming ammo faster than I could make it on a single stage press. I never really thought of myself as an advanced shooter - I was just a stubfart with a passion for a hobby. I shot better than most folks because I put in the time and effort and thought nothing of it. I read the words of experts and took them to heart. Skills are not graved in stone - put the time in to acquire them, and you will think nothing of them either.
The other half of that thing shooting incident is mindset. BP brings up the issue on this scholarly poast. Over at the Bitter Centurion JL weighs in. Both of those are good reads. I have done some reading in passing and based what I read, I think combat mindset can be taught IF it is done correctly.
A lot of guys think a 40 yard shot with a pistol is miraculous. No, it's not. You could do it too, but you would have to put the trigger time in.
Being chronically short of cash, the one time I did go to a pistol range and shot about 200 rounds, mostly I did it at 25 yards and was hitting within the black on a man-outline target most of the time. Firing a brand new Springfield XD40 (yes, the everyone-else-hated .40SW but it's a caliber I really like.)
ReplyDeleteI was watching other shooters who were missing the black at 10 yards, but they were looking down on me.
Then there was the guy firing velly velly expensive JHPs at 5 yards out of what a friend said was an over $2K pistol and... missing most shots.
It takes some focus and some practice, but a lot of that focu and practice can come from video games or one of those laser inserts for your gun or just about any real martial arts .
AHHHHHHHHH !!!
ReplyDeleteYou're sounding like General Aesop when he tries to explain himself out of silliness.
OK, a 40 yard shot is really not always that impressive or a super high SEAL Team 6 action.
It's the entirety of what this kid did in 15 seconds !!!!!
Even for people like "us" that try to be alert and aware , most of us would have taken longer just to figure out what the situation was.
HAR HAR HAR! I suppose so, but with one important difference: I admit I could be wrong. And if somebody proves it - I reserve the right to be wrong and change my mind. I think there's a few differences between me and the general besides the obvious IQ gap... HAR!!!
DeleteIt wasn't "a 40 yard shot", it was 8 money hits out of 10 shots at 40 yards, rapid fire offhand, while engaging someone who'd already opened the ball and killed 3, and wounded 2 with a carbine.
DeleteAnd Richard Marcinko pointed out over 30 years ago that 50-60 guys on Seal Team 6 shot more rounds in practice in any given year than the entire 200K-strong US Marine Corps.
That's roughly 40K rounds/yr per man.
I'm betting Indiana Man got his results on a lot less practice than that, which is the whole point.
Fubrart stamble! Before the local Bolshevik library got rid of all the gun books there was an account of an Arizona lawman making a .45 shot at almost 100 yards into a trailer window out in the desert.
ReplyDeleteThe same book showed a Tokarev round getting through a vest to destroy the watermelon behind it.
The pistol is best in aggressive attack mode, use it wisely.
Make a Stuka or a Focke Wulf 190 plane for Stubfart Field, or would that hurt some fweewings.
I stopped at Dinos Bar & Grill one friday evening after getting off work on 2nd shift . I had around 12 cold beers and smoked a half dozen mean assed Jamaican doobies and was rather smogged when they shut it down at 2:30 am . On the way home down that country highway trying to stay on the hilly curvy road whenever a car came the opposite direction I would drive straight towards the lights . Being a rather smart type I realized I was way too smashed but yet I had to get home before I ended up in jail. Wife, kids, mortgage ,job all kept the pressure on to drive home . Going into the big curve at a little eyeblinker called Big Island I heard what I perceived to be the voice of the Lord telling me to just let go of the wheel and let Him take over . I did and He drove me home . It was powerful and I stopped going to Dinos after that experience . That country song always brought a tear to my eye when I heard it .
ReplyDelete40 years ago I had a Cadillac Eldorado that would find it's way home.
ReplyDeleteThe trick was to close one eye and then align the hood ornament up with the right hand lane stripe.