Beware the enemy in your own cockpit!

[RedKestrel]

So there I was, 500 metres above the Russian forest, flying along in my trusty Il-2, head on a swivel for Luftwaffe pilots. I looked right and leaned out to check my low six when suddenly...stabbing pain in my left shoulder!

I cursed and did my best to stay level. Was I taking fire from the enemy? Had a flak shell peppered me with shrapnel? I prepared to make evasive maneuvers...

Then I looked over, and was face to face with Death Incarnate, a terror of things that fly and that crawl, God's perfect killing machine.

In the face of this, I retained enough sanity to speak.

"Dammit, get off me you stupid cat!"

(In Kita's defense. a fly had landed on my shoulder, and thus was doomed to die by her paws).

[unreasonable]

You were not paying her the required level of attention and thus had to be reminded of your obligations.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

What is worse than this is when your puppy does a s***t under your desk. You sit down bare foot pull your chair up, start feeling around for your rudder pedals and....... SPLAT.

 

 

AHHHH IT IS BETWEEN MY F***ING TOES!!!! GET THE SHOTGUN. OLD YELLA AIN'T GOT MUCH TIME ON THIS EARTH LEFT!!!!

[jeanba]

The Russian had trained dogs against German Tanks, but the dogs attacked soviet tanks instead, maybe they also trained cats against planes ?

[[PFR]Sarpalaxan]

Weren't there some Female Russian Bomberpilotes that hat Cats on board?

[jeanba]

A cat may also be some kind of active protection against bird strike ?

[-TBC-AeroAce]

 

 

[unreasonable]

I remember that cat video: of all the millions of cat related videos on the internet, that is my favourite.  (I have not seen them all).  The poise of the pussy is remarkable. No wonder the ancient Egyptians worshiped them.  (Pity  they still don't).

[dburne]

Lol, my cat loves to sneak up on me when I am engaged in combat with my Rift headset on and oblivious to my surroundings, and blammo up into my lap to lend me a helping paw.

Talk about coming out of one's seat!

[LukeFF]

It would drive me crazy if one of my cats jumped on my lap while flying. Thankfully, they are restricted to the downstairs family room (though, every now and then, one will find a way to escape and make their way upstairs).

[RedKestrel]

4 hours ago, dburne said:

Lol, my cat loves to sneak up on me when I am engaged in combat with my Rift headset on and oblivious to my surroundings, and blammo up into my lap to lend me a helping paw.

Talk about coming out of one's seat!

Oh my god, if I had been using VR and the cat had attacked me like that, I think I would actually have had a heart attack and crashed the plane. Even with headtracking and headphones I'm pretty oblivious to my surroundings, with VR it would be so much worse (and disorienting)

[LLv24_SukkaVR]

You can always blame your cat when you lose a fight in multiplayer. Dunno if anyone believes it though.

[dburne]

5 hours ago, LukeFF said:

It would drive me crazy if one of my cats jumped on my lap while flying. Thankfully, they are restricted to the downstairs family room (though, every now and then, one will find a way to escape and make their way upstairs).

 

Lol, yeah I don't know what it is about mine - he loves to jump into my lap once I am flying and just stretch out and lay there.

Makes for some pretty interesting combat maneuvering at times!

[SAS_Bombsaway]

Mine loves to launch himself from my wife's desk to my shoulder. If I didn't love the little jerk I would re invent the Cat A Pult !

[Talon_]

I was fully bailed by mine. [edited]

 

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by SYN_Haashashin
Lenguage

[blitze]

Mine likes to co-pilot sitting on my shoulder, unfortunately his favorite side is the same as my Open Track IR Clip. Makes viewing difficult, his purr is also louder than the engines so I get confused.

[unreasonable]

The co-pilot cat looks as though he has got the concept that you are hunting something: plus you have the purr which is probably a better sound effect for a Merlin than the last patch.

 

In contrast the one on your lap clearly thinks "What can he possibly be doing which is more interesting than me?"

[RedKestrel]

1 hour ago, blitze said:

Mine likes to co-pilot sitting on my shoulder, unfortunately his favorite side is the same as my Open Track IR Clip. Makes viewing difficult, his purr is also louder than the engines so I get confused.

Me, a flight sim pleb: complaining about my cat jumping on me
You, a scholar and a gentleman: "I fly with one cat on my shoulder, one in my lap, and a nice glass of pinot grigio in case I get a little thirsty"
/also is that 18th century formal wear hanging in the background???
//More of a ninth century man, myself

Seriously, this picture gets better every time I look at it.

9 hours ago, AeroAce said:

What is worse than this is when your puppy does a s***t under your desk. You sit down bare foot pull your chair up, start feeling around for your rudder pedals and....... SPLAT.

 

 

AHHHH IT IS BETWEEN MY F***ING TOES!!!! GET THE SHOTGUN. OLD YELLA AIN'T GOT MUCH TIME ON THIS EARTH LEFT!!!!

Just pretend the crew chief really hates your guts and lets his dog crap in your personal aircraft

[Livai]

Cats love to fly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_8mdH20qTQ

 

• Cat show up at 0:36 look at the wings from the plane ?

 

[-TBC-AeroAce]

5 hours ago, Livai said:

Cats love to fly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_8mdH20qTQ

 

• Cat show up at 0:36 look at the wings from the plane ?

 

 

You clearly didnt read the thread! great minds think ...

 

Anyway, that pilot didn't do a very good walk around, for real it could have killed them by jamming a wire ! And also that woman does not seem to notice the cat until quite late lol!

 

Is it horrible that I was more scared that the cat would jam a wire or something than caring for the cat falling out!?

Edited July 24, 2018 by AeroAce

[RedKestrel]

54 minutes ago, AeroAce said:

 

You clearly didnt read the thread! great minds think ...

 

Anyway, that pilot didn't do a very good walk around, for real it could have killed them by jamming a wire ! And also that woman does not seem to notice the cat until quite late lol!

 

Is it horrible that I was more scared that the cat would jam a wire or something than caring for the cat falling out!?

Well, if the wire jams they ALL die, if the cat falls out just the cat dies. So it IS the lesser of two evils.

I was scared the cat was gonna jump at the pilots face or something.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

6 hours ago, RedKestrel said:

Well, if the wire jams they ALL die, if the cat falls out just the cat dies. So it IS the lesser of two evils.

I was scared the cat was gonna jump at the pilots face or something.

 

I actually read something that said a cat can survive a fall at its terminal velocity but it will die if it does not reach terminal velocity which hurts my head. 

 

It is a real study that was performed in NYC in the 1930s. They found that a cat falling from the 3-5 floors would die but if it fell from higher it would survive. 

 

I have an understanding of aerodynamics and know how to calculate an objects terminal velocity but for the life of me I can't work out why the above is true but it apparently is true????????????????

 

Basically it is ok to throw a cat off a skyscraper but not your house????

Edited July 24, 2018 by AeroAce

[unreasonable]

You know the expression "assume the position"?  Cats do it when they fall: feet down, back arched, the spare skin on the belly stretches out and they get a parachute effect. But it takes a few meters fall to get oriented. My own recollection is that you are right that they need a good height to maximize survival, but they can die from very high falls as well: perhaps they panic. 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by unreasonable

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

On 7/23/2018 at 10:38 AM, AeroAce said:

 

 

 

[RedKestrel]

3 hours ago, AeroAce said:

 

I actually read something that said a cat can survive a fall at its terminal velocity but it will die if it does not reach terminal velocity which hurts my head. 

 

It is a real study that was performed in NYC in the 1930s. They found that a cat falling from the 3-5 floors would die but if it fell from higher it would survive. 

 

I have an understanding of aerodynamics and know how to calculate an objects terminal velocity but for the life of me I can't work out why the above is true but it apparently is true????????????????

 

Basically it is ok to throw a cat off a skyscraper but not your house????

My mom once chucked a cat out a second storey window when she was a kid. A big nasty tomcat jumped at her face to attack her so she grabbed it and threw it out the window. Luckily there was a slope in the backyard so the little jerk hit the ground running and just kept goi g for a while.

 

it didn’t bother her again either.

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

Well, a Car thrown out of a Building, and a Cat actively jumping are two different things.  A jumping Cat will survive a Jump from any Heigt, as it will always fall in the intended Attitude, which allows for maximum Drag.

A Cat pushed out of a Window will take some time to get into Position (Back Arched, Feet stretched out, Belly Down) and in this time it will fall too quickly, and not have it's legs stretched sufficiently to soften the Landing. Thus it makes a hard impact on Center Mass, breaks it Ribs, ruptures the Heart and Dies.

[-TBC-AeroAce]

31 minutes ago, 6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann said:

Well, a Car thrown out of a Building, and a Cat actively jumping are two different things.  A jumping Cat will survive a Jump from any Heigt, as it will always fall in the intended Attitude, which allows for maximum Drag.

A Cat pushed out of a Window will take some time to get into Position (Back Arched, Feet stretched out, Belly Down) and in this time it will fall too quickly, and not have it's legs stretched sufficiently to soften the Landing. Thus it makes a hard impact on Center Mass, breaks it Ribs, ruptures the Heart and Dies.

 

I get the reflex thing. I also believe it is somthing to do with the terminal velocity of a cat (lol this convo) and it's low mass combining to have a kinetic energy that is body can absorb where as a human can't because we are bricky.

Edited July 24, 2018 by AeroAce

[unreasonable]

If they jump from aeroplanes, though, they need parachutes, as illustrated in my last BoS film.

[J2_Trupobaw]

You'll climb faster with closed radiator!
 

(Nowadays, she's climbing onto my lap and grabbing the stick, Spitgirls style. She even "got" a MP victory that way :D. 

[Lensman]

My opinion is that cats would make excellent suicide bombers ....

Hopefully.

 

I'm not a fan.

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

 

[blitze]

9 hours ago, Lensman said:

My opinion is that cats would make excellent suicide bombers ....

Hopefully.

 

I'm not a fan.

Maybe try a dog like breed i.e. Burmese Cats.  Not your usual flavour of kitty.  They are very social, playful and more like a dog / monkey.  Nothing funnier than walking your Burmese Cat through an International Airport on a harness.  ?

 

Those fluffy things that keep to themselves scared of everything and have pissy personas - yeah, not a fan myself.

[Lensman]

3 hours ago, blitze said:

Maybe try a dog like breed i.e. Burmese Cats.  Not your usual flavour of kitty.  They are very social, playful and more like a dog / monkey.  Nothing funnier than walking your Burmese Cat through an International Airport on a harness.  ?

 

Those fluffy things that keep to themselves scared of everything and have pissy personas - yeah, not a fan myself.

 

I met somebody with 4 Maine Coones a while ago and those cats were intriguing because they seemed more like dogs. 

Your typical cat that refuses to understand boundaries, be they geographic or social is not for me.

This is in the context of my new neighbour's cat using my car as an adventure playground and platform into my garden every night. I'm sick of scratches and paw prints everywhere. I'm also very sick of cat faeces on my lawn, borders, stones (!), path, etc.

 

Anyway ... enough about cats. I've ranted long enough and apologies to any well behaved cats out there.