Are we running out of fossil fuels? - peak oil theory

[dmccarty]

Well, GW and the shortage of fossile fuels has been solved.

The UK is trying to pass a law to make ALL houses carbon neutral. So what is just around the corner is the Eco Cop inspecting your house to see if you have the right light bulbs, the themostat is set to the Mandated temperature...

Later,
Dan

 

[coffeeman]

"John and Teresa will be forced to leave their estate compound and abandon their several mansions in order to fly around the world in their private 727 gulping 20,000 gallons of jet fuel an hour to deliver their message from the mountain to the masses...while eating caviar and sipping champange....

The thing that really makes me angry is I have never been smart enough to get one of those 727s for myself. Geeeeze... I'm lucky if I can raise enough $$ to buy a seat to Vegas once a year. When I get to go Vegas, I consider myself lucky to just be able to afford to vist there.

Cheers.... Coffeeman

 

[MossRoad]

The thing that really makes me angry is I have never been smart enough to get one of those 727s for myself. Geeeeze... I'm lucky if I can raise enough $$ to buy a seat to Vegas once a year. When I get to go Vegas, I consider myself lucky to just be able to afford to vist there.

Cheers.... Coffeeman

If you want to talk about people using 727's for private jets, it actually makes sense. Here's why...

The cream of the crop business jet is a Gulfstream. A new one can cost close to $50 million. It seats about 20 people max., usually less due to luxury seating.

Enter the lowly 727. A used one in decent shape can be had for a couple million. Refurbishment to factory specs cost 7-8 million. Luxury interior, another 2-3 million. For $15 million, you can have a much larger plane with a roomier interior that seats more people.

I used to work at the airport in South Bend, Indiana. On several ocassions private 727's would pull up and one or two people would get off, hop in a limo and head out to Notre Dame. The pilot would walk up and tell you to top it off. The most I ever put in was about 6000 gallons, as I recall.

While the 727 does not have the range or ceiling that a Gulftream has, it can reach just about anywhere in the U.S. non-stop and that is all that counts. It is also, surprisingly, a good short runway aircraft, as it was originally designed to serve smaller airports. It's wings have devices that can increase their surface area by almost 50%, making it an excellent slow speed aircraft for these small airports.

I may have told this story before, but here goes...
One afternoon we had huge thunderstorms and tornados. Much damage was done and a trailer park was wiped out about 2 blocks from our home. Storms continued into the night, but we finally fell asleep to flashes of lightning in the distance. About 11:30 I heard the wind pick up something awful. It was getting louder and the windows started shaking. It sounded like a freight train and I was sure a tornado was near. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my pregnant wife by the arm and dragged her out of bed and into the hallway on her knees. I then dumped her there, ran into the 4 year old's room, threw her over my shoulder, ran back and grabbed my wife and started dragging her to the basement. I had the strength of 10 men. I'm screaming "Tornado, tornado!!!" and saving the family's life and my wife is yelling "It's a jet! It's a jet!" Huh? I finally hear her and it turns out it is the 11:30 Fed-X 727 buzzing our house. It rarely takes off this way, but since the winds were strong, they used the short south runway. My wife had rug burns and a sore wrist. The 4 year old never woke up. The baby my wife was pregnant with came out fine a few months later.

 

[cp1969]

I used to work at the airport in South Bend, Indiana. On several ocassions private 727's would pull up and one or two people would get off, hop in a limo and head out to Notre Dame. The pilot would walk up and tell you to top it off. The most I ever put in was about 6000 gallons, as I recall.

While the 727 does not have the range or ceiling that a Gulftream has, it can reach just about anywhere in the U.S. non-stop and that is all that counts. It is also, surprisingly, a good short runway aircraft, as it was originally designed to serve smaller airports. It's wings have devices that can increase their surface area by almost 50%, making it an excellent slow speed aircraft for these small airports.

When did you work there? I flew in and out of South Bend back in the '80s and early '90s. You have it right about that N-S runway...it seems really short, especially at night. And the lake-effect snow! In the winter it would not be unusual to have a complete blizzard in South Bend and be clear in Chicago...or vice versa. Another South Bend memory is the airport on game day in the fall...hardly a place to park for all the corporate aircraft belonging to Notre Dame alumni. And the 'haunted' room at the Holiday Inn downtown. Ever hear of that?

You're right about the 727 being a good short field a/c, but those single mains put a lot of stress on the runway when it touches down.

 

[MossRoad]

When did you work there? I flew in and out of South Bend back in the '80s and early '90s. You have it right about that N-S runway...it seems really short, especially at night. And the lake-effect snow! In the winter it would not be unusual to have a complete blizzard in South Bend and be clear in Chicago...or vice versa. Another South Bend memory is the airport on game day in the fall...hardly a place to park for all the corporate aircraft belonging to Notre Dame alumni. And the 'haunted' room at the Holiday Inn downtown. Ever hear of that?

You're right about the 727 being a good short field a/c, but those single mains put a lot of stress on the runway when it touches down.

I was employed by Stockert's Flying Service as a line technician from 80 to 81. It changed hands and became SBN Aviation. I worked for them from 81 to 86. I was line chief in 85 and 86. I quit in 86 because I did not like one of the owners, my direct boss. (NOTE: never quit a job, one year into marriage, without first lining up new job ). 9-27 was 7200 feet long and the wind was usually from the west. North south was 5000' I think. Ended at the highway on the south. They extended it to the north several years ago, but closed the southern 1000' due to the proximity of the highway. They recently purchased (forced out with threat of emminent domain) land to the south, moved the highway and will extend the north south to close to 8000' I think.

Notre Dame football is big business. It is nothing to see 40 or 50 private jets, a hundred large turbo props and lots of smaller planes. What is amazing is the money that comes in due to that University. Take a game like Stanford. A dozen Gulftreams fly in, take on a few thousand gallons of fuel, $7000 each, a couple $100 in catering, limos, etc..., go to the game and leave in the third quarter. The epitomy of wastefullness.... but I was happy to top 'em off and eat their left over shrimp and lobster. I'm such a hipocritimus.

 

[Egon]

Moss, you failed to mention how you fared after this incidence!!

 

[MossRoad]

I called the airport to complain the next morning. They already had taken several calls about it.

As for my wife, she has learned to deal with my sleep habits... you see, I used to be a sleep walker. My family would find me all over the house at night. After we were married, my wife tells me that I would frequently bolt up to a sitting postion in bed, hold her down with one hand and yell, "SSHHhhh!, there's someone outside!" Then I'd hop out of bed, crouch down by the windows and peer out the venetian blinds. After a few minuts she said I'd hop back in bed and go back to sleep. She also said I would sit up and start talking nonsense while holding her down with one hand. She said I was quit strong in my sleep. Sometimes, for fun, she would talk nonsense back to me just to see what I'd say. On a few ocassions I'd wake up holding her down with her laughing at me. It was always good for a laugh over breakfast. Since we had children, the frequency of these events has dropped off dramatically, but once in a while I'll still wake up with her laughing at me.

 

[SkyPup]

Yeah, but the real problem will be supplying all these fancy passengers on these jets with enough caivar and champange after global warming destroys all the sturgeon and grapes around the world.

The amount of unreplacable natural resoruces and fossil fuels all the jets consume is irrelevant.

 

[hockeypuck]

Do not worry about the grapes, northern england and scotland will have the good vineyards instead of france. The same thing happened back in the first part of the second century. There are writings of how great the vineyards of scotland and northern england were. It seems to me like the earth has gone through this heating cycle before and will again, and there is nothing you or I can do about it. Like I posted before, google "the great swindle" and watch it. It is an eye opener.

 

[BobRip]

If you want to talk about people using 727's for private jets, it actually makes sense. Here's why...

Moss, with that recommendation, I think I will go out and buy a 727. No wait, I think I will just upgrade my PT422 wheel motors with that money.