Monthly Archives: July 2009

Interesting Links, July 2009

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Interesting links for July 2009.

  • Advice for Photographers – Funny. By Ivars Gravlejs. Thanks to @aprilmains for a link to this link.
  • It Came from Wasilla – Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska’s charismatic governor wants the public to know about herself doesn’t always jibe with reality. As John McCain’s top campaign officials talk more candidly than ever before about the meltdown of his vice-presidential pick, the author tracks the signs–political and personal–that Palin was big trouble, and checks the forecast for her future. By Todd S. Purdum on vanityfair.com
  • Sarah’s Straight Talk – Truly, Sarah Palin has come a long way. When she ran for vice president, she frequently became disjointed and garbled when she departed from her prepared remarks. Now the prepared remarks are incoherent, too. In NYTimes.com. Thanks to @jodene for tweeting this link.
  • Cybercrooks descend on Twitter with spam, attacks – It is a fact of life: when something is good, someone has to come along and ruin it. They’re beating up on Twitter again. Thanks to @blancastella for sharing the link on Twitter.
  • Art on Art – Composition: Point of View – Recording of a photographic Webinar by Art Wolfe.
  • Definitive Photographic Evidence That Einstein Was Wrong – The photo says it all.
  • Backyard Skywatchers Find Tool Bag Lost in Space – Amateur astronomers have been monitoring a shiny tool bag that has been orbiting Earth ever since it was dropped last week by an astronaut during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
  • YouTube – Office 2010: The Movie – You use Microsoft Office? Have been for a while? Watch this video full screen with the volume turned up. It’s the best piece of advertising Microsoft has ever done. Thanks to @szniemczura on Twitter for the link.
  • 9 reasons why there wasn’t stress in the good old days – Nowadays, people seem to be more and more stressed, even average people that at least apparently don’t take big gambles. Researchers have put a lot of time and money into the study of this problem, and came up with a whole lot of theories, but really, don’t let those fool you. Here’s the real deal, here’s why it was so easy in those days. On ZME Science. Thanks to @szniemczura for the link.
  • Pool Boots Kids Who Might “Change the Complexion” – I cannot FUCKING believe that this kind of discrimination still exists in this country. AGAINST KIDS, no less! Really, people! Can’t we just all live together in peace? You’re turning your white break kids into racists just like you. Thanks to @NewMediaJim for sharing this link on Twitter.
  • Unscramble.net – Site to help solve puzzles and create rhymes.
  • Onexposure – 1x.com – Excellent photography.
  • Editor needed – in some cases half a brain – vowe dot org – This is so funny, I laughed hard enough to start wheezing. Thanks to @estherschindler on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • ArcAttack Electrifies Texas Rockfest pt. 2 – Tesla coils in action. Thanks to @Swoopy on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • Americans “Keep Marrying Other Species” – Is this guy for real? And, if so, why is he on television? Thanks to @MikeTRose for tweeting the link.
  • Frank Schaeffer: An Open Letter To Attorney General Eric Holder – What I don’t understand is why the right wing loonies don’t see themselves for what they are: hate mongers. In the Huffington Post. Thanks to @MikeTRose on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E – This humorous look at homeopathy isn’t that far from the mark. On YouTube.
  • Science, Reason and Critical Thinking: Top of the Pods – Excellent and pretty darn complete list of podcasts for Skeptics. Thanks to Crispian Jago for sharing.
  • Hey, That’s My Blog! – How to Find and Stop Online Copycats. Article on MSN.com features interview comments from PlagiarismToday.com’s Jonathan Bailey.
  • Skeptical Volunteerism – What you can do to help the cause. Includes link to a free download of Daniel Loxton’s book. On NeuroLogica Blog.
  • Palin’s Final Insult – It wasn’t enough to quit on Alaska mid-term. As The Daily Beast’s Max Blumenthal reports, Sarah Palin’s strange exit strategy could cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars as it tries to sort out the mess she left behind. On the Daily Beast. Thanks to @PattyHankins on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • We Choose the Moon – New Web site to experience Apollo 11.
  • Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid – Is an ad hominem attack really the best way to express disagreement? While many of us dislike Sarah Pallin for reasons we see as obvious, is stupidity (meant in the literal sense) really one of them? Brian Dunning explores the formation of fact-based conclusions for critical thinking.
  • Palin leads the right into a reality TV vortex – The Alaska governor’s resignation shows how shallow Republicans have become. By Andrew Sullivan in the London Times. Thanks to @Jodene for the link to this GREAT editorial.
  • Russian-thistle: Salsola tragus – Information about tumbleweed, a particularly annoying invasive weed in Arizona that I’ve also seen in Washington state. On WeedUS – Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States.
  • The Myth Of Multitasking: Focus Or Fail – “Focusing is underrated, and has been for quite some time. Yet it’s the secret to great work.” Oh, boy, is this ever true. Thanks to @cofrenchy on Twitter for sharing this link.
  • 50 Creative and Inspiring 404 Pages – For some people “404: Page Not Found” just isn’t creative enough. Thanks to @szniemczura on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • Some common solecisms – Great list of commonly misused words and phrases from The Economist style guide. Thanks to @BLG on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • alltelleringet.com – Amazing photo-based artwork. Thanks to @szniemczura on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • BBC 3 Bullsh!t detectors exposes three mediums – These 3 mediums cheated. Want to bet their not the only ones? On YouTube. Thanks to @derekcbart on Twitter for sharing the link (originally linked to Boing Boing).
  • Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle Devices – This is probably the BEST reason NOT to buy a Kindle; apparently, Amazon can change or remove Kindle contents at any time, without your permission. On NYTimes.com.
  • 10 Reasons to Politely Decline a Web Design Gig – Webmonkey – These ten reasons, plus the ones in the comments, are why I ALWAYS say no to new Web design gigs. Thanks to @Jen4Web for tweeting the link.
  • Palin’s Resignation: The Edited Version – If you watched Sarah Palin’s resignation speech, you know one thing: her high-priced speechwriters moved back to the Beltway long ago. On Vanity Fair. Thanks to @AprilMains for sharing the link.
  • 17 Ways to connect with local twitterers – Applications to help connected with Twitter users by location. Thanks to @twitter on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • Losing my religion for equality – Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God. An essay by Jimmy Carter. Yes, THAT Jimmy Carter. Thanks to @derekcbart on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • The 10-year-old who helped Apollo 11, 40 years later – Great story on CNN.com. Thanks to @BWJones on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • World’s Worst Website – This is a great example of what amateurs do WRONG when building a Web site. Use it to show bad design and Web features. Turn down the volume before visiting this link. Thanks to @jen4web for sharing this link on Twitter.
  • Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey: Cartoonists are starting to notice – “Ever since Jenny McCarthy hitched her fading star to the anti-vaccine movement and managed to get Oprah Winfrey to go along for the ride, she has become the public face of the anti-vaccine movement.” The cartoonists are doing the job of mainstream media by bringing the absurdity to the attention of the public. Thanks to @derekcbart for sharing the link.
  • Where Is The Birth Certificate!?! Why Am I Stupid!?! – A great example of the stupidity of a huge number of Americans. When I read and watch stuff like this, it makes me embarrassed to be an American citizen. Wish we could ship them all off to Kenya for some long-term fact-checking. Thanks to @CaptainSlim on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • “Against their religion” to call for medical help for their newborn child – Couple gives birth to twins in a hotel room, then fails to call for medical help when they can’t breathe, allowing one baby to die. “God’s Will,” they say. Negligent homicide, I say. This kind of crap makes me sick. Thanks to @Crispian_Jago on Twitter for sharing this link.
  • Celebrity Quack Trumps – The goofy things celebrities believe, in collector’s card format.
  • Abstinence-Supporting GOP State Lawmaker Admits To Sex With 22-Year-Old Intern – Can you say hypocrite? On TCM Muckraker. Thanks to @jodene on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • Recent scenes from the ISS – More excellent photography on The Big Picture
  • Apple – Support – Manuals – Who needs printed manuals when you can download them as PDFs from Apple?
  • Ain’t That a Shame – Author Justine Larbalestier laments about her publisher’s decision to put an inappropriate cover on one of her books. It’s an unfortunate but true fact of life: Publishers do not usually consult with authors about covers and publisher care more about how the book’s cover will appeal to readers than the contents or the author’s reputation. The cover in question here detracted from the book’s contents in such a way as to harm the author. An interesting read for any wannabe writer who things he/she will have a say about how a book is published.
  • 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About – There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore’s Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks. On Wired. Thanks to @Jodene for sharing the link.
  • Kindle and the future of reading – Can the Kindle really improve on the book? This is an extremely long and detailed review in the New Yorker.
  • Why Steve Fossett crashed – Even though federal investigators absolved him of blame, Fossett’s own choices set the stage for his fatal accident. On the Los Angeles Times.
  • The Original Names of 7 Famous TV Characters – The names of some of our favorite TV characters have undergone behind-the-scenes changes for a variety of reasons, from politics to legal issues to shows on competing networks. Here are seven such examples. On Mental Floss. Thanks to @estherschindler for sharing the link on Twitter.
  • Consumer Culture: Top 10 Ironic Ads From History – Remember when you could buy barbiturates for the baby? Cover your house with asbestos? Or get heroin from the doctor? Okay, probably not, but thanks to the immortal beauty of advertising, you can take a trip back in time. Here’s our pick of some of the most ironic ads in American history.
  • Organic ‘has no health benefits’ – Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded. On BBC News. Thanks to @MrTeller on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • Beware the spinal trap – This is the article about chiropractic that got Simon Singh in hot water over in the U.K. It’s amazing that the retelling of TRUTH based on RESEARCH can get someone there slapped with a libel suit. The good part of all this is that the chiropractic industry is now under the microscope and a lot more truths about the danger of some treatments will be revealed. On Skeptic.org.
  • Why Get a College Degree – I’ve been saying this about college for a long time. Thanks to @god for tweeting the link.
  • America, Land of the Irrational – Superstition — and superstitious science — are rife in America. Read about it in Psychology Today.
  • Dan Rather laments journalism’s rapid decline in Aspen appearance – Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather told an Aspen audience Tuesday that journalism has declined to such a point that it is time for the government to intervene. ON AspenTimes.com.
  • The World’s Most Impressive Subway Maps – A great piece illustrating 14 subway maps all over the word and providing background and history for each.
  • The Huffington Post is crazy about your health – Why bogus treatments and crackpot medical theories dominate “The Internet Newspaper.” Thanks to @derekcbart on Twitter for sharing the link. On Salon.com.
  • Traveling – Answering the question: How far do you walk when traveling 6000+ miles? On Abstruse Goose. Thanks to @SonoranDragon on Twitter for sharing the link.
  • You Suck at Craigslist – Exactly what it says on the tin. Thanks to @jodene on Twitter for sharing this gem.

Best Comments for July 2009

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Highlighting what other people have to say here.

I thought I’d try something new this month — a blog post that features excellent comments from blog readers. These are comments that really add something to the blog — or set me straight when I needed it.

You see, a blog is made good, in part, by the comments people share for the blog posts. Oddly, many folks tend to skip over the comments when they read a blog’s post. But in some cases, they’re missing out on some of the best content. My ever-popular post, “The Helicopter Job Market,” is a good example. It has over 100 comments that form an excellent discussion among helicopter pilots. Anyone who reads the post but skips the comments is losing out.

Anyway, I thought I’d highlight some of the best comments that have come in over the past month and include links to both the post and the comment. Here goes.

On July 10 and 11, Mark and Crispian Jago commented on my post, “Some Skeptic Resources on the Web.” Both of them provided links to other podcasts I wasn’t aware of, thus expanding my knowledge of these things.

On July 15, Jodene commented on my post, “Indian Eyes,” which included a video of a weird animated indian face atop a building in Wenatchee. She explained what indian was all about:

There used to be a Skookum apple packing shed where the Office Depot is today. The big Indian with the rotating eyes was their mega-mascot and it became a town mascot as well over the years. I know the shed existed into the late 70’s or early 80’s. I believe when the Skookum shed was torn down and replaced w/ the Office Depot a deal must have been made to keep the sign. (Kind of like the Citgo sign in Boston.)

Rene also provided some information about the Skookum apple packing plant.

On July 17, Jonathan commented on my post, “Please Don’t Drag Me Into Your Life.” The post was a rant and it was very cynical and a bit mean. Jonathan gently pointed out that the person I was criticizing may had a perfectly good excuse to be fully participating in Twitter when her mother might be on her deathbed. He took me down a notch, which I deserved, but he did it in a completely inoffensive way. In part:

I guess there’s an off chance her mother was asleep and this woman couldn’t sleep, but was still at the hospital. So to kill some time she’s surfing around the net maybe? I mean, we’ve all surfed aimlessly in the midnight and early hours right?

Maybe she just needed a relief from all the drama and she was using the net as an outlet….

On July 23, Fred B commented on the post, “Alfalfa Field.” His comment shared a wealth of information about alfalfa production and baling, including a direct reply to another commenter’s question. Here’s part of what he had to say:

Alfalfa is a very productive crop (often yielding 3-4 cuttings a season, and is rich in nutrients). The flip side is that it requires a lot of irrigation and removes a lot of nutrients from the soil. In order to give the soil a break, alfalfa is usually rotated every 5-6 years with a different crop (wheat, red clover, corn, various grasses, etc.), hence the observed switch from wheat to alfalfa. I imagine the owner will stick with the perennial alfalfa crop for a few years now before switching back to wheat….

These aren’t the only comments for this month. There were quite a few more. My post, “Fraud Alert: East Coast Mobile Style” continues to get many hits and comments every week. It’s interesting to read the experiences of the victims and how their credit card companies are (or aren’t) helping them.

I urge regular (and new) readers here to participate by posting comments on posts whenever they have something to add. I’m one person and I don’t know everything. It’s great to get additional information, feedback, and input from readers.

In addition, if you’re really interested in a topic, you can use the check box under your comment to subscribe to future comments. This doesn’t add you to any list I use for anything. It’s all handled internally by a WordPress plugin. There’s no spam. The only time you’ll get e-mail is when there’s a new comment. It’s easy to turn off, too; there are instructions in the e-mail you receive.

In the meantime, if you have any comments about this new feature here, please use the Comment link or form to let me know.

And thanks for helping me make my blog more interesting than I could make it on my own.

Writing in the 21st Century

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A look back at the evolution of writing for publication.

Yesterday, my 72nd printed book went to the printer. For the first time ever, not a single sheet of paper was printed, mailed, or marked up during the writing and editing process for one of my books.

I’ve been a freelance writer since 1990. Most of my work — all of my books and 95% of my articles — has been about using computers. Yet for the first few years I wrote books about using computers, the manuscript files I created weren’t even used for the production of the book.

In the “Old Days”…

Back in the old days, my manuscripts had to be submitted in standard manuscript format. That means I wrote them in Microsoft Works (in the beginning) or Word using a plain font like Courier with double-spacing. What came out of my [$2,000] laser printer printer was a document that looked as if it had been typed on a typewriter by a very careful typist. Hundreds of pages. I was required to submit two printed copies of the manuscript to my editor.

In those days, Staples sold “manuscript boxes.” These were cardboard boxes designed to hold stacks of paper that were 8-1/2 x 11 inches. I’d print two copies of the manuscript, stack them one atop the other in this manuscript box, and mail them to my editor.

One time, in order to make a deadline, I sent the manuscript copies to Manhattan with my next door neighbor, who worked there. She then called a courier company to deliver the manuscript to the publisher’s offices in the Columbus Circle area.

In all honesty, I can’t remember how edits were handled. I don’t even recall getting any marked up copies of that early work. I think I got the galleys, though. They were printed (of course) and I wasn’t allowed to make many changes to them.

The Rise of E-Mail

Around the time of my fourth book (third solo book) in 1992 or 1993, e-mail was starting to get big. I still recall my shock and surprise when I sent an e-mail message to someone and got a response within an hour. Whoa!

That’s the book I started sending manuscript chapters via e-mail to my editor. The idea was that she’d review the chapters as they came in. This really saved my ass when my hard disk crashed and I lost everything on it. I was able to recover all those files from my editor and keep working. But when it came time to final submission, it had to be printed and mailed in: 2 copies, double-spaced.

Database Publishing with FileMaker Pro on the Web

This is one of the few books I wrote and laid out using FrameMaker. Its cross-referencing tools couldn’t be beat back in 1998.

When I started writing Visual QuickStart Guides for Peachpit Press in 1995, I also began doing layout. In the beginning, I used QuarkXPress, but I soon switched to PageMaker and finally to InDesign. I did a number of other books for Peachpit and for AP Professional (Claris Press, FileMaker Press) using FrameMaker, which I still think was the best layout tool out there. (InDesign is getting closer; thank heaven it finally added cross-referencing tools in CS4.)

For the early books, I’d create the chapter files, print them out, and mail them to my editor. Marked up copies would be FedExed back. I’d make the changes in the files. When the project was done, I’d send them a Zip disk or, later, burn a CD on my [$700] CD burner with all the files. That disk would travel by mail or FedEx on top of a stack of printed pages. In the beginning, they wanted 2 copies, but later they began using their own copier to make the copies they needed.

Word Files from Templates

Quicken 99: The Official Guide

This was the first book I wrote that made extensive use of Word templates.

Time went on. For the books I didn’t lay out, Microsoft Word became the standard. At first, I submitted files with the usual double-spaced, plain vanilla formatting. But some of my publishers got fancy and started sending templates with styles and macros and buttons built in. Although these files were always created on a Windows PC, they worked fine on my Mac. They usually came with detailed instructions for use; by applying the styles and submitting the files, my formatting would ease the task of getting it typeset on their system. Some of my publishers had terribly antiquated systems that required a lot of effort on the part of the production staff.

The use of Microsoft Word meant that my manuscript could go through a series of editors — copy, technical, and proofreader — with all edits clearly identified using the revision feature. I’d get edits back, review them, and either accept or reject them. Then I’d send them on to the next editor. The process was long and tedious, with lots of editing and a manuscript file that looked like a colorful mess of type. Often one editor’s changes would be changed back by another editor. Whatever.

I was required to send printed manuscript pages for most of the 1990s, but the files were transferred by e-mail, with a backup copy of all files on CD sent along with the printouts. I also got all galleys printed. That was often a lot of paper — hundreds of pages. In the mid 2000s, I started bringing the one-sided pages to my local copy shop to have them cut and padded; I’d use the back side of each page as scratch paper.

The Rise of PDFs

In the mid 2000s, I started seeing galleys as PDFs. I’d review them onscreen — no easy task when you have a smallish monitor and can’t read an entire page at once — then print out the pages with problems, mark them up, and send them into my editor. One of the reasons I bought a 20″ monitor a while back was to be able to proofread page by page.

Around the same time, Peachpit wanted to send me markups of my laid out book pages as PDFs. I resisted for quite a while because reviewing edits and making changes to the laid out page files with just one monitor was such a pain in the ass. My office now has a pair of 24″ monitors connected to one computer so I can review corrections on one screen while making corrections to manuscript pages on the other.

The End of Paper

200907212014.jpg

My most recent book was written and edited without an exchange of paper.

The book I finished yesterday (Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide) was the first one that had absolutely no exchange of paper. I’d create book pages using InDesign and turn chapters into PDFs. I’d upload the PDFs and a zipped folder full of chapter files to Peachpit’s secure and private FTP server. The chapter files were my offsite backup — I did all of my work on this book from a camper or hotel and did not have a spare hard drive to back up to. My production and tech/copy editor would review the PDFs, mark them up with Acrobat — they use the full version, which I don’t have — and put them in a different folder on the FTP site. I’d download them, review them, and make manuscript page changes. Then I’d upload new PDFs to yet another folder and send fresh zipped files. My indexer got her own set of PDFs with accurate page numbers as we finalized pagination from one chapter to the next. When all editing was done, I updated the InDesign book file and its individual chapter files to finalize cross-references. (This is also the first Visual QuickStart Guide I’ve written that has cross-references to actual book pages rather than chapters.) I generated my table of contents and laid out the index when it arrived from my Indexer yesterday morning. Although I was still handling edits on Wednesday morning, by 10 AM yesterday (the next day), my editors at Peachpit had all the final files. By 5 PM the same day, the printer had those files.

I expect to see printed books within 3 weeks.

There are a lot of folks who see printed books as a terrible waste of paper. Although print publishing is definitely on the decline, there are many people — myself included — who prefer reference work in printed format. I don’t think print publishing will ever completely die.

I’m very pleased, however, that the production process didn’t add any more paper waste to landfills or recycling centers. I, for one, don’t need any more scratchpads.

Anyway, I thought some writers out there might be interested in the evolution of the writing/production process as seen by an “old timer” like me.

I’m just glad I never had to use a typewriter for my writing work. Using one in college was bad enough.

Not Ready for Solo?

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This one is too absurd to pass up without comment.

I was going through the NTSB reports for helicopters today, looking for a specific accident in Arizona that hasn’t yet been listed on NTSB.gov. I did, however find this report that seems to indicate a training problem with a solo student pilot that has 64 hours of helicopter flight time:

According to the pilot, she departed Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), Frederick, Maryland, about 0745, with an intended destination of Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The pilot reported that she conducted the cruise portion of the flight at an altitude of 3,000 feet above mean sea level (msl), at an airspeed of approximately 110 knots. After she established communications with the LNS air traffic control tower, and was getting ready to begin her descent to the airport, the pilot noticed that the vertical speed indicator was indicating a descent of approximately 1,000 feet per minute, and that the airspeed was approximately 120 knots. The pilot “raised the collective” pitch control in an effort to reduce or stop the descent, but the helicopter did not respond as the pilot expected, and the descent continued. She determined that she would not be able to reach LNS, and selected a field suitable for a landing. The helicopter landed hard in a soybean field approximately 8 miles west-southwest of LNS. It remained upright, and the engine continued to run after touchdown, until the pilot shut it down using normal shutdown procedures.

The preliminary report goes on to say that when investigators tested the aircraft’s engine, they didn’t find anything wrong with it. It was up to date on all maintenance, the fuel samples were clear, and there was no evidence of a problem.

Is it me or is the problem as simple as what can be gleaned from the above-quoted paragraph? Let’s review:

  • The helicopter was descending at 1000 feet per minute, which is pretty quick, but not nearly as quick as an autorotation or a steep descent from altitude. (I commonly descend at at least 1500 feet per minute when coming off the Weaver Mountains (4500 feet) to Congress (3000 feet) toward Wickenburg (2400 feet).)
  • The helicopter’s airspeed was up to 120 knots from 110 knots. That’s fast, even for an R44. I normally cruise at 110 knots when alone; I have to push pretty hard to get it up to 120 knots without adding power or beginning a descent.
  • The pilot “raised the collective.” Helicopter Flying 101 says that when you pull pitch (raise collective) on a helicopter with a governor or a correlator (or both, as this helicopter has), you’re increasing power.

So the pilot is already zooming through the sky, but she adds power to stop the descent? Doesn’t she understand how the cyclic works? Pull it back to slow down. If you keep your power setting the same, you should also slow your descent rate.

Here’s what I think happened, based on the information provided in the preliminary report and a little research. The pilot was cruising at 3,000 feet. She was “getting ready to begin her descent” to an airport at an elevation of 403 — a required descent of 2600 feet. What she didn’t realize is that she had already begun the descent. Possibly with the airport in sight, she’d pushed the cyclic forward, perhaps to adjust the sight picture of the horizon before her. (This is something I recall doing more than once when I was a new pilot descending from altitude, so I can understand how she might do it, too.) The net result of a forward movement of the cyclic without a power change is to speed up and descend — which is exactly what happened. With a power setting of 18 to 20 inches of manifold pressure, she could easily get into this situation.

Rather than attempt to slow down by pulling the cyclic back, she elected to arrest descent by adding power. This would only make the problem worse if she didn’t add aft cyclic. It was probably a flare near the bottom — perhaps drilled into her by numerous practice autorotations — that slowed her down and enabled her to touch down without slamming any harder into the ground.

What should she have done? As soon as she realized she was going so fast and descending, she should have added aft cyclic. This should both slow her down and reduce her descent rate. It doesn’t matter how much power is available; if the rotors are not stalling, the helicopter will fly. Gentle aft cyclic should enable her to get a better idea of what the problem is — if there is indeed a problem.

But it’s hard to imagine a power problem if there’s no loss of RPM or yawing to the right — neither of which is mentioned as a symptom of the problem. And believe me, if a Robinson has low rotor RPM, you’ll know it — the damn horn starts blaring at 97% RPM; she would have had enough power to fly with RPM as low as 85% (or probably lower).

What do I take away from this? This solo student pilot was not prepared for her solo flight. She evidently did not understand how the controls work together to manage airspeed and climb or descent rates. (This may have something to do with her experience as an airplane pilot.) When she noticed the descent rate and high speed, she possibly panicked and did the first thing that came into her mind: raise the collective to stop the descent. But if she had been properly trained and knew what was going on, she would have reacted properly by simply pulling the cyclic back to slow down and reduce the descent rate.

As a result, a helicopter is destroyed, the NTSB is required to waste time and resources to investigate, and a student pilot, although lucky to be alive, has an accident on her record.